A000080: The state of the Pause/Hold signal on Pin 10 can be used to freeze the CAM programs sending of step signals to the CAM machine motors, so if servo motors are used with an appropriate control circuit, and the servo position error window is exceeded the computer running the CAM programs can be put into Pause/Hold for a few milliseconds until the CAM machine motors catch up. If the Pause/Hold signal is active too long a message is displayed by the CAM program telling the machine operator that the program is in Pause/Hold mode, so you would want the time the Pause/Hold signal is active to be brief. To have any of the three axis put the computer into Pause/Hold you can use OR gates (or diodes?) to OR the Hold signals so that any one axis can pause the computer when that axis is out of its position error window.

A000079: A standard TTL compatible A/B channel quadrature Encoder with a hand-wheel can be used to control the movement of the CAM machine motors in real time. The speed of the CAM machine motors will be in rough correspondence to the encoder speed unless the encoder is rotated too quickly for the motor and computer to keep up with. The encoder can be rotated in both directions and the CAM machine motors will also reverse direction. The encoder may be easier to use for fine positioning and rapid Jogging than the Joy-Stick. The encoder connects to the 15 pin Joy-Stick port, and can usually be powered from the +5 volts available on the Joy-Stick port. The encoder has four wires, common ground, +5 volts, A channel output, and B channel output. Both the Joy-Stick and the encoder can be connected at the same time. When the encoder is selected in the CAM programs you can press the [X], [Y], or [Z] keys to pick the axis to move with the encoder's hand-wheel. To get the Joy-Stick port to work you may need to install some of the sound board's drivers, e.g. when running under DOS.

A000078: The Joy-Stick can start and stop the motors in the Jog and Teach modes. Between full speed and stop the feed-rate can be adjusted in several levels from slow to fast, depending on how far off center the Joy-Stick is moved. All three axis can be adjusted at the same time if you have a three axis Joy-Stick. An analog Joy-Stick and analog Joy-Stick card are used with the CAM programs. You should have the Joy-Stick return springs active, so that the Joy-Stick will return to center when you let go of the stick. You need to let the computer warm up before using the Joy-Stick since the Joy-Stick center can drift which may cause the CAM machine motors to rotate spontaneously (see the other documentation relating to setting up the Joy-Stick). You should exit the Jog and Teach modes when you are not going to be around where you can see what the CAM machine is doing.

A000077: The way the Joy-Stick works would take too long to read between individual motor steps, so the feed-rate override is adjusted by pressing keys on the keyboard. You should program safe feed-rates into your tool path files rather than adjusting the feed- rate override while the tool path file is executed. See the line color to feed-rate table in the current CAM programs to setup the feed-rates.

A000076: There are two issues here, the *.PLT files supplied in the distribution *.ZIP file are plotter drivers for my CAD program's Hardcopy Plot Plot command for outputting pen plotter codes to disk or pen plotters and PostScript (tm) or HPGL/2 laser printers, they are not files of plotted plotter drawing line data. Some *.PLT files made by third party programs may be HP-GL plotter entity data files, i.e. a plot to a disk file in place of plotting directly to a pen plotter. Files made by third party programs may use commands not currently supported, so you should check the quality of the conversion of such files before you save the tool-path lines out as an ASCII file for use with the CAM programs. You may be able to look at your third party *.PLT files to see what commands they require by opening them in Windows (tm) Notepad.EXE (tm). Such file conversion commands might be located in the Files Load Industry sub-menu of the CAD programs.

A000075: The best way would be to save the drawing as a BMP file and then print the BMP file using some other graphics program such as MSPAINT.EXE (tm). In order for MSPAINT.EXE (tm) or some other third party graphics program to print properly you would probably have to have installed the printer's (Windows (tm)) driver properly. Sometimes printer's drivers can capture output to the other ports on your computer, this may be a help or a problem, so you should find out which ports your printer's software and drivers are taking data from, especially if you have more than one printer or device connected or installed on your computer at the same time. Another possibility, though less likely to work, is to save PCL, DXF, PostScript (tm), HPGL/2, or HPGL data to disk files by editing the printer and plotter drivers used by my programs so that the output port name is a filename. Then you might try transmitting that file of printer data to your printer's port. The DOS COPY command sometimes might be of use this way for plotters and laser printers on the COM1 or COM2 ports, but I am not sure how much luck you could have on any COMx numbers used for USB ports. Some program that works like the DOS MODE command might be of some help setting the port values. Some other COM program might work better than the DOS COPY command to transmit the printer data file, and your printer would need to support the codes my programs issue. A special cable working somewhat like a "NULL MODEM" cable might be needed in some cases. Some third party program that can print PCL, DXF, PostScript (tm), HPGL/2, or HPGL might be able to stand between a file of those codes made by my programs and your printer. Try the export BMP file method first. See the Main Menu Preview command in v2.7 or v3.7 of my CAD programs, Preview has options for saving large image size BMP files. Also, the BMP files can be saved in color, so if your printer prints in color you may be able to print color drawings that way. To reduce the use of ink you might set the background color to white with the Palette command in the Drawing Editor's Set-up sub-menu, line color 0 is the background color and setting it to color 15 is for a white background in the Drawing Editor and the Main Menu Preview command.

A000074: DXF file support is limited, but there are some commands in the Files Save Industry DXF sub-menu. The Plot-lines command in the DXF sub-menu saves the line attributes such as width or dots and dashes because the output is through the pen plotter driver using a DXF code plotter driver, adapted to output the plotter output to a disk file. The DXF Plot-lines command only plots integer points, so the dimensions of the plotted shape need to be in large distances, therefore you may need to re-scale the image once loaded into another program. The DXF Plot-lines command expresses the thickness and other attributes of line segments as many line segments drawn near to each other to give the impression of a single thick line. The DXF 3D-Lines and DXF Triangles commands are for saving 3D shapes and so would not be used to save 2D drawings normally (you would need to use Mutate to make the 2D lines into Triangles). The DXF 2D-Lines command can save 2D drawings, but needs to be used with the Ready command in the Hard-Copy sub-menu in order to first make an element that has the line attributes expressed into parallel line segments. Another option for outputting line attributes with the DXF 2D-Lines command is to first save the drawing using the Files Save Industry HP-GL command, then reload the drawing with the Files Load Industry HP-GL command, adjust the centering with the Offset command then save the re-loaded element with the Files Save Industry DXF 2D-Lines command. What saving and re-loading the drawing as HP-GL does is to send it through the pen plotter driver so that the line attributes get expressed as many parallel line segments. You can also just write a macro to make several copies of your drawing element and offset each copy a little, so that the line width and the spacing of the parallel lines can be set to any value you desire, then Join all the copies and save them with the Files Save Industry DXF 2D-Lines command. The reason that line attributes are exported as many parallel strokes is that in that way the relationship between the length of the line and its width is preserved. Be sure that you have the global world scale value set to the proper value when you use the Ready command or the pen plotter driver since it affects the relationship between the spacing of the parallel strokes and the length of the line segments for thickened lines. The same goes for the Drawing Editor, you need to have the WYSIWYG turned on, and the World Global Scale set in the Set-up sub- menu for the line attributes to look right in the Drawing Editor.

A000073: The short answer is that you use the POLYGON command to make a many sided polygon, or part thereof. For instance, select the Polygon command from the Drawing Editor's 2D-Shapes sub- menu, and enter sides total = 3600, sides drawn = 3600, radius = the radius you want, for a whole "circle." If you want half a "circle" enter sides total = 3600, sides drawn = 1800. If you want a quarter "circle" enter sides total = 3600, sides drawn 900, and so on. You can use fewer sides for smaller "circles" and more sides for larger "circles" to make the "circle" resolution match requirements without excessive numbers of line segments in the drawing workspace. In the current CAD programs there is an ARC command in the Drawing Editor that lets you draw "circles", or parts thereof, by marking the starting point, center point, and ending point for the arc and the program will compute the polygon required. With the ARC command, to make a whole "circle" make the starting and ending points the same point. The Magnify, Flip, Offset, and Rotate commands can be used to alter the Polygon element after it enters the workspace. The SAVE 2D command can be used to save distorted "circles" by setting the vanishing point not at infinity and rotating the polygon element out of the common z plane for the polygons points. May I add that I did not create a command called "circle" for two main reasons, first in earlier versions of the workspace capacity was more limited, so it was important to use as few line segments as possible to define "circles", the Polygon command allowed the user to define the "circle" resolution distinctly. The other reason for no "circle" command is that computer programs define a "circle" as a set of points on a polygon or in a raster, so any "circle" drawn is only an approximation. Since the "circle" is made of line segments it is called a polygon even when the lines are so short that you cannot tell the difference between the polygon and a real circle at the resolution of the display, that is its called a polygon because it is a polygon even if it looks like a circle in your print out or part machined. You can also create "curves" made of short line segments with the curve fitting command, or write a Macro file to create curves derived from a formula. Complex curves might be created in a Macro using formulas for the creation of ornamental turning or abstract art.

