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Capital Gainz Version 4.0 Copyright 1991-94 by David Lee Cohen. All Rights Reserved. Dave Cohen AlleyCat Software, Inc. P.O. Box 14446 RTP, NC 27709-4446 (919)-542-6117 (919)-542-6611 BBS/FAX CompuServe ID: 70431,132 Prodigy:WFCX17A Internet:davec@mercury.interpath.net January 1, 1995 _______ ____|__ | (R) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER ====================================================================== Capital Gainz, the Capital Gainz Graphics Program, the Capital Gainz Download Program, the Capital Gainz Demo/Tutorial, the Capital Gainz Install Program, and all online and printed Capital Gainz documentation are Copyright 1994 by David Lee Cohen. Unauthorized duplication or distribution is prohibited. ====================================================================== *** READ THIS ENTIRE DOCUMENT: It contains important information! *** This is an unregistered evaluation version of Capital Gainz if it was obtained from a shareware disk vendor, an electronic bulletin board, or a source other than AlleyCat Software, Inc. and David Lee Cohen; or during program sign-on the phrase "shareware" or "evaluation" is displayed. Otherwise, this is a registered version of Capital Gainz. If this is an evaluation version of Capital Gainz, after installation refer to the file LICENSE.DOC for restrictions and for information on ordering a registered version. Please note that we receive no part of any fee charged by disk vendors or sysops for the evaluation version. ====================================================================== Contents: Program Requirements Distribution and Registration Upgrading Installation Backing Up Data Files Demo/Tutorial Using Versions 3.2 and 4.0 Problems Running Capital Gainz CGTEST, IBM PCDOS, Windows, Mouse, Video, Drivers and TSRs, Memory Managers, Hard Drive, Stacks, Technical Support Final Word Additions/Changes ====================================================================== Program Requirements -------------------- 80386 PC or better running DOS 5 or later 2MB or more of available extended memory 2.5MB or more of available hard disk space Mouse and VGA monitor are recommended EGA/VGA required for Graphics Program Modem required for Download Program Capital Gainz v3.2 is available for other PCs, and requires: 8086 PC or better running DOS 3.3 or later 640KB of RAM, with 520KB free 2MB or more of available hard disk space EGA/VGA required for Graphics Program Modem required for Download Program Distribution and Registration ----------------------------- Distribution restrictions are detailed in the VENDOR.DOC file. Registration requirements are discussed in LICENSE.DOC. This software is not public domain, and failure to abide by the distribution restrictions constitutes a violation of the U.S. and International Copyright laws. Upgrading to a New Revision or Converting to a Registered Version ---------------------------------- If you already have a version of Capital Gainz installed, install the new version in the same directory. Only program and documentation files will be overwritten. Existing data files may be upgraded, but will otherwise not be affected. Sometimes, a change in file formats requires an upgrade of existing data files. If this is the case, a data file upgrade will be automatically initiated during installation. IF YOU ARE UPGRADING, YOU SHOULD INSTALL THE NEW VERSION IN THE DIRECTORY CONTAINING THE OLD PROGRAM FILES. When attempting to run a new version of Capital Gainz against old data files that were not upgraded, you may receive the error "Invalid Record Declaration" when running Capital Gainz. If you experience this problem, refer to the INSTALL.DOC file for further upgrade information. YOU CAN ONLY INSTALL A NEW REGISTERED VERSION OVER AN OLD EVALUATION OR REGISTERED VERSION. DO NOT INSTALL A NEW EVALUATION VERSION OVER AN OLD EXISTING VERSION. Installation ------------ To install Capital Gainz, insert the diskette and type: C:> A:INSTALL For detailed help and instructions, see the INSTALL.DOC file. This file is used as online help during installation. Demo/Tutorial ------------- Before recording your own data in Capital Gainz, we strongly recommend that you follow along with the Capital Gainz Demo/Tutorial. The Demo/Tutorial diskette is included with all registered copies of Capital Gainz, but may not be included with