MTRDINFO
M T R T o r a h F r e e w a r e -- Hebrew Legal Classics
Topics in this MTR info file:
- Overview: (copyright, vendor info, package contents.)
- Updates: (new releases schedule, registration.)
- Size of package
- Intended audience
- Contents: (MTR's texts.)
- Software: (search engine, Hebrew screen-fonts)
- Language: (format of MTR's text files, software interfaces.)
- Program versions: ("stand-alone"/TSR, Hebrew/English.)
- Manuals
- Features: (screen modes, copy-and-paste support, search facility.)
- New in this release
- Hardware and Operating System requirements
- Installation: (requirements and instructions.)
- MTR files and directories: (file list and descriptions, caveats.)
- Partial installation
- Printing the manuals: (recommendations for different printers.)
- Installation disks: (available from the machon.)
- Our email and Web address, and MTR download sites
Overview: MTR (version Elul 5758) Copyright 1998 by Mechon Mamre,
12 Hayyim Vital St., Jerusalem, Israel (972-02-652-1906): Includes
Mishneh Torah, Tanach, Targum, Mishnah, Tosefta, Yerushalmi, and
Bavli. MTR is copyrighted freeware: You need not pay or register to
use MTR, but you are most earnestly asked to report any problems you
may have with the program and any errors that you may find in our
texts or documentation. We encourage you to share the program with
others, and to upload its ZIP files and MTRDINFO.TXT to BBSs.
Updates: New versions are released twice yearly (before Passover and
before the Jewish New Year).
Size of package: The ZIP files (about 10M) expand to about 28M.
Intended audience: MTR should be of interest to readers of Hebrew who
study Jewish texts, and Bible scholars who wish to study the original
Hebrew text of the Bible.
Contents: The Bible (Tanach) in two versions: the text of the Kether
Aram Tsovah manuscript, and the same text in modern, easy-to-read,
full-style spelling; Jewish legal classics: the Rambam's Code (Mishneh
Torah) reproduced from the Yemenite manuscripts, the Mishnah
reproduced from the manuscript attributed to the Rambam, and Tosefta,
Jerusalem Talmud, and Babylonian Talmud reproduced from popular
printed editions. Additional works are in preparation and will be
added in future MTR updates.
Despite the modest scope of the texts compared with larger Torah
packages on CD-ROM, users of such packages will still benefit from
MTR due to the high quality of MTR's texts.
Software: In addition to the Torah texts, MTR includes software for
browsing and searching the texts, and Hebrew-English EGA/VGA
screen-fonts for DOS. The software is DOS-based but can be run from
Windows, and is Windows-aware.
Language: All texts are in Hebrew only. They are stored in
unencrypted plain-text files (in IBM-standard, ASCII-Hebrew for DOS.)
Text layout within the files is in logical (left-to-right) ordering.
The bundled software comes in two versions providing either an English
or a Hebrew interface (menus, messages, and help screens.)
Program versions: There are two versions of the main MTR program: a
TSR (memory-resident) version, and a "stand-alone" (i.e. non-resident)
version (which is transient-loading -- the norm for ordinary DOS and
Windows programs). Their differences are listed below. In addition,
the stand-alone version is available in either Hebrew or English
language-versions. Both language versions work identically; they
differ only in the language of the user interface (menus, messages,
and help). Both include extensive on-line help. The TSR version is
available only with a Hebrew interface in the present release, but
an English interface should be available with the next release.
Manuals: The package also includes printable manuals in both English
and Hebrew. The 40 page English manual contains no Hebrew and will
print on any printer. The 20 page Hebrew manual can be printed on a
printer equipped with a Hebrew font. (See below for printing
instructions.)
Features: The normal display mode of the stand-alone MTR program is a
text-mode screen of 25 lines. It can also display text-mode screens of
up to 60 lines of text on VGA monitors or better. It is Windows aware;
it can send blocks of text to the Clipboard for pasting to other
Windows applications (with options for Word-style or Dagesh-style
handling of parentheses). Hebrew Windows is not required. All you
need is a Hebrew word processor such as Dagesh or Qtext, which have
Hebrew support built in and will work under any version of Windows.
