IT'S ABOUT TIME! Version 1.03b ("b" for "we BE moved!") 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� Copyright 1992 by � Daylight Software � � 3790 El Camino Real, � � Suite 2001 � � Palo Alto, Calif. 94306 � 냐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � Voice (415) 813-0386 � � FAX (415) 813-0FAX � � (=813-0329) � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS It's About Time! works without hassle on any system running MS-DOS 3.3 or newer on a '286 or newer processor. If you have older hardware or software, you need to exercise a little care in installing It's About Time!. In the absence of any other way to permanently save system time, It's About Time! keeps a record of its own. But if you run It's About Time! more than once at startup (by installing it in more than one file like AUTOEXEC.BAT), it will change your system time more than once. Be sure to install it into only one (1) startup file. If you have any problem -- or if it runs just fine under MS-DOS 2.1 on your XT -- drop us a line. We'd like to know, and it might affect future versions. BASIC INFORMATION If you're reading this, you've already managed to extract the files from the DAYLIGHT.EXE archive. This file tells you how everything else works. IAT.EXE is the main It's About Time program. INSTALL.BAT is a batch file that automatically installs IAT. DEMO.BAT is a batch file that demonstrates IAT's ability to update system time for going on/off daylight savings time. IATMENU.BAT is a batch file that lets you launch IAT from any directory. IAT.PIF and IAT386.PIF are provided for Windows users; IAT386.PIF should be used with 386 Enhanced mode. IATPROMPT.BAT and MYPROMPT.BAT are used by the demo. ILICENSE.COM displays registration costs and information. WORLDCTY.DB is the database file used by IAT's Around the World in 24 Hours feature. TZ-CHECK.COM, SAVEDATE.COM, TODAY.TXT and CURRENT.TZ all keep track of things for IAT. Don't worry about them. WHAT'S DIFFERENT IN VERSION 1.03 Several things are different. The "Around the World in 24 Hours" display and database have been unlocked, so even unregistered users can save changes there. Overall performance is now significantly better on older and/or slower machines. On-screen cues have been expanded and reworded to provide more help. This file has been expanded to cover the new features, and to better describe existing features, and to deal with a few special cases along the way. Since bug fixing took longer than we expected, the early-bird registration deadline has been extended. INSTALLATION Once you've extracted the files listed above (and, preferably, read this one), type "install" to set up It's About Time!. It's About Time! lets you modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, and any others you choose, to run It's About Time! when they run. Be sure that the line shown in the installation utility does in fact reflect where It's About Time! is -- making other programs hunt for it in the wrong directory would be counter-productive. If you live in Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the half of Indiana that doesn't fool with its clocks, or any other place that doesn't observe Daylight Savings Time, you shouldn't install TZ-CHECK.COM anywhere at all. Don't run it on your own, either. Feel free to run the demo, since it puts everything back when it's done, but delete the file CURRENT.TZ afterwards and don't plan on using this part of It's About Time!. If you do install it, your machine will be out of sync with all the others around it for half the year. When you're done, type Esc to go to It's About Time!'s main menu. LAUNCHING IT'S ABOUT TIME! From DOS, launch It's About Time! by typing "iat" while in the directory IAT is installed in. The file IATMENU.BAT is modified during installation to point to It's About Time!'s directory; you can copy it wherever you want and type "iatmenu" to launch It's About Time! from any directory IATMENU.BAT is in. THE MAIN MENU From the main menu, you have eight options. You can choose one by typing a number (1-7), or pressing the equivalent function key (F1-F7), or by typing the letter given in boldface. To return to the main menu from any of the options, type Esc to exit it without saving changes or F7 to exit and save changes. (You can only save changes in your local Daylight Savings Time rules if you're a registered user.) Typing Esc while in the main menu exits to DOS, just like choosing "Exit" does. HOW TO NAVIGATE IN IT'S ABOUT TIME! There are multiple fields of data associated with most options. Use the arrow keys to move between fields, and Page Up and Page Down to change the value of the current field. In most cases, + and - can be used to change the value, too. If it's a numerical field, you can type the number you want as long as Num Lock is on. If there are only two possible states for a field, you can use the space bar to toggle between them. If the cursor is visible when the active field is one that you can edit. If the cursor is not visible, the active field only takes your input to select from among its options. The difference is easier to see than to explain -- you'll know it when you see it. The exceptions to the above rules are described on screen, listed here, or both. THE OPTIONS 1/F1/I. Install Software. This is the option chosen automatically by INSTALL.BAT. 2/F2/L. Display License Information. This shows you the same information you'd seen by running ILICENSE.COM. 3/F3/S. Register Permanent Serial Number. This is the place to put the serial number you'll get when you pay your registration fee. You must have something on each of the three lines of the name/address box as well as a correct serial number to register. 4/F4/C. Calibrate Current System Time. This lets you change the current system time. It's self-explanatory...but note the change listed on-screen from the general navigation rules. It's About Time! and your system time deal in 24-hour time. If you're unfamiliar with 24-hour time, you can type in PM hours as you normally would and then type F5; It's About Time! will make the conversion for you. Each press of F5 changes the hour field value by 12. 