Business Assistant/Business Assistant.iso/stock/ibmdisk5/sminsfd3.hlp

Text File | 1992-02-08 | 8KB | 183 lines

PROGRAM OPERATION FROM FLOPPY DISKS                          PAGE 1 OF 8

The first and most important thing for you to do is to MAKE A WORKING
COPY.  The original copy of the Stock Charting System is (or should have
been) write-protected to prevent accidentally writing over it.  DO NOT
try to use the original copy - keep that for a backup!  Make at least
one working copy of the Stock Charting System and then put the original
in a safe place other than where your computer is.  This place should be
free of magnetic fields generated by appliances such as vacuum cleaners.

The following steps are to prepare the Stock Charting System for use on
a two-floppy system using drives A and B.  NOTE: See Chapter 1 for hard-
ware and software requirements.

1.  To make a working copy, insert your DOS diskette in drive A and make
    sure the A> prompt is visible.  Insert a blank diskette in Drive B.
    WARNING: Any data on the diskette in Drive B is about to be erased!
    Type the following command:  FORMAT B: <Enter>

    Follow the prompts on the screen.  This will format the diskette.
    *** WARNING! ***  NEVER use FORMAT by itself.  That will format your
    DOS diskette, and wipe out your DOS!

PROGRAM OPERATION FROM FLOPPY DISKS                          PAGE 2 OF 8

2.  Now remove your DOS diskette from drive A and insert the Stock
    Charting System STARTUP diskette.  The STARTUP diskette is the one
    with the files BRUN30.EXE and SM3.EXE on it.  If you have only
    one diskette, that should be the STARTUP/PROGRAM diskette; insert
    that one in drive A.  Then type the following command:

                              COPY *.* B: <Enter>

    This copies all of the individual files from the diskette in the
    default drive (drive A) onto the working diskette in drive B.  You
    now have a working copy of the STARTUP diskette.

    Technical note:  If you are copying between two diskettes of the
    same kind and of the same capacity, you can use the command
    DISKCOPY A: B: <Enter> instead of separate FORMAT and COPY steps.

3.  If you have a separate PROGRAM diskette, repeat steps (1) and (2)
    to make a working copy of the PROGRAM diskette.



PROGRAM OPERATION FROM FLOPPY DISKS                          PAGE 3 OF 8

4.  You should keep security data on a separate diskette from programs,
    for three reasons:

    (a)  to facilitate regularly making backup copies of your data

    (b)  to facilitate upgrading to newer versions of the program with-
         out disturbing your data

    (c)  so you can use other compatible programs such as the Personal
         Portfolio Analyzer with your existing data

    Repeat step (1) to format another diskette to be used for your
    personal security DATA.

5.  At this point, make sure all your diskettes are correctly labelled.
    Do not put write-protect tabs on either the PROGRAM (or only) disk-
    ette or the data diskettes.




PROGRAM OPERATION FROM FLOPPY DISKS                          PAGE 4 OF 8

Before running the Stock Charting System, you should make sure your com-
puter knows the current date and time.  This is important, because data
written on disks is "time-stamped" with that information, and because
some programs such as the Stock Charting System and the companion Per-
sonal Portfolio Analyzer may use the current date in certain calcula-
tions.

Most IBM-compatible personal computers today have a built-in time-of-
day clock which keeps track of the current time and date.  However some
older models, and models with 8088 or 8086 microprocessors, do not have
this feature.  To set the correct date, insert your DOS diskette in
Drive A and make sure the A> prompt is visible.  Type DATE <Enter> and
then enter the correct date in the format mm/dd/yy.  To set the correct
time, type TIME <Enter> and enter the correct time, such as 9:30.







PROGRAM OPERATION FROM FLOPPY DISKS                          PAGE 5 OF 8

The following steps demonstrate how to start the Stock Charting System,
and how to perform "setup" - the preparation of a working copy for use
on your particular computer.

1.  This first step is required if you want to PRINT graphs.  If you
    don't want to PRINT graphs, skip to step (2).

    Insert your DOS diskette in Drive A and make sure the prompt A> is
    visible.  Type GRAPHICS <Enter>.  This loads your DOS graphics print
    program into memory, where it will remain resident.  If there are
    no problems, your DOS prompt A> should return and there should be
    no error messages.  See the last part of Chapter 18 for more
    information about the graphics PRINT function.  Also see Chapter 1
    for hardware and software requirements.

    If you get a message like "bad command or file name", GRAPHICS is
    not on that diskette.  If you have a second DOS diskette, try that
    one.



PROGRAM OPERATION FROM FLOPPY DISKS                          PAGE 6 OF 8

2.  Remove the diskette in Drive A and insert a WORKING COPY of the
    Stock Charting System.  If you received the Stock Charting System
    on two floppies, insert the STARTUP diskette.  DO NOT try to start
    with the PROGRAM diskette.  If you received only one diskette,
    insert that one (it should be a combined STARTUP/PROGRAM diskette).

3.  Type SM3 <Enter>.  In a moment the copyright screen should appear.

4.  Press Enter to proceed on to the Master Menu.  If you began with the
    STARTUP diskette, the program will automatically prompt you to in-
    sert the PROGRAM diskette.  (Once you are on the PROGRAM diskette,
    the STARTUP diskette is no longer used except to re-start the pro-
    gram from DOS or to display or print the user manual).  After this
    process has taken place, you will see the Master Menu screen.

The next steps perform the "setup" functions.  Setup only needs to be
performed once, as the program stores the setup information on disk.




PROGRAM OPERATION FROM FLOPPY DISKS                          PAGE 7 OF 8

5.  Some demonstration data files are on the STARTUP (or only) diskette.
    If you have separate STARTUP and PROGRAM diskettes, skip to step (6)
    now.  If you have only one diskette, press P (for PATH) and then
    press the Enter key by itself.  This selects the default directory
    which is on the disk drive you are using.  Skip now to step (7).

6.  Insert the STARTUP diskette in Drive B.  (The PROGRAM diskette
    should remain in Drive A.)  Next, press P (for PATH).  When you are
    asked to enter the disk drive and/or sub-directory for data files,
    type B: <Enter>.

7.  From the Master Menu type V and then choose the video color scheme
    you want.  If you do not see several different colors on the screen
    all at the same time, press the numeric zero key and then press the
    Enter key.  Otherwise, enter a digit from 1 to 9.

8.  Dates are displayed in mm-dd-yy format.  If you want to display and
    enter dates in a different format, press F, choose the date format
    you want by using the up- and down-arrow keys, then press Enter.


PROGRAM OPERATION FROM FLOPPY DISKS                          PAGE 8 OF 8

9.  At this point you can work with the demonstration files on the
    Startup diskette.  However you should use a separate DATA diskette
    for your personal stock charts, as space on the STARTUP diskette is
    limited.

10. If you are a new user, read the Tutorial which is comprised of Chap-
    ters 6, 7 and 8 in the User Manual.  Don't be afraid to try things
    with the program.  If you press the wrong key, the computer will
    beep at you until you make another valid keystroke.

11. To start a new DATA diskette, insert a newly formatted diskette in
    drive B.  If necessary press P to invoke the PATH function, and type
    B: <Enter>.  Then type S to go to the Stock Select screen to begin
    adding new securities.  The program will ask if you are starting a
    new data disk; reply Y for YES.  See Chapters 7 and 10 for more
    information.

12. Se