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| Volume
13, Number 1 |
Winter
2003 |
Winchester,
Virginia |
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Unibase
by DMAC Manuals
Become
a Single Manual Again |
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A
client told us to put our manual back together as a single manual
so his computer could access everything with the greatest of ease.
We checked. The client was right; so we did it.
Now
you can order a single 760 plus page manual for Unibase by DMAC
for $69.95, or soon download it from our web site or bring it up
under help in the 32 bit versions of Unibase. Its size is 8½ by
11 so it prints nicely; but we think it’s probably cheaper to
buy the printed copy if you want a printed copy.
DMAC’s new bound manual really looks great.
The indexes and tables of contents are complete and
accurate. Page number and chapter are on every page at the top and
bottom with no repeats.
Just
one problem; the new GUI interface for Unibase, which comes out in
the spring, is only partially documented in the new manual because
DMAC did not have a final specification for the new GUI at press
time. This could be
the final definitive source on the MUI Unibase by DMAC.
As always, we will be updating the documentation regularly.
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NetBased
Software Products Broaden
DMAC’s Scope |
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In
January 2003, DMAC acquired Extension Software’s five
net-based software products.
NetStafTrakr
provides an easy-to-use, network means of keeping tabs of the
office in-out status of company employees. With NetStafTrakr,
you're just a click away from finding anyone at anytime!
NetStafTrakr7 accommodates Microsoft® Networking (9x,NT,2K,XP)
and Novell NetWare®. NetStafTrakr6 runs on Novell NetWare®
running NDS®. And NetStafTrakr5 is for Microsoft IIS3, IIS4,
and IIS5 Servers.
NetDirectri provides a user friendly, easily maintained,
computer based means of tracking contact and employee names and
phone numbers in a corporate business environment. NetDirectri4
accommodates W95/W98/Win2000/WinXP/NT LANs and NetDirectri5,
which is browser based, runs on Microsoft IIS3, IIS4, and IIS5
Servers.
NetLogNews for Windows® and NDS® provides a means of
displaying company news, bulletins, and announcements to users
whenever they log onto the network.
NetBulletin provides a means of broadcasting important
information, timely news, and emergency alerts to network users.
NetBulletin consists of a Windows® administration console that
provides for management of all alerts and broadcasts.
NeTimeTrakr for Web Servers provides a browser-based means of
tracking, managing, and reporting employee hours. With
NeTimeTrakr, your time sheet paper-shuffle can become a thing of
the past ... all via your desktop browser.
All of these products are easy to use. All have potential
application for service organizations as well as a much broader
base of users. You can learn more about these products at
www.netbasedsoftware.biz.
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Public
Domain OCR Engine Product For
Unibase Enters Beta Test Cycle |
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Year
2003 is the year of comparative OCR Engines at DMAC. DMAC’s
first 2003 engine interface is to a product called “GOCR”
under the GNU license structure. This means the OCR engine is
“free.” There will be a nominal price for DMAC’s interface
and assistance in using the engine.
DMAC
hopes to make this OCR Engine available to first time users of
OCR. It is
anticipated that the GNU based engine can be developed to the
level where it will read machine print and check boxes
accurately.
One
of the goals of this Engine Product was to be able to read check
boxes accurately. When
DMAC started working on the project, DMAC developers decided to
improve the check box recognition and did so. Now DMAC has begun
to find out how to feed these enhancements back to the
developers of the project engine.
DMAC
is looking for a few beta sites willing to try the new standard
DMAC interface with this OCR engine. DMAC’s standard OCR/ICR
interface “ParaPort” allows DMAC users to easily send and
receive data to and from OCR/ICR engines. The returned data
automatically populates standard Unibase batches.
OCR/ICR
engines (which are really software products with a defined
interface) vary in capability and price. ParaPort, DMAC’s
first engine interface (to ParaScript) in 2002, is expected to
be the top of the line. About July, 2003, DMAC will have the
standard DMAC interface feeding and receiving to and from
FormReader by ABBYY software. DMAC hopes ParaScript and ABBYY
will work hard to keep their engines competitive.
The
GOCR engine, once it finishes the beta cycle, should provide the
experience of using the standard DMAC OCR/ICR interface at a
nominal cost. Please contact jklein@dmac-unibase.com
if your company has an interest in being a beta site for this
GOCR engine.
