PREINSTALL README
=================

IMPORTANT: Read this notice carefully before installing vDosPlus XyWrite!

There are two partly overlapping installers for XyWrite 4: vDosPlus XyWrite Update (v.5.02) and vDosPlus XyWrite Service Pack (v.5.03). Both can be used to update an existing vDosPlus XyWrite 4 setup.

For XyWrite 4 CP437 and CP850 users, the main difference is in the final setup phase, vDosPlus XyWrite Update copies all the necessary XyWrite Service Pack files but leaves the final setup and assembly to you whereas vDosPlus XyWrite Service Pack makes a ready-to-run XyWrite 4 instance. Both versions make a full backup of a prior installation if any. It is possible to patch a ready-to-run XyWrite 4 instance with your custom settings preserved in the backup (v.5.03). Or alternatively, you can opt for making manual adjustments to accommodate the Service Pack. The Service Pack files are supplied in any case. Note that if your XyWrite target folder is empty, a ready-to-run CP437 XyWrite 4 instance will be installed with additional CP850 files that you can set up manually if you choose to do so.

For XyWrite 4 users of CP437, CP850 and supplemental code pages (CP775, CP852, CP857 and CP866X), vDosPlus XyWrite Service Pack provides a ready-to-run XyWrite 4 instance with special fonts and print files. These installs are one CP only.

If you are using other XyWrite products (XY3+, NB3 or Signature), you must use vDosPlus XyWrite Update (v.5.02). In the case of XY3+, if the target folder is empty, a ready-to-run XyWrite 3+ instance with optional A La Carte Menus is installed. Generic copies of other XyWrite products (NB3 or Signature) are also supplied for the user that has lost track of old installation disks.

Both installers support several parallel installs on one system, and you can use either one or both to do parallel installs. The important thing is to keep all different install folders separate. While the following naming conventions are recommended and given as examples in the installers, you can use any folder names as long as they are separate:


vDosPlus XyWrite Update (v.5.02):
---------------------------------

The Start programs folder and Desktop icon name 'vDosPlus XyWrite' is replaced by 'vDosPlus XyWrite 3+', 'vDosPlus XyWrite 4', 'vDosPlus NotaBene 3', 'vDosPlus Signature' depending on the XyWrite application installed. 

The recommended vDosPlus folder names are: C:\VD+XY3, C:\VD+XY4, C:\VD+NB3, C:\VD+SIG.

And the suggested XyWrite folder names are: C:\XY3, C:\XY4, C:\NB3, C:\SIG respectively.

vDosPlus XyWrite Service Pack (v.5.03):
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The Start programs folder name 'vDosPlus XyWrite' is replaced by 'vDosPlus XyWrite 4 CP437', 'vDosPlus XyWrite 4 CP775', 'vDosPlus XyWrite 4 CP850', 'vDosPlus XyWrite 4 CP852', 'vDosPlus XyWrite 4 CP857', 'vDosPlus XyWrite 4 CP866X' depending on the XyWrite 4 CP installed. 

The Desktop icon name 'vDosPlus XyWrite' is replaced by 'vD+ XyWrite CP437', 'vD+ XyWrite CP775', 'vD+ XyWrite CP850', 'vD+ XyWrite CP852', 'vD+ XyWrite CP857', 'vD+ XyWrite CP866X' depending on the XyWrite 4 CP installed.

The recommended vDosPlus folder names are: C:\VD+437, C:\VD+775, C:\VD+850, C:\VD+852, C:\VD+857, C:\VD+866.

And the suggested XyWrite folder names are: C:\XY437, C:\XY775, C:\XY850, C:\XY852, C:\XY857, C:\XY866.

Backup locations
----------------

As there are separate backup files for vDosPlus and XyWrite folders with date and time of install, it is possible to direct them to any folder where backups are stored. However, when there are several parallel instances, the use of different folders for each instance is recommended. 

The suggested Backup folder for previous vDosPlus XyWrite Update (v.5.02) installs is: C:\BackupXY3, C:\BackupXY4, etc.. Similarly, the suggested Backup folder for previous vDosPlus XyWrite Service Pack (v.5.03) installs is: C:\Backup437, C:\Backup850, etc.

Backup filenames are of the following type:
Backup_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS_vD+.zip
Backup_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS_XY.zip

Optional components, missing files, revert and restore
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The Service Pack installer (v.5.03) can install and delete optional components after the initial install but it always reverts to a default XyWrite setup. Still, you can easily restore customized files from the backup.

The Update installer (v.5.02) can install and delete optional components after the initial install without destroying your custom setup. Also, if you delete accidentally vDosPlus or XyWrite files that belong to the Update install, they can be restored by running the installer on top of the previous installation. 

As in earlier installer versions, use 'Restore settings' to preserve earlier vDosPlus settings when running the installer. 

In any case, if something should go wrong, you can always revert to your preceding setup by pouring the backup files onto the vDosPlus and XyWrite folders.

A note on NotaBene 4.5
----------------------

NB 4.5 cannot be run using vDosPlus. Use DOSBox-X for running it. Download a separate support package for DOSBox-X from https://www.lexitec.fi/xywrite/DOSBox-X%20for%20XyWrite%20Update.zip

Software requirements
---------------------

Operating system: Full functionality (editing and printing) on Windows 7 or newer. vDosPlus XyWrite Update/Service Pack can be run on a host computer or even under VirtualBox, VMware, etc. 

Limited functionality (full editing and only reduced printing capability) on Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista. Limited printing capability is due to GhostPCL not working at all as well as the compulsory use of an older Ghostscript version that has only basic printing support for the following characters: ASCII 7, 20, 21, 32-126, 128-157, 159 (Euro), 160-168 and 170-175. Hence there is no support for supplemental CPs or PCL printing on Windows2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista. However, print streams output as PS files can be distilled with all characters and CPs by using current Ghostscript on a more modern system.

XyWrite 4 code pages 437 and 850 and Signature have both PCL and Ghostscript print files. XyWrite 3+ and NotaBene 3 have only PCL print files. XyWrite 4 supplemental code pages have only Ghostscript print files. If you will be using Ghostscript print files, you need a Ghostscript-capable PDF reader application for viewing and printing XyWrite output.

The following PDF readers are vDosPlus XyWrite Ghostscript-capable (i.e. they work with any print output vDosPlus XyWrite produces):

						Download from:
Foxit PDF Reader 12.0                           https://www.foxit.com/pdf-reader/
PDF-XChange-Editor 9.4                          https://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-editor/
PDF-XChange-Viewer 2.5                          https://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-viewer/
Slim PDF Reader 2.0                             https://www.investintech.com/resources/freetools/slimpdfreader/
Google Chrome 107.0 internal PDF reader         https://www.google.com/chrome/
Firefox browser 107.0 internal PDF reader       https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
Opera browser 93.0 internal PDF reader          https://www.opera.com/download

The following PDF readers are NOT vDosPlus XyWrite Ghostscript-capable (i.e. they can only be used with GhostPCL print output):

ABBYY FineReader
Adobe Acrobat Pro
Adobe Reader
Nitro Pro
SumatraPDF

In practical terms, these PDF readers fail to show all Ghostscript characters that belong to a code page or show wrong characters instead.

To ensure smooth sailing, install a Ghostscript-capable PDF reader for viewing PDFs and select it as the default PDF viewer.
