FlashWorks Distribution Notes

FlashWorks is a superb flash card program for learning foreign languages. It is available for both Macintosh and Windows. It comes with databases for German, Spanish, French, Greek (including a postscript font), and Hebrew (including a bitmap font). Full instructions are included.

It is very fast and flexible. For example, you can tell it you want to work with verbs and nouns, not prepositions, etc., that occur in chapters 4-6 in your text book (optional) and occur at least 30 times in the literature (optional for Biblical Greek and Hebrew). It watches what words you get right and wrong and adjusts a “Difficulty” rating for each word for each student. Therefore, you can also search for just those words that have a personal difficulty of 3 and above, or perhaps only 5.

The databases are really text files, so you can modify them as much as you wish with your word processor, including adding new languages or modifying the ones included. You can select the font for the foreign word, so you can use it for Russian, Arabic, etc., anything for which you can get a font.

Macintosh

Name on AOL and FirstClass: FlashWorks___.sea
Name on CIS: fwmac_.sea

The underscore is replaced by the version number. 

If you received the files on a disk directly from me, the data files (e.g., Greek) are compressed individually. Double click on the one you want to extract it.

Windows

Name: fwwin_.zip

The underscore is replaced by the version number. I do not have a Hebrew font for Windows. One can be downloaded from "WINGREEK" but I doubt the the mapping is the same as I used on the text in the Macintosh version.

*** IMPORTANT ***: to save space the database ("flashwrk.mdb") shipped with FlashWorks is empty. When you start FlashWorks, go to the File menu, choose "Read text file," and specify which language you wish to use (e.g., fwgreek.txt, etc.). If you want other languages as well, put flashwrk.mdb in a directory, rename "flshempy.mdb" to flashwrk.mdb, and repeat the process. Detailed instructions are in the help file.

If you are using the Greek database, be sure to load the font ("Mounce_.ttf") into your windows/system directory using the control panels "Fonts."

The Share command will have to be activated. See your DOS manual (or just type "SHARE" at the C:\ prompt).

Check your search parameters if your FlashWorks doesn't find any words. Many people have, for example, the lowest chapter set to "1" and in some of the databases all words have the chapter "0."

Notes for electronic distribution of Windows version (e.g., CompuServe):

1. The Windows version requires certain vbx's. They are in a file named "fwext1.zip." The files it contains are: cmdialog.vbx, commondlg.dll, keystat.vbx, msmasked.vbx, threed.vbx. These should be loaded into your Windows/System subdirectory. You may already have these vbx's.

2. The Windows version also requires the following four files: vbdb300.dll, msaes110.dll, msajt110.dll, and vbrun300.dll. These are necessary for data access. vbrun300.dll is on AOL (use the keyword "WIN" and go to Software libraries//Top picks). The other three files are in a file named "fwextr.zip" (or possibly "fwext2.zip"). If you already have a Visual Basic version 3 program, you may already have these files.

Uploads

The files are uploaded to America Online, CompuServe, Internet (macgifts@mac.archive.umich.edu for the Macintosh version) and FirstClass. When possible I have included the following search words so the files will be easy to find.

"Flash cards"
"Foreign language"
"Starsoft"
"Ecnuom"
"Greek" (or another language name)

If you received a floppy

On a Macintosh: the data files were compressed individually. Double click on the one you want to extract it.

On Windows: to install, start Windows, select the RUN command under the File menu, select b:\SETUP.EXE, and run the program. Read the README file for further instructions.

Where to contact

If you want a self-installing copy of the program (for Windows) and all associated files on floppy, specify Macintosh or Windows and send $15 (per platform) to,

Bill Mounce
StarSoft Technologies, Inc.
PO Box 10010
Spokane, WA 99209-0010

Please make the check out to "Bill Mounce."

Internet (from Internet or AOL): bill.mounce@on-ramp.ior.com
                                                  (or mounce@macsbbs.spk.wa.us)
AOL: Mounce
CIS: 71540,2140 (only if necessary)

The programs are also available at the following ftp site: condor.cs.andrews.edu.

I prefer Internet. Please do not Internet to my CompuServe account. Please do not call on the phone. StarSoft is not making any money on this shareware project and so it is not fair for them to incur costs. Thank you.

Please also send me any corrections or new databases. I will try to keep them current and available on line.

Bill Mounce

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Windows bug fixes and enhancements

1.0a

The version of the Greek font ("Mounce__.ttf) shipping with FlashWorks 1.0a and later fixes a few accent problems with the font shipped with FlashWorks 1.0. We also added a few new fields to the database, so if you FlashWorks 1.0, be sure you use the database included with
FlashWorks 1.0a.

1.0b

Fixed a problem with the "Set auto difficulty," and with changing the difficulty manually.