TEH help

[edek]

Hey All,

I got hold of an old copy of The Essential Handicapper v1.6 and was playing around with trying to get it working.
It uses old BRIS downloads. The current ones will not import.
Does anyone know how the old ones differ and/or have a copy an of an old datafile I could look at in order to convert new ones to match.

Ed

[BillW]

Originally posted by edek
Hey All,

I got hold of an old copy of The Essential Handicapper v1.6 and was playing around with trying to get it working.
It uses old BRIS downloads. The current ones will not import.
Does anyone know how the old ones differ and/or have a copy an of an old datafile I could look at in order to convert new ones to match.

Ed

Ed,

How old are you talking? I've been using them since 1996 and the format hasn't changed in that time. Data has been added to the "future use" fields though.

Bill

[Tom]

It doesn't use the normal BRIS files. I will see if I can find which ones it uses...they were expensive and there were two files. $5 a file I think.

[edek]

Hi BillW,
Thanks for replying.

I'm not exactly sure how old the program is. The example database on install has data from 1993.
Documentation just refers to v1.5 but the disk says v1.6 so the previous owner must have gotten an upgrade.

When I try to do an import I get File Error #2. I am just assuming this is a file incompatibilty error.

Also the documentation refers to datafiles that come in pairs.
Format #4. with DAT and DA2 extensions.

Tom,
just noticed your reply. Yes 2 files.

[Tom]

I don't see the file anywhere on BRIS. I have old files wtih my copy on an old "486" DOS mahcine in the cellar. I'll see if that puppy still fires and find out what files they are. Might be on my old Win95 machine-will check it out also. That program has a very nice output window - best I have ever seen on any program - you could look at the pacelines and make your selection andsee the rankings at the same time on the top of thescreen. Then change pacelines and see the change in rankings for the whole field right away. Nifty.

[witchdoctor]

I think that that softwaree uses ITSDATA.com data. That is the same as Handicapping Magician data.

[NormanTD]

At least one of the TEH programs versions did use bris data files and it was back when they cost $5-$7 apiece. I don't remember when they changed to ITS files but the versions that used bris files had to use the multi-file version, not the single file version.

Hope this helps.

[Tom]

I bought my copy long before ITS came to be. I think it was even before Beyers were in the DRF.

[Charlie Judge]

I owned both The Essential Handicapper and The Master Handicapper.

The data feed at that time was either BRIS or a proprietary format which came from a dial up BBS in Detroit. I was told at one time that they had hired a bunch of older women to type in data from the DRF (???). This was around the time that BRIS caught a number of independent resellers of BRIS data. (About 1993 or 1994)

The programs allowed the user to type in pacelines from DRF as well.

The programmer was Eric Langjahr. The programs were very well thought out for the user with rapid access using alt-command keys. The visual appearance of the screen was quite appealing. The programs used b-trieve as the backend database engine. A parallel port dongle was required for use. I misplaced the dongles many years ago.

Eric has passed on recently.

The programs were the best I had ever seen up to that point in time both for design and execution as well as the insight given to the handicapper.

CAJ

[edek]

The version I have does not seem to use b-trieve but Raidma Data Manager.
No dongle either, just Everlock for copy protection. I had to bypass the everlock as the diskette was missing the lock.
I agree with the appearance of the program, very professionaly done. It reminds me of Wordperfect and Lotus 123 (their DOS versions). You used to be able to be much more productive before the mouse.
Still hoping to breathe new life into it as I think its a great program to start out in the original Sartin stuff.

[Buckeye]

edek,

How were you able to bypass the everlock? I have a copy of TEH but cannot use it because the diskette is out of installs.

[edek]

I did not perform the actual unlock, but rather a friend did. My understanding is he used a program called Neverlock that his company purchased years ago to backup some accounting package. Neverlock does not actualy unlock the protected program but creates a wrapper around it, simulating the protection mechanism making it transportable.
He also tells me that I did in fact have a valid key on my diskette but "misplaced" it on a different drive as I messed up the install. Not sure without testing whether Neverlock would work on a diskette without a current liscense.
Ed

Buckeye, you have mail.