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Night Owl CD-ROM (NOPV9) (Night Owl Publisher) (1993).ISO
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READ.ME
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1993-03-03
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╓─────────────────────────────╖
║ TOPICS COVERED IN THIS FILE ║
┌─────────────╨──────────────┬──────────────╨─────────────┐
│ 1. What's new? and history │ 4. Installation notes │
│ 2. Upcoming features │ 5. WML and EXE compressors │
│ 3. File list │ 6. Advantages of WML │
└────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────┘
Shareware vendors see VENDOR.DOC ── BBS sysops also see SYSOP.DOC
What's new? and History
───────────────────────
03/03/93 ── 2.1b Added "smart" ability to determine Canada/U.S.A. printing
on labels & envelopes. Added new Preferences/Country setting.
Fixed INSTALL bug. Added error handling for disk errors.
03/01/93 ── 2.1a Minor bug fixes with groups & envelope offsets data entry
02/22/93 ── 2.1 Added context-sensitive help on many screens; expanded
printer support & added more printers; top offset added to
envelope definition; dot matrix envelope ability added;
documentation and on-line help enhanced; phone book was
missing a TAB stop on dot matrix print-outs; lines which are
too long to fit on a DM label are now truncated; problem
with not defining a laser printer fixed (ooops!); file locks
put in place to test WML on networks - network users I need
your feedback: Does it work?; added long file descriptions,
File/New updated and new option File/Rename added; begin
using overlays to give more free memory which also jumped
WML.EXE up to 425k, oh well; redesigned reports menus and
added Zip Code Distribution report; Fixed many report
formatting bugs and bugs on Abbrevs & Groups screens
11/24/92 ── 2.0y Postal bar code font made part of unregistered package;
DBF file import finished; fixed laser envelope font switching
10/30/92 ── 2.0x Fixed lookup window bug & duplicate addresses bug
10/05/92 ── 2.0w Duplicate personal names allowed & Names dup checking added.
Indexing bugs fixed. New Actions added to Select/Query.
09/29/92 ── 2.0v PRINTER.DAT back to full size (bad idea, sorry). Bugs fixed
09/15/92 ── 2.0u Decreased PRINTER.DAT to fit on 360k disk. More bugs fixed
09/10/92 ── Made mouse see-through. Removed exploding windows
08/31/92 ── Select/Query enhanced; all options now fully functional
08/23/92 ── WML & CP/M .NAD ASCII files import. Length of last & first names
made dynamic. Upgrades for WML version 2 made free
08/20/92 ── Postal bar code support added
08/11/92 ── 2.0g Smart Zip added
On The WML Drawing Board
────────────────────────
1. Mouse support will be installed on every screen (for now use the
keyboard on Groups & Abbreviations screens)
2. ASCII import will be completely definable soon. I plan to make it
work just like the DBF Import so you can import _any_ comma-delimited
ASCII file.
3. Postal (PostNet) bar codes print only on laser envelopes at this
time. Soon they will also print on dot matrix and laser labels.
4. Ability to prepare a disk to send to P.O. for zip code correction and
9-digit expansion
File List
─────────
Unregistered Edition files:
FILE_ID.DIZ Description of WML for BBSs [*]
DESC.SDI Same as FILE_ID.DIZ [*]
WML.EXE What Mailing List? programme
INSTALL.EXE Installation programme (not included in BBS archives)
Note: INSTALL does not copy itself to your hard disk so you
will only find it on a floppy disk copy of WML.
WMLDATA.EXE Data files (self-extracting archive on 360k disks)
contains: [*]
── WML.HLP Help file
── PRINTER.DAT Printer definitions
── POSTAL.DAT Zip/Postal codes
── FKEY.LST Support file (function key list)
── MAILCODE.SFL Postal bar code PCL soft font
ORDER.FRM Order form for WML and other software
WMLDOCS.EXE WML documentation (self-extracting archive), contains: [*]
── WML.TXT Manual in ASCII "generic" printer format [*]
── WML.WP Manual in WordPerfect 5 format [*]
VENDOR.DOC Information for Shareware distributors [*]
SYSOP.DOC Information for bulletin board sysops [*]
READ.ME This file [*]
The above files may be copied & shared freely as a complete, unmodified
set. Files marked with [*] are not needed during operation of WML and may be
deleted from a disk if space is a premium, however, please include _all_ of
the files in copies of WML you distribute. If you use INSTALL it will
remove some of the unneeded files. I would appreciate it if you would keep
the ORDER.FRM file handy on your disk until you decide whether WML suits
your needs.
The Registered Edition contains extra files which are to be used only
by registered users. If you copy WML for a friend, please _erase_ these
Registered Edition files to make an Unregistered Edition disk:
CONFIG.WDT Your registration and configuration.
FONTS.EXE Soft fonts for PCL laser printer (self-extracting archive)
Installation Notes
──────────────────
If you received your copy of WML on disk it has an installation programme
on it. Using INSTALL is faster than installing/updating manually and it
will not touch your AUTOEXEC or CONFIG. Just put the floppy in a drive and
type "A:INSTALL" or "B:INSTALL" depending on your computer.
