                         Just Type II User Guide
                         =======================

Short description: Complete touch typing tutor with many unique features
Version          : 2.1 (English edition)

                              I Installation
                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just Type II (JT2 from  here on in the  text) consists from the  following
files:

     CHEATS.DAT               for some cheats... guess what is inside :-)
     DYER.EXE                 utility for changing colours within JT2
     FILE_ID.DIZ              brief characteristics for catalogues
  !+ HOF.JT2                  Hall of Fame (top 15 typists)
  !  JT.EXE (JTFREE.EXE)      the program itself
     JT2TYP*.JT2              information about users - typists
  !  LESSONS.JT2              exercises for retyping
  !+ LESS_IDX.JT2             "index" file for exercies
     README.1ST               quick info for users/distributors
  !+ SETUP.JT2                user setup information
     STABLES.JT2              information about location of user groups
     USRGUIDE.TXT             user guide (this file)
     *.KBD                    (alternative) keyboard definitions

Files marked with the exclamation mark (!) are unconditionally needed  for
running the program. Those  marked with the plus sign (+) are generated by
the program itself, when they  are not  present. Therefore  you can  start
using the program with having  only two  files -  JT.EXE (JTFREE.EXE)  and
LESSONS.JT2.

The  installation  means  extracting  all  the  files  from  the   archive
(JT21EN??.ZIP) into an empty directory on your hard drive.

                        II Backward compatibility
                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since this is the very first English version, there should be no  problems
as regards data compatibility with earlier versions. However, a few  words
about this one and original Czech versions may be useful.

There may occur  a situation  when someone  would prefer  using the  Czech
version with the English set of lessons (for example Czech secretary  pre-
paring herself  for  working  with  some  international  company).  It  IS
possible, please follow these steps:

1. Download latest Latin II version of Just Type II 2.1 Czech Edition (see
   Paragraph IX - addresses). Please note that you will need MS-DOS 5.x or
   a newer one for running this version.
2. Use the ENGLISH.KBD keyboard definition  from this archive as your  de-
   fault keyboard definition (use your SETUP.JT2 for this).
3. Replace the original CVICENI.JT2 with LESSONS.JT2 from this archive.
4. Replace the original CVIC_IDX.JT2  with LESS_IDX.JT2 from this  archive
   (optional, if you don't, JT2 will generate the index itself).
5. Rename LESSONS.JT2 to CVICENI.JT2 and LESS_IDX.JT2 to CVIC_IDX.JT2.

Every time you use this combination, please:

6. Run the program with JT.BAT batch file, *NOT* JT21L2.EXE executable.
7. After going through the entrance test, press Ctrl-Alt-F1 (switch to  US
   keyboard).

In case of any  problems, contact me  (for addresses see  the very end  of
this file).

Generally it is not a  good idea to have  both Czech and English  versions
installed - for example the  "D" option serves  for stepping further  into
the next lesson in the Czech version, while in the English version the sa-
me option definitely discards the actual user... ;-). Use your imagination
with batch files -  it is possible  to use the  Czech, Slovak and  English
lessons with one copy of the Czech Edition of JT2 at the same time...

However, it is definitely  NOT possible to use  the Czech sets of  lessons
together with the English version of JT2, because the English version does
not support characters with diacritic marks.

                              III User setup
                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                          3.1 Your own exercises

 1. Take one suitable ASCII file. The  best ones can be obtained by  rety-
    ping textbooks about typing -  but what about poor copyright  holders?
    Please be so kind and ask them before if possible.
 2. Divide it into lessons  by lines  beginning with  three hyphens  (---)
    followed by one space  and a short (max  14 chars) description of  the
    given lesson (see original LESSONS.JT2).
 3. The last line must contain the text "--- end of JT II file ---".
 4. After this line you may  add your comment (see original  LESSONS.JT2);
    there is no size limit, but, however, it is important that no line  in
    the comment section begins with "---".
 5. Copy this file into the  directory into which  you have installed  JT2
    before, and rename it to LESSONS.JT2.
 6. Delete LESS_IDX.JT2 (important!!!).

If you wish to use  another order to  teaching individual characters  (and
that is very, very, probable)...

