I have a lot of questions to answer but the Newsletter Coordinator is cutting my column drastically because of this issue's length. Perhaps they can be fitted in next time.
TILIA and TILIA·graph
Dr. Triage: We are an eager group of novice Tiliaphiles, with a problem. Every time we make a graph, the x-axis (showing % abundance) appears both at the top and the bottom of each profile. We sure like it at the bottom, but how do we get rid of it from the top??? We saw the TILIA graph in the Jan. 92 newsletter, and were jealous. We also admired the lithologic stratigraphy feature, and want to know how to acquire it, since our version doesn't have it. Please help us! Trembling. Dear Trembling: Try the following sequence of menus: [G] Axes | [A] X-axes | [A} Modify all graphs | [A] Tic Marks | [C] Length; type '0' to set the TOP tick marks to 0. This makes the top column margin a solid line which looks good extending under the taxon names. I like the tick marks at the top because you can lay a ruler along them to estimate quantities better. Incidentally, there is a way to edit a diagram made with TILIA if you have access to AutoCADD or Generic CADD 6.0. TILIA·GRAPH can send its output to a DXF file (Drawing Interchange File) in the current directory with the default name CGI.DXF. This *.DXF file can be interpreted by the CADD programs, edited, scaled, and printed or saved as CADD files. (To use this option, you must go to TILIA's subdirectory "Drivers" and load the CGI.CFG file into a text editor. Insert the line PRINTER=DXFTEXT.SYS and save it as an ASCII file of the same name.) Regarding the lithologic column, you probably have the same version as I do. When you select [K] Lithology, you get a box that says: "Note: The lithology option is incomplete. It now plots only a blank column. A module for interactively designing a lithology column is planned. GKS and Troel-Smith lithology symbols will be available." You can turn the lithology column ON, and it puts in a blank column which lets you draw in the sediment by hand or paste on a sediment pattern from one you make with a "draw" program like FREELANCE, etc. The diagram you liked in the January issue was not a TILIA graph, but one Keith Bennett did in PostScript with his PSimpoll. I think it does a neat job, and I prevailed on the Coordinator to ask Keith to discuss it (see p. 11, this issue.) D.T.
PALYPLOT
Dr. Triage: I am cracking up! I just got an up-grade to Generic Cadd 6.0 from Autodesk, which has a lot of fine new features and fonts. But when I try to load PALYPLOT's *.PPD files as a "batch file," CADD6 starts, but then just stops, and I have to reboot my computer. What am I doing wrong? The Tasmanian Devil. Dear Devil: The problem you encountered is caused by certain "improvements" made in CADD6. CADD5 set text size with a command starting TZ,T, whereas CADD6 has changed the command to TS,Z, to conform better to its other text commands. You can solve this by loading PALYPLOT's *.PPD file into an ASCII text editor to Search (TZ,T,) and Replace (TS,Z,) in all the problem lines. But a much quicker solution is to load in the following BASIC program. This works with QuickBasic or QBasic that comes with DOS 5.0. It makes a backup file ( *.BAK) of the original, and produces a new *.PPD file that will work in Cadd6. I believe this will solve your problems using CADD6 with PALYPLOT files. But if you find others, you should be able to modify PPD2CAD6 to fix those too. Just let me know what you did for the record. D.T.
'ppd2cad6.bas 8 April 1992
CLS
LOCATE 2, 5
PRINT "PPD2CAD6 converts PALYPLOT *.PPD file for CADD6"
SHELL "dir *.PPD"
PRINT : PRINT
INPUT "Load which file? "; File1$
Place = INSTR(File1$, ".")
ReadFile$ = LEFT$(File1$, Place) + "BAK"
Task$ = "REN " + File1$ + " " + ReadFile$
SHELL Task$ 'rename the file *.BAK
OPEN ReadFile$ FOR INPUT AS #1
OPEN File1$ FOR OUTPUT AS #2
DO WHILE NOT EOF(1)
LINE INPUT #1, A$
IF LEFT$(A$, 5) = "TZ,T," THEN
A$ = "TS,Z," + MID$(A$, 6)
PRINT A$
END IF
PRINT #2, A$
LOOP
CLOSE #1: CLOSE #2
END