


                    README.SD for SPECIAL DAYS   (Version 2.5)
                    ------------------------------------------


                      A RECAP OF WHAT IS NEW IN VERSION 2.5:


     1.  NEW DATA.  We have added data for 1989 and 1990 and have
         corrected some errors in earlier years.  You can now create
         a TimeScript for any date from 1/1/1850 through 12/31/90.


     2.  BETTER PRINTER SUPPORT.  We have added support for over 25 new
         printers.  You can now print a report with lined borders on a
         much wider variety of printers.  Some of the printers now
         supported include:

            Brother M-1824L              Brother HL8-PS Laser
            Citizen GSX 140              Citizen 200GX
            Citizen 5200                 C.Itoh 240/245
            C.Itoh 510/515               Epson FX86e/286e
            Epson LQ850/950/1050         Epson LQ1000 w-ESC/P module
            Epson LX810                  HP DeskJet +
            HP LaserJet +                HP LaserJet IIp
            HP LaserJet III              IBM Lasers (proprt emul)
            IBM Proprinters              NEC P2200XE
            NEC P5200/P5300              NEC Pinwriter P6
            Okidata 182/183              Okidata 320/321
            Okidata 391                  Panasonic 1080i
            Panasonic 1180               Panasonic 1124/1164
            Star NX-1000II               Star NX2410
            Tandy DMP133                 TI Microlaser (HP emul)

         A FEW TECHNICAL NOTES ON PRINTERS:  When first running the
         program, a printer selection screen is displayed from which
         you pick your printer.  Once you've selected a printer, 
         you can change your selection from the User Options Screen.
         Just press the left or right arrow keys on the Printer Type
         line to horizontally scroll through the dozens of different
         printers now supported (only two of these printer types are
         displayed on the screen at one time).

         Many of the above dot-matrix printers support multiple fonts
         and/or character sets.  SPECIAL DAYS is set up to work with
         a non-proportional, 10 characters/inch set (e.g. a 10 pitch
         courier or pica character set that supports the IBM extended
         graphic characters).  Do not try to use SPECIAL DAYS with
         a proportional font or an elite, 12 characters/inch character
         set.  For laser printers, SPECIAL DAYS comes with its own soft
         font which you can download into your laser printer's memory by
         entering LASERSD from the DOS prompt (see page 5-3 in the
         User's Guide for more details on LASERSD).


     3.  SHORTER PAGE LENGTH.  We have shortened the length of all
         three report types (i.e. Birthday, Anniversary and Flashback)
         to a maximum of 60 lines.  This offers several advantages
         including:
             
         a. EASIER PAPER HANDLING.  You won't have to spend as much
            time adjusting your top-of-form setting so that the entire
            document will fit on one page.

         b. MORE WHITE SPACE.  The resulting document now has a larger
            top and bottom margin and seems better proportioned than
            the earlier versions.

         c. ACCOMMODATING STANDARD 8" x 10" FRAMES.  You can now use
            readily available 8 x 10 frames for mounting your documents
            after trimming the borders (instead of the non-standard
            8 1/2" x 11" frames previously required).

         d. NON-COMPRESSED LINE SPACING ON LASER PRINTERS.  Since most 
            laser printers only support 60 standard spaced lines, the
            earlier version of SPECIAL DAYS compressed 66 lines into the
            same amount of space.  This resulted in output that had a
            more "scrunched" look to it.  This "scrunching" is no
            longer implemented.


     4.  CUSTOMIZED TAG LINE.  A number of customers felt that the SALINON
         line at the bottom of each document detracted from its appearance.
         You can now delete the tag line off of the bottom of the page
         or replace it with one of your own up to 72 characters in length.
         For example, if you are sending Birthday reports to clients,
         you can now use the tag line at the bottom of the page for a
         message like:    "Compliments of Mary Jane Boswell Insurance".

