The Epic Collection/Epic Collection, The (Epic Marketing)(1996).iso/business/pb042.dms/pb042.adf/ReadMeFirst.doc

Text File | 1978-01-01 | 14KB | 368 lines

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                                                         RELEASE 1.1

COPYRIGHT (C) 1992-3 ANDREW WOODS

VERSION 1.0 - USER DOCUMENTATION (MARCH 1993)

1ST AMMENDMENT - JULY/AUGUST 1993


BEFORE CONTINUING...

EasyCalc  Plus  needs WB2 or above to run.  If you do not have this then an
earlier  version  of  the program is available, simply called EasyCalc.  If
you have trouble getting this then I can supply it.

It  was  a tough decision to drop 1.3 support after spending so long trying
to  make  EasyCalc  run  on all systems.  I believe that most serious users
will have WB2.  If there is serious demand for a 1.3 version I will do it.

Also  most  of  the  documentation  for  EasyCalc  Plus  is  stored  in the
AmigaGuide  format.   This  "normal"  text  file  contains  some  important
information  you should read now, and it keeps the AmigaGuide files smaller
so they work quicker.


SHAREWARE INFORMATION

EasyCalc+  (EC  for  short) is SHAREWARE.  Alot of time and effort has gone
into creating this program.  I beleive in the way shareware is organised on
the  PC,  ie.   high  quality software with excellent user support.  If you
want  to  encourage  myself and other programmers to support the Amiga with
software  of  this  quality then please register.  EasyCalc Plus will be my
last  shareware  program  unless I can be convinced it is worth my while to
spend this much time producing one program.

You may evaluate this program free for 1 month after you received the disk.
All I ask is that after this period you either:

a) register the program and get the MUCH improved version.
b) delete the disk.
c) pass the disk onto a friend.

The  registration  fee is £15 pounds (UK).  If you can persuade a friend to
register  then  I  will  send you £5.  So get three friends to register and
your copy of EasyCalc Plus will have been free!

Send your fee to:

Andrew Woods
1 Westwood Gardens
Scarborough
North Yorkshire
YO11 2JQ
UNITED KINGDOM

Send  the  fee with your name, address, EasyCalc version number and details
of  your  Amiga  setup.   Printer  owners can print out the file, ORDER.DOC
which  will  generate  an order form to fill in instead.  Feel free to send
any  comments  you  might  have about EasyCalc with your order, I am always
interested in user feedback.


Registering will entitle you to the following priveledges:

· Help with any problems.
· Copy of the most up-to-date version available.
· Free minor upgrades.
· Information on major upgrades.
· Peace of mind (!)
· Telephone hotline for your problems.
· No irratating requester.
· Your name will appear in the program.
· EasyChart - draw 10 types of graphs from within EasyCalc Plus.
· 68020+ available.
· Many new features

Please  note  that  to  "remind"  you  of  this programs shareware status a
message will appear after twenty cells have been entered.


WHAT THE REVIEWERS SAID:

"Easily the best shareware Amiga spreadsheet on the market - you may well
find that you don't need to look at commercial alternatives." (9/10)

- Ian Wrigley, Amiga Shopper Magazine.


"Check it out!"

- CU Amiga Magazine.


"Forget the rest!"

- Amiga Computing Magazine.


EasyCalc is freely distributable as long as the following rules are obeyed:

· All of the files included must be present and unmodified in all
  distributions.
· EasyCalc  may  not  be  sold  commercially without my consent.
· Copyright and shareware notices MUST remain intact.


DISCLAIMER

Here  comes  the legal bit.  EasyCalc is used entirely at your own risk.  I
have  spent  a long time ensuring that EasyCalc is as reliable as possible,
but I can not accept any responsibility for any damage or loss that results
from the use of this program.


EASYCALC FEATURES

· FAST!   A major design goal was to produce a spreadsheet that would leave
all  those  slow Amiga ones (commercial and PD) behind.  Even if you "only"
have a 68000 Amiga with 1.3 you should find that you are never left waiting
for  the  screen to redraw or recalculate.  If you have an A1200 or simular
then it flies!

· Easy  to use.  Spreadsheets are fantastic programs that can really change
your  business  if  you  know  how  to use them.  However getting past that
initial  barrier  of  "what do I type to add this column?" is hard.  I have
added  as  much  help  as  is possible without making the program unusable.
Hopefully there is enough to get you through the initial barrier.