A000072: This question is a bit vague, but I will try to go over some of the issues implied in it. In the future please ask only specific questions about commands, and always state the program name, version, and compile date and time when asking about programs. My current CAD programs have a Macro language that lets you program them to do things within the scope of their capabilities automatically. One of the things the programs are designed to do is to save lines drawn in the workspace as a sub-set of G codes, see the information about the SAVE GCODE and LOAD GCODE commands. You might create a Macro that asks you about the dimensions of the part you want made, then have the Macro compute the location of the lines, APPEND the lines to the Workspace, then save those lines as G codes. Several commands used for editing tool path files such as the BETWEENS command might be incorporated into such a Macro file. My current CAM programs have scanning and teaching modes that can assist in the generation of tool path files that might be converted into G codes in my current CAD programs. The scanning modes might best be used with a probe that has a shape and radius equal to the tool that will be used in replicating the part later so that the tool compensation is automatically incorporated into the tool path during scanning of the original object or pattern. The G code output feature in the current Drawing Editor can output G codes directly to a G code file while using the drawing editor, rather than converting the lines drawn in the workspace into G codes after they are drawn with the drawing commands. The teach mode in the current CAM programs can let you make a tool path file by jogging the tool around and recording those lines and curves to a ASCII file which could be later loaded into the current CAD programs and saved as G codes. If the tool or a probe used for the teach mode have the same shape as the tool later used for cutting the replicated part in the current CAM programs the compensation for the tool shape and radius would automatically be incorporated into the resulting G code file converted from the ASCII file output while using teaching mode.

A000071: Current versions of my CAD programs can save drawings as BMP files. If you load the BMP file saved into a compatible graphics program you may be able to use the printer driver installed on your system's OS for printing from that application. This method of printing has the advantage that color and shaded drawings may be able to be printed on compatible color printers.

A000070: When many of my programs are run they configure themselves to the computer they are being installed on. If you copy the programs from one computer to another the configuration files may not be configured properly for the computer they are copied onto. It is proper for the user or "Beta Tester" to install the current programs onto his or her own computer that he or she owns. Each user or "Beta Tester" should download the most current version for "Beta Testing" and install the programs themselves, noting and taking responsibility for any changes to their system that they may need to make.

A000069: My programs are primarily written for operation under DOS. Some operating systems are semi compatible with DOS, although there may be problems with some small differences. The CAD and CAM programs have somewhat different requirements regarding OS compatibilities. I have been looking into making changes in the current program versions to try to compensate for some issues relating to OS and CPU related differences. Some issues may not be able to be resolved, and would require system modification. One way of dealing with some of these issues would be to use DOS as the OS on your computer. So far as I gather, DOS may operate on computers as fast as about 2.8GHz effective speed (about 1.9GHz actual speed), and may also work on faster ones as well. The current protected memory mode program versions might be able to be used under FreeDOS (tm) if you can make a boot disk with FreeDOS (tm) and re-boot your computer with the FreeDOS (tm) boot disk. In order to re-boot your computer to run under FreeDOS (tm) you may need to go into your computer's BIOS setup and change the boot drive order to boot from floppy drive first. If your harddisk is formatted for long filenames and large disk size, then the DOS OS used would also need to work with long filenames and large disk size, otherwise you might scramble the hard drive disk and lose everything on it. When Windows (tm) is mentioned in this Web site it generally refers to Windows 95 OSR2 (tm), but in some cases Windows 98SE (tm) may operate about the same. For versions of Windows (tm) subsequent to those versions of Windows (tm) you should consult their documentation for instructions relating to problems with operating DOS programs. Instructions for booting the computer to operate DOS games may be somewhat relevant, perhaps you could get advice from newsgroups relating to DOS game users. Windows 95 OSR2 (tm) may not work on some computers running in the GHz region, but Windows 3.11 (tm) and Windows 98SE (tm) may work on some computers running as fast as about 2.8GHz effective speed (about 1.9GHz actual speed), or perhaps more. When running my programs on a computer with Windows 3.11 (tm) it is probably best to exit Windows 3.11 (tm) back to the DOS 6.22 (tm) prompt and then run my programs directly from the DOS prompt. There seem to be third party "switcher" programs that let you have more than one OS on your system and let you go from one OS to another without re-booting, these might allow you to run my programs under DOS or another compatible OS on a computer that uses an incompatible OS as the primary OS. You may be able to install Linux (tm) as a second OS on your system and then try to run some of my current programs within DOSEMU (tm), but I do not know right now what additional issues that might bring up. It may be better to get a cheep or junk computer, perhaps upgrade the mother board, and reformat the harddisk with a compatible OS. You may be able to find a free compatible or junk computer from the free stuff link at www.craigslist.org (tm), or cheep on www.ebay.com (tm), purchase stuff at your own risk, I cannot warrant that anything you have read here might actually help. Because of differences in the effective GHz speed and the actual GHz speed of different CPUs GHz values discussed are very approximate, and what works at one GHz value on a particular computer may not work on another computer that seems to run at the same or similar GHz.

A000068: DANCAD3D (tm) is not available separately, it is part of the primary file distribution archives. Files that may be currently available for "Beta Testing" and that may be downloaded would be linked to in the INTERNAL DOWNLOADS of Section: 9. The "Order Form" would be linked to from Section: 8, but there may not be any items listed on it since those items may be undergoing "Beta Testing" at the current time, and so might be linked to in the INTERNAL DOWNLOADS of Section: 9. Out-of-date versions of my programs may be found from time to time elsewhere, but issues in such versions are not particularly relevant to this Web site since the current versions are the ones currently undergoing "Beta Testing". Out-of-date program versions were written for operation under DOS, newer operating systems may not be fully DOS compatible in all respects. Out-of-date program versions were written for use with particular DOS mouse drivers operating on computers made of components of that period, the mouse driver built into Windows (tm) may not be fully compatible with some program versions under some or all circumstances.

A000067: It has come to my attention that some Windows (tm) programs running in background can automatically force popping out of my programs running in a DOS window without your permission. This is a serious problem since Windows (tm) may not be able to restore my programs to operation after it has forcibly popped you out of them at some random time, and is particularly problematic while my programs are in SVGA graphics mode or doing some other tasks such as printing. This is worse than the problem of bumping the "Windows (tm) Key", since you can use a keyboard that does not have that key. In this case you might have almost no control of when some background program might pop you out of my program, possibly causing a total loss of your work in the workspace. Programs such as: Modem control or Internet connection software, Download programs, CD-ROM burning or playing software, and similar programs might have the ability to force a program pop out in order to give you some kind of notice or for another reason. No program that can pop you out of my programs should be running on your computer at the same time as my programs. By pressing [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Del] under Windows (tm) you may be able to disable trouble making programs running on your system one at a time, without disabling those programs that are needed and do no harm. Do not press [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Del] while my programs are running, rather quit back to the DOS prompt. You should always have the automatic output macro file on to back-up what you are drawing, and save your drawing elements to disk frequently, in order to have some kind of fall back copy of what you are working on.

