home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
CD School House 10
/
CD School House - Education and Games (10.0) - Wayzata Technology (1995).iso
/
mac
/
DOS
/
MATH
/
UNREV
/
REVIEW.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1994-12-17
|
27KB
|
661 lines
/**** GOOGOL REVIEW VERSION 3.6 DOCUMENTATION ****/
Copyright (C) 1993 by: Paul T. Dawson
P.O. Box 682
Chincoteague, Virginia 23336 U.S.A.
/**** INTRODUCTION ****/
Thank you for trying my Shareware program, Googol Review. I wrote
this program to help kids (and parents) have some fun while
learning math.
Googol Review is a vastly improved version of the old program
which was part of the original "Googol Math Games". Review now
includes both number and word problems!
There are hundreds of synonyms used in the word problems, and
thousands of possible combinations. Some of the vocabulary may be
too advanced for younger children, which is why the actual
numbers can be printed in a different color. They can simply skim
over the words they don't know, and just concentrate on the math.
The underlying theory is that children will gradually get used to
the larger words, thereby improving reading skills. Older players
can try the "Expert" level, with all of the numbers spelled out!
/**** SPECIAL THANKS TO... ****/
Thanks and a tip of the hat to:
Microsoft Fabrice Bellard
: BASIC P.D.S. V7.1 Compiler : LZEXE
Genus Microprogramming
: PCX Programmer's Toolkit & GX Text & GX Effects
/**** CONTENTS ****/
Shareware and Registration Information............2
Getting Started...................................3
Running Googol Review.........................4 - 5
Command Line Options..........................5 - 6
Miscellaneous Keys............................6 - 8
Miscellaneous Info................................9
How To Print Graphics Screens....................10
Super Registration Details.......................11
Googol Review V3.6 Documentation - Page 1
/**** SHAREWARE AND REGISTRATION INFORMATION ****/
Shareware lets you try software, and then pay the author after
you decide to use the program. When you register Googol Review
(for only $10), you will receive the following bonuses:
<> The latest version of Googol Review.
<> One free disk... your choice of:
Googol Math Games (Three classic games)
Googol Bonus Disk (Six original games)
Paul's Classroom Math (Math drills)
Flashcards (EGA Math practice)
Lugnut City (EGA Fun math game!)
Wolfie's Music Games (EGA Ten fun music games)
Googolpede for Win 3.1 (Completely resizable)
<> A sincere thank you!
If your kids try the program once or twice, like it, and continue
to play the games, then you really should register!
"Super Registration" is just $35, and includes the latest version
of ALL EIGHT programs listed above. These programs contain about
twenty games, all for less than the cost of ONE commercial game!
Everything is completely guaranteed! If you are not completely
satisfied with any of the programs, I will refund your money.
If you have doubts about sending a check to a mysterious Post
Office Box on an island (really!), please just send a postcard
first. Ask for more information, and I'll send you an up to date
listing of all my programs! Thanks.
There should be a separate text file on the disk, called
"REVIEW.FRM". You can print this out, or if it's missing, just
print the form from within the game itself. If you have any
questions or suggestions about the program, please include them
with your registration form!
All information on the order form, including your name and
address, is strictly confidential, and not for sale to anyone for
any reason. I'm in the educational software business, not the
mailing list business!
--------------------------------------------------
| In Australia only, you may register by |
| sending A$15 to the Official Distributor: |
| |
| Alphon Edugames |
| 221 Ridley Road |
| Bridgeman Downs 4035 AUSTRALIA |
--------------------------------------------------
Googol Review V3.6 Documentation - Page 2
/**** GETTING STARTED ****/
To run Googol Review V3.6, you need:
<> An IBM or compatible computer.
<> CGA graphics (or higher).
<> At least 512K memory, with about 450K free.
The games will NOT run on a Hercules monochrome system with a
"CGA simulator" program.