· Features you need.  A program like Lotus on the PC can cost upto £500 and
have hundreds of options/features.  In EasyCalc I have only implemented the
common  and  usefull  functions.  If you want to complain remember what you
paid for EasyCalc!

· Uses  reqtools.   This is a standard Amiga library.  This gives you WB2.0
style requestors that are easy to use, whether you have 2.0 or not.

· 160 Columns when printing.

· No  stupid  assigns  are  needed.   I  get  everything  from  the current
directory.  Why can't other programmers?

· Intelligent!   For example if you try to delete a block of cells you will
be  asked  to  confirm it.  However if you only want to delete one cell the
program  doesn't  bother  you.   Also  if  you  enter a date into a cell it
automatically recognises it and processes it as a date.


NEW EASYCALC PLUS FEATURES

This  is  the first major upgrade since the original EasyCalc was released.
The following new features have been added:

· Many  new  maths  functions  (nearly  all  the  standard Lotus/As-Easy-As
functions have been implemented now).

· New cell formats (all the formats offered by MaxiPlan are implemented).

· Improved date handling.

· Minor bug fixes (printing etc).

· Multiple worksheets.

· Data import/export.

· Load/save/print operations are (much) quicker.

· Full AREXX interface.

· Function selector.

· Faster formular evaluator.

· Better menu layouts.

· Worksheet area is larger.

· Link with other worksheets.

· Plug in modules.


HISTORY OF EASYCALC

In  October  1991,  I  started  work  on  a  spreadsheet  for  a  College C
programming  project.  This was written with TurboC on the KCS PC emulator.
By  April  1992  it  was finished, which wasn't bad going considering I was
learning the C language as I was writing the spreadsheet!  Once the program
was  finished  I  sat  back  never  wanting to see another spreadsheet ever
again.

That  was  the  end  of  the  story  until  November  1992  when I needed a
spreadsheet for some work.  I looked to the trusty Amiga for a PD/Shareware
effort  and  was  disgusted  to  find only three programs, all of them were
unusable  compared to simular programs on other computers.  I will not even
mention  commercial  Amiga  spreadsheets which were slow and looked awfull.
In  the  end  I used AsEasyAs on the PC.  But after this I decided to write
the  definitive  Amiga  shareware  spreadsheet,  but  an  extra goal was to
produce a spreadsheet that was easy to use, and was FAST.

EasyCalc  Version  1.0  was  born  in  March  1993.   After  five months of
interrupted development.  In time I hope to produce some MAJOR updgrades.

In  August  1993,  the first major update to EasyCalc was released, this is
called  EasyCalc  Plus but only shares the name with the original.  All the
code  has  been  re-written  in C.  As a result the code is 50% smaller and
about  twice  as  fast.   All  the problems with the old EasyCalc have been
sorted.   In  addition support for "dreamlinks" have been added.  These are
plug-in  modules  which  can  extend  the  capabilities  of  EasyCalc Plus.
Included in this package is a copy of EasyChart, a graphs creater.  This is
a  seperate  package available from Enigma Development from September.  The
demo version supplied implements seven types of graphs.  It should be noted
that  it  is  NOT  finished  and may still have lingering bugs.  If you are
interested in the full graphics package then contact me for more info.


COMPATIBILITY WITH THE OLD EASYCALC

The  file  format  of  EasyCalc  files  has changed, but EasyCalc Plus will
automatically  recognise the files and load them with no problems.  However
when  you  save  files  they  will  be in the new file format which the old
EasyCalc will not recognise.


INTRODUCTION

EasyCalc is a spreadsheet designed to be both easy to use and fast.  If the
program  looks nice, that wouldn't to be bad either.  Unlike other software
where  the  author writes the program first, then bolts on a help system, I
have designed the help into the program from the beginning.


WHAT IS A SPREADSHEET?

Think  of  a  spreadsheet  as  a  peice  of blank paper -- the page from an
accounting  ledger  for example.  On this "paper" you can write numbers and
titles  for  sectons  of the accounts.  On paper you have to add up columns
manually,  with  a  spreadsheet  you can write a formular, the word SUM for
example,  makes  the  spreadsheet add up a range of numbers (called cells).
The  power  of  spreadsheets lies in the fact that once a formular has been
written,  even  if  you  change  the  column  of numbers, the formular will
automatically  add  them  up  again.   A  program  like  EasyCalc  has many
different  formulars,  so  it  is  capable of of much more than just adding
columns.


