

         ********************************************************
                MEAL-MASTER README! File  --- Version 8.02
         ********************************************************

  This file contains important information to help you get the most from
  Meal-Master. Please review this information before using the program.


  A NOTE ABOUT SHAREWARE
  ----------------------
  Meal-Master is distributed as "Shareware."  Shareware is not free
  software.  It is a distribution concept that allows a "try before you
  buy" evaluation period of the software.

  Any fee you may have paid to a shareware distribution service was for
  their service and materials only, and does not provide any compensation
  to the author.  After evaluation, you are legally required to either
  register the software you have with the author or discontinue using it.
  If you continue using the software then registration is not optional;
  it is payment for the software you have already received on a "try
  before you buy" basis.

  When registering Meal-Master, you will receive the latest program
  version, several additional utility programs, and a professionally
  typeset and bound 120+ page User's Manual with full descriptions and
  examples of all Meal-Master features, including a complete index.  You
  will also receive a personal serial number for the program, which will
  record your registration, allow access to the additional Registered
  User features, and eliminate the request for registration from the
  title screen.

  To register, select the "R Registration" option from Meal-Master's main
  menu, then "O Order form".  Fill in the blanks, use your Print Screen
  key to print the filled-in form, and mail with check or money order for
  the amount indicated to Episoft Systems at the address shown on the
  program's initial title screen.

                    THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING SHAREWARE!


  INSTALLATION - REGISTERED VERSION
  ---------------------------------
  The Registered Master disk includes a program named "INSTALL".  Simply
  place the disk in your floppy drive, and type "A:INSTALL" (or
  "B:INSTALL" if using drive B:) at the DOS prompt and follow the on-
  screen prompts to install the program.  All existing recipe files will
  be preserved for use with the new software.


  INSTALLATION - EVALUATION VERSION
  ---------------------------------
  The evaluation version as prepared by Episoft is a single, self-
  extracting archive file, "MM802.EXE".  Simply type "MM802" at the DOS
  prompt and follow the on-screen instructions.  A different procedure

                                       Page 1


  may be necessary if you received your copy from a shareware
  distributor, time share service, or BBS system rather than Episoft.


  ENTERING YOUR REGISTRATION NUMBER
  ---------------------------------
  When registering Meal-Master, you receive a personal serial number
  which must be entered into the program to activate its registered user
  features.  To enter your serial number, start on Meal-Master's main
  menu and select "R Registration Menu".  Then select "E Enter
  Registration Number", and enter your name and serial number EXACTLY as
  provided on the Registration Sticker in your Registered User's Package.
  The capitalization, spacing, and symbols must all be entered EXACTLY as
  shown on your Registration Sticker.

  Your registration information is recorded in a file named "MMREG.MMF".
  If you distribute copies of Meal-Master to other users, be sure NOT to
  include this file!  Your registration information is for your personal
  use only!  If you pass on a copy of Meal-Master for someone else to
  evaluate, be sure NOT to include your MMREG.MMF file.

  Record the information from your Registration Sticker in a safe place,
  like inside the cover of your User's Manual.  Should you wish to
  reinstall Meal-Master on a new machine, or if your program should ever
  need to be reloaded from the master disk, you will need this
  information to again enter your registration information.  (However,
  should you lose your registration number, Episoft can replace it.)


  THE SAMPLE DATABASE
  -------------------
  If you are using Meal-Master for the first time, and want to try it out
  without having to type in recipes, you can use the sample database
  provided.  From the Main menu, select "U Utilities" then "I Import" and
  specify "SAMPLE.TXT" for the file name.  On the next menu, select "M
  Mode: Automatic" then "S Start Importing".  The sample database of 35
  recipes will be loaded into the program, and you can immediately begin
  trying the search, shopping list, index, and other features of Meal-
  Master.


  FILES PROVIDED TO ALL USERS
  ---------------------------
  These files are distributed to users of both the Evaluation version and
  the Registered version of Meal-Master.

  MMQUICK.DOC For unregistered users, the MMQUICK.DOC file contains a
              short manual with enough information to get you started
              trying out Meal-Master.  Registered Users do not need to
              review this file, as this information is surpassed by the
              120+ page printed user's manual.

  PRODIGY.DOC Provides information on using Meal-Master with the Prodigy
              (tm) service.  Many Meal-Master users are active on
              Prodigy's Food and Wine forum, and post recipes Exported
                                       Page 2


              from their Meal-Master database for others to capture and
              Import into their database.  This is a great way for family
              and friends to share recipes, as the electronic transfer
              requires no re-typing of the recipe by those receiving it.
              (Prodigy is a registered trademark of Prodigy Services,
              Inc.)