The TSR version can operate either in full-screen mode of 25 text
lines, or, on VGA monitors, in a split-screen mode of 50 text lines.
In full-screen mode, the user can switch back and forth between the
TSR and a text-mode, DOS word-processor, running concurrently, both
programs occupying the entire screen. In split-screen mode, both
programs are visible at once, each occupying half the screen.
The TSR can send blocks of text to DOS word processors.
The search engine can search for a multi-word string of up to 75
characters, supports boolean expressions (a AND b, a OR b, a NOT b)
in any combination, and lets you allow or disallow prefixes, suffixes,
or both.
New in this release:
- Thousands of refinements and corrections in texts, particularly in
Mishneh Torah and Onqelos.
- Refinements to the punctuation of the Bible.
- MTR will now run properly on NT's NTFS drives and networks, despite
a bug in NT itself that interfered with proper operation of the
previous version of MTR
Hardware and Operating-system requirements:
- VGA or EGA video-card (or MONO or CGA card with a Hebrew-font ROM).
- 28MB free on the destination disk (more is required on large-
capacity disks and on compressed disks).
- DOS 3.3 or later. This version is Win95 compatible, and probably
Win98 compatible too. (MTR runs in a full DOS screen under NT and
OS/2, but cannot send texts to the clipboard under those systems.)
Installation:
- Old versions of MTR must be completely deleted before installing a
newer version. Versions prior to Adar A' 5757 must be deleted by
MTRDDEL. (Download it from one of the internet sites carrying MTR.)
Versions dated 5757 onwards can be deleted by typing: DELTREE \MTR
(in DOS 6 or later).
- MTR may be installed on any local or network drive from C: to Z:
It need not be installed in a first-level directory (directly below
the root), but it is recommended to install to c:\ for best
performance and ease of setup.
- To install MTRD, download the eight .ZIP files MTRD001 - MTRD008 and
unzip with the -d option, as shown below.
NOTE: The .ZIP files MUST be unzipped strictly in numerical order,
or MTR will not work properly (if at all)!
To install MTR in x:\MTR (where x is any drive), use:
PKUNZIP -d [path\]MTRD00?.ZIP x:\
- [path\] is the directory containing the .ZIP files.
- If the .ZIP files have been written to that directory in numerical
order, the ? may be used as is, otherwise you must run this command
for each .ZIP file individually, replacing the ? with 1, 2, 3, etc.
- x is the drive letter of the disk you are installing to.
If you are currently in the directory x:\ this may be omitted.
- Note: some UNZIPs do not properly interpret the x:\ at the end
of this command; so if your UNZIP is not from PK, change to the
target drive and directory (type x: then cd \) before unzipping
with the -d option. If you do not, you may get an error message,
or MTR may be installed in an unintended location.
WinZip installs MTR just fine, but we recommend you "extract to"
c:\ for best performance and ease of setup.
MTR Files and directories:
The installation writes the following files in the directory \MTR (or
in an MTR subdirectory below whatever directory you extracted to.)
Program files:
MTR.COM Stand-alone search engine with Hebrew interface.
MTRE.COM Stand-alone search engine with English interface.
MTRTSR.COM TSR search engine, with Hebrew interface.
MTRFONTS.COM Hebrew font support (loads as stand-alone or as a TSR).
Ancillary files used by MTR programs:
MTR.DAT MTR's internal data file.
MTRE.DAT MTRE's internal data file.
MTRTSR.DAT MTRTSR's internal data file.
MTR.HST MTR's search history file.
MTRE.HST MTRE's search history file.
MTRTSR.HST MTRTSR's search history file.
MTR.ICO Icon for Windows
Documentation:
HAMACHON.COM Hebrew documentation on Mechon Mamre and MTR's creation.
AZHAROT.COM Hebrew documentation on MTR and limitations on its use.
BAT.COM Hebrew documentation on loading MTR via batch files.
KETIV.COM Hebrew documentation on our spelling.
PISSUQ.COM Hebrew documentation on our punctuation.
HADPES.OTI Hebrew manual (Printable on printers with Hebrew font).
PRINTME.ENG English-only manual, printable on any printer.
Batch files:
M.BAT Loads Hebrew font and runs MTR.
