Running the Online Bible Program on the 100LX
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This text file is provided for anyone interested in running the Online Bible (OLB) or the SeedMaster (SM) programs on the 100/200LX.  You will need at least 10Mb of disk.

Why Online Bible?
=================
It's free ! :-) and its comprehensive.
>> (the following is from its copyright screen)
+------------------------------------------------------+
|    1769 Authorised Version with 1833 Webster Update
|                 Combined with the
| 1890 Darby Bible & 1898 Young's Literal Translation
|    Strong's Numbers from Englishman's Greek and
|    Hebrew Concordances plus with Verb Parsings.
| PLEASE MAKE COPIES FOR YOUR FRIENDS, NO ROYALTY DUE.
|  Extracts from the Authorised Version of the Bible,
|   the rights in which are vested in the Crown, are
|   reproduced by permission of the Crown's patentee,
|             Cambridge University Press.
+------------------------------------------------------+

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>> (the following contribution from Tom Hoover sums up best)

Could you give contact info for OLBible?
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Sure...Online Bible (OLB) is very unique in it's distribution.  It's most often sold by shareware distributors, but doesn't require the payment of a registration fee, in most cases (only those versions requiring a royalty payment, such as NIV, require the payment of a fee to the author before you can use them).

In addition to the "normal" shareware vendors, OLB is distributed thru:

 Online Bible U.S.A.
 P.O. Box 21
 Bronson, MI  49028
 Tel: 517 369 6035 or 800 243 7124

The author is:

 Larry Pierce
 11 Holmwood St.
 Winterbourne, Ont.  N0B 2V0
 Canada
 Tel: 519 664 2266 (weekday afternoons only)
 FAX: 519 664 1444

I had previously downloaded the OLB from GEnie, and it is also available thru numerous local BBSes (especially those on the Fido network).  I "bought" my current copy on a CD-ROM from White Harvest Software (919 870 0775).  The $25. CD-ROM includes both "SeedMaster" and the Online Bible.  "SeedMaster" is the Bible study software written by White Harvest Software (both DOS & Windows versions are included).  SeedMaster/DOS will also run on the 100LX, but requires you to shutdown SysMgr due to memory requirements.

All three of the above also offer OLB on floppy disks, but the CD-ROM is BY FAR the best value.

I have a world-wide listing of other distributors, but won't take up the space listing it here.

And, in closing, here's a little excerpt from the "history" of the Online Bible:

"The Online Bible was the first and is still the only Bible program in the world that allows you to freely copy it. Based firmly on the principle of grace not greed, this has enabled the Online Bible to be the most popular Bible search program. The best things in life are free and you should not try to commercialise the Bible. New languages and features are added almost every other month. Send for the latest catalogue by writing your closest international distributor."

How's _that_ for value? :-)  Now that we can run OLB on the LX, I don't know how one could find a better value...

   ...Tom 

>> Note: can run OLB with certain exceptions.... ian

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Other Bible programs that work on the 100LX
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>> (From what I have seen on CompuServe I have noted the following; I don't know how good any of them are; list is not complete... pls feel free to add)
PC Study Bible ver 1.0 
WordSearch ver 2.20 
Quickverse 3.0
Bible Quest ver.? 

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WordSearch 2.2
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(It appears that this is the simple and direct solution if it meets with your requirements.  Robert Jung is apparently satisfied with his WordSearch ver2.2 and writes the following comments...)

For anyone looking for a decent Bible software for the 100LX
============================================================
I have been searching for a Bible software package that would run on a flash disk on the HP100LX.  I tried the free Online BIBLE v 5.0 and v 6.0.  Neither version ran.  Quickverse 3.0 would run, but it is excruciatingly slow (a few minutes to do a next page).  I finally tried an old version of Word Search (version 2.20) from NavPress.  It runs like a jackrabbit on the HP100LX.  A full Bible search for one word takes less than TWO seconds!  Screen I/O is character oriented, so it takes two to four seconds to display a page of text.