A000066: One perhaps interesting new use of the high resolution video modes now supported by the Drawing Editor is that the Pixel Trace command can load a 24bpp or 32bpp image file at up to 1920x1440 or higher resolution. You can then draw over the loaded image for various applications such as: motion analysis animation, rotoscoping, making tool paths for CNC CAM manufacturing, and making too path files for art work such as painting, wood or linoleum carving, cutting etching plates, and similar tasks. When you use the Files Utilities BMP Oil command to make an "Oil" painting it just paints dots or lines of a given color. If you use the Drawing editor Pixel Trace command you can have paint brush or tool strokes go in any direction or along "curved" paths. The idea is to scan the image you want to trace over on your scanner as a BMP file, then use the Files Utilities BMP PIX command to make a Pixel file of the image, then load that Pixel file into the Drawing On-Screen Pixel_Trace command in order to trace line segments over the drawing, you would then save the traced lines as an ASCII drawing file and use that file as a tool path in DANPLOT.EXE (tm), or with additional editing with DANCAM.EXE (tm), to make the art piece or template. To get better "brush control" you might use a digitizer tablet rather than a mouse while doing the tracing. In order for this to work you MUST save the BMP file with the exact screen dimensions of the video mode your video board supports, e.g. if your video board only supports 1600x1200 you would use the software that came with your scanner to edit the image to be saved at that exact size, then when you enter the drawing editor you would also select that same size for the video mode to match the image. You may have problems getting your scanner software to save the image the exact right size, you may need to enter values one or more pixels larger or smaller than the size you want. Remember that you need to convert the BMP image into a Pixel file, and that the BMP file must be saved as a 24bpp BMP file if you are going to use the SVGA VESA 15bpp, 16bpp, 24bpp, or 32bpp video modes, my program will convert the 24bpp BMP data into the Pixel type selected. You might also be able to convert 8bpp BMP files to gray scale 8bpp Pixel files, but converting color 8bpp BMP files to color 8bpp Pixel files should not be used since the loss of color depth may make tracing more difficult. The Alias symbol feature should work inside the Pixel trace command in current revisions so long as you have entered the names of the Alias index files with the main menu Change command (see the tutorial on making Alias files.) Dropping symbols or tool cycles onto the scanned image inside the Pixel Trace command might make some kinds of drawing easier and faster. Although no menu is displayed in the Pixel Trace command so that the full screen area can be used, many of the same commands as are present in the Draw part of the Drawing Editor can be called up by pressing their letter key command, such as [M] for the move command, and [B] for begin new element, and so forth. Be sure that you save the traced lines to a drawing file, they do not become part of the raster image. If you want to superimpose drawing lines over an image, you can load the image as a background in the Main Menu Preview command and display the drawn lines over that image background, then save the combined display as a Pixel or BMP file with the Save Pixel or BMP save commands in the Preview command's menu.

A000065:You should not use one of the keyboards that have the "Windows (tm)" key on them that pops you out of a program, since if you bump that key accidentally you may not be able to get back into my program and you may lose all of your work in the workspace or lose open files. Rather, you should use an older "AT compatible" type keyboard that does not have the "Windows (tm)" keys on it. If your mother board as the small keyboard connector you should be able to get an adapter cable to convert from the older large keyboard connector to the smaller keyboard connector. I do not recommend using a USB keyboard with my programs at this point since DOS program operations predate USB keyboards. If the keyboard locks up after returning from a pop out to the Windows (tm) desktop or some other program, but the mouse still works, and you get trapped in the Draw part of the drawing editor you may be able to escape by pressing both mouse keys at the same time which the CAD program interprets as pressing the mouse center key on a three button mouse, since the center button on your three button mouse may not work under Windows (tm), or you just have a two button mouse, pressing both buttons may be the only way you can toggle the cursor control from the drawing cursor to the menu cursor, you may have to make several tries at clicking both mouse buttons at the same time since it is hard to do, once you get the menu cursor on roll to the [Q]uit option and left click on that, which should bring you back to the Main Menu, then save your drawing elements with the Files Save Elements command (you may need to use or make an odd filename by scrolling up or down in the filename list) then quit the program and preserve the workspace, then shut down and reboot your computer to get the keyboard to work again. You should ALWAYS have the automatic out macro turned on and frequently use the Files Save Elements or Files Back up command in the Drawing Editor while you are working on a project so that you can try to regenerate your drawing in case of a system crash. Remember that you need to manually delete the flag file DANCADXX.RUN before you can run the program again after a system crash.

A000064:You should always report such issues, but in some cases issues may be caused by some program running in background that is making alterations to the video board or other settings while my program is running rather than interrupting my program and restoring things back to what they were before having my programs continue. You might try making a macro and running it on more that one of your other computers under DOS 6.22 and see if the problem goes away. If the problem goes away then it might indicate that some program running in background under Widows (tm), the OS itself, the BIOS, the video BIOS, or some other background program, may be the determinant associated with the problem. One might hope that well behaved programs should probably not fiddle with the video board while my programs are running, so you might have some kind of a stealth program running on your system, perhaps without your knowledge. It may not be possible to remedy this problem with anti virus or anti spyware software. It could be hard to tell what is going on. Anyway if you get this problem you might try my programs on another of your computers, hopefully one of your systems will not present this issue. I cannot really say where this problem might come from, there might be several causes, I can only offer some general and somewhat vague suggestions. I am interested in reports about such issues so I can track them.

A000063:In order to have the programs work faster you may now need to press the [Ctrl] key rather than [Any-Key], or some other key, in order to interrupt the drawing to the screen. In some cases, such as during hidden line display, you may need to press the [Ctrl] and [X] keys at the same time to abort the display procedures. The [Ctrl] key may be labeled [Control] on your keyboard and is called the "Control Key". This change also affects other parts of the CAD programs and some features of the CAM programs, so note where the [Ctrl] or [Control] key is on your keyboard. In some cases the use of the control key may be abbreviated by a symbol preceding the letter key to be "controlled" such as ^X or ^[X] meaning hold down the control key and press the X key.

A000062:Sometimes Windows (tm) may not be able to restore my programs after it has suspended their operation, preventing you from re-entering the program and losing everything in the workspace, or in some files currently open or active. At other times Windows (tm) may partly restore the program, but the screen may be black, messed up, the mouse may not work right, the cursor may have problems, or other issues may arise with the keyboard or printer and such. These problems seem to happen mostly when my programs are in SVGA graphics modes, so going to a screen that is in text video mode may reduce the frequency of this problem. The Main Menu in v3.7K and v2.7I is in text video modes, as are the Tutor help screens in the Drawing Editor and Write Command, the Update list and Setup Palette commands in the drawing editor are also in text video mode, as is the Factors value screen in the Preview command. This problem may be intermittent so just because you were able to pop in and out of a given SVGA mode once does not mean that it will work every time. Since my programs do not know that you are popping out of them, this is a Windows (tm) or "OS switcher", operation, I am not sure anything can be done to completely eliminate the issue. Try going to the text mode screens before popping out of my CAD programs. You should ALWAYS have the automatic output macro turned on to avoid total loss in the event of a program crash such as this. You might also use the Save Elements command in the Files Save menu off of the main menu to save the workspace before you pop out of my CAD programs, the Save Elements command is called Files Backup in the drawing editor. See also Q65 about not using a keyboard with the "Windows (tm)" key on it.

A000061: It has come to my attention that some Windows (tm) type and possibly some other OS type file copying programs may change the file attributes of files to be used with my programs making those files unable to be opened or used. My programs may report various errors when trying to open or use such altered files since none of the file attributes should be set in files that my programs use. This problem may be able to be corrected by using the DOS command ATTRIB -R *.* or ATTRIB -S -H -R -A *.* in each sub-directory or folder that any files are in that my programs will access. You might use the Windows (tm) file properties option to check the attribute bits of the problem files, none of the attribute boxes should be checked, i.e. un-check Read only, Archive, System, and Hidden attributes. The DOS command ATTRIB can also be used to view the file's current attributes, e.g. ATTRIB FILENAME.EXT, see your DOS program manual for more information about the ATTRIB command. If many files are affected, it may be easier to try using the DOS command ATTRIB -R *.* or ATTRIB -S -H -R -A *.* in each sub-directory rather than un-checking the attributes for each file with the Windows (tm) command. This problem may occur if you copy files to a CD-ROM in order to transfer them to another computer, when the file is copied off of the CD-ROM the new file copy may not open because the attribute bytes were set when the file was recorded on the CD-ROM or copied from the CD-ROM. This problem may also occur when unzipping files from a downloaded ZIP file, or if you zip files to save disk space, so always un-zip the files in such a way that none of the file attribute properties are set in the un-zipped files. Since some file copying programs may change the file attributes "willy-nilly" you may not know that the attributes have been changed without your permission. Once you know that this problem can occur, you should be able to try to fix it so as to restore the files to normal status. Be sure that you do not alter the file attributes of any files that require their file attributes to be set, e.g. system files and such. Do not run INSTALL.BAT in a directory or sub-directory where files need their attributes set, since INSTALL.BAT may alter or remove the file attributes of all files in that directory. My programs and files being worked on with or used by my programs should be in their own separate sub- directory and not a sub-directory used by other programs or another program. This error message about the INSTALL.BAT file can also be caused by other problems, such as mixing files from two or more program versions and other related issues. You may want to reinstall the programs in a clean sub-directory from the original distribution ZIP file to check the distribution you have.