 7. Copy ENGLISH.JT2 to for example KEYBOARD.JT2.
 8. In SETUP.JT2 change "standard" keyboard to KEYBOARD.JT2.
 9. In KEYBOARD.JT2 change the last  number on  every line  to the  lesson
    number where the particular character is taught (if you don't do that,
    JT2 cannot recommend you suitable lessons in its analyses).

As for the amount of the text -  the maximum number of the lessons is  236
(of these max. 99 may contain  new characters), the minimum number of  the
lessons is 10. One lesson may  be up to 255  lines in length. The  maximum
line length is 66 characters (longer ones are truncated).

According to my own experience the optimal lesson length is between 40 and
60 lines. In the original LESSONS.JT2 file I tried to not exceed this size
too much - so I divided some lessons into several independent parts.

                          3.2 Your own keyboards

Look into ENGLISH.KBD to see whether  you are courageous enough to make  a
keyboard definition of your own -  for your notebook or so... it  consists
of four parts:

1. Keyboard map comment - 1 line (fixed length).
2. Keyboard map - see ENGLISH.KBD.
3. Characters definition comment - 1 line (fixed length, has to start with
   "{" !!!).
4. Character definition (you may omit  all those that  do not differ  from
   ENGLISH.KBD's definition).

The keyboard map should not be wider than the one in ENGLISH.KBD,  because
in other cases  it won't fit  the window reserved  on screen and...  guess
what :-). Please use the same symbols  as in the original for <Enter>  and
<BackSpace>; these two "characters" (#13  and #8) are  not defined in  4th
part of the keyboard definition (you may define only chars with ASCII code
32 and up), JT2 will try to find them itself in your map.

                    3.2.1 Characters definition format

For every character you need to supply 16 numbers separated by a space:

asc cod1 x1 y1 cod2 x2 y2 cod3 x3 y3 cod4 x4 y4 hlp tcs les

where: asc         is the ASCII code of the appropriate character
       cod1..cod4  is the ASCII code  of  the  char(s)  displayed  on  the
                   screen within the map (in  English  one  or  two  chars
                   should be sufficient for each case)
       x1..x4      X coordinate of displayed char(s) - absolute  coordina-
                   tes, left upper corner of the screen is [1,1]
       y1..y4      the same for Y coordinate
       help        0  (zero) for spacebar, for the remaining characters it
                   is the sum of values for boxes you wish to be displayed
                   in white:

                         ## ## ## ## ###### ## ## ## ##
                        128 64 32 16         8  4  2  1

       tcs         number of touches  (one for  lowercase characters,  two
                   for uppercase/some special characters in English,  four
                   for other special characters typed by Alt-sequence)
       les         number of the lesson in which the character is taught

                       3.3 Options set in SETUP.JT2

For editing SETUP.JT2 use any  ASCII editor (MS-DOS Edit, Windows  Notepad
or something).

+--------+------------------+--------------------------------------------+
|  Line  |                  |                                            |
| number | Options          | Meaning                                    |
+--------+------------------+--------------------------------------------+
|    2   | <path>           | directory path to textfiles for retyping   |
|    4   | On               | sound on                                   |
|        | Off              | sound off                                  |
|    6   | <keyb_def_file>  | (alternative) keyboard definition file     |
|    8   | Yes              | press <SpaceBar> at the end of lines       |
|        |                  |  (do not wait)                             |
|        | No               | wait for <Enter> at the end of lines *     |
|        | Don't care       | wait for <Enter> or <SpaceBar> *           |
|   10   | 0..63 (6 values) | colours (use DYER to edit this)            |
|   12   | 0.2..1.5 (2 val.)| min. accuracy in % - begin., end of course |
|   14   | 40..700 (2 val.) | min. speed in TPM - beginning, end of c.   |
|   16   | 20..100 (2 val.) | max. var. coeff. in % - beginning, end     |
+--------+------------------+--------------------------------------------+
TABLE 1: SETUP.JT2 format               * time stops at the end of lines

                          3.3.1 Editing colours

If you are  bored by  standard JT2  colours, you  may give  the program  a
different appearance by DYER. When you run this utility, it reads  colours
from SETUP.JT2, then  you  can  (in  the  WYSIWYG  mode)  change  them  by
<F1>..<F10> (foreground) and cursor keys (background). If you are content,
press <Enter> - JT2 will try to look  like DYER when you left it. You  may
also choose some pre-defined combinations (in addition to the standard VGA
grey also green, red, gold  and blue-grey  - press  the appropriate  key).
<Esc> leaves DYER without saving changes.

