PC Plus SuperCD (UK) 1994 June/PC Plus Super CD coverdisc Issue 93 June 1994.iso/install/orgdos/book.1

Text File | 1994-04-07 | 29.0 KB | 741 lines

Gorin's Organiser

@Read This Now
~READ THIS NOW - Release 2.00b, 8th April 1994

~Further instructions:

Information for disk vendors & BBS Sysops, plus advanced
concepts may be viewed by selecting the Book icon, below.
Advanced Concepts book is ONLY available AFTER installation.

~Introduction

Gorin's Organiser requires a VGA display (Mono or Colour)
and a hard disk. A Turbo XT (8086) PC can be used, but a 286
or faster is recommended. Mouse optional, but recommended.
If you do not have a mouse, you may control the mouse cursor
using the cursor keys found either on your numeric keypad,
or in an inverted T shape upon your keyboard. Use the
SPACEBAR to click on or select objects. Use the + and - keys
to increase or decrease the "keyboard" cursor speed.

If you use an XT: The performance of Organiser for DOS varies
considerably from machine to machine. Particularly, the
removal of dialogue boxes from screen can prove very slow on
XT machines. However, icon display is usually quite quick,
but will be slowed if your hard disk is not running at
optimum speed.

Gorin's Organiser is Copyright (c) 1993, 1994 Neil Gorin.

~Contact: NGS, 4 Rookwood Drive, Stevenage, Herts, SG2 8PJ.
~Phone: [phone]
~Email: [e-mail]

Modem users call the Shareware Support BBS for the
latest version of this product, and for technical support.
Shareware support BBS [phone] or 890807 (HST).

~A Microsoft Windows version of Organiser is also available.

This manual uses a run-time copy of the Microbook text
presentation tool, available as a separate product from NGS.

@User Interface 1/2
~HOW TO USE THE ORGANISER'S GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE (GUI)

The NGS GUI operates in a very similar method to other GUI's
such as "Windows" or "OS/2" and is based on "The Gorin
Desktop". Each component of the GUI is described below.

PUSH BUTTONS: These are on-screen buttons which appear to
pop out of the screen, then push in when you place the
cursor over them and click the LEFT button or spacebar. They
are used to select and confirm actions.  Pressing the first
letter on most push buttons has the same effect as clicking.

ICONS: Small pictures on square push buttons, which are
selected in a similar manner. They will be found along the
base of the main Organiser display, where they are used to
switch between the different parts of the program, and
within a large Dialogue, from which you can select which you
wish to represent your day or edit using the Icon Editor.

WINDOW: A window is an area on screen, which has a title.
This program has a main window, with the title Gorin's
Microbook. Note that windows may not be resized or moved.
The time and date is always displayed on the title bar of
the main window.

CLOSE BOX: The close box is found on the top right of some
windows, and allows you to close the current window, or
end the program. You may have to confirm your selection via
a Dialogue Box. Pressing ESCAPE has the same effect as
clicking on a close box, or press CTRL-F10 to exit to DOS.

DIALOGUE BOX: A box that appears on screen, with a set of
Push Buttons and some text in it. The dialogue may just
have an OK button, or may have any combination of buttons.
Use a suitable button to respond to the question asked.

ON-LINE HELP: When running the Organiser, help is available
at almost any time by pressing F1 or clicking on the help
icon (a question mark). Help is not available for the
basic Yes/No/Cancel type dialogue boxes.

@User Interface 2/2
~HOW TO USE THE ORGANISER'S GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE (GUI)

SCROLL BAR: A scroll bar consists of two arrows, one
pointing upwards and one downwards, which are joined by a
bar. By clicking on the arrows, you may scroll the
information within the window to which the scroll bar is
attached.

Editing text: In addition to the usual character keys, the
following keys may also be used when entering or editing
text fields within the Organiser:

         Backspace: Delete character before cursor
         Delete: Delete character above cursor
         Home: Move cursor to first character in line
         End: Move cursor to last character in line
         Escape: Cancel edit, retrieve old text
         CTRL-Enter: Erase line
         Left/Right arrows: Move cursor within text

Screen Saver: A screen saver is available at all times for
when you leave your PC unattended whilst the Organiser is
running. Simply place your mouse in the top left hand corner
of the screen, a short beep will indicate that the saver has
been activated. To continue working, simply move the mouse.