A000060: It has come to my attention that some Windows (tm) type and possibly some other OS type file copying programs may change the file attributes of files to be used with my programs making those files unable to be opened or used. My programs may report various errors when trying to open or use such altered files since none of the file attributes should be set in files that my programs use. This problem may be able to be corrected by using the DOS command ATTRIB -R *.* or ATTRIB -S -H -R -A *.* in each sub-directory or folder that any files are in that my programs will access. You might use the Windows (tm) file properties option to check the attribute bits of the problem files, none of the attribute boxes should be checked, i.e. un-check Read only, Archive, System, and Hidden attributes. The DOS command ATTRIB can also be used to view the file's current attributes, e.g. ATTRIB FILENAME.EXT, see your DOS program manual for more information about the ATTRIB command. If many files are affected, it may be easier to try using the DOS command ATTRIB -R *.* or ATTRIB -S -H -R -A *.* in each sub-directory rather than un-checking the attributes for each file with the Windows (tm) command. This problem may occur if you copy files to a CD-ROM in order to transfer them to another computer, when the file is copied off of the CD-ROM the new file copy may not open because the attribute bytes were set when the file was recorded on the CD-ROM or copied from the CD-ROM. This problem may also occur when unzipping files from a downloaded ZIP file, or if you zip files to save disk space, so always un-zip the files in such a way that none of the file attribute properties are set in the un-zipped files. Since some file copying programs may change the file attributes "willy-nilly" you may not know that the attributes have been changed without your permission. Once you know that this problem can occur, you should be able to try to fix it so as to restore the files to normal status. Be sure that you do not alter the file attributes of any files that require their file attributes to be set, e.g. system files and such. Do not run INSTALL.BAT in a directory or sub-directory where files need their attributes set, since INSTALL.BAT may alter or remove the file attributes of all files in that directory. My programs and files being worked on with or used by my programs should be in their own separate sub- directory and not a sub-directory used by other programs or another program.

A000059: It has come to my attention that if you have a Windows (tm) printer driver installed that captures the printer output before it gets to the printer port, and you are using another printer, plotter, or possibly a CAM machine on that printer port, the Windows (tm) printer driver may insert incorrect characters, delete characters, or otherwise alter the data stream to the printer port causing serious problems. A Windows (tm) or other print spooler may also cause similar problems. Be sure to disable any Windows (tm) printer drivers or any spoolers you may have installed before using the printer ports for or with some other device than the one the driver installed supports. You may be able to install another printer port card into your computer's slot and instruct or configure the Windows (tm) printer drivers not to intercept data to that port, so that you have a printer port that is free of meddling for use with other devices.

A000058: DANCAD3D (tm) is a DOS type program and may only print directly to some particular printers that support DOS compatible type printer and plotter codes such as: some Dot matrix printer codes e.g. Epson (tm) or IBM (tm), PCL (tm) a.k.a. LaserJet II (tm) type codes, PostScript (tm) a.k.a. LaserWriter (tm) printer codes, HPGL/2 (tm) a.k.a. LaserJet III (tm) type printer codes, and some various ASCII pen plotter type codes such as HPGL (tm). Additionally, for direct printing from DANCAD3D (tm) your computer and printing device must have a compatible Parallel port or Serial Port, if your printer just has USB I do not see right now how that might work for direct printing. If you use the Serial port you need to use the DOS MODE command to setup the Serial port to the same BAUD rate and such as your printer is set to before you start DANCAD3D (tm). Some Serial port printers may require a "NULL MODEM" cable rather than a straight pin to pin cable. Your OS must probably also be fully compatible with DOS type program printer port operations. If your fax, printer, scanner device uses a special Windows (tm) driver, supplied with the device on a CD, for its printing, and does not work with my DOS programs and compatible codes, you would probably need to try to save your DANCAD3D (tm) drawing as a BMP file and then load the BMP file into a Windows (tm) graphics program such as MSPAINT.EXE (tm) or the graphics program that came with your scanner or digital camera for printing. In the Windows (tm) graphics program you would probably need to select the Windows (tm) driver for your device before printing the loaded BMP file of your drawing. Test your printer, printer driver, and graphics programs, by loading and printing some BMP files made by some other program, or your scanner, before you try to print drawings made by DANCAD3D (tm) so that you can see that your system and printer are working properly. You can save BMP graphics files using several commands from inside DANCAD3D (tm), and the BMP files can be saved as 1bpp monochrome, 8bpp color or gray scale, and 24bpp "true" color which would be the best option for color drawings. Some Fax software may let you convert a BMP file into a Fax file, so you might also be able to print the drawing by converting it into a Fax, although printing the BMP file without conversion may look better. Avoid palette conversion and try to use the 24bpp color resolution. When you make the BMP file using the main menu Preview command in DANCAD3D (tm) by selecting the "BMP" video mode, rather than saving the Preview screen as a BMP file, you can adjust the pixel size of the image file made so that when you print out the drawing it will fill the page at a high enough resolution. For 300dpi printing of an image 8x10 inches you would need to make the image 2400 by 3000 pixels for portrait or 3000 by 2400 pixels for landscape. If you do not have enough disk space to make a file that large you might try using 150dpi for a file of 1200 by 1500 or 1500 by 1200 pixels. When you print the BMP drawing from a Windows (tm) program, if you want the measured size of the image to be the "actual" size on the drawing you may need to select 1:1 pixel printing option rather than a printing option that adjusts the image size to fill up the page. See also the other questions and answers relating to printing, printers, and plotters, and look over Section: 3.1.17.0. See also the macro commands that print drawings, convert PIXEL to BMP, and save BMP files in the Keywords section of the macro code documentation.

A000057: I have included oversize illustrations that are or may be larger than your screen size so that you can look at details smaller than would be clearly visible with an image equal or smaller than your screen resolution. Unfortunately some browsers "shrink to fit" images so that the maximum size fits within the limits of your screen. In shrinking the images to fit the screen pixels may be omitted or averaged which may degrade the image resolution or cause lines in line drawings to disappear. If you can turn off this "shrink to fit" feature in your browser, or use a browser that does not "shrink to fit" while viewing this Web site.

A000056: If you are thinking of upgrading your mother board so that you can run my programs faster, there seems to be a limit on the maximum speed of the CPU you can use while using Windows 95 (tm). Microsoft (tm), in their document titled "Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 312108", seems to state that a "divide by zero" error may result if Windows 95 (tm) is installed on a computer with a CPU speed of 2.2GHz or faster, therefore limiting the CPU speed that can be used with Windows 95 (tm) to about 2.1GHz when "Ndis.vxd" is involved. It is unclear as to the frequency with which "Ndis.vxd" is active, i.e. just on initial installation, every time new hardware is installed, when the CPU or CPU speed is changed, or every time the OS is booted. You may need to investigate how this problem with "Ndis.vxd" might impact your particular system. Microsoft (tm) seems to further state that they have no plans for releasing a patch to fix this problem in Windows 95 (tm). There are two kinds of Windows 98 (tm), Windows 98 (tm) and Windows 98 SE (tm). Apparently, Windows 98 SE (tm) does not seem to have this problem at the 2.2GHz threshold, by some unconfirmed reports. The older Windows 98 (tm) seems to be reported to be afflicted with the "divide by zero" problem, but a fix seems to be available as a revised file called "Ndis.vxd" with a date of or later than November 28, 2001 for the English version of that file. Although there may be ways to work around this problem in Windows 95 (tm), such as, by bypassing "Ndis.vxd" at boot up, using "DEBUG," running in "Safe Mode," and such, such methods are not generally recommend for use with my programs, perhaps the most practical solution might be to upgrade the OS from Windows 95 (tm) to Windows 98 SE (tm) by using the upgrade version of Windows 98 SE (tm) before you upgrade your mother board or CPU to a speed higher than 2.1GHz. Since I have not yet tested my programs under Windows 98 SE (tm), I cannot state what problems you might have running them under Windows 98 SE (tm) that you did not have running them under Windows 95 (tm), but since Windows 95 OSR2 (tm) and Windows 98 SE (tm), are somewhat similar you might not notice much difference in running my programs at their DOS prompt, but I cannot say for sure what will happen. If you are going to upgrade your system I do recommend that you back up all of your files before doing so, in case things go badly, since you would not want to lose all of your files etcetera.

