Verify that the DOS subsystem is installed. If this is not specified during the initial installation of Windows 2000, running DOS applications such as Geocomp may result in Windows error messages about the 16-bit file system.

Verify that the Geocomp dongle is embossed “Sentinel C Version B” or “Sentinel CplusB”

Attach the dongle to a parallel port

Login with administrator privileges

Check under Control Panel… Add/Remove Software, to see if Sentinel System Driver has been installed. This is required on Windows 2000 for Geocomp to detect the dongle. If not, install it by running \Sentinel\Setup.exe from the Geocomp 10 CD.

Configure Windows to reveal file extensions as follows:

• Start Windows Explorer or My Computer

• Under the Tools Menu, select Folder Options

• Select View tab

• Under Advanced Settings, Files and Folders, untick “Hide file extensions for known file types”

• OK

Install Geocomp 10 by running Setup from the root directory of the Geocomp 10 CD. The following instructions assume that you are installing Geocomp to the default location, C:\GC10. If you require a different folder, the best way is to first install it and the update to to C:\GC10, then refer to the User’s Guide C:\GC10\docs\gc1007ug.pdf for an explanation of the file structure.

Download the patch to Geocomp 10.

Install the patch by extracting from the zip using folder names. Extract to the root of the Geocomp software folder. For example, if your software folder is C:\GC10\, extract to C:\.

Create a Geocomp shortcut and configure ANSI.SYS as follows:

• Start…

• Search..

• Files or Folders

  • Search for _DEFAULT.PIF

  • Select _DEFAULT.PIF

  • Under Edit, use Copy to Folder to place a copy of _DEFAULT.PIF into the Desktop folder.

• Search for ANSI.SYS

  • Note the location

• Search for CONFIG.NT

  • Open CONFIG.NT, in the same location as ANSI.SYS, using NOTEPAD or similar.

  • Scroll down to the end of the CONFIG.NT file.

  • If it’s not already there, add the new line: DEVICE=…..\ANSI.SYS (substituting …… with the location of ANSI.SYS).

  • Close and Save CONFIG.NT

• Close the Search window.

Right-click on the copied _default shortcut on the desktop

Select Properties

• Under General Tab:

  • Set the title to “Geocomp 10”

• Under Program Tab:

  • Set the command line to C:\GC10\GC10.BAT

  • Leave the working directory empty

  • Set the icon to  C:\GC10\GC10.ICO

  • Tick “Close on Exit”.

  • Under the Advanced button

    • The location of the CONFIG.NT and AUTOEXEC.NT files should be the same as already noted above.

  • Under the Memory tab:

    • Set “Initial Environment” to 4096

    • Set “Extended (XMS) memory” to 10240

    • Set “Uses HMA” to ON

    • Set “DPMI” to Auto.

  • Under Screen Tab:

    • Choose Full Screen

  • Under Misc Tab

    • Untick “Background”

    • Set “Idle Sensitivity” to LOW.

    • Enable Windows shortcut keys including “ALT TAB” and “ALT PrtSc”.

• Select OK

Logout as administrator and login as local user (optional)

Execute Geocomp 10 using the shortcut 

Enter the activation code using the instructions supplied with the code

If the batch file is stuck in a loop, or can’t find files, see How to Specify Additional Environment Space.

If it can’t find the security device, check the dongle and the Sentinel driver. If you get Windows errors about 16bit file system, DOS is probably not correctly configured.

To set up plotting and printing, see Geocomp Printing and Plotting.