The screen saver will start automatically if you leave the
Organiser unattended for more than 90 seconds.

@Installation
~INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

To begin installation, return to the DOS prompt and type
INSTALL.  If you are running this program from the GO.BAT
file, INSTALL will run next.

You will need at least 720k free space on your destination
drive. Although the installation program enables you to
install onto a second floppy drive, it is STRONGLY
recommended that you install to a hard disk.

~Icons

Gorin's Organiser 2.0 comes with a selection of icons which
should be suitable for a variety of uses. Please note that
if you have previously used an earlier release of the
Organiser, you may find that some icons are duplicated - in
order to provide more compatibility with the Windows
release, the icons in Organiser 2.0 have been renamed.
However, you may now have as many or as few icons as you
wish - simply copy any Gorin Desktop icons into your
Organiser directory, or alternatively use the Windows Icon
Importer (See Windows Icons section).

Note that you MUST keep at least the two icons QUERY.ICU
and ORGWIN1.ICU in your Organiser directory, or the
program will not start. ORGWIN1.ICU is used whenever an
Auto-Organiser event is added (See Auto-Organiser section).

To the knowledge of the author, all icons supplied are
public domain.

@Command Line Options
~COMMAND LINE OPTIONS

There are two command line options for the main Gorin's
Organiser program, as follows:

         ORGANISE /XT - Forces the Organiser to use the
         Mouse Driver Cursor, which is faster on XT's.

         ORGANISE /TODAY - Lists all appointments for
         today. Ideally put the following lines into
         your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, to list your appointments
         each time you boot:

                   CD \ORGANISE
                   ORGANISE /TODAY
                   CD \

         Replacing \ORGANISE with the directory where you
         have installed the software.  Make sure that your
         MOUSE command (if any) comes BEFORE these commands.

NOTE: Some machines, notably the Amstrad 2000 series, do not
support a mouse driver cursor when using VGA modes. If you
experience loss of cursor after using the /XT switch please
contact your mouse driver manufacturer for a revised
version.

@Program Links
~LINKS TO OTHER PROGRAMS

~THE GORIN DESKTOP v2.1 and later:

Add the following line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:

         SET GORINDESKTOP=C:\DESKTOP\

Replace C:\DESKTOP\ with the directory where The Gorin
Desktop is installed on your system. This enables the
Address Book to be shared between the two programs.

Note: If you install Gorin Desktop AFTER you have been using
the Organiser, it is recommended that you use the
GORINDESKTOP parameter in the following way:

         SET GORINDESKTOP=C:\ORGANISE\

Therefore making the Desktop use the Organiser's ADBOOK.DAT
file, rather than the other way around. If you ever intend
to crossgrade to Organiser for Windows, it is essential
that you set this variable in the latter way.

~MICROSOFT WINDOWS (v3.0 and later):

PIF and ICO files are supplied for use with Program Manager,
these are automatically installed in your Organiser Directory.

However, with the release of Gorin's Organiser for Windows,
it is not recommended that you regularly run Organiser for
DOS under Windows. Although Organiser for DOS is
considerably faster than the Windows release when run
OUTSIDE Windows, the opposite is the case when actually
running INSIDE Windows.

@Diary - Iconic View
~THE DIARY - ICONIC VIEW

When you start the Organiser, the current month will be
displayed, and today will be highlighted.

Tip: If the Time or Date are incorrect, use the SET DATE
AND TIME option of the Install program to reset them.

On either side of the title, e.g. March 1994, you will find
selector buttons allowing you to easily display other months
or years. If you try to display a month for which a diary
file does not exist, a complete set of files for that year
are automatically created. For each year you hold a diary
for, approximately 180k of space is required on disk. The
Organiser can hold diaries for any year from 1980 to 2099.