A000055: I do not recommend hardware, generally, since everybody's computer system will have different issues relating to compatibility. Information provided here is not intended as a recommendation of something you should purchase. You might want to get a video board that supports the VESA SVGA video modes v1.2, v2.0, or some standard newer that is compatible, and has a video BIOS that is compatible with DOS 6.22 (tm) and Windows 95 (tm). I seem to have two SiS 6326 graphics accelerator chip (tm) based boards on PCI bus cards, one with 4MB and the other with 8MB. There is not much of an obvious difference between them as far as the displayed image, although the 8MB board might run at higher refresh rates if some way could be found to set the refresh rates. These PCI SiS 6326 boards seem to work with DOS 6.22 (tm), Windows 3.1x (tm), Windows 95 (tm), and Linux (tm). They seem to display many of the supported video modes up to 1600x1200 at 16 bpp and 1280x1024 at 24 bpp. I have also used them with some Liquid Crystal shutter glasses by using a shutter glasses controller that has full manual control under DOS, Windows 95 (tm), and Linux (tm). You may need to download a BIOS patch if you get an older version of this type of board. I also have a Trident Blade3D 9880 Chipset (tm) board called Video-107PCI (tm) that works with some of the the VESA SVGA video modes under DOS but not as many modes as the SiS 6326 (tm) video boards, it goes up to 1024x768 at 32 bpp and 1280x1024 at 16 bpp, it is also supposed to display at 1600x1200 but I have not seen it doing that yet. 32 bpp is the same as 24 bpp on the screen the extra byte is just for padding. Some mother boards may have built in SiS 6326 video chips (tm), so you might not need a separate video card. My old ISA VLB Genoa WindowsVGA 24 8500VL (tm) also seems to work in modes up to 1280x1024 at 8bpp. I have begun testing the programs with AGP type video boards. An AGP video board called "Pine (tm) 3D Phantom XP-3800 32MB" seems to work, at least to some extent, under DOS, perhaps at resolutions up to about 1920 by 1440 pixels at 32 bpp "true color" using VESA mode code 321 decimal, although testing has not been completed. Two issues cropped up during testing of the "XP-3800 (tm)", the video connector seems to be close to the bottom of the board so that the fat connector on one of my monitors would not easily connect because the case was in the way, and also the default refresh rate seems to be too fast for my older monitors to keep up with on some of the higher resolutions. If you have a monitor that can handle high resolutions with fast refresh rates this may be a cool video board to use, perhaps with my programs under some OS. There are two other versions of this board, a "64MB XP-3800 (tm)", and a "128MB XP-3800 PRO (tm)", the 128MB version seems harder to find, perhaps. The information that came with the board seems to claim that there are drivers for Windows (tm) 95 OSR 2, 98, ME, NT4.0, 2000, and XP. I have not yet tested this AGP board using the Windows (tm) drivers, partly because my older monitor does not seem fast enough to display all of the modes at their default rate under DOS. There seem to be different versions of these boards, one with just SVGA monitor out, and another with monitor, composite video RCA, and S-video. The 64MB version of this board seems to be available for less than $50 at the time I am writing this. The "XP- 3800 (tm)" seems to use the "SiS 315/SiS 315E" chipset, I do not know if the BIOS in other boards using those chips support the VESA SVGA modes as well. I do not endorse or recommend that you purchase any particular video board or computer hardware, the information here is just supplied as personal notes about things that you might wish to look further into as part of your own research on the subject.

A000054: I am not using some of those OS at this time, but unconfirmed second hand information indicates that Windows 3.x (tm), Windows 95 (tm), Windows 98 (tm), Windows 98SE (tm), and Windows ME (tm) may in some or all cases not interfere with direct Port I/O. If you are using an OS that interferes with direct Port I/O you should run the current CAD programs on a computer with a compatible OS, such as DOS 6.22 (tm) or perhaps Windows 95 (tm). I do not recommend running the CAD programs under Windows 3.x (tm) since it might be better from a stability stand point to exit Windows 3.x back to the DOS 6.22 prompt and run the CAD programs from there. The current v2.7 CAD programs might generally run a little faster under Windows 95 (tm) primarily it seems due to faster harddisk access, which is a particular issue when using display modes that use the Z-Buffer files. Be sure to load the ATA drivers for your harddisk controller if you are using an ATA harddisk under Windows 95 (tm) to get good harddisk access speed. I have not yet tested the CAD programs under Windows 98 (tm), Windows 98SE (tm), or Windows ME (tm), but they might work in some cases, Windows ME (tm) might present more issues since it might not use the DOS core like some of the previous OS versions might have. The CAD programs primarily use direct Port I/O for the video board, but there may be some other direct Port I/O here and there in the programs. You will have to try the CAD programs on your system to see what you can get to work. Formatting the harddisk partition that the CAD programs will be in with "DOS FAT" may help the programs run a little faster in some cases. Using a harddisk that runs at 7200RPM and has a 8MB buffer may also help run the CAD programs a little faster. Using a computer with a 80x87 or "DX" CPU chip i.e. one with a built in math co-processor may allow you to use DANCAD87.COM (tm) which can run a little faster on some computers for some tasks. If you use [Ctrl] & [Esc] or [Alt] & [Tab] to pop in or out of the CAD programs under Windows (tm) you should try to avoid doing so while the programs are in the SVGA video modes, or other graphics modes since the screen may not get restored properly when you return to the CAD program from Windows (tm). If you are in the main menu Preview command you can press [F] to bring up the "factors" sub-menu which is in text mode and might be safer to pop into or out of. The CAD main menu is also in text mode, as is the update list in the Drawing editor.

A000053: I am not using those OS at this time, but unconfirmed second hand information indicates that Windows NT (tm), Windows 2000 (tm), or Windows XP (tm) may in some or all cases interfere with direct Port I/O. If you are using an OS that interferes with direct Port I/O you should run the CAD programs on a computer with a compatible OS, such as DOS 6.22 (tm), or possibly Windows 95 (tm). The CAD program may report that the video board used, or video mode selected, is incompatible, or other issues may arise if the OS does not support direct Port I/O. You may be able to select a "Windows 98SE" compatibility setting for running DOS programs, but I do not recommend trying to run the CAD programs under such an arrangement at this time since I have not tested the programs to see what might happen. Direct Port I/O may allow some faster program operations, but you need to select a compatible OS in order to use programs that take advantage of this mode of operation.

A000052: I am not using some of those OS at this time, but unconfirmed second hand information indicates that Windows 3.x (tm), Windows 95 (tm), Windows 98 (tm), Windows 98SE (tm), and Windows ME (tm) may in some or all cases not interfere with direct Port I/O. If you are using an OS that interferes with direct Port I/O you should run the CAM programs on a computer with a compatible OS, such as DOS 6.22. The CAM programs seem to work better when they are the only program running on the computer since timing errors are less when the CAM programs are not interrupted. FREEDOS (tm) seems to be a "quiet" OS, and DOS 6.22 (tm) or a boot floppy made with Windows 95 (tm) also seem to be fairly "quiet" OS when no TSR programs are running in background. If you reboot Windows 95 (tm) into MS-DOS (tm) mode you may get a little more background "noise" than booting the computer with a "DOS 95" boot floppy disk made by using the FORMAT A: /S command from the Windows 95 (tm) command prompt. The protected memory mode CAM program versions may be able to be run in background under Windows 95 (tm), but I do not recommend operating them in that way since the "Overdrive" step pulse generation cannot be used with a "noisy" OS and the surface finish of the parts made might be degraded by the computer getting interrupted by the mouse, keyboard, harddisk, and other programs that are also running. The answer is not so much what can you do, but what you should do. What you should do is run the CAM programs on a "junk" or "bear bones" computer under DOS of some kind.

A000051: I am not using those OS at this time, but unconfirmed second hand information indicates that Windows NT (tm), Windows 2000 (tm), or Windows XP (tm) may in some or all cases interfere with direct Port I/O. If you are using an OS that interferes with direct Port I/O you should run the CAM programs on a computer with a compatible OS, such as DOS 6.22. The program may report that the Pin 10 "Limit/Pause" switch is in the state that pauses the motor step pulses even when everything is hooked up properly. That is because Pin 10 is read through direct Port I/O. The CAM programs do direct Port I/O to the Parallel Port, the Joy- Stick port, the video board's ports, and to some extent to the Serial ports. So the OS used must support direct Port I/O. You may be able to select a "Windows 98SE" compatibility setting for running DOS programs, but I do not recommend trying to run the CAM programs under such an arrangement at this time since I have not tested the programs to see what might happen. Direct Port I/O might allow fast program operation with high maximum step pulse rates in some cases , but you need to select a compatible OS in order to use programs that take advantage of this mode of operation.

