How do I get out of the program once it's started?
At the first data entry screen you can exit the program by pressing Alt-X (the
Alt key and the X key at the same time). This instruction will appear at
the bottom of the screen.
At the beginning of each task or practice task you can exit the program by pressing [Esc] [Backspace] (the escape key followed by the backspace key) whenever the message “Press the space bar twice” appears at the bottom of the screen.
In the middle of a task you can exit the program by pressing the [Esc] key
once, waiting for a beep, and then pressing the [Backspace] key. It may
take several seconds for the program to respond after you press the [Esc] key.
The program runs too fast on my computer. How do I slow it down?
or The program stops working after it gets to the “Initializing ...” screen.
The CalCAP program automatically calibrates itself every time you start the
program. This method ensures that the program will run at exactly the
same speed on any standard MS-DOS based computer. If the program is
running too fast on your computer or if it appears to stop working at the
“Initializing ...” screen it is probably because you are using multitasking
software such as Microsoft Windows. The best solution to this problem is
to make sure that you only run the CalCAP program from DOS.
Since most modern computers run under Microsoft Windows, the CalCAP package includes a Windows installation program. This program will install the CalCAP and add appropriate icons to the Windows desktop. Note that the CalCAP program is still DOS-based software, and it is best to run it in MS-DOS mode, when available.
The program runs too slowly (or too quickly) in Windows NT/Windows
2000/Windows XP. I receive an error message when I try to run the program in
Windows
The CalCAP is a DOS program that runs
correctly on a DOS machine or Windows 95/98. A special version of the CalCAP
that is compatible with Windows NT/2000/XP also is available. Since the CalCAP
requires exclusive use of your microprocessor and your screen, it will not run
correctly under Windows Vista and no Vista-compatible version of the CalCAP is
currently planned.
The program produces inconsistent
results on my laptop computer. The
CalCAP is incompatible with laptop computers that automatically adjust their
clock speed. This capability is built into recent mobile Intel chips and
cannot be controlled through the standard software provided in Windows XP. Some
laptops run at their fastest speeds while plugged in, but others switch speeds
even when plugged in. For this reason, the safest option would be to run the
CalCAP on a standard desktop computer. If your application requires the use of
a laptop computer, you may be able to
permanently set your clock speed through the laptop BIOS or SpeedSwitchXP
Software (http://www.diefer.de/speedswitchxp/index.html).
I can’t get my printer to work with the CalCAP. How do I get the
printer to print?
Since the CalCAP is a DOS-based program, it is not necessarily compatible with
newer printers that are designed to work only under Microsoft Windows. While
you can sometimes configure these printers to work correctly by instructing
them to capture output sent to the printer port LPT1, there are other printers
that just will not work. As a workaround, you can now send an ASCII text file
directly to disk (REVIEW.TXT). This file can be read by any Windows or
DOS-based word processor. This ASCII file is created by pressing “D” for disk
instead of “P” for print when you are viewing the test results.
I can't get the Classic version of the REVIEW program (used from
1986-1998) to show me the (outcome codes / z-scores / percentile ranks).
How do I change the codes that are displayed (or printed)? (Note: only applies
to versions of the REVIEW program prior to 9/1/98)
The right-hand side of the screen can display outcome codes, z-scores or
percentile ranks, but can only display one set of information at a time.
To toggle between these different codes, press the Z key while you are
reviewing the exam results.
The results that are printed are the results that are displayed on the
screen. If you need a hard copy of, for example, both z-scores and
percentile ranks, you will need to: (1) display z-scores, (2) print out
the results, (3) display percentile ranks, and (4) print out the results a
second time.
The lines on the final tables don't print correctly on my
printer. How do I fix the output?
The CalCAP is configured to print graphs using the standard PC character set. Some
printers, such as Hewlett-Packard LaserJet models, are configured at the
factory to use non-standard character sets and must be specifically configured
to use the PC character set. Also, users of Microsoft Windows may find that the
operating system resets the default character set used by their printer.
Because of these potential problems with printing the graphs, there is now a procedure for displaying the graphs using a less visually attractive ASCII character set that should be standard across all printers. If you are having difficulty printing the graphical section of the CalCAP reports, try the following procedures:
(1) Make sure that your printer is set to use
the PC-8 character set and that the default font is 10-pt Courier.
(2) Reset your printer
If you are still having problems, you can switch between the two CalCAP printing procedures by using the FIXPRINT command included with the CalCAP program. To use FIXPRINT, switch to the DOS prompt in your CalCAP subdirectory (usually C:\CALCAP>), type FIXPRINT, and try printing the results again using the using the REVIEW program. (The commands that you type are shown in bold face. Be sure to press [Enter] at the end of each line.):
C:\> cd \calcap
C:\CALCAP> fixprint
C:\CALCAP> review
FIXPRINT toggles the default printing procedure back and forth between the
PC-8 character set and the 127-character ASCII character set.
How do I know which version of the CalCAP program is on my computer?
To find out the version number of your CalCAP program, make sure that you are
in the CalCAP subdirectory, then type the word “RTCONFIG” at the DOS
prompt. The version numbers of the CalCAP routines will be shown in the
middle of the screen.
How do I turn off the music?
To turn off the music permanently, you need to change the batch file that
starts the CalCAP program so that the option “/NM” (for no music) appears on
the command line. For example, the batch file might look like this:
ERASE *.000
RT0296 /FEED /NM /ECTL0291.RT
Alternatively, you can turn off the music for a particular testing session by starting the program with the “/NM” option. For example:
RT /NM
If you need to turn off the music while the program is running, wait until you see the message to “Press the space bar twice” at the bottom of the screen. Then, press the number “0” (zero) twice instead of pressing the space bar twice. You can turn the music on by pressing the number “1” (one) twice.
For more information, contact Eric Miller at emiller@calcaprt.com