Adding entries to the diary is simplicity itself! Simply
point at the day where you wish to make an appointment, and
click. A window will appear with appointment slots for the
various hours of the day, and you may enter appointments
into any of these slots simply by pressing the button marked
with the relevant hour. To copy an appointment from one hour
to the next, click on the second hour's button with the
right button (or Enter if using the keyboard). When you have
entered all your appointments, select OK. This will cause a
dialogue to appear, requesting that you select an icon from
those displayed to represent the appointments for that day -
this will then be shown on the relevant date in the diary.

Where appointments for a day exist, you will find that an
icon is already displayed. To view or add to these
appointments, simply point at the icon and click.

Appointments may be automatically placed in the diary using
the Auto-Organiser feature. (See Auto-Organiser section).

@Diary - Other Views
~Forthcoming Events

The Organiser provides a quick method of seeing your next 21
appointments, starting from tomorrow, via the Forthcoming
Events window. In this list, where two identical
appointments span over several consecutive hours, only
the first is shown. To view your Forthcoming Events,
select the Events icon from the icon bar.

Forthcoming Events may be displayed automatically when the
Organiser starts - simply enable the "Forthcoming Events on
startup" option from within the Options dialogue.

~The Planner

The Planner provides an alternative view of the diary,
showing an entire year at a time.

Depending on the appointments recorded for a specific day,
it may have any one of the following highlights:

         Red: Today.
         Yellow: One or more appointments exist.
         Light Blue: No appointments are recorded, but
                    notes are recorded for the day.
         Green: The day is a Saturday or Sunday WITHOUT
                any appointments or notes.

No highlight indicates a week day where there are no
appointments or notes recorded. Highlights are displayed
in order of priority as shown in the above table - i.e.
Red will be displayed on today's date even if appointments
or notes exist, or it is a free Saturday or Sunday.

To view or edit appointments for a day, point and click.

To replace one day's schedule AND icon with that of the
previous day, point and click with the Right mouse button
(or press Enter). This enables quick copying of one day onto
the next, for example to indicate holidays or seminars.

@Notepad
~THE NOTEPAD

~Using the index
The index is displayed whenever the notepad is started, or
the Index button is pressed. A scrolling list of notes, up
to a maximum of thirty, is displayed to the left of four
buttons, the functions of which are:

~        View: Enables viewing and reading of a note
~        New: Prompts for a name and creates a new note
~        Rename: Provides the ability to rename a note
~        Delete: Removes a note from the Notepad.

In the cases of View, Rename and Delete, it is necessary
to highlight a note first, by scrolling the list until the
note is seen and clicking on it.

~Using the notepad
When a new note is created, or an existing note highlighted
and View pressed, the main notepad window will be displayed.
The buttons displayed provide the following functions:

~        <<<< & >>>> view the next or previous note
~        Edit: Enables editing of note - see below
~        Print: Outputs the text to your printer
~        Index: Re-displays the index
~        Find: Searches the notepad for a particular phrase

~Editing a note
When editing a note, the following keys and combinations are
available, in addition to the cursor movement and text keys:

~        END: Saves the note, restores mouse cursor.
~        <--: (Backspace) Erase character before cursor
~        DELETE: Erase character above cursor
~        INSERT: Inserts a character at the cursor position
~        Ctrl+Y: Erases current line
~        Ctrl+N: Adds a new line

Text will be lost if it is moved off screen.

@Address Book
~ADDRESS BOOK

The address book is based on the traditional card index and
provides fields to record Name, Address, Telephone and Fax
numbers and Comments. You may also search your Address Book
for quick access to records, or jump to a particular section
by using the letter buttons - in a similar way to using the
tabs on a card index. The ability to print individual
addresses, or the entire book, is also provided, and you can
automatically dial telephone numbers if you have a suitable
Modem connected to your PC.

~How to...

Add a record: Press the + button and enter the text of the
new record into the fields provided. The record will be
saved automatically when you have finished.

Edit a record: Either press the Edit button and change each
field in turn, or simply click on a particular field.

Delete a record: Display the record and press '-'.

View the next or previous record: Use the '<' or '>' keys.
Alternatively, use the character buttons (A..Z) to quickly
jump to the first record where the surname begins with the
selected letter. If a button is disabled, no records exist
with appropriate surnames.

Search for a record: Press Search and type a search key.

