KAMAS VERSION 2.5 (SHAREWARE)

WELCOME to the world of KAMAS!
The Ultimate in Knowledge Outlining

This is a special Shareware version of KAMAS and the release disk contains
the following files:

READ.ME This file you are reading.
KAMAS.DOC Overview of KAMAS with License/Order Form.
KAMAS.COM Main KAMAS program file.
HELP.KAM KAMAS help file in a KAMAS outline file.
DEMO.KAM File with various demo items in a KAMAS outline.
KAMASSHA.KAM Online KAMAS Shareware User's Guide in a KAMAS
outline file (includes tutorial).
TOPCNV.COM Outline format conversion utility.
TOPCNV.DOC How to use the TOPCNV utility.

If you obtained your copy of Shareware KAMAS from an online dialup
service--like GENIE, Compuserve, or any BBS--you should have obtained it
in the form of one compressed archive file (such as KAMAS25.ARC or
KAMAS25.ZIP) which contains the above files.

NOTE: DO NOT attempt to read or edit the files with the .KAM extension.
These outline files can only be read and edited using KAMAS.


HERE ARE SOME TIPS ON GETTING STARTED QUICKLY WITH KAMAS.

1. Print out and read the KAMAS.DOC text file for an overview of what
KAMAS is. This file is a standard ASCII text file that also contains the
KAMAS Shareware Policy Statement, License, and a registration order form.
Please read the KAMAS.DOC file.

2. Instructions on installing KAMAS and on learning to use it are in the
KAMAS Shareware Guide. It is highly recommended that you print out this
guide and follow the Guided Tour of KAMAS in it. You can print out the
complete KAMAS Shareware Guide as follows: Make sure your printer is
connected, has paper, is turned on, and is switched online. Issue the
following command (assuming you have already copied the KAMAS files to
the current DOS subdirectory):
KAMAS /P
The printing assumes 8 1/2 by 11 inch tractor feed fanfold paper in a
printer that is set up to print 66 lines per page with 80 columns per line.
The printing will result in a formatted document with a Table of Contents
at the end.


3. If you must jump in right away without delay, KAMAS is invoked by just
typing KAMAS followed by Enter at the DOS prompt. If you jump right in,
here is a very brief command summary: Just as there are several paths into
KAMAS, you will also find that there are several ways to issue commands once
you start using the software. First, you can follow the easy to use menus.
Press F2 to start the menu system and then press the first letter of the
desired option to select your choice. To exit from the menus, press the ESC
key or press F2 to back out of one menu to the previous menu level. Besides
the menus, KAMAS also offers fast keys to directly issue a command bypassing
the menu prompts. If you are new to computers, we recommend that you start
with the menus before graduating to the fast keys. The menu help screens
list the corresponding fast keys for each menu option so that you can learn
while you are using KAMAS. For Wordstar users, KAMAS offers a set of
Wordstar aliases. These commands let you use what you have already learned
and apply it to editing text in KAMAS. And last, but not least, KAMAS
offers a set of global commands that perform the same function whether you
are editing text, editing outlines, or using the file manager. Here is a
summary of the Function Keys which all serve as global commands, performing
the same function no matter what part of KAMAS you are using:

F1 Help. F2 Start menu system.
F3 Mark file, titles, text. F4 Copy file, titles, text.
F5 Delete file, titles, text. F6 Rename/edit/replace file/titles/text.
F7 Find string forward. F8 Lookup string in context.
F9 Jump to outline by name. F10 Exit KAMAS to DOS.



========================== KAMAS UPDATE NOTES ==============================

1. KAMAS for ThinkTank and PC-Outline Users. KAMAS can read in Structured
ASCII Files with the .HEAD commands produced by ThinkTank and PC-Outline.
Thus, you can easily convert your ThinkTank and PC-Outline files into KAMAS
outlines. See the section titled "Converting to and from Standard Text Files"
in Chapter 5 of the Registered User's Guide for details on converting outline
files from ThinkTank or PC-Outline to KAMAS. When converting PC-Outline
files, we have found a few anomalies. PC-Outline does not provide separate
titles and text in its outlines and, thus, does not completely follow the
standard for Structured ASCII Files. Using its Structured File Output
command, the first line of each item in the outline file is used as the title.
Sometimes, when reading these files into a KAMAS outline, the title line
overflows KAMAS's 88-character title and the remainder of the title is placed
in the KAMAS text leaf. If you discover any titles that appear to be
truncated, look in the corresponding text leaf for the remainder.

2. KAMAS for MaxThink Users. KAMAS can read in standard ASCII text files
or Wordstar document files produced by MaxThink. See the section titled
"Converting to and from Standard Text Files" in Chapter 5 of the Registered
User's Guide for details on converting outline files from these
applications to KAMAS. You may wish to add your own structuring commands
to these files to read them into KAMAS outlines with their structure intact.
See the section in Chapter 5 for instructions on this.

3. KAMAS for Wordstar Users. KAMAS includes a set of Wordstar alias
commands used for editing text. If you are already familiar with Wordstar,
you can use what you already know to help you start using KAMAS. In
addition, KAMAS outline files can be converted to Wordstar document files
and Wordstar document files can be converted to KAMAS outline files. See
the section titled "Converting to and from Standard Text Files" in Chapter 5
for details on converting files between the two. NOTE that becasue KAMAS
now supports international character sets, the Wordstar files that
KAMAS can read and write are essentially Wordstar v. 3.x compatible.

