Techical Support - Ability Plus 2.0

Overview

Version 2.0 of Ability Plus was released in December 1992.

You can go straight to the Download Page if you just want the latest version of this program or the latest version of the printer drivers file.

If you cannot find an answer to your problem in the Frequently Asked Questions section below, it will probably be worth trying the latest version of the program (go to the Download Page). Otherwise, outstanding queries should be addressed directly to support@ability.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Cannot get the £ sign on screen
  2. Cannot get the £ sign on printer
  3. Cannot see graphs on screen
  4. How do I copy a file to a floppy disk?
  5. My file's to big to fit on a floppy - how do I back it up?
  6. "This copy has not been registered" message.
  7. "This copy of Ability has already been regisetered" message
  8. "SHARE.EXE required for network Ability" message
  9. Year 2000 - any problems [Answer :- No!]
  10. How do I get more memory free?
  11. Cannot open a database file
  12. How to Import/Export files
  13. Can't see the dot-dot directory <..> on Novel Netware drives
  1. Cannot get the £ sign on printer

    Either: Incorrect printer driver selection from the Devices screen - double check that you have the right make model selected using F2-Ability-Devices.

    Or: Your dot matrix printer is in the wrong mode. Many dot matrix printer work in either an IBM mode or an Epson mode, selectable via a dipswitch on the printer. Ability will work with either providing the corresponding driver is selected in the Devices screen.

    Or: The printer driver file is out of date. You can download a driver update from this web site. See DRIVERS2.EXE.
  2. "This copy has not been registered" message

    This occurs when Ability Plus 2.0 has been re-installed from the original floppies. You can download AB220.EXE to avoid this problem for single user installations (site/network licenses should Email support@ability.com instead).
  3. "This copy of Ability has already been registered" message

    This happens when Ability Plus 2.0 is copied, either from one directory to another, or from one PC to another. It can also happen if you've overwritten the original disks with a working, registered version of Ability and then subsequently re-install.

    Either re-install from the original disks or download AB220.EXE to avoid this problem.
  4. How do I get more memory free?

    Applies to 80286 and better processors and DOS 5 or 6 only

    Firstly, make sure you've got the most recent version of Ability Plus 2.0 - see AB220.EXE.

    Ability uses the first 1 MB of memory (which it has to share with DOS, device drivers etc). The most you can have free, once Ability is running, is around 390K using standard DOS memory managers (or 500K using a third party memory manager like QEMM - see the documentation that comes with the memory manager for optimal configuration). This does depend, though, on your hardware making available most of the first 1MB.

    The bare essential entries in your CONFIG.SYS are:

    C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
    C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE
    DOS=HIGH

    Note: These above may read C:\WINDOWS instead of C:\DOS if you have later drivers installed with a copy of Microsoft Windows.

    In your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, all you really need is a PROMPT, a PATH statement and keyboad driver. We've also included DOSKEY as it's so useful and only takes around 4K of memory:

    PROMPT $P$G
    PATH=C:\;C:\DOS;C:\AB2
    C:\DOS\KEYB UK
    DOSKEY

    Note: The KEYB command is included only for UK users.

    If you want serious memory - up to approx 14MB - upgrade to Version 3.0 instead.