A000050: Check that you are not using an OS or OS settings that interfere with direct Port I/O. If you are using an OS that interferes with direct Port I/O you should run the CAM programs on a computer with a compatible OS, such as DOS 6.22. When the program is using the "Rapid" movement rather than the "Linear" movement Pin 10 should only be used for the Limit switches and not as a program Pause. If you want to Pause the CAM programs while they are executing "Rapid" movement you should press the [Ctrl] or [Control] key since pressing the [Ctrl] or [Control] key should "ramp down" the motor speed, whereas putting Pin 10 high will stop the motor signals even when the motors are moving rapidly. When stepper motors are moving rapidly, i.e. faster than their inherent "pull in" speed, by use of the "Overdrive" ramping feature and "Rapid" movement portion of the CAM programs, the stepper motor cannot stop immediately since it needs to be "ramped down" or have its speed gradually reduced, if you try to stop the motor suddenly it will slip past the correct stopping point by an unknown amount, therefore you will need to re-home the machine after the stepper motors are stopped suddenly while doing rapid movement in order to re-establish the machine's true tool position. "Rapid" movement is normally only used with stepper motors, and not with servo motors. If you are using Servo motors you would normally go into the configuration menu and change the movement type for all feed rates to "Linear" from "Best" or "Rapid." Be sure to read all of the documentation relating to the CAM programs before trying to operate them.

A000049: Check that you are not using an OS or OS settings that interfere with direct Port I/O. If you are using an OS that interferes with direct Port I/O you should run the CAM programs on a computer with a compatible OS, such as DOS 6.22. The switch input pins on the computer's Parallel Port usually float high, so when the machine is not connected properly to the computer's Parallel port the program reads that the switch input pin for the "Pause/Hold" function is high and stops the program until the switch input Pin 10 on the Parallel port goes low again, this feature is used to stop the motor signals when the limit switches or pause switch are active, and as a by-product usually pauses the program when the machine is not connected properly. Before you try to run the CAM programs you should study the drawings HOOKUP1, HOOKUP2, and HOOKUP3 as well as the other CAM documentation that talks about the connections to the Parallel port pins. Do not use any device that has a Parallel port pass through between your computer and your machine tool, e.g. do not connect to the computer's Parallel port through a scanner, video converter, printer, external harddisk, and such, since the Parallel port pass through device might produce false signals, particularly when the pass through device is not powered and operating, and thereby make the computer incorrectly read the switches on your automated machine tool and may cause problems, errors, damage, and injury. If you continue to have problems after you have made proper connections use the current procedures in SECTION: 8 to report your experiences, be sure to mention the OS you are using, your processor type and speed, and any other details of your system that seem to influence the matter including the exact part of the program where you see the error and exactly what messages are displayed. If you have more than one computer you might try the CAM programs on a slower computer to see if they work better on another computer, particularly one with DOS 6.22 as the OS.

A000048:The answer to both of your questions is to use the BMP filetype. The 1 bpp or 8 bpp BMP file format can probably be converted into 24 bpp JPG or GIF in some graphics program that you have on your computer such as the software that came with your scanner for display on the internet. Revisions of version v2.7G, and later, can output 24 bpp BMP files directly as well. The software that came with your scanner can probably save scanned images in the BMP file type for loading into my CAD programs. There are several ways that BMP files might be saved and loaded with my macro commands or the equivalent menu commands (see Appendix B for details):

UTILITY BMP256_TO_ASCII, can be used to load a 8 or 24 bpp bpp (256 palette mode color or gray tone) *.BMP image file and convert it into an ASCII file that can be loaded into the drawing workspace using the LOAD ASCII command. Various modes can convert the BMP image into 2D or 3D lines or triangles for use with different display modes or for use as a tool path for use with the CAM programs. In BMP files saved from some graphics programs it may be best to crop the image in the BMP file to have a number of horizontal pixels that is an even multiple of 8, and total pixels that are an even multiple of 32. See the [F]iles [U]tilities sub-menu.

UTILITY BMP256OIL, works a little like the UTILITY BMP256_TO_ASCII and also converts BMP 8 bpp file to an ASCII file, but has the ability to select just one of the 256 palette mode's colors or gray tones. By selecting just one of the colors or gray tones you may be able to make a tool path file to apply just one color of paint or the equivalent at a time. UTILITY BMP256OIL can add the motions to move the brush in and out of the "paint pot" so that the brush picks up paint before drawing each pixel, or stroke of pixels. In BMP files saved from some graphics programs it may be best to crop the image in the BMP file to have a number of horizontal pixels that is an even multiple of 8, and total pixels that are an even multiple of 32. See the [F]iles [U]tilities sub-menu.

The CONVERT command can convert a 1 bpp "Line Art" BMP file into a JET page file, or convert a JET page file into a 1 bpp "Line Art" BMP file. To make your BMP file this way you first make a JET page file, then use JET ADD to copy your drawing lines from the workspace into the JET page file, then CONVERT can read the JET page file and save a *.BMP file of the JET page. To load a BMP 1 bpp "Line Art" file into the workspace you would first use JET MAKE to make a JET page file, then use CONVERT to copy the BMP image into that JET page file, then use the JET TRACE and possibly some of the other JET commands to make an ASCII trace of the image in the JET page file, then use the LOAD ASCII file to load the drawing lines in the ASCII file into the drawing workspace. The BMP file to be loaded must match the pixel size given in the JET driver file used to make the JET page file exactly. See the [O]utline command in the [H]ardcopy sub-menu. See the [F]iles [S]ave (and [L]oad) [I]ndustry [B]MP commands.

The SAVE BMP command can save the graphics screen as a 8 bpp or 24 bpp BMP file. How many colors or gray tones, the BMP file type i.e. 8 bpp or 24 bpp, and the image size saved depends on the graphics mode set when SAVE BMP is called. Color images made using the hidden line modes can be saved using SAVE BMP, and possibly loaded into other graphics programs for printing on color printers. In order to save the higher resolution SVGA color graphics modes your computer must have a compatible SVGA video card with enough memory to display those modes. On computers with or without SVGA the GRAPH_MODE BMP mode can be used with the [P]review or DISPLAY command to save 24 bpp BMP files in color and of larger sizes if needed. See the save [B]MP command in the [P]review command.

The LOAD BMP command can load an 8 bpp or 24 bpp BMP file into the graphics screen. Because the color palette used for the DISPLAY command can be different from the palette in the BMP file, files not saved from DANCAD3D.COM (tm) will probably require palette conversion when being loaded. Because of mismatch in the colors after palette conversion, better results will probably be obtained converting gray scale monochrome images from BMP files. Color images that undergo palette conversion may look somewhat "posterized" depending on the color content in the original BMP file. The BMP file to be loaded must match the pixel size of the graphics mode selected exactly. 24 bpp BMP files that load into 24 or 32 bpp video screens do not require palette conversion, and so look about the same as when displayed elsewhere. See the [F]iles [U]tilities sub-menu.

FILES CONVERT can be used to convert a NOR file made by using DANPLOT.EXE (tm)'s scanning probe mode into a BMP file. This could make a BMP 256 palette mode gray tone file, but you may be able to convert that to "Line Art" with some other graphics program you probably have on your computer. It may be best to select the image scanning dimensions that have a number of horizontal pixels that is an even multiple of 8, and total pixels that are an even multiple of 32 for compatibility with some programs. See the [F]iles [U]tilities sub-menu.

You can try to use the software that came with your scanner to edit the BMP files, and crop them to the right size. Some programs have problems actually making the image the correct number of horizontal and vertical Pixels, you may need to enter a number one larger or smaller to actually get the size you want. You may also be able to use the software that came with your scanner to convert images from 8 bpp (256 palette mode color or gray) to 1 bpp "Line Art" for conversion into my programs using the JET page files. You may also be able to use the software that came with your scanner to convert files saved as 1 bpp, 8 bpp, or 24 bpp BMP files from my programs into 24 bpp JPG or GIF files for other applications such as display on the internet.

My CAD programs also try to make sub-sets of other filetypes such as STL, HPGL, DXF, and PostScript (tm) that might be able to be converted for display, or you might just print out your drawing and scan it into the format of your choice.

A000047: Please only use the correspondence forms as given. If you are unable to download files, you would probably not be able to "Beta Test" the programs files, and therefore would have little reason to correspond with me anyway. Many cities have an "Internet Cafe" so you should be able to download correspondence form files to a floppy disk or CD-R there, and printout the correspondence form files on your own computer.

A000046: Some program bugs may be processor speed dependent, so if you purchase a computer faster than the one I use for development it may not be possible for me to see some of the bugs you might report on my computer. You may not have problems on computers faster than the one I use, but I cannot say, you may be going into "uncharted waters" on your own. At the time I am writing this I am using a 733MHz PIII coppermine with a 133MHz memory. Other kinds of hardware incompatibilities may also make tracking down bugs difficult or impossible, so I cannot say that any particular computer you might purchase will work properly with any one of my programs. Check that you are not using an OS or OS settings that interfere with direct Port I/O. If you are using an OS that interferes with direct Port I/O you should run the current CAM programs on a computer with a compatible OS, such as DOS 6.22, and run the current CAD programs under Windows 95 (tm) or DOS 6.22.

