Alpha version 7.2, using AlphaTcl library version 7.2.1

International users: select your keyboard in the international preferences 
dialog (Config->Preferences->International) to ensure the menus contain 
key-bindings suitable for your keyboard.  

Users of MacOS 8.5: the OS now 'captures' the Cmd-Tab key combination
and uses it to switch applications. That combination is also used by
default inside Alpha: you must either redefine Alpha's key-combination
(Config->Special KeysÉ) or change the MacOS's key-combination.

For users upgrading from a version of Alpha older then 7.0 see the section
"Upgrading from Alpha older than 7.0" below.

Alpha's documentation is currently a little out-of-date. It is undergoing a
complete overhaul. To check on the status of that overhaul, or to download
a pre-release version of the new documentation go to
<http://www.theophys.kth.se/~jl/Alpha/newdocs.html>. 
The main Manual (<- click to open) has now been updated. There is also a
shorter Quick Start (<-- click on it!) document, and many other help files.
You can access the help files under the system help menu. If you have
recently updated Alpha you may wish to read the 'Changes' file.

Much of Alpha's functionality is implemented in 'packages' or 'extensions',
and many additional packages are available to extend Alpha further. The
'Config->Preferences->Menus And Features' and 'Config->Mode Prefs->Menus
and Features' menu items let you see which items are installed, and lets
you turn them on and off. The 'Config->Package Prefs' menu allows you to
update modes, menus, and extensions quickly and easily by downloading small
update files from the internet. However, most available package are bundled
with Alpha. It is recommended that you try to learn the basics of Alpha
before starting to download new packages. For those used to Emacs, a 'mode'
in Alpha is like a 'major mode' in Emacs, an 'extension' or 'feature' in
Alpha is like a 'minor mode' in Emacs.

See the file Packages for a list of pre-installed packages in Alpha.

Remember, Alpha has a Home Page, from which you can check for new versions 
of Alpha, as well as the many modes and packages which have been written.  
If you wish to download those things directly you can get them from 
<ftp://alpha.olm.net/pub/packages/>, but Alpha contains menu items to allow 
you to check for and/or download and install updated items automatically.  
Many packages are also available from: <ftp://ftp.ucsd.edu/pub/alpha/>.  If 
you check both locations, Alpha will keep track of which contains the most 
recent one for you.  For those from Europe, you may wish to try the mirror: 
<ftp://anu.theologie.uni-halle.de/comp/mac/Alpha>

PLEASE use the Alpha-D mailing list to discuss problems, suggestions 
etc with this release.  To subscribe, email <LISTSERV@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU> 
and, in the text of your message (not the subject line), write: 
'SUBSCRIBE ALPHA-D'.  There are a number of known bugs which will hopefully
be corrected in a future release.  PLEASE read the 'Bug Reports and Debugging' 
file for a list of known bugs, and for how to give an informative bug 
report, without which it is unlikely any bug you found can be fixed.

===============================================================================

Upgrading from Alpha older than 7.0

Alpha stores most preferences in the 'defs.tcl' and 'arrdefs.tcl' files in 
your preferences folder.  The preferences folder is in the standard system 
preferences folder, and is named 'Alpha' (for versions < 7.0) or Alpha-v7
for version 7 (and will be called Alpha-v8 when version 8.0 is released at 
some point in the future...)

Some of your old preferences will be incompatible/irrelevant to the new 
Alpha version when you upgrade from 6.x to 7.x therefore you shouldn't just 
copy the two prefs files from one folder to the other.

Here's how to copy over just a few preferences: open the old 'defs.tcl' or 
'arrdefs.tcl' and examine them for lines you wish to copy.  Open the new 
'defs.tcl' and 'arrdefs.tcl'.  Alpha opens them in read-only mode, but you 
can command-click on the 'lock' icon in the window to make the windows 
modifiable.  Now copy and paste as you desire.  Finally save the windows and 
quit and restart Alpha.  If you get an error on startup, you probably copied 
over incompatible preferences and you'll have to delete the files and start 
over (hence it may be a good idea to make a backup copy of the originals 
before you start).

Note: if you don't wish to use a System-Folder prefs folder, create a folder
called 'AlphaPrefs' next to the Alpha application.  Alpha will use that
folder preferentially if it exists.


