INSTALL.HTM --- Part of Manual for Driver Parameter Calculator --- by
Claus Futtrup.
Created 17. July 1997, last revised 15. June 2004.
Ported to XHTML 1.0 on 2. October 2004. Last modified 29. October 2004.
Table of Contents:
When DPC is downloaded, DPC is compressed in to an archive, for release 0.6.1 this would be DPC061.EXE.
Release 0.6.1 comes with an installer that handles everything for you. The installation software is NSIS 2.0 from Nullsoft. Just run the installer.
When installed, a program folder with shortcuts to DPC is installed in the START - PROGRAMS menu.
The datafiles you can save (and load) in DPC are named .DPC files, and if you create a subdirectory named \DATA, then DPC will put its data files in this directory (otherwise all data files are stored in the DPC main directory). You get the option to create the DATA directory when running the installer.
If you want to uninstall the software, run the uninstaller that comes with Windows (START - SETTINGS - CONTROL PANEL - ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS). The installation software is NSIS 2.0, and it should install an uninstaller for you automatically.
Alternatively, just remove the icons and delete the DPC directory. Since DPC does not use any windows features or shares any files, it is very easy to uninstall. The NSIS uninstaller will also remove all traces from your registry.
DPC.EXE is configured through DPC.INI, which contains predefinition of five constants, instructions on which units to use and how many digits that should be displayed on your screen, which editor to use when editing the configuration files on-the-fly, the date format used on datasheets template for viewing andprinting datasheets, and the possibility to suppess one of the pop-up dialog messages. Please read README.HTM and MANUAL.HTM (the manual) for further information.
DPC.EXE and DPC.INI (and all other files that DPC.EXE uses) must be in the same directory. If you followed the instructions above, it should work.
To start Driver Parameter Calculator from Windows, the easiest way will be to create a Shortcut or an icon in a folder. First you open the folder where you want the DPC-icon. Then you open your file-handler and locate DPC.EXE on disk---drag the file into the receiving folder and you're home. Perhaps add a nice icon, DPC comes with the DPC.ICO file.
Generally the installation will be different whether you use Windows 9X, NT or 2000 etc. I assume that you know how to handle your version of Windows, otherwise you're welcome to ask for advice.
You should make sure that the working directory of DPC.EXE is in fact its home directory (where all the setup files are located). If DPC.EXE cannot locate the files, it will halt execution with an error message.
If the DOS Window shuts down on exit (and on halt) then you will not see any error messages. Windows can be made to not shut down the DOS window on exit - do this if you're expecting an error message.
When you want to exit Driver Parameter Calculator you can use the X in the top right part of the Window on all recent versions of Windows because DPC.EXE does not keep any files open. Nothing will be lost, except for what is in memory, and no files will become corrupted.