Sesame 1.0 made it to Pineville, Louisiana today (12-19-2003) around 7:30pm.  Here's some info and details that I hope will be of interest.   This was my first look at the finished Sesame product.

I do need to acknowledge that I have been involved with Sesame from very early on.  I was on the "test" teams, but did not do as much testing as many others did.  I was involved in the proofing of all the manuals that are included.  Also, I need to state that while I am not a "Lantican" as far as being a partner in the company, I do have a financial interest in Sesame as an investor.

Included in the significantly sized yellow Sesame box are the following:
- Sesame CD
- Installation direction sheet for Windows and 2-page sheet for Linux
- Lantica Software Contact Information sheet
- Errata sheet
- MANUALS - there are FOUR!  (Hence the size of the box.)  The two largest have HEAVY DUTY spiral binding to allow ease of use at the computer.  Excellent binding on these two manuals!  (Great work Lanticans!)  Approximate height is 8.5 inches (217mm) and approximate width is 7 inches (175mm).  If anyone else still has the Q&A version 3.0 manuals - these are similar in size.  Spiral binding on Sesame manuals is better!

- Quick Start Tutorials - 53 pages.
- Q&A Database Translation Guide - 42 pages.
- User Guide - 477 pages of text, including a 9-page Index, plus 3 pages for "notes".
- Programming Guide - 266 pages of text, including an 8-page Index, plus 2 pages for "notes".

Installation:
Upon inserting the CD, the License Agreement was displayed as is common with most software.  After acceptance of the agreement, a window opened to provide for changing the default installation location if the user so desired.  Installation size for Windows was displayed as 29.5MB.  There is no provision for selecting various components to install, and rightfully so in my opinion, as the "entire package" is needed.  Installation took all of about 2-3 seconds on my new 2.8GHz Dell 8300.  A choice to read the ReadMe file concludes the installation.  READ THE README FILE!  Print it out!  There's lots of info there that may be needed!  (Might be in the manuals - but I haven't determined that yet, as I didn't read the README file in detail.)

What's in the Sesame Folder after installation:
(Note: There are no registry entries, DLLs, or changes to any system folders or settings, with the exception of desktop shortcuts which are placed in the appropriate system folders on the computer.  p20/Sesame User Guide)

Under the Sesame Folder:
- Data  -- contains two (2) Q&A databases to use in learning to use the Q&A Translation feature of Sesame.  Note that translating a Q&A database does NOTHING to the original Q&A database.  It is not modified in any way.
- Samples -- contains six (6) Sesame databases that are used in learning Sesame.
- Docs -- contains four (4) files in PDF format.  These are the four printed manuals!  Lantica sure is trying to satisfy the needs of Sesame users!  If you do not have the Acrobat Reader software, the latest FREE version is available at:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

- Helpfiles -- 266 files in HTML format.  Help (F1) from within Sesame is Context Sensitive!  Once you are into the program, pressing F1 will bring up the helpfile that you need.  For this reason, you will need an HTML browser program.
- Pics -- twelve (12) image files that are used in conjunction with the GEMS sample database.
- Program -- contains the necessary program files to run Sesame.  Don't expect to see a lot of files in this folder - there's only 5, and 3 of those are icon files!
- Utilities -- contains two (2) folders. 
- - Lantica -- contains necessary utility files
- - WordMerge -- A utility included for demonstrating the merging of Sesame data with Microsoft Word.  Be sure to read the README file - as it contains information about last minute changes that are NOT in the manuals.

That's the "nuts & bolts" of the package, the installation, and what's there after the install.  I'll post another email with more subjective comments.

T.J.

Well i guess if it took only 5 days to get to you, we might see it in little ol NZ next year

At least we don't get snow for xmas

javascript:rolleyes()
javascript:rolleyes()

Hi Bob

Your excitement is infectious! I too had my very first view of my Sesame box today...hand delivered to UK by Alec just returned from the USA in time for the holidays.

Having been so closely associated with the project for years it was a great (and emotional) moment to unwrap the sealed box and unpack those lovely manuals and the CD.

I am a novice QA user myself but do have a couple of my own databases which I intend to translate (on my own!). 
Best wishes

Jackie Mulvey

My copy of Sesame arrrived here in the midwest today
The big yellow box didn't do so well in transit, but everything else was fine. Manuals look good, I'm sure I will be tapping the keys to the wee hours. 

Quote:


This is correct. You might be wondering why the CD contains 47MB of files.  The reason is that as well as the Setup program, which is compressed, all the files are on the CD, uncompressed, a second time. 
You will see SESAME on the CD, with the folders DATA, HELPFILES etc. This is the complete Sesame structure. The reason we have done this is as a further convenience to our users. It means you can open the manuals, in PDF format, directly from the CD.  You can also copy any files you may have overwritten.  Significantly, you can reinstate the original sample applications, if you've messed them up.

A word of warning here though.  Depending on your operating system you may find that any files you copy from the CD are READ-ONLY.

Unless you are using Windows XP, if you copy any files from the CD, they will be read-only.  It's easy to change this though. 

1. Using Windows Explorer or My Computer, select the application (both the .DB and .DAT files)

2. Right -click on the selected files

3. From the shortcut menu select Properties.

4. In the area "Attributes", uncheck "Read-only".

Hi Lindy !    Your husband.. he's not THE Robbie Robertson is he??

Hi Alec!
Well, he's "the" Robbie Robertson I married!  (He has a real first name, but he doesn't use it much).   
--Lindy 

Quote:


Robbie says you got his [electronic] autograph when I bought Sesame.   

I agree with Bob Scott about RTFM and spent last night reading the fabulous Tutorial and this morning reading the Appendices in the User Manual.  Good Stuff !!

Now I can play in Sesame  (OK!  I did play a little before RTFM.)

THANKS AGAIN TO THE LANTICA TEAM -- AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

--Lindy