RailUK

RAIL UK v 2.2 Copyright (c) 1998/99 Adrian Wymann Overview: 0a. What's new in v2.2 ? 0b. What's new in v2.1 ? 0c. What's new in v2.0 ? 1. General Info 2. Installation procedure 3. Installing the application 4. Running the application 5. Troubleshooting 6. Additional remarks 7. Disclaimer 8. History 0a. What's new in 2.2 ? The main reason for v2.2 are a few bug fixes in the program code - as a small thank you to all the users who pointed these out to me, I've updated the information on the Cl 33 (now a part of railway history) and added a new pic for this loco too, as well as for the Cl 66. And finally, there's a new icon. 0b. What's new in 2.1 ? * Three new items of motive power have been added: two EMUs (Cl 442 and Cl 465) and one locomotive (Cl 66). In addition, new and better pictures have been added for the Cl 58 and the Cl 60. * A new menu item "rail facts" has been added. * The installation of RailUK has been made a lot more flexible: all files are still required to be in a directory \RAIL, but this directory can now be created on any drive. The default of the ZIP file is M:\RAIL\*.* * RailUK now also features sound. The file used (clikclak.wve) must be in the directory \RAIL on either the internal, A or B drive. If you don't want sound, simply delete the file. * RailUK now supports full fledged error handling. Hopefully, you'll never get to see any of this, but if you do, you'll now be able to note down relevant error information and look up possible ways of solving the problem in section 5 "Troubleshooting" (below). *And finally, there's a new icon. 0c. What's new in v2.0 ? The most obvious change is the name of the program. V 1.0 was originally released as BRITISH RAILWAYS MOTIVE POWER on the internet through the downloads page of the Psion Freeware Movement. However, as the OPA file was labelled RailUK right from the start, the application started to appear elsewhere on the net as RailUK, so I've decided to adopt this as the main title. Apart from this, the main new feature of v2.0 is that motive power information and data is now displayed regardless of whether the relevant PIC file is present or not. This means that users can cut down considerably on the amount of disk space (and system memory) used by the program by deleting those PIC files which they do not want (or do not like) from the M:\rail directory. The program thus allows for some amount of "customising" if required. The display of the motive power data and information has also been upgraded. The setback of the original format, which showed it all on one page, was the small font required to achieve this. Legibility as well as the general look of things have now been improved, with the data being spread out over three windows. Furthermore, new and better PIC files have been added for the Cl43, the Cl86 as well as the 4CIG and 4VEP EMUs, and the newly reinstated Cl 55 has been added to the diesel selection. In addition, a slight bug in the OPL code (which caused the program to terminate from the main screen under certain conditions) was removed. And finally, the readme.txt file was extensively reworked to cover the question of system memory more adequately, so even if you've already made your way through this file in connection with v1.0, a second look now might well be worth the time. 1. General Info RailUK is a reference-type application featuring selected technical information on most of the major motive power on British rails. Locomotives, both diesel and electric, are the main feature, but multiple units, again both diesel and electric, have not been forgotten. In addition to the technical data, every individual type of motive power covered is accompanied by a PIC file illustrating what all the figures and numbers add up to in visual terms. It is this latter aspect of the application which makes it "special" - for more details, cf. below under paragraph 5. 2. Installation procedure Installing RailUK v 2.2 follows the usual standard procedure. Unzip the ZIP either on your PC/MAC or your Psion using one of the available tools for this (e.g. WinZip, PsiZip, etc.). Remember to keep the directory informations. Following all of this, your Psion should have a new directory RAIL, where all the files of the application are placed (i.e. railuk.opa, the PIC files, and readme.txt). If for some reason you only have the extracted files, just create a directory RAIL and copy all the files into this directory. 3. Installing the application The short key for this is <PSION+i>, but if you have any doubts or are actually doing this for the first time, it might be a good idea to check the Psion manual. 4. Running the application Following installation, you will find the application's icon on your system screen. By highlighting this and then pressing <ENTER>, you will start RailUK. Moving around should be easy and straightforward, using the menu and the dialogue options. Pressing <ESC> should get you out of any kind of trouble you're likely to encounter by taking you back to the previous step. Exiting the programme is accomplished by either selecting this option from the menu, or by using the shortcut <PSION+x>. 5. Troubleshooting If there is a problem with RailUK, you will be told what is causing the hickups in the language of your Psion's operating system, and this text file may provide the help you need to resolve the problem. If all else fails, don't hesitate to contact me via e-mail (adrian.wymann@bfa.admin.ch). Problems known so far: - "No system memory": Pictures are heavy burdens in terms of disk space and system memory. Just one bitmap file of Rail UK takes up 4'820 bytes - and the application contains 36 such bitmap files, plus a few others (title, backgrounds), which are even larger. However, the program only requires four PIC files (bg.pic, bg2.pic, bg3.pic and titlev21.pic) to run - all others may be deleted. If you should run out of memory while running the program, your Psion will exit the program. By doing so, it frees all that clogged-up system memory, so you just hit the icon, and off you go again. In addition, please ensure that you close all other applications before starting RailUK. 6. Additional remarks RailUK v2.2 is distributed as freeware. Any feedback to adrian.wymann@bfa.admin.ch is appreciated. 7. Disclaimer RailUK v2.2 is (C) Copyright 1998/99 by Adrian Wymann. The program is freeware and as such may be distributed freely by anybody, provided that it is supplied complete (including this file) and unaltered. This application comes with no performance warranty. By using the program, the user agrees to take no legal action (both now and in future) against the author for any damages suffered, whether direct or indirect, as a result of such usage. 8. History 07/98 v1.0 released 10/98 v2.0 released 01/99 v2.1 released 06/99 v2.2 released