A000045: If you are encountering problems running the any of my programs under an OS other than DOS you might purchase two removable harddisk mobile rack "drawers" and format another harddisk with DOS 6.22 and just use that disk with my programs. You should be able to purchase the IDE removable mobile racks for less than $20 each, and a used 120MB harddisk for about $5. About the largest harddisk you might want to purchase for DOS formatting is 8.4GB, and it may need to be divided into four 2.1GB partitions. In some computers you may need to reduce the partition size to 32MB, depending on the version of the OS and software you are using. You might also try to upgrade to the latest version, v2.7 or such, to see if that helps. Check that you are not using an OS or OS settings that interfere with direct Port I/O. If you are using an OS that interferes with direct Port I/O you should run the current CAM programs on a computer with a compatible OS, such as DOS 6.22, and run the current CAD programs under Windows 95 (tm) or DOS 6.22.

A000044: The Files Load Industry G-code command has been revised, so you should check the most current version to see if it works with your G code file. You may be able to edit your G code file with the Binary File Editor or the Write command in the CAD program's main menu to compensate for the issue. You can use the trace while the G code file is loading to try to pinpoint where the problem commands are in the G code file. If you cannot figure out what the problem is you can make the G code files available in a special way, rather than sending me your files on a floppy disk I would like you to create a Web site and post your files on there, as *.ZIP files, or as part of the HTML text using the HTML commands pre and /pre so that the G-Code commands are in monospaced text. You can probably get a free Web site from one of the many companies that offer such space. You should then indicate in your Web site that the G-Code files have been placed in the Public Domain and were written entirely by yourself, and that CAM software developers can freely use your files for testing, and bench-marking, their programs. I think it would be useful for someone like yourself to create such a Web site so that the many small CNC software companies could have a set of standardized files to use for standards compliance, and performance testing. Other G-Code users could read your files and help you fix any bugs in your G code or make suggestions on improving the style of the instructions. When you get such a Web site up, correspond using the Wish list correspondence form, see Section: 8, and let me know the files are available so that I might look at them when I get some free time.

A000043: The [J]oin command joins elements logically, not physically. If you did not draw the elements to connect you can use the [P]ull-point command to move the second end point of the last line in the first element to meet the first point of the first line in the second element. The new [L]ink command in v2.7 might also sometimes be used to correct gaps by making linking line segments.

A000041: First, the printer drivers mostly use port LPT1, if you are going to use the serial port COM1 you need to use the external DOS MODE command to set the baud rate. If you cannot get any printer you have to work, you can try saving the drawing as a "PostScript (tm)" type file (see command [F]iles [S]ave [I]ndustry [P]ostscript (tm) from DANCAD3D.COM's (tm) main menu), and take that file to a desktop publishing center and find out if they can print the drawing for you. See also Section: 3.1.17.0.

A000040: If the file is smaller than the free space available on the floppy disk you can put the drive letter and a colon before the filename you want to save when you enter the name to save the file under, i.e.. B:\MYFILE.ASC saves the file to the B: drive. Be sure that the floppy disk was formatted before you try to save your drawing. See also Section: 3.1.17.0.

A000039: Use the ASCII file type made by DANCAD3D.COM's (tm) [F]iles [S]ave [A]SCII command from DANCAD3D.COM's (tm) main menu. You should look at your tool path file with DANCAD3D.COM's (tm) [P]review command before you save the file to see if you made any mistakes in drawing of your tool path, particularly with regard to having the tool approach and leave the work-piece in 3D space. You can use the values in [P]review's menus to change the scale and rotation so as to view the tool path from different view points. My "PLOT" CAM plotting program will also read the ASCII file type, but the tool path file is more like a drawing file, and all the points generally have a zero value for the Z axis. You need to set up the CAM programs as to what the feed rates are that you want to go with each line color, see the CAM program's configuration menus.

A000038: You have not installed DANCAD3D.COM (tm) on your harddisk properly, or you do not have a complete set of overlay files on your set of program disks, or zip file. Unfortunately many of the program disks, or zip files, users pick up have files missing & therefore you will be unable to get the copy you have to work properly. Check that all the files named DANCAD3D.0?? have the same date as DANCAD3D.COM (tm), if not, your disks, or ZIP files, are not usable. When you want to run DANCAD3D (tm) on another day (after you have installed the program) you need to use the DOS Change Directory (i.e. CD) command to change the current directory of your harddisk to the directory DANCAD3D.COM (tm) is in.

EXAMPLE: C:\>CD C:\DC27
         C:\DC27>DANCAD3D

DANMOVIE (tm) v1.x or v2.x is not currently being distributed with any copy of DANCAD3D.COM (tm). Copies of my CAM programs usually come as part of the DANCAD3D.COM (tm) distribution file set.

A000037: Some old CGA boards and the cheep CGA clones can have this problem. Mono graphic clone video boards generally do not show snow like this. You should be able to get a board and monitor for very little at your local thrift shop. Color or Mono video boards made for 4.7MHz computers should not be used with Turbo XT, AT, or any computer with a ISA speed faster than 4.7MHz since you may get video problems sometimes or the card may overheat and possibly catch on fire.

A000035: I would like to think that version 2.7 should not be crashing all the time while loading the main menu, be sure that your copy is not corrupted and that it has been installed properly. Always try to keep all of your files updated to the most current revision, and report any bugs you find by following the instructions in Section: 8. Below are some possible reasons related to some possible issues that may have come up during the development of previous versions, although these may not necessarily apply to the current version.

Here are eight possible reasons:

If you have some operating system, or memory allocation, other than the standard DOS 640KB setup, try booting your computer from a DOS 6.22 floppy (with the system files) so that DANCAD3D.COM (tm) has access to the computer as the DOS standard describes.

A000034: I would like to think that version 2.7 should not be crashing all the time while loading the drawing editor, be sure that your copy is not corrupted and that it has been installed properly. Always try to keep all of your files updated to the most current revision, and report any bugs you find by following the instructions in Section: 8. Below are some possible reasons related to some possible issues that may have come up during the development of previous versions, although these may not necessarily apply to the current version.

Here are what might be five possible causes of this problem:

1. Your harddisk was not low level formatted properly, you will need a computer expert to enter the bad sector numbers properly and reformat your harddisk. The bad sector numbers are printed on a label that is attached (or should be) to your harddisk. Newer harddisks may not have a label attached, and would have to be checked with a program like SCANDISK or some lower level utility. My programs are not specifically designed to work with harddisk partitions larger than 2.1GB, so you may not be able to use a disk larger than 8.4GB. See the instructions about FDISK in your DOS manual, to partition your harddisk.

2. Your Mouse driver has bugs in it, or is incompatible with my programs. Try not installing the mouse and see if the problem goes away.

3. You have a defective copy of DANCAD3D.COM (tm). Or perhaps you did not install the program properly.

4. If you are using a Hercules type or MGC type video board, your board may not be fully Hercules (tm) compatible. DANCAD3D.COM (tm) will not work on some EGA boards that are connected to monochrome monitors. Also check 1, 2, and 3 above. The EGA multisync option of the video board selection may sometimes activate the EGA monochrome video mode, but should only be used on monitors that support both the 50Hz and 60Hz vertical sweep rates.

5. You mouse got stuck, try rolling the mouse and clicking its buttons then hit the [Escape] or [Return] keys on the keyboard. this is not a common problem and may also indicate problem 2. above. This may happen if you use a old mouse driver on a new computer that is faster than the computer the mouse driver was written for.

Most of the complaints of this type seem to have gone away as users upgraded from 8088 processor computers, at least when using DOS 6.22. If you have problems running my programs on an operating system other than DOS 6.22 you might try using a different harddisk just for my programs that was formatted and runs under DOS 6.22.

Q000033: Can I use a non-name brand printer that claims to emulate a name brand printer?

A000032: Some printers, such as the LaserJet III (tm), might require that extra memory needs to be installed in the printer before you can print full pages (the LaserJet III (tm) probably also needs the "Page protection mode" configured "on" before the printer will print HPGL/2.) See also Section: 3.1.17.0.

A000031: DANCAD3D.COM (tm) v2.7 may work on some of these: Dot Matrix: EPSON (tm), IBM (tm), STAR (tm) in printer widths of 8" to 16" with resolutions of 120 dpi or 240 dpi by 216 dpi, 180 dpi, or 144 dpi. Pen plotters using various ASCII codes might be able to be installed including HP-GL plotters. Laser printers using HP-PCL, HPGL/2, and PostScript (tm) codes including the LaserJet II (tm), Brother HL-5040 (tm), and LaserJet III (tm) may also work. See also Section: 3.1.17.0.