WordSearch 2.2 has options like Strong's word numbers, Greek and Hebrew lexicon, NAVE's topics, various translations, and more.  You might be able to find this version for a discount because it is a few years old, but it was designed to run on 8088 PCs.  The newest version runs on WINDOZE.

How much space does it take up and what version(s)?
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WordSearch 2.2 takes up a minimum of 3.0 MB for the EXE, HLP, and the KJV text version.  On a stacked flashdisk, the KJV text compresses at only a 1.2 ratio. Additional version modules (NIV, LIV, NAB, NKJV, NRSV) take about 2.5 MB each. The Strong's Greek/Hebrew module takes about 2.5 MB.  I use a stacked 10MB HP flashdisk to hold the Bible plus my ARJ source code and Turbo C++.

BTW, I saw a copy of WordSearch for DOS at a Christian bookstore today.  This software was designed to run on the slowest of PCs!

I use the Windows version of Word Search on my notebook.  Options include Bible map, the Life Application Bible notes, Greek/Hebrew Lexicon, Thompson Chain references, Nave's Topics.

- Robert 

  
>> My initial experiments tell me that OLB when working, is as fast as the times shown for WordSearch 2.2.  For anyone who will be satisfied with the above specifications then WS will be your answer.

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Meanwhile, back to the Online Bible.....

General Considerations, Tips and Tricks
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The following are experiences trying to run the OLB.  It may or may not be helpful to you or others interested in running a good bible program on the 100 or 200 LX.  My requirements are that I need two translations, TSK (a form of chain ref) and the lexicons (particularly the Greek).

"Compression" -  It would appear that while it is nice to have, neither the OLB nor the SM programs like the compression algorithms if for no other reason than for speed.  In having to regularly carry out searches on the entire bible, on different versions, on meanings of words, the two bible programs would have to regularly decompress the many files.  Considering that on the whole I only get 1.3 to 1.6 compression ratios with a corresponding loss of speed of 3 or more, it seems hardly worth while.  Another disadvantage of the compression is the amount of memory taken up by the Stacker or other compression driver reduces the RAM available to OLB causing the 'Degraded Mode' performance.  Those fortunate to have 20Mb FlashDisk, might consider partitioning 10Mb off for stacker leaving the other 10Mb for the bible program.

"Speed Issues" - The 100LX's 80186 processor just cannot perform like at the 486 speed in decompressing.  Left uncompressed, both OLB and SM run much faster, although OLB is still faster.  (When a search is being carried out OLB provides the first few searches while it carries on looking for the rest; SM has to wait for a 'page' full before it display all 20+ references.)  SM also seems to pause frequently (Thinking... Please Wait) when reading in files.  I presume that this is because of the size of the one file as opposed the OLB method of having many smaller files.  IMHO, I think it is fair to say that on slower processors, the OLB has the advantage over the SM in speed terms.

"Minimum Files" - I have discovered that the minimum no. of files are those in the version you requre (eg. AV-DBY), the CXREF directory, the two GREEK directories (if reqd.), the bible.exe and bible.dct files along with the message.* files.  The CXREF is not necessary for OLB, but SM has a seizure if you use the OLB key mappings in SM then hit F10.  In any case it provides me with an abbreviated TSK.  So I have it instead of TSK.

"Battery" - For some reason that escapes me, OLB cannot run on Alkaline batteries; at least not for me.  (Tom Hoover has reported success - I presume with freshly charged NiCad or Lithuim (!) cells) I can only run from the adapter.  The second I pull out the adapter OLB drops out.  The Page Down/Up does not work.  Neither does the Menu, nor the ON/OFF switch.  A host of other HP100 keypresses causes the OLB to have a heart attach.  The SM is more resilient.  It has no such problems.  It may have something to do with the extra power required to run off the FlashDisk although it does not explain why SM and all other programs don't exhibit this problem.  This is _THE_ problem.

