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 ưnot 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 ưnot 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