The following is a recent history for changes made to MA. Many of the changes were the result of suggestions from users. Your inputs would be welcome.

1. Website installation instructions added for DOSBox 0.65 that supports MA on Windows XP

1. Corrected handling for distributor message in MANUAL.PRT
2. Adjusted random generator to allow some duplicate charaters to be sent.
3. Increased number of short words allowed to be input from the WORDS file from 200 to 2000. Included checking to truncate the files to the first 2000 entries. Added a description of the file to MANUAL.PRT and the HELP page for the (P)roficiency session.
4. Corrected the display of SHORT WORDS at the completion of the (P)roficiency session.
5. Added percent correct statistic to (P)roficiency session summary.

1. Changed (P)rosign used for exit to DOS from AR ("+") to SK ("*").
2. Changed (P)rosign in (K)eyboard for F2 start sending to BK (break) and left F2 suspend sending as AS (wait).
3. Corrected RETURN key handling for (K)eyboard input from the keyboard.
4. Changed the chaacrter display mode for the first character being sent in (K)eyboard sending (F2 key) from blinking to reverse video.
5. Corrected (K)eyboard session to correctly scroll large KB files (e.g. files longer than 12 lines). Previously MA continued displaying characters past the 12 line window allowed to display the text, and finally caused a fault when trying to display on line 26.
6. Removed the delay prior to the sending the CW character when editing the character sequence using the (E)dit session in the (O)ptions menu.
7. Added 10 new pairs to the (F)irst pair menu for characters that are inverses of each other, e.g. L and F, Q and Y
8. Corrected length of PAIRS array which was less than the maximum number of pairs (103 were previously in the program while the array was only 100 long. Now it is set at a maximum of 200, more than the total of 112 pairs.
9. Improved the randomness of character seletion for the (F)irst (P)airs session.
10. Changed the frequency of the note in sending Prosigns [(O)ptions menu (P)rosigns ON]. This allows the sneding of prosigns to be differentiated from text sent by the computer for students.
11. Corrected the (F)irst (M)orse handling if an error occurs on the first character sent. (printing of an error character in reverse video for any character in column was incorrectly surpressed).
12. Made minor adjustments to the display of video on the first two lines of the result of the (P)roficiency session.
13. Corrected a serious error in the test (G)eneration session which resulted in an abnormal termination of MA.
14. Corrected character count statistics for the (P)roficiency session.
15. Fixed "VVV VVV" processing for test in (P)roficiency session so that the logic does not affect other (U)se option, e.g. short words, etc.
16. Minor correction for the display of percent complete meter in the (P)roficiency session.
17. Changed buffering algorithm in the (P)roficiency session to "insure" that buffer is emptied before closing the session. This covers high speed use when operator is copying well behind the code being sent.

1. Changed handling of ESQ key to "possibly" correct reported cases where the sound is terminated during operation of the program.
2. Revised my address in the manual to show my the QTH in Kauai.
3. Minor correction to cursor handling in (K)eyboard session. (unsual case where F2 key when placed over the cursor would not start sending of CW text).
4. Removed line 2 reverse video of the (F)irst and (G)enerate menus to make them identical to most other menus. Now only the (L)earning menu has two lines of reverse video test at the top of its screen [needed for cursor comments].
5. Fixed line placement for cursor for sub-menu selection of the (F)irst menu.
6. Corrected the European letter set that MA supports using the ALT key. They had been mistakenly removed from the character set some time ago, and I just noticed it.
7. Changed the program exit from (D)OS Return to simply eXit. The display is changed to X. Exit, but the D key will continue to work.
8. Corrected pair counting error in the (F)irst (P)air session.
9. Corrected display for (F)irst (M)orse keyboard, including ESC handling.
10. Changed group size counting so that it resets to zero after any error, so the next group will always be the selected size. Previously the group size of the next group after an error depended when the error occured, e.g. an error on the 2nd character would cause the next group to be only 3 characters.
11. Added the delimiter ":" between triples used in KB files to specify average speed, character speed, and note frequency. In the previous version only a comma was accepted.
12. Discoverd that clock interrupt frequency can not be chnaged when MA is executed under Windows NT, so the program MUST be executed with the " /1" option, when can be manualy added to the short cut by using the right mouse button. See the manual, "Operation under Wondows NT", for detailed instruction.
13. Corrected handling of charcter set selection in (L)earning menu so that the new selection is immediately available.
14. Changed the (R)eceive game sending logic to NOT repeat the sequence when an error occurs. We found that "smart" students were reading the answer and not really listening to the repeated pattern. Now the same characters will be repeated, but not in the same order. This is a large change to this session. Students reading the screen are no longer able to just remember the sequence. They must listen carefully!
15. In the (R)eceiving game with group size set to 1, duration time will no longer be an option. Instead the student will have to receive the characters selected for learning three time each to end the session (but for a maximum of 10 minutes).
16. Added screen output if MA is started with an illegal option or improper syntax on the DOS command line. This should help in learning all of MA's options.

By Joe Speroni
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