         To change this tag line you will need to edit the TAGLINE.SDR file
         with a text editor, your word processor or with the DOS COPY CON
         TAGLINE.SDR command.  Be sure and make a backup copy of this file
         before editing it.  You can either leave the tag line blank or
         insert a message up to 72 characters long.

         If you edit TAGLINE.SDR with your text editor or word processor,
         be sure and save it as an ASCII file with no special formatting
         or control characters.  It should contain only one line of data,
         the tag line.

         Alternatively, you can create a new tag line with the DOS COPY CON
         command.  To do this, first log on to your SPECIAL DAYS Database
         Diskette or to the SPECIAL DAYS subdirectory on your hard disk.
         At the DOS prompt, type the following line and then press the
         ENTER key:

                            COPY CON TAGLINE.SDR

         Now key in your single tag line (up to 72 characters in length)
         and press the ENTER key.  Finally, press the F6 function key and
         then the ENTER key.  You have now created a new TAGLINE.SDR file.


     5.  REDUCING RAGGED RIGHT BORDER.  In testing the new SPECIAL DAYS
         on dozens of different printers, we noticed that some printers
         produce an uneven or ragged right lined border.  While there isn't
         a program fix for this problem, we did discover that manually
         switching a printers' feed setting from TRACTOR FEED to FRICTION 
         FEED often corrected or reduced this problem.  To a lesser extent,
         we also reduced this problem by switching from DRAFT to NEAR
         LETTER QUALITY mode, using a different character set, or in a few
         cases, using a different (usually thicker) paper.


     6.  OTHER MINOR CHANGES.  We have corrected some minor problems
         including formatting, error messages and F4 key operation.  We
         have also compiled the entire program with a new compiler and
         substituted some new assembly language and screen handling
         routines to slightly improve execution time while reducing
         overall module size.



                A RECAP OF OTHER FEATURES NOT COVERED IN THE USER GUIDE:


     7.  The User Options Menu now gives you two additional options:

                       BORDER               On       Off
                       ASCII FILE           On       Off

         You can now turn the border on or off before printing.  This
         feature will let you print TimeScripts on forms with a preprinted
         border.  Prior to Versions 2.0 and 2.5, the only way to eliminate
         the border was to print the TimeScript out to a disk file called
         LASTDAY.ASC, and then to manually erase the border using your word
         processing or desktop publishing package.

         You can now also turn the ASCII file, LASTDAY.ASC, on or off from
         the User Options Menu.  Once turned on, all TimeScripts that you
         generate on the screen (irrespective of whether or not you print
         them on your printer) are written out to LASTDAY.ASC, one right
         after the other.  This feature lets you save TimeScripts on disk
         without having to print them on your printer.  You can then port
         this file into your word processor or desktop publishing package
         for final formatting and printing at a more convenient time (see
         11a. for more information on this feature).  NOTE: All bolding is
         turned off when creating this ASCII file to facilitate your
         reformatting of the document.


      8. The characters used for printing the border have been moved to an
         ASCII disk file called SETINFO.SDR.  You can edit this file with
         most word processing packages, substituting sets of border
         characters that you prefer for the default sets already provided.
         THIS FEATURE IS TO BE USED WITH CAUTION AND BY ADVANCED PC USERS
         ONLY.  Continue reading for more information on how to change your
         border characters.


      9. The Anniversary Report now calculates the anniversary date
         independent of the current month and day (using strictly the
         year).  This allows you to run Anniversary TimeScripts prior to
         the actual Anniversary date without having to worry about an
         incorrect number of years calculation.



                     MORE DETAILS ABOUT SOME OF THESE FEATURES


     10. Here is some more information on BORDERS and the SETINFO.SDR File:

         The User Options Menu allows you to turn the border on or off (used
         for the screen display, for the printout and for the LASTDAY.ASC
         file).  This feature was added to accommodate those users that
         wanted to print TimeScripts on forms with preprinted borders, or
         to help those users that wanted to add their own borders with a
         word processing or desktop publishing package.

         In addition to now having this on/off switch, you also have the
         ability to substitute a different set of border characters (using
         a simple text editor or many word processing packages) for each
         of the three character sets provided by SALINON.