If you see the error message "Out of String Space", this means
that not enough RAM is available. Remove all memory-resident
programs, including menu programs, and try again!
/**** GETTING STARTED - FLOPPY DISKS ****/
Never run this or any program from the original disk. Make
backups and run from them! Use DISKCOPY on your DOS disk to copy
the disk. If you are not familiar with DOS commands, please find
someone who is, and have them explain it all to you!
Now that you have backups made, put the original disk away in a
safe place. If all goes well, you will never need it again!
Do not put a write protect tab on the disk! The program needs to
write name and color information to a data file on the disk.
Put the disk in your active drive - usually drive A, but any
drive will work. Type REVIEW at the DOS prompt to get started. It
takes a while (a looooong while) to load, but after that there
are no delays. Don't take the disk out of the drive until you are
all finished and back to DOS! The program writes information to
the disk, so the disk has to be there!
/**** GETTING STARTED - HARD DISKS ****/
Follow these directions to put the Googol Review onto your hard
disk. If you are not completely familiar with the following
commands, please find someone who is, to help you!
1. Your hard disk must have at least 360K free.
2. Use MKDIR or MD to make a new subdirectory. (MD REVIEW).
3. Use CHDIR or CD to get to the subdirectory. (CD REVIEW).
4. Put the Googol Review disk in drive A.
5. COPY A:*.* will copy all the files into the subdirectory.
6. To play Googol Review, just type: CD\REVIEW
REVIEW
7. Good Luck!
On a hard disk, always use the DOS command "CD" to change to the
proper subdirectory. Don't use the PATH command, since PATH
usually only finds COM, EXE, and BAT files.
Googol Review V3.6 Documentation - Page 3
/**** RUNNING GOOGOL REVIEW ****/
Start the program by typing REVIEW at the DOS command line.
After choosing or entering your name, the main menu appears. This
lets you choose the type of problems to solve. Use the up and
down arrow keys to choose different types of number and word
problems. Move left and right to choose which operators (+-x/) to
use. Press RETURN when the flashing block is in the right place!
There are four types of number problems, and three types of word
problems:
Number problems - Right To Left
This lets you type in the answers backwards, which
is actually easier for beginners.
Number Problems - Left To Right
This lets you type the answers the other direction!
Number Problems - 50 For Speed
See how fast you can answer 50 problems! All answers
are entered left to right. This selection has a timer
and a high score screen.
Number Problems - 100 For Speed
See how fast you can answer 100 problems! All answers
are entered left to right. This also has high scores!
Word Problems - Easy
This selection prints the word problems with the
numbers in a different color, so that it's much
easier to spot them!
Word Problems - Advanced
All of the numbers are spelled out, so you'll have to
find them in the paragraph!
Word Problems - Expert
This is the most challenging level. All of the numbers
are spelled out, and all four types of problems are
included. You really will have to look at the entire
paragraph! There is a timer, with 30 problems in each
round, and a separate high score list.
Googol Review V3.6 Documentation - Page 4
/**** RUNNING GOOGOL REVIEW - CONTINUED ****/
When your game is over, there will be a "certificate" screen.
Press any key to return to the main menu.
On the number problems, you may always use the left and right
arrow keys to move the flashing input box.
If you enter an incorrect answer, the program will tell you if
it's too high or too low. Press the spacebar to try again.
If you enter three incorrect answers for a problem, the program
will ask you if you would like to see the explanation. Just press
"Y" to see the explanation, or "N" to keep trying.
If you need help with any problem, just press "X" anytime for a
complete explanation. You will have to watch the entire
explanation. There is no way to stop it once it has started.
/**** COMMAND LINE OPTIONS ****/
There are several different command line options. They can be
used in any combination.
/CGA Use CGA color menu on EGA or higher system.
/D Use database file.
/N Noise off.
/R Robots off.
/\SUBDIR Specify subdirectory for score and data files.