evaluation copies. If you didn't receive it with your evaluation copy, you can download it from our BBS or have a disk sent to you for a $5 shipping/handling charge. Backing Up Data Files --------------------- You really should regularly backup your Capital Gainz data files, as data is easily corrupted by disk errors or misbehaved applications. There is a Backup option on the Config pulldown menu item, you can use CAPGNZBU at the DOS command line, or you can use your own method. The data files to back up are: *.DAT and *.K01. Using Versions 3.2 and 4.0 -------------------------- You can move data back and forth between computers running Capital Gainz Versions 3.2 and 4.0. For instance, you may leave Version 3.2 on your laptop if it's not equipped to run Version 4.0, but you do install Version 4.0 on your home computer. To manage this, you'd move all the *.DAT and *.K01 files EXCEPT for SETTINGS.DAT and ERROR.DAT/ERROR.K01 between the two machines. If you want to go back to Version 3.2 after installing Version 4.0: o Install Version 3.2. Be sure to set Current Installed Version on installation to 3.2. o Copy SETTINGS.DAT from your Capital Gainz 3.2 backup. If you don't have a Version 3.2 backup, delete SETTINGS.DAT. It will be recreated when you run Capital Gainz, and you may need to reset some of your user settings. o Clean up the Version 4.0 files: DEL *.DLL DEL CG.INI DEL CGINSTAL.EXE Problems Running Version 4.0 ---------------------------- If you encounter problems running Capital Gainz Version 4.0: o The CGTEST program may help determine the cause of the problem. It runs through a battery of tests on your PC. o IBM PCDOS (not MSDOS) contains a bug that requires a patch. o Windows may cause conflicts, requiring you to run under DOS. o Older mouse drivers can be incompatible. The /M switch can bypass mouse support, or you can update the driver. o You should be in Color 80 by 25 mode when starting Capital Gainz. If not, try using the /V switch to set/reset the video mode. o Some drivers and TSRs loaded in CONFIG.SYS/AUTOEXEC.BAT can cause conflicts. You may need to alter the configurations. o Memory managers such as EMM386 or QEMM may need to be configured differently. o If you have SHARE loaded, you may need to increase the number of locks. o If your hard disk has corrupted or cross-linked files, you should clean it up with SCANDISK or CHKDSK. o Your PC may not be configured adequately for interrupts. o In order to diagnose problems, we need certain information from you concerning your PC. Each of these items is discussed more fully below. PROBLEM: CGTEST Test Program ----------------------------- If you experience program hangs or reboots, we've included a test program that will help us diagnose the problem. To install and run it: o Be sure the standard libraries are installed: C: CD \CAPGNZ A:PKUNZIP -O A:CGZLB40.ZIP o Next, unarchive the test program: A:PKUNZIP -O A:CGTEST.ZIP o Execute the test program, following the displayed instructions: CGTEST o If you were able to fully install Capital Gainz, the Graphics Program, and the Download Program, the CGTESTA program includes graphics and communications tests. PROBLEM: IBM DOS 6 Fix ---------------------- A bug in IBM DOS 6.0/6.1 may prevent Capital Gainz from running correctly. If you use IBM DOS 6, look for a file on the distribution disk called IBMDOS.ZIP. This archive contains a fix and instructions for implementing it, provided directly by IBM. If this file is not on your diskette, contact us and we'll send it to you. PROBLEM: Running Under Windows ------------------------------ A few users have experienced problems running Capital Gainz under Windows. Most common is an error that 'system integrity was violated' on program exit. Also, a few problems have been reported running the Graphics Program under Windows. If this occurs, you must exit Windows to run Capital Gainz. The conflict is between the internal DOS Extender in Capital Gainz and Windows, and we are working with the DOS Extender's developers to fix this. If this is important to you, let us know and we'll send you an update when the problem is rectified. PROBLEM: Mouse Driver Conflicts ------------------------------- Some older mouse drivers don't coexist well with DOS Extender programs such as Capital Gainz. If you see the error 'Divide Overflow' when INSTALL starts up the full Installation program or when running CGTEST, you'll