NOTE:

The  reference  section of this document has been moved into the AmigaGuide
files.   You can look at them by clicking on the icon EC2.guide, or load up
EasyCalc Plus and press HELP.


SYSTEM REQUIRMENTS

If  your  system  can  meet  the  following  requirements  then you can run
EasyCalc.

Memory:    1/2 meg (1 meg recommended).
WorkBench: 2.0 and above.
Devices:   1 floppy minimum (!) (2 floppies or HD recommended).
ChipSet:   Original, ECS or AGA (AA) work fine (PAL only).
Processor: Any 680x0 processor (tested on 68000 and 68020)


OTHER PRODUCTS AVAILBLE FROM THE AUTHOR

Please  read  these messages.  Apart from magazine reviews they are my only
form of advertising to you:

DISKMANAGERIII
Disk  catalogger and organiser.  Allows those elusive programs on Utilities
disk  16  to be found quickly.  Keeps track of disk space as well as files,
so  you  can find space for that new BBS download.  Amiga Shopper (Britains
premier  serious  magazine)  gave  this  9/10 and said "anyone with a large
collection  of floppies should have DiskManager".  This is a major upgrade,
see why dozens of users have registered.

Features:

· Search for free disk space.  DiskManagerIII allows you to enter an amount
of disk space needed (for that new peice of software) then it finds all the
disks with space available.

· Complex  file  searchs  and  tagging.   DiskManagerIII  makes full use of
AmigaDOS wildcards to limit searches, deletes etc to certain files.

· WB2 version. Smaller and faster.

· Personalised.   Your  name  is  embedded  directly into the program in an
encrypted format.

· DiskManagerIII  has lots of special features, such as the ability to skip
.info  (icon)  files  and  Amiga  system directories like S and DEVS.  This
prevents the database being cluttered with repeated files.

· A  full  disk label generator is attached to the database.  You just pick
the  disk  and  files  for the label and DiskManagerIII prints off a custom
label.

· DiskManagerIII  allows  comments  to be attached to disks.  Keep track of
that disk with the dodgy sector!

· When  adding  a  disk to the database, DiskManagerIII will recognise many
common  file  formats  and  store  the  file type in the database.  No more
wondering what xyz.dat is now!

· Lists  of  directories and files that should be skipped from the database
are supported.

· Works  well  with  ANY  Amiga  setup.  Whether you have an A600 or A4000,
DiskManagerIII will use the features of your machine to run at its best.

COST: £10


EASYCALC (The WB1 version)
Limited development work is still going on with this version.  This program
is  fully  compatible with all Amigas with 1/2 meg of memory or more.  Less
features but this probably makes it easier to use than its big brother.

A  demo version is available from most libraries or just send me a disk and
stamp.   This was the version that the quoted reviewers above saw.  If at a
later  date  you  upgrade  to  WB2  then  you  can upgrade your EasyCalc to
EasyCalc  Plus  for  (£5  to cover disks and postage).  All your data files
will  still  be  compatible.   Take  the  first  step and get onto the Easy
ladder.

Features:

· Everything  EasyCalc  Plus has except; no graphs, slightly less functions
and a smaller worksheet.  As a bonus EasyCalc is faster than its bigger and
slower relative.

COST: £10


EASYCHART (Needs WB2)
This  is  a  brand  new release from Enigma Development.  This distribution
features  a  demo  of  EasyChart.   The demo is not finished at the time of
writing  and I know of several bugs in it.  These will be fixed in time for
the  shareware  release.  EasyChart is more than just a program which draws
graphs for EasyCalc.  By virtue of its supplied "dreamlink" any application
that  supports the standard will have access to graphs.  By the end of this
year  three  major  applications  will  support  the  standard with more to
follow. This program will be ready in September.

The full version of EasyChart includes:

· A  front  end  that allows you to enter data or import it from nearly any
  ASCII source.
· More graph types.
· 68020+ version.
· Bug fixes.
· Your name encrypted directly into the software.
· Ability to add any Amiga font to graphs.
· Print the graphs or save them as IFFs for presentations.

COST: £10