The /CGA option should not be necessary! The program detects your
graphics card type, and automatically chooses CGA or EGA color
menus. But... if you run into any mysterious problems with the
EGA menu, you can use the /CGA option. Then the program will use
the "old" color menu.
Type REVIEW /D at the command line for "Database". This will save
all the information from every game to the file REVIEW.DAT. Then
you can look at the file later with any file viewing program. If
this file becomes too large, just delete it from the DOS command
line, and the program will start a new REVIEW.DAT file.
The /N option starts Review without noise. You can turn the noise
back on by pressing "S" anytime in the program.
There are now three different "Robots", and if they become
tiresome, you may type REVIEW /R at the command line to turn them
completely off.
Googol Review V3.6 Documentation - Page 5
/**** COMMAND LINE OPTIONS - CONTINUED ****/
Please note - there is a "secret key" available at the main menu
only, to view the "Robot in a Windup Car". Just press "ALT-6" to
see what amateur 3-frame animation looks like!
The subdirectory option is useful on some network systems. It
lets you specify exactly where the score and data files will be
located. This option isn't necessary for most users!
The subdirectory option NEEDS accurate input! There must be a
forward slash, a backslash, and then the directory name. Here are
some samples:
REVIEW /\MYDIR
REVIEW /\MATH\REVIEW\MEGAN
All of the command line options may be combined, in any order.
Spaces aren't important - but don't ever put any spaces in any
subdirectory names! Here are some more samples:
REVIEW /N /D /\MATH
REVIEW /CGA/R /\TEMP /N /D
Here are some ILLEGAL samples - these won't work:
REVIEW D N (Missing slashes)
REVIEW /\ NONO (Spaces in subdir name)
I hope this isn't too confusing. If you are familiar with DOS and
batch files, you can write a one line BAT file for each user.
/**** MISCELLANEOUS KEYS - B - "BOSS" BOGUS SPREADSHEET ****/
This is a synthetic spreadsheet screen which is almost always
available during Googol Review, by pressing the B key. The
spreadsheet doesn't do anything, but you can move the cursor
around! Press the spacebar to return to the game. You can NOT get
into the BOSS subroutine if you are in any other subroutine, such
as Change Colors, Display High Scores, etc.
/**** MISCELLANEOUS KEYS - C - COLOR MENUS ****/
Review now has two color menus, one for CGA systems, and one for
EGA or VGA. The screens are still four colors, but the new EGA
menu has many more possible combinations!
Press "C" almost anytime to pop up the color menu. The program
will use the CGA or EGA menu, depending on your graphics card.
The CGA menu has 52 combinations. If this isn't the ultimate CGA
color menu, let me know! Use the up and down arrow keys to change
the background color, and the left or right keys for the palette.
Googol Review V3.6 Documentation - Page 6
/**** MISCELLANEOUS KEYS - C - COLOR MENUS - CONTINUED ****/
The EGA color menu lets you choose from 43,680 different color
combinations. That's 16 x 15 x 14 x 13. When you're moving around
this menu, you will automatically "hop over" any matching colors.
There are lots of interesting combinations, and quite a few that
are just barely readable!
Your color selections are saved in the REVIEW.SCO file, so the
same colors will be used the next time you run Googol Review.
/**** MISCELLANEOUS KEYS - D - DISPLAY HIGH SCORES ****/
This subroutine is available almost anytime in the games. Just
press D to display the scores. The list for "Speed-50" will be
displayed first. Press the spacebar to continue, and the list for
"Speed-100" will be shown. Finally, the "Word-Expert" list is
displayed, and then you can return to whatever you were doing.
/**** MISCELLANEOUS KEYS - G - GOOGOL DEFINITION ****/
A Googol is a number consisting of 1 followed by 100 zeros.
Exactly 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000.
Press "G" almost anytime to see this on the screen!