need to either: o Update your mouse driver from the original vendor. If you have MSDOS 6.x, it should include the latest Microsoft Mouse driver. If this driver was not installed to the DOS directory, you can do it yourself: Change to the DOS directory: C: CD \DOS Backup your mouse driver, if it exists: RENAME MOUSE.COM MOUSE.SAV Find the file MOUSE.CO_ on your MSDOS disks and put it in A: EXPAND A:MOUSE.CO_ MOUSE.COM Update CONFIG.SYS if this is a new path for the driver. o Run Capital Gainz without a mouse, using the hotkeys instead. To do this, install with: A:INSTALL /M and run Capital Gainz with: CG /M If you want to always use this, you can edit CG.BAT: - EDIT CG.BAT - Advance to the line where you see something like: C:\CAPGNZ\CAPGNZ.EXE %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 and add the /M switch: C:\CAPGNZ\CAPGNZ.EXE /M %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 - Save the changes using File and Save from the menu. - Exit using File and Exit from the menu. PROBLEM: Video Driver Conflict ------------------------------ When Capital Gainz starts up, it expects your PC to be in Color 80 column by 25 line video mode. If you normally operate in a different mode, you can tell Capital Gainz switch to 80 by 25 mode at startup, then switch back at completion. Note that this operation may conflict with some video cards and drivers. To force the video set/reset: Install with: A:INSTALL /V and run Capital Gainz with: CG /V If you want to always use this, you can edit CG.BAT: - EDIT CG.BAT - Advance to the line where you see something like: C:\CAPGNZ\CAPGNZ.EXE %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 and add the /V switch: C:\CAPGNZ\CAPGNZ.EXE /V %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 - Save the changes using File and Save from the menu. - Exit using File and Exit from the menu. If you have a Super VGA card that uses VESA BIOS Extensions, you may need to install a special VESA driver. This is only needed if you experience difficulties with screens or colors, and you are sure there is no memory conflict with Video ROM in upper memory. An archive of popular VESA drivers, VESA.ZIP, is included on the Capital Gainz installation diskette. This archive also contains a small text file, VESA.DOC. PROBLEM: Conflicts with Drivers/TSRs ------------------------------------ Since Capital Gainz runs in protected mode, all memory resident utilities and drivers should be stable and well-behaved. If Capital Gainz won't run or install, try CGTEST, as described earlier. If CGTEST won't run, boot with a minimal CONFIG.SYS that contains the high memory driver (HIMEM), memory manager (EMM386), and sets FILES=40. If you have MSDOS 6 or later, pressing F8 while your PC is booting up DOS lets you step through your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT line-by-line. If CGTEST does run in this minimal configuration, add back utilities/drivers and run CGTEST until you find the offending one. You'll then need to either remove/update the offending utility, maintain multiple system configurations (such a facility is available with MSDOS 6 and later) with/without the utility, or unload the utility from memory prior to running Capital Gainz. If the utility does not provide a way to be unloaded, there are tools, such as MARK/RELEASE, that can provide this capability. Known incompatibilities: o PCKWIK disk cache sometimes has problems with DOS Extender program. Older versions are especially susceptible. Suggestions on working around this include modifying your PCKWIK.INI file such that: HDSupport = Standard PowerWrite=No o If you run a screen blanker such as After Dark, you should disable Capital Gainz' internal screen blanker. To do this, start Capital Gainz, use Config and User Settings from the pulldown menu, and set Inactive Seconds Before Blanking Screen to 0. o The REDIRECT.EXE command, which may exist in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file of Compaq computers, should be removed. PROBLEM: Memory Manager Configuration ------------------------------------- The DOS Extender used by Capital Gainz is designed to follow memory management standards where they exist, to make the best possible use of your computer's resources and capabilities. When Capital Gainz loads, it detects any EMS emulation, RAM disks, and caches you have, and configures itself to run optimally in that environment. Unfortunately, standards