"Minimum Files for SM" - I use the OLB databases because it is smaller.  The paragraph above applies except I do not use the two GREEK directories.  I use SM's LEX.* to substitute.  Of course the SM.EXE is needed.  I don't load the helps or any other files.  I leave SM to create the options.dat.  I also place OLB and SM in the same directory for convenience.

"OLB in Dos" - For some reason, I know not why, OLB runs from either the Sysmgr or Filer but not in pure Dos 5 from the command prompt.  In the latter, I get the message screen and the program drops back to the Dos prompt and had a mild stroke; needing a reboot to cure it.  Given that I seem to have no success running OLB, and Tom Hoover has had success, I might be doing something wrong.  I find however that running the OLB out of sysmgr is fine.  Having taken out the stac driver, the degraded mode is not much different from the normal mode.  I find the OLB unstable because of the keyscan problem hence I prefer to run SM for the moment.

<< Can anyone out there provide an insight to the difference in the 100LX operating under sysmgr or filer to operating out of Dos 5? This will help track down the problem >>

"Simple Batch file to run OLB" - refer to one of the batch files that OLB provides for running out of Windows.  It only needs to be as short as
    a:
    cd \bible 
    bible.exe d=a:\bible\av-dby bw bi
I run the batch file from AppMgr and I assign 310Kb of RAM for Dos sessions.  I also run 100Buddy, so I can't have all the RAM.  OLB reports that it is running in "Degraded Mode" but I don't find that a problem as it is still fast.

"Size of FlashDisk" - With the above configuration, I can fit all in 10Mb Flash Card with about 300Kb spare.

"My Configuration" - Temporarily, I run SM  and its lexicon but with the OLB databases and Cross references.  Speed bareable, Requires 10Mb, Colours Ok if we run the mono8025.com found in the d:\bin directory first.  Trouble is I cannot carry out searches with phrases containing 'the', 'of' etc.  SM does not handle them because OLB does not provide them.  OLB would handle the problem if you can get OLB to run.  Make sure files=40 in config.sys.

The  Ideal ???
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To me, OLB seems fast and is (debatably) simpler.  With the miniscule keyboard on the LX, the less keypresses the better.  Most common operations should be one key stroke away.  The less Shift-, Ctrl- and Alt- there are the easier it will be.  (I am assuming that you probably support the LX with one hand and operate it with the other.  I do!)  Therefore a CUA compliant program while great for a desktop with a mouse is agony for the LX.

With so many modules available free for the OLB, if disk space was not a problem, you could be carrying dozens of books in your laptop.  All for FREE.  Then by having it also on the LX, you have the same program with compatible files.

Windows?..... No, not yet.  

We are still attempting to fix the problems with OLB so watch this space.


Digressions
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***(Someone may be interested in this note from Tom Hoover....)

On a related note, the SM/OLB CD-ROM has straight Bible text in the OLB/Masters/Texts directory, which I find ideal for use with VR.  I'm currently using these for my daily Bible reading...I don't have the "search" capabilities that OLB/SM offers, but the font, etc, is much easier on the eyes.  If you use VR, make the following additions/changes to your vr.cfg:

Under [Texts], add *.kjv (I renamed the AV texts with this extension, so that VR could differentiate):

   [Texts]
   TextExt = *.txt;*.doc;*.c;*.msg;*.kjv
   Wrap.KJV = '1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9'

This makes the text much more readable, as each verse will start on a new line, rather than VR wrapping everything together in one big paragraph.

   ...Tom 

***(PCMCIA version of the Bible?)
Maybe there is one out there, but I doubt I could be completely satisfied unless it gave me the Translations that _I_ wanted and the modules that I would find helpful.  Each to his taste, how much storage would the PCMCIA have to offer to please everyone?

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I hope this is helpful to someone.  I would be keen to hear from others who have experiences to share.

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Feel free to modify and distribute as necessary.  
Credits to Tom Hoover and Robert Jung for their contributions.
Not being very sure of ethics on CIS, I have omitted their CIS ids.
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Ian Oh
5th January, 1995
Melbourne, Australia
CompuServe: 100242,1761
Internet: ianoh@ozemail.com.au