  IMPORTF.DOC Provides a specification of how a file must be formatted to
              Import into Meal-Master.

  MM.EXE      The main Meal-Master program file.

  README!     The file you are now reading.

  FILE_ID.DIZ A short description file used when posting Meal-Master on
              electronic bulletin board systems for distribution.

  CONVERT.EXE Utility program to convert CompuChef (tm), Micro Cookbook
              (tm), Micro Kitchen Companion (tm) and MasterCook (tm)
              files for Import into Meal-Master.  (CompuChef is a
              registered trademark of Hillstepper Software, Micro
              Cookbook is a reg. trademark of Virtual Combinatics, Micro
              Kitchen Companion is a registered trademark of Craftsbury
              Software, Inc., and MasterCook is a registered trademark of
              Arion Software, Inc.)

  SAMPLE.TXT  Sample Meal-Master Database, in Meal-Master Export format.
              (See instructions above for installation)

  *.MMP       Assorted printer driver files.


  FILES PROVIDED TO REGISTERED USERS ONLY
  ---------------------------------------
  The following files are "bonus" programs for Registered Users only.
  They will not execute without a personal registration code provided by
  Episoft to Registered Users, so are not distributed to unregistered
  users.

  CHGCAT.EXE  Utility program to manipulate category names in the
              database.  This program will scan all recipes, collecting
              and organizing all category names.  Each unique category is
              listed, along with information about how many recipes
              contain that category and whether it is on your personal
              category table or not.  A new category name can be
              specified for any of the existing categories, and the
              update will be applied throughout the database.

  MMSTAT.EXE  Utility program to analyze database usage.  This program
              reports statistics about how many recipes are in the
              database, maximums and averages of ingredient and direction
              usage per recipe, and remaining capacity based on current
              averages and available disk space.


                                       Page 3


  MMCOLOR.EXE Utility program to set custom colors.  Meal-Master allows
              background and foreground colors to be selected for Normal,
              Medium Intensity, High Intensity, and reverse video.

  TITLES.EXE  Utility program to mass update the format of recipe titles
              throughout the database.  Especially when importing recipes
              from multiple sources, some titles will be in all capital
              letters, some in all lower case letters, and some in a
              mixture.  This utility lets you pick the way you want your
              titles to be stored, and updates the entire database using
              that style.

  MMM.EXE     Menu "shell" program.  This program provides an integrated
              menu from which the Meal-Master main program and all the
              utility programs can be accessed with a single keystroke,
              rather than exiting and starting each program from the DOS
              prompt.


  DIRECTORY OF THE REGISTERED MASTER DISK
  ---------------------------------------
  The registered master disk contains an installation program, two
  archive files containing all the Meal-Master files, and a small utility
  used by the installation program.  Each file is described below.

  INSTALL.EXE Meal-Master installation program.  Place the master disk in
              drive "A:" and type "A:Install" (or "B:Install" if using
              your B: drive) at the DOS prompt to start installation.

  MMDC.UTL    Decompression utility used by the INSTALL program.

  MM8P.ZIP    Archive containing "MM.EXE", "README!", and assorted
              printer driver files.

  MM8U.ZIP    Archive containing Meal-Master utility, documentation, and
              sample database files.

              Note: The two ZIP files will be automatically expanded by
              the INSTALL program, or you may expand them manually if you
              have a utility program for ZIP format files.


  CAUTIONS/COMMON PROBLEMS
  ------------------------
  If you use the EMM386.SYS memory manager with its NOEMS option, and run
  Meal-Master under Microsoft Windows, and specify the "/EMS" switch when
  starting MM.EXE, then you may receive a "violated system integrity"
  message.  There are three ways to correct this problem:  1) Do not
  specify the /EMS switch when starting Meal-Master, OR 2) Remove the
  NOEMS option from the EMM386.SYS line in your CONFIG.SYS file, OR 3)
  Create a PIF file for MM and specify zero for the "EMS Limit" and "XMS
  Limit" entries.

  Some monochrome displays driven by color adapter circuitry
  (particularly prevalent on laptop machines) often do not provide
                                       Page 4


  sufficient gray scale contrast to differentiate between the text colors
  used by the unregistered version of Meal-Master.  If you encounter this
  problem with the unregistered version, try using the DOS command "Mode
  BW80" before running Meal-Master (the MODE command is found in the DOS
  directory).  Registered users can use the MMCOLOR program to set the
  specific color combinations that work best on their machine.