have been slow to evolve for memory management. The DOS Extender used by Capital Gainz conforms to the major standards that do exist: the VDISK standard for RAM disks, the VCPI standard for EMS emulation, the XMS standard for extended memory, and the DPMI standard for protected mode. If you use software that conforms to some other standard, you may have to make adjustments to run Capital Gainz. Some specific compatibility problems, which can usually be changed by editing your CONFIG.SYS, are: o If you're using the 386MAX memory manager, you may need to add 'NODPMI' to 386MAX.PRO. o If you're using the EMM386 memory manager with the 'NOEMS' switch, then you may need to add the 'AUTO' switch: EMM386 NOEMS AUTO o We've seen a couple cases where Capital Gainz would not run if the 'NOEMS' switch was used with EMM386. Without sacrificing memory for an EMS page frame, you can substitute the two switches 'RAM FRAME=NONE' for 'NOEMS': EMM386 RAM FRAME=NONE o With PC-CACHE, you may need to use '/SIZEXTB:nnn' for the size (substitute the number of KBs for 'nnn'). Problems have been reported when using '/SIZEXT:nnn'. You should also be sure that no latent memory or interrupt conflicts exist. A protected mode application can frequently flush out problems that have been dormant in the past. If you suspect a memory conflict, use a utility such as the Microsoft System Diagnostics which comes with MSDOS 6 or later: \DOS\MSD or Quarterdeck's Manifest which comes with QEMM: \QEMM\MFT to check your current configuration. PROBLEM: SHARE Locks -------------------- If you load the SHARE driver in AUTOEXEC.BAT, you may need to increase the number of locks available if you get the error 'too many files open' or 'error reading drive'. Edit AUTOEXEC.BAT, and find the line that loads SHARE. The /L switch controls the number of locks, which is 40 by default. To increase it to 60: SHARE /L:60 PROBLEM: Hard Disk Corruption ----------------------------- Misbehaved applications, software conflicts, and hard drive errors can cause corruptions and cross-links in DOS' file allocation table. You should periodically run a utility to clean up these problems. this is especially important if you are using a disk compression program such as DOS' DoubleSpace. While utility packages such as PC Tools and Norton Utilities provide such capabilities, DOS 6 or later includes the very capable SCANDISK to fix up file allocation problems and perform surface scans to remap bad areas on the hard disk. To run it: SCANDISK The less robust but still viable CHKDSK utility is included with prior versions of DOS: CHKDSK /F Be sure the the utility supports any disk compression program you use. PROBLEM: System Interrupts -------------------------- Many memory managers suggest that you set the STACKS value in CONFIG.SYS to 0,0 to save a few extra KB of RAM. While generally this is a safe thing to do, it can sometimes cause problems. Without these system stacks, incoming interrupt requests can usually grab the memory necessary from the currently executing program. However, if too many interrupts occur in rapid succession, or interrupt handling is too slow, then stack overruns can occur. A stack overrun results in an error indicating stack overflow or memory manager halt, generally culminating in a system crash. If this occurs, you may need to increase the STACKS setting in CONFIG.SYS to something like 9,256. Note that protected mode applications, such as Capital Gainz, can sometimes delay interrupt processing slightly, thus requiring more stack space to handle concurrent requests. If you'd like to experiment with the STACKS setting, I suggest you get a copy of PC Magazine's STACKCHK utility, discussed in the November 22, 1994 issue. STACKCHK examines internal system values to determine stack usage and the maximum number of concurrent interrupts. PROBLEM: Getting Technical Support ---------------------------------- You can contact us for technical support via phone, CompuServe, Prodigy, or the Capital Gainz BBS. The relevant numbers and addresses are listed at the top of this document. Contacting us via mail or electronic mail is preferred, since we will need the following information: o Computer type: CPU (80386,80486, etc), speed (20Mhz, 33Mhz, etc). o Version of BIOS: Date of BIOS should be displayed at boot up. o Monitor and video card type (such as VGA, Diamond Viper PCI). o Version of DOS (such