                          IV System Requirements
                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                               4.1 Hardware

- 80286+ processor (80386+ highly recommended)
- 256 KB of conventional RAM
- 1/2 meg of disk space, hard disk highly recommended (due to speed)
- EGA+ graphics card (VGA+ highly recommended)

If you do not pass a hardware  test  which  is  performed  each  time  the
program is run, try to use the -notest command line option and see what it
will do... - but please make  sure you do not try  to run JT2 from a  wri-
te-protected diskette!

                               4.2 Software

No particular needs. Although JT2 is  a DOS  application, it  may be  used
under Windows 3.x, Windows  95 or  Windows NT  Workstation. Problems  with
QEMM are reported from time to time. These are Quartedeck's problems,  not
mine. They experience problems with many other programs. JT2 accesses your
hardware in the correct way.

                                 4.3 Time

Depends on you. My estimate is 100 - 120 hours, but it is very, very indi-
vidualistic. In addition you may  add your own exercises, experiment  with
setting the difficulty of the whole course...

                         V Brief Characteristics
                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JT2 is aimed as your personal touch typing tutor. I do not expect you will
combine it with any other forms of learning to type. As the name suggests,
the learning process relies heavily on retyping texts divided into several
(77 standard) lessons.

Each of up to  20  users  (even  more  users  may  group  themselves  into
"stables" and compete  against one  another, this  is _VERY_  motivating!)
works with his/her individual account (name, password).

You begin with the first lesson  and your first task  is to learn to  type
characters "f" and "j". When you handle it well, you are allowed to go  to
the next lesson, learn new  characters and so  on. For every  successfully
finished lesson you get some  points. The faster,  more accurate and  more
smoothly you type, the more points you receive.

You may compete against  all people of your  group and also together  with
them against other  groups - best  15 typists are  recorded in one overall
Hall of Fame.

You are not limited to trying new lessons only. You may practice them  be-
fore you handle it well to get a larger amount of points. You may also re-
type your own texts -  JT2 can analyse  them if they  do not contain  cha-
racters unknown to you yet; the program also generates further material to
eliminate all your weak spots, tries to recommend you the already finished
lessons when you begin to forget some characters...

                            5.1 Using stables

Setting up a "stable" is simple. Create a directory "under" the  directory
into which you have  installed JT2 (i. e.  "child" directory) and run  JT2
with the directory name as a command-line option. JT2 will not search  for
the user information in the  current directory, but  in this "stable"  di-
rectory you have specified. The "stable" directory may also contain:
- specific lessons (LESSONS.JT2 + LESS_IDX.JT2) for stable members

- specific keyboard definition (????????.KBD) for stable members
- specific SETUP.JT2 (course difficulty, colours...) for stable members

If (members of) the stables want to compete with one another, you have  to
create the file STABLES.JT2 in the directory with JT2 (not in "stable" di-
rectory, but one common for  all stables  in the  same "parent"  directory
where you have JT.EXE (JTFREE.EXE)). See  enclosed example - one line  for
every stable, format is

<directory><spacebar><stable name>

Maximum length of <directory> is 19 characters, <stable name> may be up to
30 characters long.

                              VI How to Type
                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am going to write a  textbook of my own in  the future (till the end  of
98?). At the moment I give you just some advice...

                Place your fingers in the BASIC POSITIONS:
             +----------------------+----------------------+
             |      Left hand:      |      Right hand:     |
             +----------------------+----------------------+
             | small finger on "a"  | forefinger on "j"    |
             | ring-finger on "s"   | middle finger on "k" |
             | middle finger on "d" | ring-finger on "l"   |
             | forefinger on "f"    | small finger on ";"  |
             +----------------------+----------------------+
             TABLE 2: Basic positions of fingers

Strokes to the keys should be short and quick. If you have to type a  cha-
racter outside the basic  position, move appropriate  finger to the  right
key (which finger you have to use can  be seen from "help" in JT2 -  these
small boxes in the bottom of  the screen represent your fingers from  left
to right), strike the key and quickly return to the basic position.  Other
fingers do not move at all and stay in the basic position. Use the  thumbs
to press the  Spacebar; you should  always use the  thumb on the  opposite
hand to the hand you have just used for typing last character - i. e.  the
left thumb for spaces after j, k, l, ; and so on, the right thumb for spa-
ces after a, s, d, f etc.