MP.BAT Ditto (installs font suitable for laptop LCD screens).
M2.BAT Loads MTR + MTRTSR for study of dual texts concurrently.
M2P.BAT Ditto (installs font suitable for laptop LCD screens).
MW.BAT Loads MTRTSR and runs WP.BAT to load your DOS word
processor for concurrent usage. (You supply WP.BAT)
MWP.BAT Ditto (installs font suitable for laptop LCD screens).
Warning: MTRE.COM may be deleted or renamed, but the other .COM
files must not be deleted or altered in any way or MTR will stop
functioning. The other files can be deleted to save disk space, but
MTR will regenerate .DAT and .HST files, if necessary (provided you
have write access to the disk).
The six .BAT files are provided as example files. They assume MTR
resides in C:\MTR. If MTR is installed on another drive or in another
directory, they will need to be modified to use the correct pathname.
Run MTR, MTRE, MTRTSR, and MTRFONTS with the /? option, to see a list
of command-line options available for each program. You may may wish
to incorporate some of these options in the batch files.
The following subdirectories under MTR\ contain the Hebrew text files
of the works included in this version. (Sizes shown are approximate.)
MTR 4.6M Mishneh Torah
TNK 2.0M Tanach in easy-to-read spelling
TNX 2.0M Tanach in masoretic spelling
ONQ 0.5M Targum Onqelos
MSH 1.1M Mishnah
TSF 1.6M Tosefta
YER 4.5M Yerushalmi
BVL 10.0M Bavli
Do not delete or alter these files in any way or MTR will stop
functioning for the book changed and onward.
If you need to free up disk space, you may delete entire directories
and their contents (e.g. deleting all the BVL files will save over
10Mb), but if you do this, you should do so from the bottom up,
according to the order in which they are listed here. This is because
MTR requires the presence of all earlier listed components in order to
make use of any component appearing subsequently in this list. Thus,
the absence of the MSH files will cause the Tosefta, Yerushalmi and
Bavli to become unusable even if their files are intact. Similarly,
erasing the TNK files will disable use of all but Mishneh Torah.
Partial Installation: If you have limited disk space, or just want to
check out the program, you can install just part of MTR. Minimum
installation requires the first two files listed below. You can then
progressively add other components as you wish, provided you add them
in the order listed here.
MTRD001.ZIP (Programs, MTR)
MTRD002.ZIP (MTR cont., TNK)
MTRD003.ZIP (TNK cont., TNX, ONQ, MSH)
MTRD004.ZIP (MSH cont., TSF, YER)
MTRD005.ZIP (YER cont., BVL)
MTRD006-8.ZIP (BVL cont.)
To uninstall, download and run MTRDDEL, or, if you have DOS 6 or
later, type: DELTREE \MTR.
Printing the Manuals:
The files containing the manuals include page breaks and may be
printed directly from DOS using the PRINT or COPY commands. e.g.
PRINT \MTR\PRINTME.ENG
COPY \MTR\HADPES.OTI PRN
The number of lines-per-page has been limited to 58 to accommodate
those printers that can only print 58 to 60 lines per page on 11 inch
paper and cannot print on the first and last half inch of the sheet.
If you use continuous paper on a dot matrix printer which prints along
the entire length of the paper, roll the first sheet up about half an
inch before printing to have the pages vertically centered on the
paper.
If your printer prints only from Windows, select a monospace font
(e.g. Courier New), not a proportional font, when loading the file
into your Windows word processor for printing.
Installation disks: You may prefer to receive our set of installation
disks, which includes an easy to use, bilingual installation program,
rather than downloading the ZIP files from the internet. To order,
send 45 NIS or $20 US to our address given above. This price includes
shipping world wide. The installation files are supplied on 3.5" high
density (1.4Mb) disks only.
Our email and Web address, and MTR download sites:
For additional help, you may email us at: mtr@www.huji.ac.il
but, please, do try consulting the documentation first. Visit our Web
site at http://www.mechon-mamre.org for additional information.
The main Internet sites from which MTR updates may be downloaded are:
http://www.simtel.net/simtel.net/msdos/torah.html and its many mirror
sites carrying MTR in an msdos/torah/ directory.