Softwrights You'll Soon
Be Typing... Computer Requirements
You'll Soon Be Typing was engineered to be uncommonly
efficient and to adapt to different hardware... No Macintosh
version yet, though. Disk and RAM usage are extremely small
due to efficient programming (tight coding) and real-time
decompression that allows files to remain compressed on disk with no
performance penalty.
- Recommended Download Requirements... PC 80386 or
better, 4 MB RAM, VGA monitor, Windows 3.1/95/98/NT, hard disk with 370
Kilobytes (not megabytes) of disk space ...
Requirements are different here since the download store uses a
Windows-only installation program that has different requirements than
the Softwrights-made combination DOS and Windows Setup program
included in the retail box.
- Recommended Requirements For Non-Downloading (disk
purchased from store or Softwrights)... PC 80386 or better, 4MB RAM (if
running Windows) or one (1) MB RAM (if running DOS), VGA monitor,
Windows 3.1/95/98/NT or DOS 2.1 or higher, hard disk with 300 Kilobytes
(not megabytes) of disk space.
- Minimum Requirements For Non-Downloading... PC
8088/8086 (PC or XT), 300K RAM, CGA monitor, Windows 3.1/95/98/NT or DOS
2.1, one floppy disk drive or hard disk with 260K disk space... Program
runs very slow on this, but OK on many 80286 (AT) PC's with EGA
monitors.
Note: You'll Soon Be Typing automatically
detects CGA, EGA, VGA, and Hercules video adapters and adjusts the
graphics mode and scales vector graphics data
to the highest standard resolution (video quality) available...
Including... 640 by 480 VGA (color or black and white), 640 by 350 EGA
(color or B/W), 640 by 200 CGA (B/W only), and 720 by 348 Hercules (B/W
only). If you try to run the program on a computer
with an old text (non-graphics) mode Monochrome Display Adapter (MDA), an
informative error message will be displayed.
How To Install You'll Soon
Be Typing
If you are downloading from a download store... All
You'll Soon Be Typing files and a commercial Windows-only
install program will be downloaded in one bundled executable file like:
TYPING.EXE or YSBT.EXE. To install, get to the Run command
prompt and double-click on the filename (or enter it manually).
If you are not downloading (purchased from a retail
outlet, sales rep, or direct from Softwrights) then you will install from
Softwrights' custom made SETUP.EXE program which contains a Windows
and a DOS installation program in one file. This lets
you install You'll Soon Be Typing on a wider range of
computers... old and new. Follow these steps (instructions
are on the disk label):
- Insert the You'll Soon Be Typing floppy disk in
drive A (or drive B)
- Do one of the following:
- From Windows 95, get to the Run
command prompt (press the Start
button then select the Run... option).
- From Windows 3.1, get to the Run
command prompt (from the Program Manager,
select the Run... option from the File pull-down
menu).
- From DOS, get to the DOS prompt
(>).
- Enter a:setup (or b:setup if
disk is in drive B)... Or double-click on the setup.exe file
from Windows. If you did Step 2 from Windows, the
Windows version of Setup will automatically run.
Otherwise, the DOS version of Setup will run.
- The first screen lets you select the program(s)
that you want to install... You'll Soon Be Typing and/or the
YEDIT Lesson Editor. You also have the
option of displaying instructions for running the program(s) direct from
the floppy disk.
- The next screen lets you specify the location (disk
drive and directory) where you want to install the program files (the
standard location is C:\YTYPE) ... More
than one directory can be included. Error messages let you know if you
make a directory specification (syntax) error ... The cursor will be
moved to the place where the error starts.
- If you run Setup from Windows, a custom icon for
each program selected in step 4 will be created in a Windows program
group named You'll Soon Be Typing. This makes it easy to
start the program(s) from Windows. If you run
Setup from DOS, it shows you how to start (run) You'll Soon Be
Typing from the DOS prompt.
