Pscale 3.2 for MSDOS and new scompare.exe
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You might ask why on earth we are posting two new versions of Pscale for MSDOS programs. There are two reasons:
Microsoft is pushing the way to migrate to 64 bit operating syatems within the next 2-5 years and claim that they will abandon all support for Windows 16 bit programs. Pscale for Windows is a 16 bit program and I do not plan to spend hundreds / thousands of hours re-coding a program that works fine, as is, for the whims of Microsoft's marketing plans.
The DosBox "Open Source" initiative now has a version of DosBox that will run on Windows 64 bit systems (and all earlier Win versions), the Apple Computer OS 10.X operating system (PowerPC and Intel), and Linux systems. This means that Pscale for Dos Programs will now run on all of the above platforms. I have not yet tested all of the above OS platforms but will lay bets that Pscale Dos programs will work with all of these operating systems using DosBox. Furthermore, DosBox will also currently run the Windows 3.X operating system (remember 1995?) for anyone who has Windows 3.X install disks. The DosBox initiative was spawned mostly by computer gamers who love vintage computer games but they are due absolute tribute because they have made a tremendous contribution to the worldwide computer user base becuase there is a huge number of "vertical" Dos and Windows 16 bit programs still in use. "Vertical" means applications designed for a small and limited industry segment and application requirement. Pscale is a good "Vertical" example.
I am working on all aspects that will allow my software tools to continue to work just like my Hale tuning hammer has for the past 35 years without having to re-engineer a new tuning hammer. Why should I? And, again, I do not plan to spend hundreds/thousands of hours re-coding programs that work fine, as is, for the whims of Microsoft's marketing plans.
Given the above described issues, I have been upgrading Pscale for MSDOS and have added almost all new features that are included in the Pscale for Win version. The main feature is the Bass Auto Scale options that allow "sculpting" of bass tension lines which has just been added to Pscale for Dos Version 3.2 as of 04/11/07
Recently, I have actually had some fun reworking Pscale Dos program code from over a decade ago. There are several Pscale users that still use the Dos version because they remained more familiar with that environment. Having revisited this lately, I can say that Pscale for Dos is every bit as functional and effecient now as it was 15 years ago.
Pscale Version 3.2 for Dos - pscale.exe - 180K download
- Just save this file to your pscale folder. You might want to rename
your current pscale.exe file to a different name if you want to retain your
previous version.
Changes: All print routines now write to a file and the view screen
identifies the filename. One thing that got lost in the transition from Dos
programs to Windows 95 and up versions was that print routines no longer
worked. And, they still do not. However, if the Dos print routines write
to a file, the user may go back to Windows (or other OS) and open the print
file in notepad (or other text editor) and print the necessary data.
The essential print output files in Pscale3.2 for Dos are as follows:
dprint.txt - scale text data
dbprint.txt - bass string winding report
dtprint.txt - bass string tail data report
vprint.txt - verify dual speak length and wrap type information
I will also add that the main reason MSDos printer support fell by te wayside
was that, with the transistion to ink jet printers, the printer manufacturers
simply stopped supporting the MSDos environment. Then, with the transition
to USB printers, even more so.
scompare.exe for Dos - 162K download - This is
a new scale compare program that duplicates all of the features of the Pascale
for Win Scale Compare features (which actually still use some DOS graphing
subroutines.. scompare.exe is actually better in a few respects. All Graphs
and text compare routines write to a file that can be opened in your Windows
Image program or Notepad for the text type putput. The essential print output
files in scompare.exe for Dos are as follows:
graph.pcx - graph in Black and White format - I usually use this format.
graph_c.pcx - graph in Color format
scalcomp.txt - any scale comparison that generates a text comparison.