5/F5/R. Change Rules. This lets you change the rules It's About Time! uses to go on and off Daylight Savings Time (which get changed every few years). The default values reflect North American practice; many European countries begin DST on the last Sunday of March, instead. Be sure to check the rules for wherever you are. You can only save changes here if you're a registered user. 6/F6/W. Around the World in 24 Hours. This lets you see the current time in 21 locations around the world. It's About Time! maintains a database of 250 locations, with the extent to which each location is ahead or behind of Greenwich Mean Time and what Daylight Savings Time rules it follows. You can select any location field and scroll through the database to assign a different location. The upper-left-hand location is the "anchor point"; the date and time in all the other locations are calculated by reference to it. You can change the anchor point's date and time, if you want it to be something other than your immediate vicinity, or simply type F1 to set it to current system time. The number below "GMT" in each location box shows the number of hours that location differs from GMT. A star next to "GMT" means that location is currently on Daylight Savings Time. It's About Time! can show the fraction symbols for one-quarter and one-half hour differences from GMT. Anything else will be indicated by a diamond (and, of course, the right time in the time field for that location). Select Nepal, which is 5 hours and 45 minutes ahead of GMT, for an example. There are several exceptions to the usual navigation rules in the Around the World in 24 Hours screen. Don't be confused by them! In the hour and minute fields for the anchor point, you can type in any time you want. If you type in an hour value greater than 12, it will automatically be converted to 12-hour time (this is an easy way to convert from military or European time to the usual USA practice); if you enter an hour value greater than 24 or a minute value greater than 59, It's About Time! will deal with it. Typing 99 in the minute field, for example, will add 1 minute and 39 seconds to the anchor point time. Page Up and Page Down, and + and -, change the hour or minute value by one. In addition, Control-Page Up and Control-Page Down change the minute value by 15. + and - change the date value by 1. Page Up and Page Down change it by 7 (one week). Control-Page Up and Control-Page Down change it by 28 (four weeks). 7/F7/E. Edit Cities/Rules Database. This lets you change the database that Around the World in 24 Hours uses (but only registered users can save changes). There are 250 entries. Use Page Up and Page Down to scroll through the list of location names to find you want to edit, or type any letter to see the next location that begins with that letter. Use the usual navigation means to choose any of the entries for that location and edit them. To edit the name of the location, you must first type Control-E. The field background changes color while you're editing it; scrolling or going to another field ends that round of editing, and you must type Control-E again to resuming editing it. Type F7 to save changes and return to the main menu; type Esc to return to the main menu without saving changes. Getting 100% reliable information about DST practices around the world is difficult at best, and in any event countries change their rules every so often. The database entries are NOT guaranteed to be accurate, particularly for places outside North America and Europe. Note that most locations are actually countries rather than cities. Most countries occupy just one time zone, so the entry is correct for the whole country. Representative cities have been given for the countries that occupy more than one time zone -- the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Mexico, Mongolia, Russia and Zaire -- and for some other countries as well. X/Esc. Exit to DOS. This takes you out of It's About Time! and back into DOS. REGISTRATION The file REGISTER.TXT contains all the information you need to register your copy of It's About Time!. Fill in the blanks with whatever text editor or word processor you usually use, print out the form and mail it to the address shown. Be sure to include the version number -- fees may go up for later versions, and they may well not be shareware at all. Don't miss out! THE TOP TEN REASONS TO REGISTER IT'S ABOUT TIME! 10. You will receive your VERY OWN, UNIQUE serial number, and your VERY OWN (but not unique) manual to go with it. 9. Men named Guido armed with stout sticks will NOT visit you unexpectedly in the middle of the night. 8. The senior partner of Daylight Software will stop threatening the junior partner, who persuaded him to cut back on the demo crippling and who is writing this, with the big pair of pliers. Help! 7. You will contribute to a positive flow of money to the West Coast, helping to reduce the risk that the Earth will tilt and fall uncontrollably into the Sun. 6. Men and women will come from afar to bask in your aura of virtue. 5. Daylight Software will be MUCH more interested in answering your technical support questions. 4. You will earn the right to speak smugly to those who haven't registered. 3. You will help make it possible for Daylight Software to produce more cool products -- like the Windows version of It's About Time!, which will be quite a bit more expensive for new users. 2. You will be part of the #1 software sales phenomenon of the 1990s. Would you believe #2? How about #3? And the Number One reason is... 1. You will be eligible to receive version 2.01 when it's ready. (Version 2.00 is the one with the newest bugs as well as the newest features; 2.01 has the bugs removed. If you'd really rather have 2.00, of course...) REMINDER It pays to register by April 17, 1992! (We give you a better break than some large organizations we could mention.) Register now!