Print a record: Display the record and press Print.

Dial a number: Display the relevant record and press Dial.
To dial, the Organiser must have been made aware of your
modem via the Options dialogue box.

@To Do Manager
~The To Do Manager

The To Do Manager enables you to record and prioritise tasks
which you have to perform, and to view these with ease. To
start the TDM, select the icon showing a clipboard from the
icon bar.

A window containing a scroll bar to the right, and a
series of buttons will be seen. The scroll bar allows you
to easily scroll through up to 100 tasks, simply by
pressing on the arrows provided.

To add a task to the list, press the ADD button. Type in
whatever you have to do and press enter. The provide a
priority to the task (A=highest, Z=lowest) and again press
the enter key. Your task will now be stored.

Once you have performed the necessary task, highlight it
with the mouse, and press the DONE button to remove it from
the list.

To sort the list into order of priority, press the SORT
button. Where more than one task has the same priority,
they will be sorted oldest first.

When you have finished with the TDM, select the CLOSE
box. Your To Do list will then be saved.

@Calculator & Search
~CALCULATOR

The calculator provides the four basic functions, Add,
Subtract, Multiply and Divide, and uses the standard
mathematical symbols, rather than their computer
equivalents, to represent the functions.

A total of 11 digits may be displayed, with accuracy
calculated to 12 decimal places. The calculator takes
instructions in sequence for simplicity and ease of use.

A backspace "<" key is provided to correct any mistakes you
make. To reset the calculator to zero, press 'C'.

~GLOBAL SEARCH

In a traditional paper based organiser, and indeed many
computer based ones, it can be quite a chore to find a
particular note or reference if you are not completely sure
where it is stored.

Global Search (the Search icon) removes the need for you to
manually trawl though the Organiser, by automatically
searching the Diary, Address Book, Notepad and To Do List
for a word or phrase, entered at the keyboard after pressing
the Search icon.

If more than 100 matches are found, you will be asked to try
a more specific search. Otherwise the results dialogue will
be displayed, listing each date, note, address or to do item
which the search uncovered. You are then given the option of
printing this list, performing another search or simply
closing the search window.

@Icon Editor
~USING THE ICON EDITOR

If you are not a good artist, you need never use the icon
editor. Many icons are supplied with Gorin's Organiser, so
you may find every one you need. However, for those times
when cannot find one suitable for a specific type of
appointment, the icon editor is on hand.

To select the icon editor, click on the "Roller" button. A
grid will appear, with a palette of colours below it. A
large block of colour to the right shows your current
ink colour, and an icon on the top right displays the icon
as it would be seen in the diary. Two buttons allow you to
Save and Load icons. The editor responds in a similar way to
many graphics packages, in that you click on the colour in
the palette, then drag the mouse with the left button held
down to draw. Keyboard users should use the cursor keys and
spacebar. If you use a mouse, you will find that the right
button works as a rubber. A further three push buttons to
the right of the drawing grid determine the brush size, the
current value of which is displayed under the box depicting
the current ink colour.

You can load any icon available to the Organiser by pressing
Load. Similarly, to save an icon press Save. If you have
created a new icon, you will be prompted for a file name
under which to save it, simply enter up to 8 characters and
press enter - the name you give is irrelevant as far as the
Organiser is concerned.

Note: You will find that the first icon is a pencil and
paper. This icon is used whenever an Auto-Organiser reminder
is placed, so if you choose to edit it, ensure that the
replacement has similar universal qualities.

@Windows Icons
~Microsoft Windows Icon Importer

Gorin's Organiser can directly use two types of icon, namely
those intended for The Gorin Desktop and Microsoft Windows.
However, the Organiser's internal support of Windows icons
is limited to their display within the diary for
compatibility with Organiser for Windows. When selecting an
icon, you are not given the choice of using a Windows icon,
as they take considerably longer to display (and take up
more disk space) than the native Desktop format.

However, there are many thousands of Windows icons available
in the public domain and you may well wish to use some of
these with your Organiser. If you would like to do this,
simply copy the Windows icons into your ORGANISE directory
and run WIN2DOS.

