ZIPKEY, V1.08e   Copyright 1990 Eric Isaacson.
All rights reserved.

ZIPKEY.OVL      Copyright 1989 Eric Isaacson.
All rights reserved.

Eric Isaacson Software
416 East University Ave.
Bloomington, IN 47401-4739
(812)339-1811

This diskette contains the ZIPKEY zipcode directory and keyboard 
enhancement program.  Please feel free to distribute the program 
by uploading it to bulletin-board systems, and by copying and 
distributing the diskette to anyone interested. 

The file ZIPKEY.EXE is a preliminary copy of the next release of 
the software.  If this version doesn't work for you, I have also 
provided Z10.EXE, the last "official" release version of ZIPKEY.  
Be sure to let me know if you have problems with the V1.08 
ZIPKEY. 

You can run the program by putting ZIPKEY.EXE and ZIPKEY.OVL 
into your current directory, and typing ZIPKEY to the MS-DOS 
command prompt. 


What's New In This Version

ZIPKEY is already a big success since its initial release this 
past spring.  I have not only gotten a large number of 
registrations, but also some useful feature-requests and problem 
reports. In this version I have added a much-requested feature: 
the the ability to uninstall ZIPKEY without rebooting the 
machine. I have also gotten ZIPKEY to work with a variety of 
programs with which V1.0 had problems: Microsoft Word 4.0, Lotus 
123, FANSI-CONSOLE on an EGA, Desqview, Quarterdeck's LOADHI 
loader, Carousel, graphics programs, and programs and device 
drivers that call DOS in the background.  That last category 
reflects a serious bug in MS-DOS, (not ZIPKEY!) whose symptom was 
the intermittent crashing of the computer, every dozen or so 
zipcode lookups.  This version works its way around this MS-DOS 
bug. 

And, of course, the data itself is updated every month.  The 
evaluation data is constrained to be at least six months old, so 
that you're now getting the data provided to registered users 
this past spring. 


File Name Conventions for BBS Uploading

If you distribute files in a compressed format, using PKZIP, 
ARC, ZOO, or a similar program, I recommend that the evaluation 
ZIPKEY.EXE file and the manual ZIPKEY.DOC be packed together 
into one file, and the ZIPKEY.OVL file be provided as a second 
file. 

If you are a BBS sysop, with the ability to delete files on your 
BBS, you can maintain the single name ZIPKEY for the package. 
The compressed EXE-and-manual file can have the extension (.ZIP, 
.ARC, etc.) reflecting the compressing program used.  The OVL 
file can keep its name ZIPKEY.OVL. ZIPKEY.OVL does not need to 
be compressed-- it's already so compact that there is little or 
no further gain from compression. 

If you are uploading to a BBS on which you cannot delete the 
previous version, I suggest that the names contain the version 
information. The EXE-and-manual file should be named ZKxx, where 
xx is the ZIPKEY.EXE version number -- for example, ZK10.ARC for 
ZIPKEY V1.0e. The ZIPKEY.OVL file should be stored using a 
compression program (not for the compression, which is minimal, 
but so that the file will be named ZIPKEY.OVL again when it is 
extracted). The compressed OVL file should be named ZKmmyy, 
where mm is the 2-digit month and yy is the year of the ZIPKEY 
database -- for example, ZK0988.ARC for the September, 1988 
version of the data. 

Here are sample directory lines for ARC files, including 
recommended comment lines: 

ZK108.ARC        ZIPKEY zipcode dir V1.08 prog/doc,1 of 2
ZK0789.ARC       ZIPKEY.OVL 07/89 zipcode data,    2 of 2

Note that the data file does NOT contain the program version 
number in its comment line. I will be releasing new data files 
more often than new program versions, so that the data file is 
not married to the program version number.  People will be able 
to download new data files even if they already have the latest 
program version.