REI/Banktec users coming from Tartans and users wishing a 32 bit Windows 95, 98 and NT version (Win32 API) as well as the current 16 bit users are able to load from a single CD-ROM Unibase by DMAC and Unibase Imaging, release 7.46i. These releases are now going through Quality Assurance.

As sometimes happens, DMAC has been delivering the standard 16 bit version of Release 7.46i to the slew of REI/Banktec users converted to DMAC this summer while waiting for Unibase Imaging to be completed on the Win32 platform.

A third major improvement in the new release is the addition of two dimensional arrays to the AID language. Marketeers needed arrays to support banners and stubs. Tartan users needed one dimensional arrays to support buffers.

The Win32 based 32 bit version of Release 7.46i looks just like the 16 bit version in Unibase by DMAC. In Unibase Imaging, we have added totally unconnected image and data entry windows so that the user can set up any size and shape for each -- including one window on each of the two screens in Windows 98.

Naturally, we have added some features which the Win32 API makes rather easy. Type sizes can be chosen from the standard AUTO up to very large and down to very small. The user can call up the complete user manual at any time for reference.

This version directly interfaces with the WIN32 API while still maintaining the core code as ANSI POSIX C. Up to three threads are running to give the performance users have come to expect of Unibase by DMAC.

As users know, performance tweaking was necessary to get even close to the performance in MSDOS. Thirty two bit performance now equals 16 bit performance on the same workstation/server combination.

The hedge here is that pure MSDOS as a workstation skunks the Windows 95, 98, NT trio but it is not 32 bit. If Microsoft, were to come out with a 32 bit MSDOS, PCDOS, or Doctor DOS, the Microsoft workstation world might better compete with LINUX and UNIX workstations in production, not browser, computing.

Unibase Imaging also maintains its speed in the Win32 environment. We had to work hard here. Overran our time table by a factor of two; but it was worth it.

All of Unibase by DMAC release 7.46i comes on a single CD-ROM. In addition to the 16 bit and 32 bit versions of Unibase by DMAC Unibase Imaging, Imaging Presentation, Data Entry Presentation, and the Unibase by DMAC manual are also on the CD-ROM. Activation codes are required to activate various pieces. Timed demo users can be activated for users wishing to evaluate the software.

Both the 16 bit and 32 bit versions can be loaded concurrently. Workstations running either version can access the same files and batches without regard to whether they are 16 bit or 32 bit.

See the separate article on the new features developed for Tartan users converting to Unibase by DMAC. Naturally, these features will benefit all users.