         IMPORTANT NOTE: IF YOU ARE NEW TO COMPUTERS, IF YOU DON'T KNOW
         WHAT GRAPHIC CHARACTERS YOUR PRINTER SUPPORTS, OR IF YOU ARE NOT
         FAMILIAR WITH HOW TO MODIFY ASCII FILES, WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND
         THAT YOU DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CHANGE THE SETINFO.SDR FILE.  SALINON
         TECHNICAL SUPPORT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO HELP YOU IF YOU'VE CORRUPTED
         THIS FILE AND DON'T HAVE A BACKUP COPY.

         The border characters are stored in this ASCII SETINFO.SDR File on
         your Database Diskette.  The format of the file is as follows:

            Row 1:   0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 2, 10, 1   (User Option parameters)

                                               OUTER BORDER CHARACTERS:
            Row 2:  "I","*"," "                (upper left-hand corner)
            Row 3:  ";","*"," "                (upper right-hand corner)
            Row 4:  "H","*"," "                (lower left-hand corner)
            Row 5:  "<","*"," "                (lower right-hand corner)
            Row 6:  ":","*"," "                (vertical border)
            Row 7:  "M","*"," "                (horizontal border)

                                               INNER BOX CHARACTERS:
            Row 8:  "Z","+"," "                (upper left-hand corner)
            Row 9:  "?","+"," "                (upper right-hand corner)
            Row 10: "@","+"," "                (lower left-hand corner)
            Row 11: "Y","+"," "                (lower right-hand corner)
            Row 12: "3","|"," "                (vertical border)
            Row 13: "D","-"," "                (horizontal border)

         Before making any changes to this file, be sure and make a backup
         copy.  If you inadvertently make an error and then run SPECIAL
         DAYS, the program may freeze or produce some very unusual print-
         outs.  If this happens, recopy your backup SETINFO.SDR file on top
         of the one you modified.


         Here are a few hints for how to modify the SETINFO.SDR file:

           a. Don't change any of the values in Row 1.  They are the
              parameters from the User Options Screen (Printer Type, Sound
              On/Off, Etc.) and should only be changed directly from the
              User Options Menu.

           b. Rows 2 through 7 contain the border characters used for the
              outer border around the edge of your TimeScript.  Rows 8
              through 13 contain the border characters used for the inner
              box around the title.

           c. The first column of characters in Rows 2 through 13 is
              used when you select almost any of the printer options
              on the User Options Menu.  The second column of characters
              is used when you select the GENERIC / OTHER printer option
              or a few of the other printers that don't support lined
              borders (e.g. DAISY WHEEL printers).  The third column of
              characters is used when you turn the border off (that is
              why this column contains all blanks).

              You can place any alternative set of characters in any of
              these three columns as long as each character is surrounded
              by quotes, and separated from the other two columns with a
              comma.  In other words, the file format needs to be kept
              intact or SPECIAL DAYS may bomb when you try to run it.

              Note that the first column of border characters may appear as
              "I ; H <" in your SETINFO.SDR file, but will actually print
              differently on your printer.  These characters are extended
              ASCII characters created by holding down the "Alt" key while
              entering in a number from your numeric keypad (For example,
              pressing the "Alt" key while entering "2 0 1" from the
              numeric keypad generates the letter "I" on your screen, but
              this character will print as an upper left-hand corner on IBM
              Proprinters and compatibles) .  If you don't know how to
              enter extended ASCII codes, just stick with the standard
              typewriter keyset (what is shown on your keyboard) when
              experimenting with different character sets.

           d. Once you've completed your changes, be sure and save
              SETINFO.SDR as an ASCII file with no special formatting or
              control characters.  Some word processors automatically
              insert these codes unless you explicitly tell them not to.
              Many of these codes will corrupt the SETINFO.SDR file
              causing erroneous results when you run SPECIAL DAYS.