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Unibase
8.0 With Full GUI Heads to QA and Beta Test
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Unibase
by DMAC, Release 8.0, is just around the corner. The number
change to 8.0 from 7.49 is to show that the full GUI interface
is now available. The persistent files have not changed from
release 7.49i to release 8.0. Thus, the upgrade will be easy.
DMAC
clients are extremely careful.
They only moved to the Microsoft 32-bit version when they
could see that it outperformed the 16-bit Microsoft version.
DMAC made this possible by allowing both versions to load and
operate concurrently. Now in release 8.0 all versions of MUI
(Menu User Interface), GUI (Graphical User Interface), Samba
versions, LINUX versions, and WebBase can all operate at the
same time. DMAC
provides this as an upgrade path for its clients.
All
the talked-about features mentioned elsewhere in this and prior
newsletters, such as the new picklist addition to the get verb,
zooming in and out on multiple snippets and of course the GUI
wrfmouse, will be in 8.0. The new ParaPort “GOCR” engine
will also be available under release 8.0.
The
steps left include assembling all the new distribution, checking
it in quality assurance here (about 1000 individual tests) and
then releasing it to a few beta users. Fortunately, all the new
features except for the new wmenu (GUI menu), have been tested
in beta sites now. So,
hopefully, release 8.0 will be out there with the daffodils this
spring.
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Terrific
Tutorial for Unibase Imaging
Now Available |
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Jon
Klein’s quick introduction to Unibase by DMAC and Unibase
Imaging, which is include d
with the downloadable version of Unibase, is now available as a
separate download and has a hard copy manual for users who would
prefer it.
This repackaging came about because clients wanted to see what Jon
did to the original tutorial in the Unibase by DMAC Manual. Jon
rewrote the original tutorial so that the tutorial flowed into
Unibase Imaging from Unibase by DMAC. Jon actually added screen
shots to his manual!
Clients
can download the tutorial or email jklein@dmac-unibase.com
for a copy of the manual.
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WebBase
Hunkers Down To Compete
with Unibase Speed |
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WebBase’s
childhood was short. As usual, once WebBase was allowed out of
the nursery, DMAC’s clients wanted WebBase to outperform all
other DMAC products. What does this mean?
Look
at the following test data. The same data was keyed eight
different ways. The
same person on the same workstation keyed it for fifteen minutes
each time. The number of records per fifteen-minute sessions are
as follows:
| Unibase
under Samba 32 bit |
data
entry |
72 |
| Unibase
under Samba 32 bit |
image
entry, no images |
78 |
| Unibase
under Samba 32 bit |
image
entry, images |
104 |
| Linux,
using kermit |
data
entry |
75 |
| WebBase,
lan |
data
entry |
84 |
| WebBase,
lan |
Image
entry, no images |
83 |
| WebBase,
lan |
Image
entry, images |
96 |
| Unibase
Microsoft 32 bit |
image
entry, images |
106 |
In
December DMAC starting working on increasing WebBase’s speed
so that the difference between the 96 records and 106/104
records is reduced. Notice this is using WebBase at a local site
on a local network – not over the Internet. Not quite what we
at DMAC expected to be working on this winter– but all part of
the game.
The
upgraded portion of image transfer has been put into WebBase in
the past week. Using the available profiling tools, DMAC knows
that the new way of transferring images in this one piece of
code (the prior bottleneck) is ten times faster than the old
way. Next DMAC had the keyer who accomplished the above data
entry re-key the batch with the new product. This result was 102
records in the fifteen minutes.
But,
DMAC’s engineers noticed that the server load increased
slightly. Naturally the engineers want to fix this before
releasing the upgraded version. Rick
gets back to studying how to do it; gets quiet for a few days;
then “eureka”; he knows what he wants.
More time passes; client thinks we are not working hard;
and voila – now WebBase hits 106 records in fifteen
minutes.
Success.
This
process of identifying weak spots, rewriting them then testing
them never stops. That
is why the DMAC products get better every year.
We
have reports back from the field that WebBase is performing
fairly fast on the Internet using the RoadRunner cable modem
connections even with a large number of hops. As soon as the
above speed differential problem is resolved, DMAC is going to
get some comparative answers on digital subscriber lines and
cable modems speeds.
Another
area where DMAC wants more data is the speed of the workstation
versus the operating system acting as a browser.
Kinda fun. We need so much data, and so little is
available right now. Stay tuned.
WebBase
is not for dial up modems; just broadband.
But WebBase is as fast as the Microsoft 32 bit version of
Unibase. Watch out thick workstation clients; here comes WebBase
thin browser based client. FAST, FAST, FAST.
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