A000030: If you use the serial port for printing or plotting you need to put the DOS MODE command into your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to set up the serial port before you run DANCAD3D.COM (tm) (if DOS MODE is in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file your serial port will be automatically set up each time you turn your computer on.) Some plotters require a "NUL MODEM" type serial port cable to operate. You may also need to set the DIP switches in the printer or plotter to the same BAUD rate, 8 data bits, and such, as were set with the MODE command in your computer. See also Section: 3.1.17.0.

A000029: The drivers that come with my programs work with many "vintage" printers, if they do not work on your printer, then your printer will probably not work with my programs. Be sure you have installed the proper printer port in the correct driver and used the DOS MODE command to set up your serial ports if needed. DANCAD3D (tm) does not support color dot matrix printers at this time. See the main menu in DANCAD3D (tm)'s [C]hange command and the [H]ardcopy [D]ot [I]nstall command. The drivers are located in sub-directory DRIVERS\ from DANCAD3D (tm)'s sub- directory. See also Section: 3.1.17.0.

PROPRINT.PRN or IBM5152.PRN for 9 pin printers with 1/216 line feed.

FX286E13.PRN for wide carriage 9 pin printers with 1/216" line feed.

LQ_1500.PRN or NEC-P6.PRN for 24 pin printers with 1/180" line feed.

LQ_1500W.PRN for wide carriage 24 pin printers with 1/180" line feed.

STARG15X.PRN for older star SG15X and SG10X with 1/144" line feed.

MX_80.PRN for older Epson type printers with only 120 dpi print mode.

Select [C]hange from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu to install the selected driver name, i.e. DRIVERS\IBM5152.PRN. Press [H] [D] [W], or [H] [J] [W] from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu to print a drawing that is currently loaded into the workspace. If you printer uses HPGL/2 or PostScript (tm) use [H] [P] [P] or [H] [L] from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu to plot your drawing (some laser printers use plotter like commands, and so operate using the plot command).

A000028: Look at the files with the *.PRN extension that should be on the program disks you have. Try to pick the one that looks like your printer's model name (see the above description of the driver names.) Then run DANCAD3D.COM (tm) and press [C]hange from the main menu and enter the filename of the driver for your printer. If the driver is not installed for the port your printer is connected to you can install the printer port manually with [H] [D] [I] from the main menu. See also Section: 3.1.17.0.

A000027: Look at the files with the *.PLT extension that should be on the program disks you have. Try to pick the driver name that looks like your plotter's model name or code type. Then run DANCAD3D (tm) and select [C]hange from the main menu and enter the selected driver's filename as your plotter driver. If there is no driver that will work on your plotter you can install the plotter manually with [H] [P] [I] from the main menu. DANCAD3D.COM (tm)'s plotter driver mostly only uses the "pen-up", "pen-down", "pen-home", "initialize plotter", and "select pen color" plotter commands. Be sure that you use the DOS MODE command to set up your serial port, if you are using the serial port, to correspond to the BAUD rate that the DIP switches are set to in your plotter. See also Section: 3.1.17.0.

EXAMPLE: C:\DOS\MODE COM1:9600,N,8,1,P

A000026: In order to get a screen dump from the graphics screen you need to run a TSR program like the DOS GRAPHICS.COM before you run DANCAD3D (tm). The [D]ot command in the [H]ardcopy menu from the main menu prints drawings much sharper (about 30 times as sharp) than the screen dump. The DOS GRAPHICS.COM program that comes with some versions of DOS only works on the CGA video mode, so you may need to look for one of the substitute screen dump utility programs that might be available from Public Domain, freeware, shareware, or your video board manufacture. Do not load any such TSR programs if you are going to use my CAM programs. See also Section: 3.1.17.0.

EXAMPLE: C:\DOS\GRAPHICS.COM

A000025: Select [F]iles [S]ave [I]ndustry [P]ostScript (tm). You can use the DOS COPY command to copy the PostScript (tm) data to the printer from the floppy disk when you get to the desk top publishing center. On super resolution devices like the Linotronic 300 you may want to have heavier lines since the lines will look thinner than, when printed, on the LaserWriter Plus (tm). You can edit the PostScript (tm) (ADOBE_PS.STF) driver with the [H]ardcopy [P]lotter [I]nstall command. See also Section: 3.1.17.0.

A000024: Press [H] [D] [W] from the main menu to print out the drawing that is in the workspace (use [H] [J] [W] for HP-PCL code printers). Add 90 degrees of rotation in the z axis if you want to print the drawing out long-ways on the paper. Be sure that you have installed your dot- matrix printer's *.PRN file with [C]hange from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu. Press [H] [D] [I] to select the port your dot-matrix printer is attached to. Try the dot-matrix printer driver IBM5152.PRN first if your dot-matrix printer has 1/216" line feed. If your dot-matrix printer has 1/180" line feed try driver LQ_1500.PRN. If you have a LaserJet II, or III compatible printer the procedure is the same but just use the [J]et sub-sub-menu rather than the [D]ot sub-sub-menu, and you use the *.JET drivers with the [J]et sub-menu commands. The printer drivers are generally supplied installed for port LPT1, if you want, one of the other parallel ports can be used, just use the [I]nstall command in the [D]ot or [J]et sub-menu to alter the driver. If you change the driver to port COM1 or COM2 you will need to put the DOS MODE command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to set up the serial port before you run DANCAD3D.COM (tm). See also Section: 3.1.17.0.

EXAMPLE: 1. Use DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu [C]hange command to install driver name.
         2. Use [H] [D] [I] or [H] [J] [I] to install the port name.
         3. Load  the  drawing into the workspace.
         4. Use the main menu [P]review command to set perspective.
         5. Use [H] [D] [W] or [H] [J] [W] to print the drawing.

A000023: Press [H] [P] [P] to plot a drawing. Be sure that you have installed your plotter's *.PLT driver file, with DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu [C]hange command, before you try to plot the drawing. Also remember that you must set up your COM? port with the DOS MODE command before the serial port can be used (put MODE in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so your serial port will be set up automatically when you turn your computer on.) Press [H] [P] [I], from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu, to install the computer port your plotter is attached to. See also Section: 3.1.17.0.

EXAMPLE: 1. Use DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu [C]hange command to install driver name.
         2. Use [H] [P] [I] from main menu to install the port name.
         3. Load the drawing into the workspace.
         4. Use the main menu [P]review command to set perspective.
         5. Use [H] [P] [P] from main menu to plot the drawing.

A000022: Press [H] [L] to laser plot a drawing from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu. The ADOBE_PS.LZR driver is the default PostScript (tm) driver and is installed for port COM1. You can select an alternative PostScript (tm) driver with the main menu [C]hange command. If you need some port other than COM1 for your printer press [H] [P] [I] from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu and alter the installed *.LZR driver. The LASERJET III (tm) HPGL/2 drivers (LJIII???.PLT) can be used in place of the PostScript (tm) (*.LZR) drivers with the [H]ardcopy [L]aser command. See also Section: 3.1.17.0.

EXAMPLE: 1. Use the DOS MODE command to set the serial port before
            you run DANCAD3D (tm) if you use the serial port.
         2. If you want some driver other than ADOBE_PS.LZR use the
            main menu [C]hange command, else skip to 3.
         3. Use [H] [P] [I] from the main menu to install the port
            name set in driver ADOBE_PS.LZR (default is COM1.)
         4. Load the drawing to print into the workspace.
         5. Use the main menu [P]review command to set perspective.
         6. Use [H] [L], from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu, to print the drawing.

A000021: DANCAD3D.COM (tm) uses several file types. To avoid scrambled data, or other errors, keep each type of file separately identified by saving each file with the recommended extension (*.3D, *.ASC, *.FON, *.TXT, *.MAC) whenever possible. Some times you may need to use numbered extensions, e.g. SOMEFILE.1, SOMEFILE.2, and so on, so, also, isolate each type in a separate sub-directory to avoid confusion.

A000020: You should set FILES=20, and BUFFERS=80. You may also need your mouse driver in the CONFIG.SYS file, if it does not go in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If you are using SMARTDRV to buffer your harddisk you may want to reduce the BUFFERS to BUFFERS=20 or BUFFERS=30. You may also need to reduce the buffers if you are short on memory. Without SMARTDRV the harddisk will probably slow down DANCAD3D (tm), unless you can move everything into a RAM disk above the DOS 640K while you use DANCAD3D (tm).

A000019: If you use the serial port you will need the DOS MODE command to set up the serial port(s). If you use a digitizer tablet you will need to have the tablet drivers in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If your mouse driver does not go in the CONFIG.SYS file it will probably go in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.