4. KAMAS for MS-Word, Word Perfect, and other Word Processing Users. Both
Microsoft Word and Word Perfect can handle Wordstar document files and/or
standard ASCII text files. In fact, most popular word processors now have
facilities for converting to and from at least one of these two file formats.
You can convert KAMAS outline files for use by these word processors (and many
other word processors) by first using KAMAS to "Outfile" the outlines to
either Wordstar document files or Standard ASCII text files. If your word
processor supports reading them, Wordstar document files are preferred because
more formatting information is passed. You can read/convert existing text
files from your word processor into KAMAS outlines by first converting them
with your word processor to either Wordstar document files or standard ASCII
text files. This conversion may not be necessary if your word processor
produces and edits Standard ASCII text files in the first place (eg, PC-Write
& FinalWord II). See the section titled "Converting to and from Standard
Text Files" in Chapter 5 for details on converting files back and forth.

5. KAMAS for PC-Write Users. Many of the special printer effects in
KAMAS (like underlining, boldfaced, and super/sub-script) use the same codes
used in PC-Write. Thus, when you convert KAMAS outline files to PC-Write
files (ie, to standard ASCII text files), these printer effects will remain
intact with the same meaning.


6. KAMAS (v. 2.3+) now supports international characters. If your keyboard
can supply character codes in the ranges 128 to 175 and 224 to 239 (decimal),
then KAMAS will accept and preserve them during title or text editing. These
codes are built-in to the system ROMs in the IBM PC/XT/AT and close
compatibles to display as certain international characters. Consult your
computer's documentation for more details. See a sample of them in the DEMO
outline under the title: INTERNATIONAL CHARACTERS. Note that this version
of KAMAS does NOT support the Outfile conversion of these characters into
the Wordstar document format. International characters are preserved if you
output to a Standard ASCII text file or to a Structured ASCII file.
Structured ASCII text files can also be read back in and the international
characters will be preserved. Details on how to do this are provided in
the Registered User's Guide. NOTE: Many printers DO NOT support printing
of international characters.

7. IMPORTANT!! With version 2.3, User Name and Password matching are NOT
case sensitive. If you have Modify or Entry locked any of your outlines with
versions of KAMAS prior to 2.3, you MUST unlock them with the earlier version
of KAMAS and relock them with version 2.3 or above of KAMAS.

8. There are some computers which use monochrome monitors to represent
colors by using shades of the monochrome color (eg, Compaq or Visual
Commuter). If you have one of these computers, try KAMAS out-of-the-box first
to see if your computer is representing colors in shades that are to your
liking. If they aren't, try a new option we have added in the KCUSTOM color
set menu to allow you to force KAMAS to use monochrome video attributes.
This option is called: 1-color. Note that you can always restore to the
factory default colors by using the Defaults option in that same colors menu
of the KCUSTOM program. Note also, that KAMAS will automatically choose the
1-color attributes if your computer is running on a true monochrome display
adapter. The KCUSTOM program is available with the Registered version of
KAMAS.

9. KAMAS can be run as a "Standard Application" under Microsoft Windows v3.
Included on the registered KAMAS master disk is the necessary KAMAS.PIF file
to allow this. See your Microsoft Windows documentation for details. If
you are not running KAMAS under MS-Windows, then you do not need the
KAMAS.PIF file.

10. NOTE that KAMAS will NOT work under IBM or Microsoft OS/2 v. 1.x
in the DOS Compatibility mode. DO NOT run KAMAS under OS/2 as it may
give you the illusion of working until it freezes up. We hope to fix this
problem in a future update. The problem isn't actually with KAMAS; it is
with the fact that OS/2 DOS "compatabilitiy" mode isn't completely DOS 3.x
compatible (!).

11. Version 2.4 has been recoded to better work on MS/PC-DOS v. 4.0x;
especially if you have hard disk partitions greater than 32 Megabyte.
We have tested it on many different releases of DOS 4.0x.


12. Some of our previous KAMAS v. 1 and OutThink customers have been
evaluating our newest Shareware version of KAMAS but lack a way to use
it with their previously created .TOP outline files. As a courtesy to
these previous customers and to help them to evaluate KAMAS while using
their previous outline files, we are now including with the Shareware
version 2.5 of KAMAS, the TOPCNV utility. This utility converts
KAMAS v 1 or OutThink v 1 topic (.TOP) files into KAMAS v 2 .KAM files.
It's operation is described in the TOPCNV.DOC file.


========================== KAMAS EVOLUTION ===============================

At KAMASOFT, we're always interested in your comments and suggestions
for improving our products. We also love hearing how you use KAMAS for
outline processing and knowledge organizing. To help us in directing the
future of our products, you can speak directly to the developer of KAMAS.
Adam Trent (me) is often available on Saturdays at 503-649-2354 (8-12noon
Pacific Time). Please note that this is our NEW phone number (still near
the majestic forests of Oregon) for KAMASOFT support and phone orders.
Be patient with our small company if you get a phone answering machine.

Please send us the small $39 Registration fee if you are using KAMAS.
See the Order form in the KAMAS.DOC file. -- Adam Trent

KAMASOFT
P.O. Box 5549
Aloha, OR 97007

========================== END of READ.ME ==============================