     11. Here are a few cautions about using the ASCII File On/Off feature;

           a. Once you turn the ASCII File option on from the User
              Options Menu, it stays on until you turn it off or until you
              run out of disk space.  Every TimeScript you generate on the
              screen will also be written to disk.  This can fill up the
              available space on a floppy disk quickly.  If you run out of
              disk space, SPECIAL DAYS will print a warning message and
              automatically turn the ASCII File option off for you.

              If you get this warning message, you can keep running SPECIAL
              DAYS, but you will not be able to write any more TimeScripts
              to disk until you exit the program.  Once you exit the
              program, you can print your LASTDAY.ASC file or copy it to
              another disk.  You can then restart SPECIAL DAYS, which
              AUTOMATICALLY ERASES your old LASTDAY.ASC file and frees up
              the disk space it used for a new set of TimeScripts.

              Each TimeScript takes approximately 5,000 bytes of disk
              space.  This means that if you are running from 5 1/4" floppy
              disks, you have room for no more than four TimeScripts on the
              SPECIAL DAYS Database Diskette.  Check and make sure that you
              have adequate space on whatever disk you are using before
              turning the ASCII File option on.

           b. SPECIAL DAYS remembers your Options setting between sessions.
              This means that if you exit SPECIAL DAYS with ASCII = "On"
              the next time you start SPECIAL DAYS ASCII will still be on.

           c. At the start of each SPECIAL DAYS session, a new LASTDAY.ASC
              file is created and the old one, if it exists, is erased
              (regardless of whether the ASCII File Option is on or off).
              If you need to save what is in your LASTDAY.ASC file for
              future use, be sure and rename the file before starting
              SPECIAL DAYS again.

           d. When editing LASTDAY.ASC with your word processor, you may
              find that each line on a TimeScript takes two lines on your
              screen.  To solve this problem, reset your word processor's
              left margin to 1 and right margin to 80.

              You may also find that the right-hand border doesn't always
              line up properly on your screen, even after you have changed
              the margin settings.  This is because some lines of a
              TimeScript may contain null characters (which have a length
              of zero) but which some word processors display as having a
              length of one.  To solve this problem, you can print the
              TimeScripts out with a different Printer Type (e.g. IBM Pro-
              printer or with Border set to OFF, or you can use your word
              processor do delete all the null characters.  NOTE: even
              though the right-hand border may appear jagged on your
              screen, when you print LASTDAY.ASC from DOS using the "Print"
              or "Copy" commands, the right margin is printed properly.


     12. The date calculation in the Anniversary TimeScript Report used to
         look at the current year, month and day.  This caused a problem
         for users who wanted to print a report prior to the actual
         Anniversary.  For example, let's say you want to give an
         Anniversary TimeScript to your parents whose 25th wedding
         anniversary is next week.  If you run the report today, the
         heading will read that they have been married for over 24 (not 25)
         years, since their 25th anniversary hasn't yet arrived.  To
         correct this, Versions 2.0 and 2.5 only look at the current year
         when calculating the number of years since the original event.

         If you are running some Anniversary TimeScripts in December for
         January anniversaries, the number of years calculation will still
         be one year off.  To solve this problem, temporarily reset your
         system date to the upcoming year with the DOS "Date" command.



                   SOME COMMENTS ABOUT PRINTERS (All Versions)


    13.  If you have one of the old HP LaserJet printers that doesn't
         support downloadable soft fonts, you will not be able to use the
         font we've included on the Program Disk.  You will still be able
         to use this printer, but will have to load one of your cartridge
         fonts that supports the IBM graphics characters to get a nice
         looking border (e.g. the PRESENTATION 1 cartridge, #92286R, is one
         to try if you have it).

         You will be able to use the downloadable soft font on the newer HP
         Laser printers (and compatibles) such as the LaserJet + or the
         LaserJet Series II or III.  For more information on downloading
         this font, refer to page 5-3 in your User's Guide.

          THE END OF README.SD - NOW GO HAVE SOME FUN WITH SPECIAL DAYS!
