

Version 7 of the Lexa suite

Over the past number of years the Lexa suite has been expanded very
considerably. It has been brought into line with Windows in that the
programmes can handle files of any size and be called without any difficulties
from any point in Windows.

The programmes still run in the non-graphic mode which users know from
DOS. For the processing of large text corpora this should not be seen as a
disadvantage, rather it enables the swift and easy manipulation of huge files
without the overhead of graphic display. In addition, the programmes of the
Lexa suite offer features which are not available in Windows applications, such
as 8 text buffers and undo buffers, discontinuous marking of text lines, powerful
search and replace facilities and many other options which are not provided for
in the standard Windows framework. This applies above all to the text editor
Lexa Text which has been used to create and produce several books including
the online documentation to the suite which you will find in the current
directory.

The interface to Windows is direct and simple at all times: any texts processed
with the Lexa suite can be stored as RTF (Rich Text Format) or HTML
(Hypertext Markup Language) files and processed straight away with
appropriate Windows software such as Microsoft Word, without losing any
precious formatting attributes.

The documentation to the Lexa suite comes in five large files. These can be
processed with Lexa Text by entering DOC on the command line or double
clicking the file DOC.BAT in the directory 8\LEXA\DOCUMENT. The first three files
8LEXA_DOC.001 - 3 represent the text of the three volumes as published by the
Norwegian Computing Centre for the Humanities in Bergen. The file
8UPDATE.001 is in essence a fourth published volume, while the file 8UPDATE.002
contains the latest update information on the programme suite (up to late
autumn 1998) and is only available in file form. Note that the documentation
can be processed by users. It can also be transferred to a Windows environment
by saving it in RTF or HTML format to disk and reloading it with a different
word processor. Bear in mind also that all the major programmes have an
online help facility which can be activated at any time by pressing F1.

The installation of the Lexa suite is simplicity itself: you start the Windows
Explorer and move to the directory 8\LEXA on the ICAME CD-ROM. Then
you press Ctrl-C to select the directory branch and move to the destination
drive where you want the programmes installed (make sure that the 8\LEXA tree
leaf is not open to ensure that the subdirectories are also selected). Then press
Ctrl-V to paste the directory 8\LEXA and all its subdirectories to this new
position. To make sure that you have continuous access to all programmes you 
should execute the programme Alter Path (file name: 8alt_path) which is to be
found in the 8\LEXA directory. This will make a small change to the file
8AUTOEXEC.BAT in the root directory of drive C: to ensure that the programmes
of the Lexa and LinguaFont suite are accessible to both DOS and Windows.
After copying all files to your hard disk, check that the data files (in
the subdirectories of both 8\LEXA and 8\LINGFONT) are not read-only. If they
are, you must alter this attribute value, for instance with the Windows
Explorer.

As on previous occasions, it remains for me to thank Knut Hofland who has
been encouraging and helpful and without whose gentle prodding this current
version of the software and documentation would not have been finished in
time.


Raymond Hickey											Essen
														December 1998