WIN2DOS converts all the Windows icons in the current
directory into the Gorin Desktop format used within the
Organiser. You will be given the option to delete the
Windows icons after they have been converted.

~Notes

Icons named ORGANISE.ICO will not be erased by WIN2DOS.
ORGANISE.ICO is the default Windows icon recommended to be
used when running Organiser for DOS under Windows.

Some Windows icons have transparent areas where the Windows
backdrop can show through, such areas are replaced with
black during the conversion process.


@Options
~CONFIGURING THE ORGANISER

To access the Options dialogue, select the picture of a
finger selecting buttons from the icon bar. A dialogue will
appear which allows you to select the following settings:

Compatibility mode scrolling: Some VGA cards are unable to
scroll parts of the display in graphics modes. If you find
that the screen becomes corrupted when you attempt to
scroll within the Auto-Organiser Manager, To Do list or
Search Results window, please enable this setting.

Month name in bold: If you prefer the name of the current
month and year (within the Iconic View) to be more bold,
enable this option. Note: Bold text takes longer to display.

Thought for the day: The Organiser includes the ability to
display a thought provoking comment each time it is
started. To see these, simply enable this option.

Forthcoming Events on startup: With this box checked, the
Forthcoming window will be shown when Organiser starts.

Background Colour: Allows you to choose your favourite
colour to act as a background. The default colour is a
purple-blue which looks good on both Mono and Colour
displays. Alternatively, if you prefer the more common light
grey, press Next once.

Modem Installed: Enable this option if you have a Modem.

Modem Port: Select the port your MODEM is connected to. This
setting has no effect if Modem Installed is not checked.

Dial Prefix: The command to dial a number. With most Hayes
compatible modems, use ATDT to tone or ATDP to pulse dial.

Delete: USE WITH CAUTION! Allows you to delete a complete
year from your hard disk. Select the year with the selector
buttons. You will be asked to confirm this action twice.

@Auto-Organiser Mgr
~Auto-Organiser Manager

The Auto-Organiser Manager enables automatic placement of
many re-occurring appointments. To start the Auto-Organiser
Manager, type AUTOORG at the DOS prompt.

Within the diary, appointments entered by the Auto-Organiser
appear as if they had been entered manually at the keyboard.
Where an appointment is entered on a day where there were no
appointments previously, an icon showing a pen and pencil is
used. Auto-Organiser appointments are always placed in the
Notes field where possible, taking the latest free
appointment slot in the day where the notes field is already
in use. If all the appointment slots in a day are full,
Auto-Organiser will not place any appointments on that day.

It is important to note that Auto-Organiser only places
appointments in the diary. It does not remove from the diary
any appointments which you later remove from the
Auto-Organiser Manager file.

There are four types of appointment which can be entered
using the Auto-Organiser Manager:

   Weekly Appointments e.g. Every Tuesday
   Monthly Appointments e.g. 25th of each month
   Yearly Appointments e.g. 1st September
   Other Appointments e.g. The last Friday of November
                   or The Third Tuesday of every month.

In each case, to edit an appointment, scroll the relevant
part of the display until the required day or date is
displayed, highlight it and press Edit.

Once you have created sufficient appointments, select Close.
When you restart the Organiser, your appointments will be
automatically created if they do not already exist.


@What is Shareware?
~THE SHAREWARE CONCEPT

Shareware is THE best way to try new software, but only if
you're honest and register if you like the results.

Think of it like this: If you buy a commercial package, you
have relatively little idea of how the software will
perform, until you get it home to your PC. If you then
decide you don't like the software or that it doesn't do
what you want, tough - there's nothing you can do. With
Shareware distribution, you get to try a complete, fully
working, version of the program for a couple of weeks. If
you then find the program to be of no use to you, simply
scrub the disk and forget about it - you've only lost the
cost of the disk - in most cases about £3.

If, however, you find that you like the software and that it
works for you, you should register. Registration provides
you with a diskette containing the latest version of the
software, and often some other perks. If you don't register
your shareware, it's not only equivalent to using a pirated
copy of a commercial application but may discourage the
author from developing the software further.