/**** MISCELLANEOUS KEYS - H - HELP SCREEN ****/
The new help screen (in V3.6) now lists every available key, and
lets you choose one immediately. For example, from the help
screen, you can press "C" to go directly to the "Color Menu", or
press "R" to go to the "Rename" screen. This means that you just
have to remember ONE KEY - "H" to get to the help screen, or hit
the "F1" key, whichever you prefer.
There is a different help screen for the main menu. It displays
information about the type of game you have selected. Press "I"
with the cursor in different locations to see all the messages.
Googol Review V3.6 Documentation - Page 7
/**** MISCELLANEOUS KEYS - L - LEVEL MENU ****/
Press "L" for the Level Menu, to choose the highest number used
by Review. You still have to choose the type of problems from the
main menu, but the Level Menu controls the highest number.
Please note - if you choose Level 2, and then choose word
problems, you will find that the level has been increased to 3.
This is because the word problems need slightly larger numbers to
work with.
/**** MISCELLANEOUS KEYS - Q - QUIT ****/
Press the Q key or the ESC key almost anytime to quit from any of
the games. You will be asked "Are You Sure?". Press Y to quit, or
N to go back to what you were doing. Please note that if you quit
while playing a game, your score will not be saved!
/**** MISCELLANEOUS KEYS - R - RENAME YOURSELF ****/
The new "Rename" screen has spaces for ten player names, each up
to sixteen characters long. Use the arrow keys to move around,
and press enter when the pointer is next to your name.
To type in a new name, just move the cursor to the right place,
and start typing - that's all there is to it!
If you would like to delete a name, you can either type over it,
or press ALT-D to zap it (with a zapping noise, of course).
If you make any changes on this screen, then the list of names
will be written to the REVIEW.SCO file on the disk.
/**** MISCELLANEOUS KEYS - X - EXPLANATIONS ****/
If you press the X key while in the Review program, you will see
an explanation of the current problem. You will have to watch
everything - there is no way to stop it once it has started!
Googol Review V3.6 Documentation - Page 8
/**** ERASING THE PLAYER NAME AND SCORE DATA FILE ****/
The ten player names, and the 30 high scores, are all contained
in a standard DOS file. If you delete this file, the program will
automatically create a new, empty file. Just type:
DEL REVIEW.SCO
Note - If you try to TYPE the score file, you will see the
message "Googol Version 3.6 High Score File", then a beep, then
nothing! All of the information is after a "fake" end of file
marker, so you can't see anything else. Unlike some games, you
can't simply type your name and "1,000,000" into the score file.
In fact, if the program finds anything funny in the file, it will
create a new, empty score file! So, no cheating!
/**** PRODUCTION HARDWARE ****/
The "Googol Review" program was originally produced on a Tandy
1200 system. The original 8088-4.77 was replaced with a SOTA
80286-12 card. That machine is still running perfectly!
The venerable Tandy machine is now overshadowed by a new "Snap It
Together Yourself" generic 386 computer. It's a lot faster!
/**** PRODUCTION SOFTWARE ****/
The Googol Review program was produced with the Microsoft BASIC
P.D.S. 7.1 compiler, Z-Soft's PC-Paintbrush, the Genus PCX
Programmer's toolkit, and dozens of utilities too numerous to
mention! There are about 300,000 bytes of source code, and almost
50,000 bytes of graphics files.
The README-3.EXE program was written in Borland's Turbo C.
Special mention goes to the excellent program LZEXE, by Fabrice
Bellard, of France. Without this amazing file compressor, Googol
Review simply wouldn't fit on a 360K disk!
/**** GEOGRAPHY NOTE ****/
All of the place names in the word problems are real! All of the
people, stores, objects, and events are (obviously) not real!
Googol Review V3.6 Documentation - Page 9
/**** HOW TO PRINT GRAPHICS SCREENS - PART ONE ****/
Before running Review, or any other graphics program, you have to
run a program called GRAPHICS.COM. This program should be on your
original DOS disk, or in your DOS subdirectory. When you run
GRAPHICS.COM, it doesn't print any messages! It just skips a line
and gives you the DOS prompt again.
