ANALYTICALC - Start up PRELIMINARY: Please read the NOTICE.TXT document on Distribution Disk 1 and if you use AnalytiCalc, please register it as per the instructions there. The cost is minimal and you will receive upgrades only if you do so. INTRODUCTION to ANALYTICALC AnalytiCalc is delivered on two (2) DSDD disks in PCDOS 2.0 format. To reduce the cost to distribute the software (and hence cut the cost to you), all manuals are on diskettes. Copy the distribution disks and keep the originals in a safe place. Then print the README.1ST file from Distribution Disk 2 and follow its directions. You will find that several files, including the manual for AnalytiCalc, are delivered in "squeezed" form. You will need to use the Unsqueeze program USQ (which is provided on Diskette 2) to restore them to their expanded form for printing. This must be done on a nearly empty diskette. The documentation files will give details on how to do this. G.C.E. is continually improving AnalytiCalc, and will make major version upgrades available to legitimate purchasers at a nominal cost as they become available. We appreciate any communications about problems, and will try to address them. We are a small company, however, and do not as yet offer maintenance contracts. Let us know if you have a specific problem and we will try informally to help, however, provided the problem is a real one and we can reproduce it on our machines for testing. AnalytiCalc comes in a 256K version and a 320K version. The 256K version is overlaid, with different "unusual" functions in different overlays. This can slow down evaluation of certain types of spreadsheets. for example, a spreadsheet containing date math and matrix algebra will be slowed due to overlay activity and will run much better on a memory disk if one can be contrived. The "recalculate manual" mode may be used to reduce the impact of this. The 320K version is not overlaid, and additionally has a powerful macro facility built in. This can use any cell to hold a macro definition (including the cells in the scratch Row 0) for any purpose desired. A separate document for the 320K version supplements the manual, describing the additional functions. Both versions will run faster if an 8087 is present on your machine, though on an IBM AT without an 80287 it may be necessary to define the NO87 parameter to obtain correct results. CAUTION When sufficient memory is available to run secondary applications under AnalytiCalc, most MSDOS/PCDOS programs may be run under control of AnalytiCalc as they might be from DOS. Some programs use, but do not save and restore, locations in low memory for their own purposes. These may conflict with AnalytiCalc needs, and where this happens, system hangs or crashes may occur. Therefore as a safety measure, test any program you intend to run from within AnalytiCalc in a dry run without live data on the spreadsheet before doing so with live data. The data you save may be your own. This is an application code problem, and happens with any "multitasking" systems for the 8088. Some language compilers produce such code, so an author may be unaware of the effect. Most programs, however, can be run safely. STEP BY STEP 1. Use DISKCOPY and copy both distribution disks. Keep the originals in a safe place. Be sure there are no magnetic fields near them; they can erase diskettes. 2. Format a disk with the /S switch and copy the AnalytiCalc components from Distribution disk 1 onto it from your working copy of the distribution. The NOTICE.TXT file will let you know which files are AnalytiCalc components. 3. Read the README.1ST document and then the ACSTART.DOC document to find out what all the files are and how to proceed. Print these files out for later reference. 4. At this point, edit the AUTOEXEC.BAT and/or the CONFIG.SYS files if you need to do so (with care if your machine has only 256K). 5. Boot the bootable copy of Distribution Disk 1 6. Try the program out (start by typing ANALY) and run through the short exercise in ACSTART.DOC to get a feel for the program quickly. 7. Print out ANALY.TUT and look it over. If you have time, run through it on your machine; it will help you learn AnalytiCalc. 8. Finally unsqueeze and print the manual ANALY.MAN (the supplied file is ANALY.MQN, which must be unsqueezed on a separate disk.) The manual is over 100 pages long, so have plenty of paper in your printer. Because it is online, you can use an editor or the supplied free program LST to examine it or search for specific topics. 9. If you must have a hardcopy manual, it is available from G.C.E. (in a slightly different format) for $15.00. Hard copies of the tutorial are $5.00. These are offered as a service to our customers, and are sold only to customers who have registered the program. Those wishing to see the functions and style of the program are invited to examine PortaCalc on a VAX or PDP11. This program's functions are identical to those of the VAX version in all but a few minor respects. That program is available from the DECUS program library. The two programs can share spreadsheet models and save files also. A number of "extra" programs are included on disk which are marked as not part of the AnalytiCalc distribution proper. These may be copied or moved as you like and are not subject to the license restrictions above. They are provided at no extra cost as a way of making computer users more efficient. An editor, a calendar, and a communications program are among the included items. They come with no guarantees at all, but we use them and find they work at our sites.