ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º SeedMaster OLB_READ.ME º º Copyright (c) 1993 White Harvest Software, Inc. º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ This is intended to provide users of the Online Bible program an intro- duction to the Online Bible file format compatible version of SeedMaster. HISTORY ~~~~~~~ Around April 1993, Larry Pierce, author of Online Bible, provided White Harvest (among others) with C source code to access his Online Bible files. We used it to implemented Online Bible databases into our Seed- Master/DOS V2.3 program. Since we already had a mature Bible study pro- gram, it only took about 2 weeks to implement and we went into beta test in late June, 1993. Though our file structures are almost the complete opposite of Online Bible's (see below), the modularity of the code Larry provided and the modular design of our program made the task possible. By late August, 1993, we had Online Bible files running in our SM/Win beta test version. This is scheduled for release in Sept, 1993. OUR TECHNICAL VIEW OF THE ONLINE BIBLE PROGRAM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From a programming standpoint, the Online Bible program is quite a feat. Larry uses the PL/1 language, and he must use an old, "small memory model" compiler to create his program. "Small memory model" means he is limited to only 64K of code (programming) and lacks overlay support. That he has been able to cram as much function into 64K as he has is amazing. We use the C language and do not have that limitation. Frankly, we probably wouldn't have tried this kind of a program if we did. OUR APPROACH TO ONLINE BIBLE DATABASES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have not sought to purely "clone" the Online Bible program. We already have a mature Bible study product, so we have implemented Online Bible databases within our existing structure. We have tried to add, where possible, features to help ease the evaluation or transition for an Online Bible user to our program. BIBLE DATABASES SUPPORTED ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Generally, we support Online Bible databases that use the "standard" KJV 31,102 verse layout. As this is released, we are not aware of any particular databases that are not supported. It is likely that only a few foreign languages will cause difficulty. * We know that V6.X files are supported. Older versions may work as well. We would guess that V5.X and up would work if they use the 31,102 format (most English translations will). * We know V6.0 SCHOLAR, AV-LSG, AV-RSV, AV-ELB, ELB and AV-NRSV work. Please let us know your experiences. (We realize that we'll hear from more that don't work than those that do.) We'll list them on our BBS as we get the feedback. TEXT-BASED RESOURCE SUPPORT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We support the Online Bible text resources in two ways: * We support the native Online Bible format with certain limitations. First, files are only access read-only any changes you make are NOT SAVED. Second, you cannot Search the resources as you can with our format. Third, this format is slower than ours. If you use this format and use the DIET compression, you are responsible to load and unload DIET appropriately. * We have included a conversion program, OLB2SM.EXE, to convert Online Bible text resources to our format. Instead of spreading text files across many directories, OLB2SM concatenates the text, (stripping extraneous hard returns and spacing to display more info on the screen at one time) and builds two files: * A Text file (ends in .DAT or .SMC) * An Index file (.NDX) Again, there are benefits to this approach. First, more efficient disk space usage. Second, faster text access. Third, you can edit and update the text. Finally, you can search textual resources. You can search the TSK, Lex, etc., for words or numbers and "page" thru the hits. OLB2SM has a special "Demo" option to convert only a portion of the text resources to conserve disk space while you test and evaluate SM. If used, the following limitations are in effect: TOPICS: Only the first 1000 topics are converted. WORD P.: Only Matt through Luke. SCOFIELD, TREASURY, PEOPLE'S, & NOTES: only Gospel of John. See the OLB2SM.DOC file for more details. SUMMARY OF BENEFITS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SM/DOS and SM/Win have program features not found in Online Bible: * The ability to run more than one Online Bible database (combin- ation or single) at the same time. For instance, you can run side by side windows of the Darby Bible (found in SCHOLAR) beside the LSG (found in AV-LSG) and scroll them together. * The ability to run SeedMaster databases beside Online Bible data- bases. For instance, you can scroll/search our NKJV, Living Bible, or TEV Bible databases beside your Online Bible texts. * An