There are a few things that can go wrong, however... If you have
a laser printer, it probably requires a special driver program.
This is something that may have come with the printer, or you may
have to ask the dealer or manufacturer for help.
If you are using DOS 4.01, then a file called GRAPHICS.PRO is
also required. This is on one of your original DOS disks, but the
installation process doesn't copy this file! You'll have to find
those original disks, and copy GRAPHICS.PRO to your working disk.
If you have DOS 5.0 or DOS 6.0, then you'll have to look at the
manuals, or type HELP GRAPHICS. That will load the help file
which explains all of the newer GRAPHICS options.
After GRAPHICS is loaded, you should be able to print the
certificate, or any screen, just by pressing Shift-PrtSc. If all
else fails, you may want to try booting from an absolutely plain
boot disk, with no CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT files. Then load
GRAPHICS, and then run the games. This would avoid any possible
conflicts with other programs. To make a plain boot disk, just
FORMAT /S a new disk, and copy COMMAND.COM to it.
On a hard disk system, you can use a batch file like this:
CD\DOS
GRAPHICS
CD\REVIEW
REVIEW
CD\
/**** HOW TO PRINT GRAPHICS SCREENS - PART TWO ****/
Press "!" almost anytime in the program, and you will see a
little "Yes / No" box. If you choose Yes, then the screen will be
saved to a standard PCX file. That is, the screen >under< the
little box! The file is always named TEMP.PCX. Then you can load
this file into your favorite paint program, and print it from
there! Every time that you save the TEMP.PCX file, it will
overwrite any previous TEMP.PCX file. This should help to avoid
"hard disk clutter", since there won't be dozens of different PCX
files (unless you rename them from DOS).
If you are running Review, and you can't remember the secret PCX
key, just hit "H" or "F1" for the help screen. Then you'll see
that it's "!", and you can use it right from the help screen.
Googol Review V3.6 Documentation - Page 10
/**** SUPER REGISTRATION DETAILS ****/
When you send in the $35 Super Registration, you will receive
seven complete DOS programs, and one Windows 3.1 game...
Googol Math Games: Three math games for all ages! CGA & 512K.
Googol Bonus Disk: This is a collection of six games, all of them
non-shareware and available only from the author. There are four
math games, and two non-math puzzles just for fun. CGA & 512K.
Googol Review: The very latest version of this program!
Paul's Classroom Math: This is a text mode math drill program,
intended for classrooms. There is complete recordkeeping for up
to 60 students. There are no graphics, no noises, and no frills!
Flashcards: This is a simple EGA math practice program, with no
high scores to worry about. EGA & 512K.
Lugnut City: How about a run-jump-and-shoot maze game, with just
the right amount of math? Lugnut City has ten mazes to explore,
and you can even design your own mazes! EGA & 512K.
Wolfie's Music Games: There are ten different games in this
program, and they all teach music notes and piano keys. There are
many skill levels, so everyone can compete for high scores!
Googolpede for Windows 3.1: This is a little version just for
Windows users, and it's completely resizable, even in the middle
of a game. Lots of extra Windows style features, too!
Please remember, most of these programs require EGA graphics, so
they will NOT run on older CGA monitors. If you have a VGA or
SVGA monitor, that's great - everything will work perfectly!
The special price of $35 is based on "7 games times $5", which
covers all of the regular DOS programs. The Windows 3.1 program
is included in the package at no extra cost.
/**** CONCLUSION ****/
Thanks very much for reading this far! I have tried to answer all
of the most common questions about Googol Review in this
document. If I missed anything, please write and ask!
Paul T. Dawson
Chincoteague Island, Virginia, U.S.A.
September 9, 1993
/**** THAT'S ALL, FOLKS! ****/
Googol Review V3.6 Documentation - Page 11