READ.ME Blinker 1.50 Update 91.07.07
------- ------------------- --------

This maintenance update to Blinker 1.5 consists of this file READ.ME,
the EXE file BLIUPD.EXE, 3RDPARTY, a compatibility chart of 3rd party
libraries, and some updated link script files with a time stamp of
2:00 am.

PLEASE READ THIS FILE IN ITS ENTIRETY AS IT WILL SAVE YOU TIME AND
EFFORT INSTALLING AND USING THE UPDATE.

Installing the update
---------------------

To install the update please change directory to the Blinker
directory, copy these files into the directory and then run BLIUPD by
typing BLIUPD at the DOS prompt.

Please ensure that the BLINKER.EXE present in this directory is
version 1.50, the program will NOT update any previous version of
BLINKER.

The program will display a message explaining that a new file
BLI150.EXE will be created in the current directory. This file is the
new 2:00 am version of BLINKER 1.50 with the same serial number as the
BLINKER.EXE in the current directory, and should be renamed or copied
over the top of the old BLINKER.EXE

New features in the 2:00am version
----------------------------------

BLINKER ENVIRONMENT CLIPPER now changes the name of the CLIPPER
environment name from CLIPPER to . This is the name used for the
F, V, SWAPK etc values to control Clipper at application run time. By
specifying a new name each application may have its own settings in a
unique environment variable, e.g.

BLINKER ENVIRONMENT CLIPPER MYAPP

At runtime the environment may be set to the required values e.g.

SET MYAPP=F51;R16

The application will examine the MYAPP environment variable rather
than the default CLIPPER variable. The same capabilities for override
exist as when the default name CLIPPER is used (see the BLINKER
ENVIRONMENT OVERRIDE command).



Two new link time command line parameters have been added to avoid
conflicts with certain TSRs etc which are badly behaved. The command
line parameter /!e excludes the use of EMS at link time, and the /!x
parameter excludes the use of XMS at link time. e.g.

BLINKER @TEST /!e /!x Only swap to disk

These appear to be a little cryptic because we may wish to use MSLINK
compatible parameters in a future version and do not want to conflict
with those.


Clipper 5.0 and 5.01 .EXE files with internal overlays will now
compress successfully with PKLITE and similar utilities which preserve
the internal overlays (This is not even supported by .RTLink !!)
Unfortunately LZEXE discards internal overlays rather than
preserving them, so does not work with internal overlays. These
utilities should ALL work fine with external overlays.


Applications linked with INCREMENTAL ON should require significantly
less memory to run than before (there is no change when INCREMENTAL is
OFF).


There is now no limit to the number of .OBJ and .LIB files or MODULE
commands which can be specified for an application.


The link files for overlaying Clipper 5.01's CLIPPER.LIB have been
updated to include a comment indicating how to place TBROWSE back in
the root to speed it up.


Bugs fixed
----------

A few people received fix up overflow messages at link time when
using certain routines from LLIBCE / LLIBCA / LLIBC7. When using
these libraries it is best to specify NODEFLIB in the script file at
the same time to avoid looking for more than one of them.


Sometimes Force .OBJs were not recognised as being Force .OBJs.


Burning in of SWAPK / SWAPPATH values for 5.0 / 5.01 was causing
error messages at link time.



BLINKER OVERLAY UMB now defaults to ON as documented, and does not
cause an error if there is no XMS / high memory manager installed.


Using the MIXCASE option with Summer '87 gave a 'Not a Clipper .OBJ"
message.


If an application had two Clipper procedures with the same name, the
first of which was in the overlay area and the second was in the
root, and both were actually linked in to the application, then the
second was executed rather than the first if INCREMENTAL was ON.
When duplicate procedures occur, BLINKER will now ALWAYS use the
first occurrence.


FUNCky 1.0
----------

Using the FUNCky 1.0 functions ONKEY () and TIMEOUT () requires the
new replacement .OBJ files 3MICE.OBJ and 4MICE.OBJ to be linked to the
application. These files and documentation are available from our BBS
in a file FUN10FIX.ZIP in the BLINKER files section, or from the BOSS
BBS.

The link files for FUNCKY have been updated.


Champion accounting software
----------------------------

The CHAMPION accounting package requires a replacement SETPROG.OBJ to
work with the new overlay managers. This file is available from our
BBS in the BLINKER files section, and should be linked in the root of
each program.


Please check your records for our up to date contact details.

Blink, Inc.,
P.O.Box 7154, 15, North Thompson Street,
Richmond, VA 23221. Richmond, VA 23221.

Sales : 804-355-4444
Support : 804-353-0137/8
FAX : 804-355-1676
BBS : 804-355-1111 US Robotics 1200 - 9600 N,8,1