Compare your use of this Shareware version with a Test Drive
in a new car. If you decided that you liked the car, you
would have to pay the price on the wind screen, for which you
would get your very own with the latest specification and a
few extras, such as servicing and anti rust thrown in.
Shareware is the same, you test drive the software, then if
you like it you MUST pay, for which you receive the items
detailed above. You would never dream of keeping a car that
you hadn't paid for, would you?

@Registration
~REGISTRATION INFORMATION

For multiple user discounts or a site licensing price
list, please call NGS on the usual number.

For your registration fee of £24.95 sterling, you will
receive the following:

         1: The right to use the Organiser on a
         single machine. If you need to use the
         Organiser on both a laptop and desktop,
         this is OK as long as they are not both
         in use at once.

         2: The latest registered version of the
         Organiser, without the annoying "exit"
         screen. Some additional icon files will
         be included.

         3: A manual and the latest issue of the
         NGS Newsletter.

You will also be placed on the mailing list to receive
information of major upgrades and new releases. New releases
and upgrades are always available to existing registered
users at a significant discount.

If you need any technical support with the product, you can
write, telephone or email as much as you need.

You have a 14 day period to evaluate Gorin's Organiser, to
see if it suits your needs. After this time, you are no
longer licensed to use the software unless you pay the
registration fee and receive a registered copy.

Please use the order form contained within the file
REGISTER.DOC, if at all possible. Use REGISTER.TXT if your
printer cannot print line drawing characters.

@User License
~USER LICENSE

If you use this program you must agree to the following:

1: Gorin's Organiser is licensed AS-IS. No warranties or
guarantees of any kind are given with this program.

2: This software is not guaranteed to prevent or detect
damage to any hardware devices or software installed upon
your machine.

3: Under NO circumstances will Neil Gorin be liable for ANY
claims for Lost Profits or for any form of damages resulting
from the direct or indirect use of this product.

4: In NO circumstances shall Neil Gorin's Liability exceed
the license fee paid for the software.

5: This software is marketed as Shareware. Anybody
continuing to use this software after the initial 14 day
evaluation period must pay the registration fee of £24.95 to
the author.

6: Copies of the printed manual and registered user's key
file (USER.VGA) shall not be distributed unless as part of a
complete package purchased directly from NGS for commercial
sale or bundling.

7: Registered copies may be used like a book, by which I
mean that the software may be used by an unlimited number
of people at numerous locations (and hence on numerous
PC's) provided that just as only one person can read a
book at one time, only one copy of the software is running
at any moment in time.

@Other Programs
~OTHER PROGRAMS

Gorin's Organiser for Windows v2.00: The Windows release of
Organiser is a complete ground up re-write using the Windows
interface to the full! Able to easily import all your
existing Organiser files and icons, Organiser for Windows
expands on the DOS release by adding a much greater capacity
notebook, telephone logging, easy-to-use multiple organiser
support, alarm clock and more, whilst still keeping the
unique icon-based approach of the DOS release. Plus... if
you have a sound card you can easily attach sound files to
alarms, and even record Voice Notes into your diary!

The Glass Desktop: A complete GUI for CGA systems. Ideal to
add a graphical interface to PC1512's for example.

The Gorin Desktop for DOS v2.10: If you'd like a GUI, but
can't or won't run Windows, you'll love The Gorin Desktop!
As PC Today's Neil Jones recently wrote...

   "The Gorin Desktop looks good, is a doddle to set up
   and offers a number of useful in-built utilities.
   Plus, it weighs in at such a (low) registration fee
   to make kitting out every office PC with it's common
   look a realistic proposal. 5/6 stars."

Version 2.1 adds an Address Book (which can link to Gorin's
Organiser) to the brimming array of features offered in
previous releases. Not just content with being a fast, icon
based program launch pad (which incidentally takes
absolutely no memory from your programs!) the Desktop also
provides a File Manager, Viewer, Icon Editor and Wallpaper
facilities right upon the desktop. Accessory programs (all
with the same slick GUI) provide point-and-click disk
formatting and a simple terminal. Plus, if you have a
SoundBlaster or compatible, there's a fully featured MOD
music player, again with the complete GUI treatment!

The desktop even knows about 100's of popular programs and
automatically creates their icons, if you have them!