as MS-DOS 6.2, IBM PC-DOS 6.0, etc). o Installed memory (use DOS' MEM command to determine this). o Copies of AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS. o Results of running CGTEST, as described above. Final Word ---------- Capital Gainz is constantly being enhanced. If you acquire an evaluation copy older than a year or so, contact us directly in order to get an up-to-date copy. Registered users are notified of updates, and can purchase them for a small fee. If you like Capital Gainz, let me know. Also, pass along any suggestions, as many features added over the years originated from user feedback. If friends or co-workers are interested, tell them to contact me and I'll send them a free demo of Capital Gainz. Additions/Changes ----------------- o To reset the system Password to no password, simply reinstall Capital Gainz. o To reset the Colors to the defaults, you should: CD \CAPGNZ DEL CG.STY Then reinstall Capital Gainz. o There is a nasty bug in the SMC 16550a UART that can cause the serial port, and thus the modem and Download Program, to lock up when an application tries to initialize it. This configuration is common on Gateway 2000 computers, among others. If you encounter this problem, the only known fix at this time is to run a small reset program prior to each access of the serial port. We've included a copy of this reset program, renamed to CGCOMFIX.EXE, on the distribution diskette. You can use it either of two ways: 1) Execute the reset program before running the Download Program. If the download attempt disconnects abnormally and you want to retry, you'll have to exit to DOS and run the patch again. or 2) Copy the reset program to the Download Directory: COPY A:CGCOMFIX.EXE C:\CAPGNZ\DNLD If found, the Download Program will run the reset program automatically prior to accessing the serial port. There are other fixes for this UART chip if you encounter problems with Windows or Windows for Workgroups communications applications. Contact your system vendor or check the IBM Hardware Forum on CompuServe for these fixes. You may be better off installing an add-in card and disabling the internal UARTs. o Unfortunately, different tax software still interprets the Tax Exchange Format differently. The format itself is flawed in several places. The bottom line is, when importing TXF files built by Capital Gainz into your tax software, Schedule D should be correct, and Schedule B totals should be correct. However, individual Schedule B entries, especially with TurboTax, will not import correctly due to an odd interpretation of TXF to accommodate Quicken data. o You may experience problems running Capital Gainz under Windows. Some users have experienced protection faults on program exit, and a number have had problems while running the Graphics Program. The only way to avoid these problems is to exit Windows before running Capital Gainz. o A new checkbox was added to the Convert Local Security form that allows you to adjust the price history based on the conversion ratio for spinoffs. o A new report is available, but not documented in the user manual. The Income Report, available from the Report Menu, provides information on actual and estimated distributions. You can choose to print information on next/current/previous month/quarter/year, or over a selected date range. For any period that extends beyond the current date, Capital Gainz will estimate dividend/interest payments based on defined payments per year, last per share value, and current open shares. The distributions are totaled for each portfolio, and you can subtotal by month using the subtotal parameter in the report settings. o If the first character of the first Comment line is '!', the lines are concatenated with word wrap on reports. This affects Broker/Investment Companies, Global Securities, Local Securities, and Portfolios. o If multiple users are running Capital Gainz from a server, the temporary and data directories should be on the local machine to avoid conflicts. You may need to edit CG.BAT and CG.INI. In CG.INI, use SET DATA= so user must specify directory at startup. Also, set the temporary directory to point to something like C:\TMP in both CG.BAT and CG.INI. o The locator feature on tables now accepts multiple character matches. For instance, typing 'GR' at the Local Security Table will position at the first symbol beginning with 'GR'. Before, this would