For capital letters and  special characters  ($, #,...):  Hold down  Shift
with the small finger - when  you have to type  a character with the  left
hand, hold down the right shift and vice versa, hit the character and  re-
turn with both fingers  to the  basic position.  You get  two touches  for
that.

                           VII Acknowledgements
                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Great great credit belongs  to God who  has provided me  with all the  ne-
cessities for completing this project  (brain etc. :-). The Czech  version
was aimed even more to  spread his Good News (i.  e. The Gospel) - in  the
English version I decided to remove the biblical test at the beginning (to
ease negotiations with ftp servers administrators and so), but anyway  you
will find the basics of the Christian (i. e. also mine) belief in the last
five lessons. It is my willing you all know God PERSONALLY as I do.  (Yes,
that IS possible. Contact your local  church for more details; if they  do
not wish to speak about  it, they are really  quite strange and have  most
probably missed the point; you should find another one.)

I also wish to  send my greetings  to my great  love (and expectant  wife,
I hope :-) and  also to  my great  "employers" (the  work overload  really
helps me with improving of my character  ;-). But you know what! Have  you
ever heard about CHEATS? Try to find out yourselves... ;-)

                            VIII Used Sources
                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Edited and Compiled by: Turbo Pascal 7.0 (Borland Intl. - sorry, Inprise!)
Text-mode Fonts       : FontEdit II 1.0 (Ivan Llanas), FNT2PAS (myself)
 (original layout     : (maybe) Aitor))
"Hall of Fame"        : TheDraw 4.63 (TheSoft Programming Services)
 text-mode inscription
Text-mode Snapshots   : NeoPaint 3.2a (NeoSoft Corp.)
 (in cheats)            BMP2FNT (myself)
                        FNT2PAS
Exercises             : see end of LESSONS.JT2 file for sources
 (compiled by         : JTGEN (myself))
Literature            : 1. Kurs psani na stroji (L. Karnoltova)
 (books about typing)   2. Administrativa a  korespondencia (Z.  Iglovska,
                           H. Durisova)

                               IX Addresses
                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~

My postal address: Karel Behounek, 285 64 Vlkanec 102, Czech Republic
  (input : postards, $5 bills, comments)
  (output: diskettes with extended JT2, OOT & TR)
* VALID TILL END OF OUR VILLAGE, MAYBE *

My e-mail address: kms@ecn.cz (subject: Just Type)
  (input : comments, questions)
  (output: answers to your questions - to  a reasonable degree I am  happy
           to help both pseudoregistered and unpseudoregistered users)
* VALID TILL END OF JUNE '99, MOST PROBABLY *

My fax number: ++420-2-6833507 (ATTN: Karel)
  (input : comments, questions)
  (output: none)
* VALID TILL END OF JUNE '99, MOST PROBABLY *

"My" FTP address: ftp://pub.vse.cz/pub/VSE/programs/typing/
  (input : none)
  (output: all freeware/shareware versions of everything related to typing
           I ever made -  in  Czech/Slovak/English;  this  is  my  "typing
           realm" - you may use "http://<the_same_URL>" if you prefer)
* VALID TILL END OF INTERNET I HOPE *

              --- PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ONLY POSSIBLE WAY ---
       --- TO RECEIVE ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS IS VIA E-MAIL! ---
                 --- THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING ---


                         X Obtaining "extended" version
                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Consider the possibility of getting the "extended" version with  saving-e-
xercises-in-progress feature. See  the file  README.1ST if  you are  inte-
rested. Please do not send me checks,  this method of payment is not  very
common in our country,  and because of it  the transaction costs would  be
too high for such a small amount as  $5. I CANNOT SEND YOU THE PROGRAM  ON
DISK unless you send me a $5 NOTE. Enclosed postcard of your city would be
very nice, although not "obligatory".  Please print and  fill in the  form
from the file REGFORM.TXT.

I think that's all, folks. Share and Enjoy!

Karel II
August 1998