When INSTALL is finished it will offer to unpack the included archives.
WMLDATA.EXE will automatically be extracted since it is required for
WML to run (this file is only on 360k disks)
WMLDOCS.EXE contains the documentation files (see below)
FONTS.EXE contains PCL soft fonts. Soft fonts can reside in any
directory on any disk except for MailCode.SFL which *MUST* be in the
WML directory. If you put soft fonts in another directory, remember to
move MailCode.SFL back into your WML directory or you will not get any
bar codes on envelopes.
WFF*.EXE contains the latest version of What Floppy Format? which lets
you format floppies to any density from within any of my software
packages. You must have FDFORMAT (which is another free product)
to use WFF.
If you have received WML from a bulletin board it would be best to:
1. Make a directory for it (for example, "MD \WML")
2. Go to that directory (e.g., "CD \WML")
3. Extract the archive. I put all of the WML files together into a
self-extracting archive (an EXE file). When you run this EXE file
it expands each of the files in the archive and returns to DOS. This
is convenient because you don't need any other programme, such as
PKUNZIP or ARJ, to unpack the archive -- it does it all by itself.
However, many BBSs don't like anything but ZIPs or ARJs or whatever
their chosen format is, so you may receive the WML2*.EXE archive
inside of a ZIP, ARJ, etc. So, according to your situation, do
these steps:
a. Unpack the archive
i. If it is an EXE file, just type its name
ii. If if is an ARJ, LZH, or ZIP, use the appropriate software
to unpack it (for example, "ARJ E WML20Y")
b. Check the file list above to see if there are other EXE archives
which were inside of the archive you just expanded. If so, loop
back to step (a).
4. Type "WML" and set your Preferences.
Installing on a Single Floppy Disk
──────────────────────────────────
WML can be run from a single floppy disk drive, although it will run
_very_ slowly as its primary function involves working with disk files. To
keep the size and complexity of WML to a minimum, data files must be in the
same directory as the EXE file which means that everything has to fit on a
single floppy disk. If you only plan to use WML once a year to send
Christmas cards this method will probably work fine. But if you will use
WML regularly or have more than 50 or 100 addresses to track, I strongly
suggest using a bit of your hard disk space for WML.
Always have a floppy disk copy of the programme which is not being
used. When using only floppies, this means having an extra copy: one to
use and one to keep as a back-up. Use "Diskcopy a: a:" to make a working
copy of the floppy disk, if necessary. Then delete the documentation and
other files marked with [*] above -- this will give you more room for your
data. The end result is about 250k of space used. Thus, you can fit about
100 entries on a 360k disk and about 600/1200/1500 entries on a
720k/1.2Mb/1.44Mb disk.
Documentation Files
───────────────────
On disk, WML contains WMLDOCS.EXE, a self-extracting LHARC archive
(LHARC is (c) 1991 by Haruyasu Yoshizaki). I am using LHARC to keep WML on
a 360k floppy without sacrifices. WMLDOCS contains two files: WML.TXT and
WML.WP. To extract the documentation just type "WMLDOCS."
If you have WordPerfect 5, just load WML.WP. Instructions to reformat
and print are in a comment at the top of the file. If you don't have
WordPerfect or a way to convert the WML.WP file to your word processor, then
just "TYPE WML.TXT > PRN" at the DOS prompt. WML.TXT is an ASCII file
generated from WordPerfect for a "standard printer" and this command will
send it to the printer on port LPT1:. You can substitute the "PRN" with
"LPTx:" where the "x" is 1, 2, or 3.
Advantages of WML
─────────────────
I've done a fair amount of snooping around BBSs and so far I've found
nothing quite like WML. My good friend, beta tester, and sysop of The
Researcher's BBS in California, Skip Taylor, tells me that WML beats out
the commercial products My Mailing List and FastPack Mail in almost all
areas. And FastPack Mail is a $100+ package!! That made me feel good...
1. WML manages and prints lists and has lots of features in both areas
2. WML handles TWO print devices ── a PCL laser printer for envelopes and
laser labels, AND a dot matrix printer for continuous labels of any type.
You don't have to buy two separate versions of the software such as with
Avery's commercial package. I will support PostScript (I think I can)
if somebody would send me the relevant information.
3. WML supports all label types. If your label type is not listed in
the menu just modify a definition or create a new one.
4. WML has integrated back-up/restore functions. An easy way to back-up a
computer makes all the difference in whether or not it is done. This
makes it easy.
5. WML can import and export lists to/from many environments, including
DBF, WordPerfect, Word, Ventura Publisher, and "generic" ASCII text.
6. WML will print bar codes on envelopes automatically!
7. WML is shareware. Try it for 60 days and see whether you can live without
it. For just $29 you can have WML with soft fonts and the latest copy of
WFF. And that pause at start-up will go away!
Thank you, Merci, Gracias, Grazie,
Angel Babudro ∙ 28 Mulberry St ∙ Clinton, NY USA 13323-1506 ∙ (315) 853-6942
(this is a home phone number so please remember time zone differences)