exhaustive list of all Words in a database. You can look up and scroll words alphabetically and search directly from our Word List. * An integrated text editor. You can edit verse by verse notes or the text Resources within SeedMaster with the Bible verses still on the screen. * Different search result display. SeedMaster displays each search verse on a single line with the reference, then a fragment of the text to the right. This lets you see and screen about 20 verses at a time on a standard 25 line screen (SM/DOS). To see the full text of the verse in context, you simply press on it. * Search Statistics - a book by book and chapter by chapter summary of search "hits". * Searches can be saved and merged using AND, OR, XOR, NOT logic. * You can search the Text Resources (TSK, etc.). SPECIAL "TWEAKS" FOR ONLINE BIBLE USERS - SM/DOS ONLY! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have implemented an alternative function key mapping to let you try out SeedMaster using most of the familiar Online Bible function keys. You can do this three ways: * Start SM with the special "=O" option. This will force Online Bible key usage and status line prompts in View, Search and Commentarys. Example: SM =O * Press to toggle Online Bible function key translation on and off. Note the status line will change to reflect the new keys. * Press once, then type the Online Bible function key. Note that the status line will NOT change when you press . * Online Bible has some undocumented, basic "WordStar" cursor keys. These are now supported by SeedMaster. * If you have extended memory and have HIMEM.SYS loaded in your CONFIG.SYS file, SM will cache Online Bible files into this high memory. Speeds, even for multiple databases, are pretty quick. SM/Win NOTE: Since Windows reserves many of the function keys, and since the Windows environment is rather different than the DOS Online Bible environment, we did not attempt implementing Online Bible keys. ABOUT OUR SHAREWARE REGISTRATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The distribution of Online Bible is unique, as Larry seeks no compen- sation for his work. His financial needs are met via other means. Frankly, we do not enjoy that freedom. We are sympathetic to his approach, as we distribute SeedMaster as Shareware. We ask those who find the program useful to register their use with us for $30 (SM/DOS, or $40 for SM/Win). This includes: * Putting you on our mailing list for updates/enhancments * Sending a full, printed and indexed manual (over 90 pages) * Sending the latest version of our progam, and * Providing us compensation for our efforts. Please note that the requested registration fee is ONLY for the use of our program. We DO NOT ask any additional registration fees for each "Shareware" Bible database. (If you obtain them from us, our fees cover duplication expenses, etc.). We allow people to freely copy our non-copy- righted (non-royalty) Bible databases (we obtained many from Online Bible). We simply ask to be compensated for our efforts in creating and enhancing the program. This is where we spend the bulk of our time. (For more information, see Registration Info on the Help Menu.) INTRODUCTORY SPECIAL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Through 10/1/93, order the NKJV, TLB, or TEV for $25 ($5 off). Just mention this Online Bible Introductory Special on the order form and adjust the price. SUGGESTIONS / QUESTIONS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are always open to suggestions and questions. Be gentle, but direct. You can contact us at: White Harvest Software, Inc. PO Box 97153 Raleigh, NC 27624-7153 U.S.A. Voice/Fax: (919) 870-0775 (To reach the Fax, press your "Go" or "Start" button BEFORE you hear our phone ring.) BBS: (919) 846-2141 WHICH BIBLE DATABASES (SM or OLB) SHOULD YOU USE? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As stated earlier, Online Bible databases are designed very differently from our native SeedMaster databases. Naturally, Larry prefers his format, and we prefer ours. Nevertheless, the following is our best attempt at an objective assessment the differences between the two designs: Because of the Online Bible program's "small memory model", Larry has had limited code space and gobs of memory left over to "cache" files in memory. So, Larry designs very tightly coded and compressed Bible texts and indexes. He loads key index and decompression files (100K to 200K) into memory for fast access. Otherwise, access speed would be rather slow. On your hard disk, therefore, his databases are smaller than ours. Because Online Bible must have so much information in memory, it can only run one database at a time (which is one reason for the "combination" databases). We have never had significant code space limitations. We emphasized: * Minimizing hard disk accesses * Conserving memory space, and * Providing any combination of Bible databases simultaneously. The memory required to decompress one of our databases is only about 5K. We also need very few hard disk accesses, so we do not need to cache our indexes for speed. The penalty we pay for this is larger database files (about 4MB each version). It has been our position that hard disk space is "cheap", at least compared with a user's study options and time. Therefore, we prefer to err on the side of large files to gain greater flexibility and speed. When we run Online Bible databases, we performed some "tweaks" and we do try to cache key files (to extended memory in SM/DOS if you have HIMEM.SYS loaded in your CONFIG.SYS). However, if your memory is limited, access to Online Bible databases will be slow. Under the same constraints, our databases WOULD NOT suffer speed degradation. There are other related differences: * Online Bible databases do not index all words. They leave out very common words such as "the", "and", etc. SeedMaster databases ex- haustively index all words. * Online Bible databases do not support paragraph markers (or hard returns) within the text of a verse--such as in poetry sections. SeedMaster databases do support them, when we have that information (as in the NIV, TEV, TLB and other databases). * In Online combination databases, words are indexed across all Bible texts. If a program wants to find out if a word is used only in a given translation, it must read in all possible verses and check for that word (slow). All SeedMaster databases are indexed separately. So, we would counsel as follows (this presumes you use our program and therefore have a choice of databases): * If your hard disk space/budget is constrained, use Online Bible databases. Note, however, if you use multiple Online Bible data- bases, the disk savings can decrease due to the duplication of the AV and Strong's numbers in each database. * If your DOS memory is too constrained for SM/DOS to run Online Bible databases quickly--or if you want maximum flexibility in database combinations, use SeedMaster databases. You will find them rather affordable (none over $30). In summary, there is nothing really "wrong" or "evil" about either design approach. They reflect both personal philosophies and technical con- straints. Between them, they do offer a rather complete range of choice for the Bible student. We hope you use them to their best advantage. SPECIAL ONLINE BIBLE DATABASE IMPLEMENTATION COMPROMISES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * SEARCH WORD VERIFICATION: Because SeedMaster displays so many more search verses at a time, and because background verification of words in a particular text is impractical, as a default, we do not verify the existance of a word in a given text as Online Bible does. We have provided the OLBWORDS.EXE program that will create a supplemental database that we can use to verify a word's existance quickly. On a 33MHz 386, this program takes about 2 hours to run on the SCHOLAR pak, and takes about 450K RAM. * NO STRONG'S IN WORD LIST: We could not justify implementing Online Bible Strong's numbers in our Word List as we do with the SeedMaster version. If you have the SeedMaster STR database, the Word List lists each Strong's number, the Greek/Hebrew word, and the most common AV rendition. The STR has a special file to provide this information quickly. This data is not quickly available within Online Bible databases. Since most of the benefit is the supple- mental information that we lack, we did not implement it. * CROSS REFERENCE NUMBERS (SM/DOS only): If you run the cross- references (F10) on Gen 1:1 within Online Bible, it will say 78 verses. In SeedMaster, you will get 75. The difference is that 3 verses are listed twice, but both give you the same verses to look at. * CONVERTING WORD PICTURES: Broadman Press permits Online Bible to distribute all 6 volumes royalty-free. They did not choose to do so with our program. We must pay royalties on volumes 5 & 6, and are constrained to only sell them direct. Since OLB2SM converts RWP files to our format, we could be held liable for royalties on the converted files (which would be inumerable). Thus, we only allow OLB2SM to convert volumes 1-4 (copyright has expired). This is not our desire or decision. We do sell the complete set for an affordable $15. SPECIAL NOTE TO ONLINE BIBLE DEALERS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We know that there is an army of dealers who sell copies of the Online Bible program and databases. It is not our intent to damage your ministry/ business. In fact, we can help. If you also offer our program, you can continue to distribute the Online Bible files and add our Bible databases. We can provide (at wholesale pricing) our copyrighted databases (some of which are not available in Online Bible format). Contact us for details.