|AÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» |Aº ^0First Things First |AºÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ^1Diskovery |AÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͺ ^0First Things First |Aº |AÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ ^Cby ^CBob Napp Don't worry, we did not make a mistake. This month, ^1Big Blue Disk #43^0, provides a special treat! For the past few issues, we have been highlighting various commercial software products by including limited function "demos" in Big Blue Disk. Your response has been so positive, we thought we would extend our ^1Try Before You Buy^0 section this month to include even more software. The additional disk most of you have received was provided to handle this increased content. We hope you enjoy examining the Simply Ingenious, TRACON, and Electric Crayon demos. With all the excitement surrounding the bonus disk, I almost forgot about this month's feature! Personal Calc, a full-function spreadsheet, helps put numbers to work for you. Due to the amount of documentation associated with this program, I decided to try something new. The text has been separated into several sections with access provided from the Main Menu. Before you run the program, I suggest you read "Getting Started". It should provide sufficient information to ease you into the program. We have also included several quick reference sheets (Menu and Function) that can be printed for easy access of information. Please, let me know what you think about this method of presenting program documentation. A few issues ago, in BBD #41, we published a program called PC-M.D. This program, a database application, allows you to track your family's medical history and produce various reports for insurance and income tax purposes. A database is an organized collection of information structured for fast access. As a program of this sort, PC-M.D. retrieves information from numerous files. Unfortunately, PC/MS-DOS does not initially provide enough resources to handle all the files PC-M.D. uses. There is an easy way to fix this problem, but before we discuss that let's examine the initialization process your computer goes through when first started. When you first turn your computer on, the system goes through a process called "Booting Up". The "Boot Up" procedure includes system hardware testing, loading of the operating system into memory (IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS), and starting COMMAND.COM which interprets the commands you enter at the DOS prompt. Before COMMAND.COM is started, the computer looks for a file in the root directory of your PC/MS-DOS boot disk called CONFIG.SYS. This file provides information that is used to enhance the capabilities of your computer system. A typical CONFIG.SYS might have the following contents: ^CFILES=20 ^N ^CBUFFERS=20 ^N ^CDEVICE=MOUSE.SYS^N ^CBREAK ON ^N So that you can run PC-M.D. and similar programs, you must have a CONFIG.SYS file that contains, at least, the first two lines of the previous example. If you use BLUELINE EDITOR, creating/updating the CONFIG.SYS file is a snap. Simply select BLUELINE EDITOR from the Big Blue Disk menu and follow the instructions for the type of computer system you have. ^1SINGLE FLOPPY DISK USERS^0 Once the editor has started, remove Big Blue Disk from your floppy drive and insert your boot disk. At the "File to Load" prompt, type CONFIG.SYS. Either the file already exists and will be loaded into the editor or you will be prompted whether or not CONFIG.SYS should be created. The first two lines of the CONFIG.SYS file should contain the following: ^CFILES=20 ^N ^CBUFFERS=20^N Once this information has been entered, press to save the file to disk. Remove your boot disk from the floppy drive, reinsert Big Blue Disk, and press to exit the BLUELINE EDITOR. ^1DUAL FLOPPY DISK USERS^0 NOTE: We recommend that BBD users on dual floppy disk systems keep their DOS boot disk in drive A and run BBD from their B drive. The following instructions are based on that arrangement. Once the editor has started, type A:\CONFIG.SYS at the "File to Load" prompt. Either the file already exists and will be loaded into the editor or you will be prompted whether or not A:\CONFIG.SYS should be created. The first two lines of the CONFIG.SYS file should contain the following: ^CFILES=20 ^N ^CBUFFERS=20^N Once this information has been entered, press to save the file and to exit the BLUELINE EDITOR. ^1HARD DISK USERS^0 Once the editor has started, type C:\CONFIG.SYS at the "File to Load" prompt. Either the file already exists and will be loaded into the editor or you will be prompted whether or not C:\CONFIG.SYS should be created. The first two lines of the CONFIG.SYS file should contain the following: ^CFILES=20 ^N ^CBUFFERS=20^N Once this information has been entered, press to save the file and to exit the BLUELINE EDITOR. ^1FINAL NOTES^0 Before your computer will recognize the changes you have requested, you will need to reboot your system. I hope that you find the information I have provided useful. If you have any concerns, I strongly urge you to consult your DOS manual or talk to your local computer salesman. ^CHave a great month and keep sending those cards and letters!