position at the first symbol beginning with 'G', then first symbol beginning with 'R'. If you use the locator, the entered keystrokes are cleared after 2 seconds of inactivity or any intervening operation. So, if you type 'G', wait a few seconds, then type 'R', you will be positioned at the first symbol beginning with 'G', then the first symbol beginning with 'R' (as before). o When downloading from Compuserve, some users hang up at the initial Compuserve menu. If this happens, you may need to edit the download script, \CAPGNZ\DNLD\CGCOMP.SCR, and change the line (located near the top of the script): #<<! to <<! o When accessing Compuserve from the Download Program, your Compuserve profile should be set to 80 column screens and 20-24 lines per screen. To change this in Compuserve, use: GO TERMINAL 2 [2 Change permanent settings] 4 [4 Terminal type/parameters] Then set the following: 2 Screen WIDTH [80] 3 LINES per page [23] If you experience any prompts to 'Hit CR to Continue' from Compuserve, you can either increase the LINES per page in your TERMINAL settings or reduce the Maximum Symbols Per Service Request from 19 to 15-18. Compuserve has introduced a bug into BasicQuotes services which may or may not affect you. The symptoms are that the Download Program stops after sending the ticker symbols to Compuserve. I never received a satisfactory answer from them concerning how to fix this, but using trial and error, the following TERMINAL settings appear to be the key: 1 TERMINAL type [OTHER] ... 8 PARITY [EVEN] o Undocumented program switches: /B No screen blanker /C No color /M No mouse PWD=password Specify password /S No special symbols - may need with Windows /U Unattended operation for Download Program /V No video set/reset /W Skip warning messages o If you download quotes via Quicken, it's easy to get those quotes into Capital Gainz: First, you should have the Global Security Symbols in Capital Gainz set to the actual ticker symbols. You can change these values if necessary. Then: In Quicken: 1) Download quotes as explained in the Quicken manual. 2) Choose 'F2-Print/Acct' 3) Choose '4. Export' 4) Choose '2. Export Prices' 5) Choose '2. All Securities' 6) Specify the 'DOS File', such as PRICES.EXP In Capital Gainz: 1) Choose Prices 2) Choose Update Prices/File 3) Specify the path of the Quicken export file, such as \QUICKEN\PRICES.EXP. The format of the Quicken export file conveniently matches the Capital Gainz default format. o In the Graphics Program, if you choose any color but White (007 in CG.STY) for the Background Color, the background of graphs will be black. Also, after changing the background color, it is not in effect until you exit and reenter the Graphics Program. o In the Download Program, if you are using COM3 or COM4, we set the default port addresses incorrectly. If you are using one of these COM ports, go into the Download Program, choose Config, then choose Communications Settings. At the bottom, you'll see: COM Port #1 IRQ: 4 Hex Address: 03F8 COM Port #2 IRQ: 3 Hex Address: 02F8 COM Port #3 IRQ: 4 Hex Address: 03F8 COM Port #4 IRQ: 3 Hex Address: 02F8 Change the Hex Addresses for COM Port #3 and #4 as follows: COM Port #3 IRQ: 4 Hex Address: 03E8 COM Port #4 IRQ: 3 Hex Address: 02E8 o If you change the Temporary Directory under Config/System Configuration, you must manually change CG.BAT accordingly. Alternatively, you can reinstall, specifying a different Temporary Directory, to change it in all relevant places. o If you want to run Capital Gainz directly from the root directory, without changing to \CAPGNZ, create a small file in \, named CG.BAT: CD \CAPGNZ CG Or, to return to the root directory when done: CD \CAPGNZ CALL CG CD .. o A Report Setting lets you calculate Internal Rate of Return (IRR) instead of the documented Capital Gainz performance calculation. o Here's some more information for Chapter 19 - Investment Strategies: Standard & Poor's 'Directory of Dividend Reinvestment Plans', $39.95 Standard & Poor's Corporation 25 Broadway New York, NY 10004-1010 212-924-1010 'Buying Stocks Without a Broker', Charles B. Carlson, McGraw- Hill, $16.95 For Treasury Direct: Free publication available from Federal Government: 'Buying Treasury Securities'. Free booklet from your local federal reserve bank provides valuable phone numbers and addresses related to buying Treasuries. On CompuServe: DRPLST.ZIP, on NAIC Forum, Library 1.