How to install TSP 4.3 under Windows 95

Note: these instructions apply on to TSP 4.3 under Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0. TSP 4.4 has an integrated, automated installer which supercedes these instructions.

1. Create a folder for your TSP work
2. Create a shortcut to the TSP application
3. Register TSP input files
4. Change the view settings (optional)
5. Do a test run of TSP
6. Register TSP output files
7. Notes

1. CREATE A FOLDER FOR YOUR TSP WORK

First, create a new folder on your desktop for your TSP files - batch input (.TSP), data, batch output (.OUT), etc. This way, they won't get mixed up with all the files in the TSP43 folder.

To do this, right-click a blank portion of your desktop. From the popup menu that appears, select New, then Folder. The new folder will appear, with its default name "New Folder" selected. Type the name you wish to use for it, such as MYTSP or TSPWORK (don't put any spaces in the name; it will confuse WordPad if you decide to use that program to edit and view your TSP files.).

2. CREATE A SHORTCUT TO THE TSP APPLICATION

The next step is to create a Shortcut to the TSP application. This will enable you to run TSP in batch mode by dragging your batch input file onto the TSP program file. Double-click on the My Computer (or whatever you have named your PC) icon on your desktop, double-click on the hard drive (usually named C:) icon, then open the TSP43 folder. Choose the "MS-DOS" icon with the TSP name and then select Create Shortcut from the File menu. This will create a new MS-DOS/TSP icon called "Shortcut to TSP" in the TSP43 folder. Drag it from the TSP43 folder to the MYTSP folder.

At this point, you should also copy the ILLUS43.TSP file to the MYTSP folder. You can do this by selecting Copy from the Edit menu in the TSP43 folder, then Paste from the Edit menu in the MYTSP folder.

You might also like to change icon of the Shortcut so it is more immediately distinguishable as TSP. You may do this by selecting the TSP Shortcut and right-clicking. Select Properties and a tabbed dialog box will appear. Select the Program tab. Click on the Change Icon... button at the button of the tab. In the Change Icon dialog, select the Browse... button. Find the TSPICO.ICO icon file in the TSP43 directory. Click OK to dismiss the Change Icon dialog and save your changes, then click OK again to dismiss the Properties dialog. Your shortcut should now have a pretty blue and white icon that says "TSP".

3. REGISTER TSP INPUT FILES

You should now register the TSP file type, so that it will always be opened with WordPad, or with whatever is your favorite word processor/text editor. WordPad is a simple word processing program bundled with Windows 95 in order to put makers of low-end word processors out of business. WordPad ably handles plain text format files, thus, it can be used to edit TSP input files and display/print TSP output files*. It can handle larger files than NotePad, one obvious alternative.

In the MYTSP folder, double-click on ILLUS43. Since Windows 95 doesn't know about TSP, you should get a dialog box which says "Click the program you want to use to open the file "ILLUS43". Scroll to the very bottom of the list to find WordPad. Make sure the option "Always use this program to open this file" at the bottom of the dialog is check-marked. ILLUS43.TSP will now be opened by WordPad. There is no need to edit the file right now, so just click the close dialog button [X] in the upper right hand corner - do not click the OK button.

4. CHANGE THE VIEW SETTINGS (OPTIONAL)

One thing that will make your life easier using Windows 95, and not just in running TSP, is to change the system settings so file types are always shown, as in DOS and Windows 3.1. You can do this by selecting Options... from the View menu of any open folder. Select the "View" tab of the Options dialog box and uncheck the "Hide MS-DOS file extensions for programs that are registered" option. If you do not make the file types visible, you will not be able to distinguish between the .TSP and .OUT files from most of the directory window views.

5. DO A TEST RUN OF TSP

Now it's time to run TSP on the ILLUS43 test job. Select ILLUS43.TSP and drag it onto the MS-DOS/TSP icon (this icon will light up when you're directly over it). Release the mouse button, and TSP will start running on ILLUS43. A Windows 95 DOS window will appear (how long it stays on your screen depends on the speed of your PC, but is should only be a few seconds). This is TSP running in batch mode, the same as if you had typed TSP ILLUS43 at an MS-DOS prompt. Once TSP is finished the black window will disappear**. You will now see the ILLUS43 output file, ILLUS43.OUT, in the MYTSP folder.

6. REGISTER TSP OUTPUT FILES

To register the file type .OUT as a WordPad document, follow the same steps as in step 3, but start by double-clicking on ILLUS43.OUT. Once you have registered it as a WordPad document, you can easily scroll through it, print it, cut/copy/paste parts of it to another file for printing(or delete all but what you want to print), etc.

At this point, the basic setup is complete. You can now create and edit your own .TSP files with WordPad (for example, by double-clicking on one of the old files, and then choosing New from the File menu). Then you can run them by the "drag and drop" method from step 5, and then examine the output by double-clicking on the .OUT file. Additional new folders can also be created for projects that you want to keep separate.

NOTES

*When you create a new file in WordPad, make sure you choose "Text Document" in the New Document options dialog and not Rich Text Format or Microsoft Word. TSP will not like either of the latter two file formats.

**FOR ADVANCED USERS ONLY. This is actually something you can change if your right-click the TSP application file (TSP.EXE) and select "Properties". We don't recommend you change these settings, though, unless you really know what you're doing.

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