  You must have the file CONFIG.SYS in the root directory of your boot
  disk, and it must contain the statement FILES=xx, where xx is a number
  that is at least 20 (at least 40 if you are using Windows, Desqview, or
  another environment that allows multiple applications running at once).
  If this file is missing, does not contain the FILES= statement, or
  specifies a value less than recommended, Meal-Master may not perform
  all functions.

  The PARM.MMF and CATFILE.MMF files created by some very old versions of
  Meal-Master are occassionally incompatible with a newer version.  If
  you receive a "runtime error" when trying to start MM, try deleting
  these files and then restarting the program.  This will initialize new
  files that are compatible with the current version.

  Sight-impaired users with speech-synthesis equipment should start MM
  with the "/C" and "/T" switches.  The "/C" switch will route screen
  output through BIOS services, where speech synthesis software can
  intercept them.  The "/T" switch (or "D" option on the
  Maintenance/Setup menu) will cause unit of measure "t" (teaspoon) to be
  displayed as "ts", and "T" (tablespoon) to be displayed as "tb".  This
  eliminates the ambiguity that exists when using "T" and "t" with a
  speech synthesis device.


  VERSION 8 RELEASE HISTORY
  -------------------------
  8.02  Maintenance Release.  Adds leading title on "BB" export format
        for compatibility with Prodigy(tm)'s "note preview" function.
        Further relaxes import rules.  Adds Directions Search to the
        Search menu!

  8.01  Maintenance Release.  Corrects memory consumption problem in
        CHGCAT utility, enables searching by fifth category name, relaxes
        import rules in directions section, eliminates cursor "ghosts" in
        view/list modes.

  8.00  Initial Release.  Major new features include:  Capacity expansion
        to 65,535 recipes per database (registered version), with
        continued support for multiple databases; Improved handling of
        recipes 'flagged' for delete; "Whole-word" title search
        capability; Multiple category search, with "and" and "or"
        connectors; New "Yield" field to replace the "servings" field and
        a new "Yield Units" field allow entering recipe yields like
        "3 pints" or "2 loaves"; Expanded category file that allows 150
        categories; Search option to find recipes which contain
        categories not in your personal category list; Ability to mark up
        to 1,000 recipes for batch operations, A directory "pick list" to
        easily switch between multiple databases; The ability to create a
                                       Page 5


        new database without leaving the program;  A command-line switch
        to set the current database directory; Improved accuracy in
        quantity storage;  Selection of Export format on Export menu, in
        addition to the Maintenance menu; File viewer capacity increased
        to handle very large files; Revision to "MMMMM" format to provide
        better line length compatibility with more BBS systems;  Improved
        handling of Import Errors; New super-fast duplicate search to
        speed Imports; Automatic deletion of old import files, and
        conversion support for MasterCook-PC and MasterCook-II export
        files.


  CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE!
  ---------------------------
  Many thanks to everyone who contributed ideas for improving Meal-
  Master.  The program keeps improving thanks to you!

  And a special thank-you to the version 8 beta-test team!  These are the
  people who gave their time and risked their recipes to unfinished
  programming, all to ensure that the final release would work smoothly!
  Thank you (in alphabetical order) to:  Denise Bradshaw, Joyce Burton,
  Diane English, Linda Fields, David Flint, Frances Keeney, Karen
  Mintzias, Elaine Radis, Eileen Shaughnessy, Robbie Shelton, Sylvia
  Steiger, Stu Talkofsky, and (last alphabetically, but certainly not
  least) Jodi Welliver!


  LEGAL STUFF and LIMITED WARRANTY
  --------------------------------
  Meal-Master (tm) is a trademark of Episoft Systems and Scott Welliver.
  All rights are reserved.  Copying of the Evaluation version (without
  registered user utilities or a registration serial number) is allowed
  by not-for-profit organizations such as user groups.  ANYONE WISHING TO
  DISTRIBUTE MEAL-MASTER IN A FOR-PROFIT ENTERPRISE MUST CONTACT EPISOFT
  SYSTEMS FOR PERMISSION.

  Episoft and Scott Welliver disclaim all warranties, either express or
  implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of
  merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, with respect to
  this software and any accompanying written materials.  This limited
  warranty gives you specific legal rights.  You may have others, which
  vary from state to state.

  In no event will Episoft or its suppliers be liable for any damages
  whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business
  profits, business reputation, business interruption, loss of business
  information, or other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use of or
  inability to use this Episoft product, even if Episoft has been advised
  of the possibility of such damages.  Because some states do not allow
  the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or
  incidental damages, the above limitation may not apply to you.

                        *** END OF README! FILE ***


                                       Page 6