How To Start (Run) You'll Soon
Be Typing
- From Windows 95 or Windows 3.1, just double-click the You'll
Soon Be Typing icon... Or double-click on the YTYPE.EXE file from
Windows' File Manager. Note: An icon is
installed only if you ran SETUP from Windows or if you downloaded from a
download store.
- From the DOS prompt (or from the RUN command prompt in Windows) enter
drive letter:\directory name(s)\YTYPE
For example, for a standard installation type:
c:\ytype\ytype In standard
installations, the program is in a directory named YTYPE, which is also
the name of the program file itself (whose full filename is YTYPE.EXE).
Most users do not require Startup Options which alter
the way You'll Soon Be Typing runs. These options are added to
the end of the command line which starts a program. For
example, to use the techinfo option enter: ytype
techinfo on the command line ("ytype"
is the executable file and "techinfo" is the startup option).
In Windows, click once on the You'll Soon Be Typing icon
to highlight it then select the Properties... item from the
File menu or hold down the ALT key while you tap the ENTER key
then add the startup option to the end of the command line. Here are the
startup options:
- Force On-screen Keyboard Layout Startup
Option (Kn)... The Kn option lets you force a
given on-screen keyboard layout to appear. "n" represents the
number of the keyboard that you want (1 thru 12 as they appear in the
Screen Keyboard menu option in Section 7: Records
& Options of the tutorial). For example,
to force keyboard #3: start the program by entering: ytype
k3 ... This option is useful in learning
labs where several people use the same equipment. During
registration, users won't be asked to select a keyboard layout as they
normally are.
- Technical Information Startup Option (TECHINFO)...
Techinfo displays several items:
- The current video (graphics) mode and whether
the mode was automatically detected or was forced by a video mode
startup option.
- How much RAM memory is being used for special effects
buffers and what type of memory the buffers are using
(conventional, expanded, or extended).
- The total number of times the program has been
run ... Runs using the techinfo option are
not included in the total.
- Whether or not the YLESSONS file has been
customized with the YEDIT Lesson Editor. If it was
customized, the date when the file was last
customized is shown along with the name of the
person who customized it
- How much RAM memory the You'll Soon Be
Typing Program (YTYPE.EXE) is using along with all other
programs that are in memory. A call is made to the DOS MEM/C|MORE
command ... This requires DOS version 5.0 or
higher and also requires enough memory to process the call.
Otherwise, this item does not appear.
- Video Mode Startup Options... You'll Soon Be
Typing automatically detects video equipment and
sets it for the highest resolution graphics mode (thru VGA, 640 by 480
resolution, 16-color). You can override automatic
detection with the following video mode options:
- VGA sets 640 by 480, 16-color VGA mode.
- VGA2 sets 640 by 480, 2-color (black &
white) VGA mode.
- EGA sets 640 by 350, 16-color EGA mode.
- EGA2 sets 640 by 350, 2-color (black &
white) EGA mode.
- CGA sets 640 by 200, 2-color (black &
white) CGA mode.
- HERCULES or HERC sets 720 by 348, 2-color
(black & white) Hercules mode.
- Special Effects Buffers Startup Options... If there
is enough conventional RAM in your computer, it is automatically used to
display fancier special effects. You can override this with the
following options:
- NOBUFFER (or NOBUFFERS) does not use any
special effects buffers.
- RAM uses conventional RAM for special effects
buffers (if enough is available) ... This is
the default.
- EXPANDED uses expanded RAM compatible with LIM
EMS 4.0 (if available).
- EXTENDED uses extended RAM compatible with XMS
2.0 (if available).
Note: Expanded or extended RAM is not
automatically used by the program. That's because many older computers
process this type of RAM quite slowly. Try the above options if your
computer doesn't have enough conventional RAM to hold the special effects
buffers. But, if the program runs too slow, don't use them.
Copyright © 1996 - 1999 by
Softwrights, Inc. All Rights Reserved
