Computers and Printers

Our auction management software is written in the Borland 7.0 Delphi language for Microsoft's Windows Operating System. It cannot be run under DOS, MS-DOS Prompt or from the Command Prompt and does not require the presence of these DOS-based services. It has been optimised for Windows XP Professional and Vista.

Although our software will run on any computer from Windows 98 onward, we strongly recommend the use of Windows XP Professional or Vista machines. Windows 98 has many faults (especially printer/spooler anomalies) and should not be used.

Microsoft Windows Vista

In 2007 Microsoft announced a new version of their Windows Operating System - Windows Vista. Our advice at this time is to use Windows XP Professional. The latter has not been discontinued and is freely available from Dell and others.

Nevertheless, we can tell you that the Pacts product range does run very well under Vista, with the latter acting in either server or workstation mode. Vista computers need a minimum of 1024Mbytes of Ram.

Computer Hardware

Pacts software is easy on computer resources. A machine with hardware based on the Intel Celeron processor (or better) at 2GHz speed or (better) is ample. 1024 Mbytes of Ram is a minimum. Each sale occupies about 20 Mbytes of hard disc space, so a 80Gb hard disk could hold some 3000+ sales (allowing room for system software).

Backing up Critical Data

Backup of sales and historical data is of critical importance. Many customers simply do not realise that computer hard drives can fail with catastrophic consequences. Or an office could be burgled or burnt down leaving you with no auction data. You must have a backup device and a backup/recovery policy to protect you from data loss. You should know how to restore critical data should the need ever arise.

Preferred backup devices would be a CD-Writer or an external hard drive. With compression, one standard CD-Rom (700 Mb) will hold 7000Mb or 350 sales. Each CD costs about ten pence. Do not re-use CD's - you might not be able to restore their data when necessary. Once you have created a new backup CD, make sure the correct data is actually stored on it.

A re-useable backup device is a "Pen-Drive" - these are available with 2Gbytes of storage for under £30. They plug into a spare USB port and are seen by Windows as an external hard disc.

Backup devices must not operate on an "incremental file" basis - i.e. backing up the files that have changed. If you ever need to restore, you will be forced to restore each of what could be a long list of increments - any glitch along the way and your backup is lost. You must, therefore, backup your entire \pactsdata or \stockdata folders each and every working day. This process should not take more than a few minutes.

Networking

Pacts software will run on a network of computers arranged in a simple Peer-to-Peer configuration or in a Client/Server format. The network can consist of any mixture of computers running Microsoft's Windows 98 (Second Edition) or Windows XP Pro. Windows XP Pro (with Service Patch 2 or later) is the preferred Operating System.

Networks must be hard-wired. Networks should operate at 100Mbps minimum. Network hardware should include a 100Mbps Switch - a 10/100Mbps Hub will not provide the best network performance. Switches are available for about £90.

Wireless networking must not be used with our auction management software. Wireless networks will seriously compromise the overall system reliability and will invalidate our warranty.

Our software must always be run in a true Client/Server format. That is, workstations must run their own version of our software from their local disc drives.

In a mixed network, a Windows XP Pro or a Windows 2003 Server machine must act as the auction server. Windows NT Server, Windows 2000 or Windows 95/98 computers should not be used.

Only on a two computer network should the nominated auction server computer be also used to enter auction data. On networks of three machines or more, in a Peer-to-Peer arrangement, one machine must be a dedicated auction server.

Auction Server Computer

The auction server computer must have its hard disc write-behind cache facility disabled. (Local Disc C, Properties, Hardware, Disc Drive Properties, Policies, Optimise for Quick Removal or Disable Cache). The auction server computer hard drive must be set up with  \pactsdata  and  \stockdata and \illustrations folders having read/write shared access across the network.

Workstation Computers

All auction workstation computers must have their hard disc write-behind cache facility disabled. (Local Disc C, Properties, Hardware, Disc Drive Properties, Policies, Optimise for Quick Removal or Disable Cache).

Pacts workstation computers communicate with the auction server computer via the Mapped Network Drives feature of Windows. For this process to work correctly, the following settup must be adhered to:

NetBios over TCP/IP enabled. (Local Area Network Connection, TCP/IP Properties, Advanced, WINS, Enable NetBios). Enable NetBT protocol for Windows Vista or Windows Longhorn.

File and Printer Sharing Enabled. (My Network Places, Setup Small Office Network Wizard).

Pacts software operates with any kind of VGA display (CRT or TFT) and should be set to 1024 x 768 resolution, 16 bit colour and large fonts. (Control Panel, Display, Settings, Advanced, Large Fonts at 120%).

Pacts monitors the transactions from each computer on the network. Each computer on the network must be given a machine name (e.g. \\admin) of a maximum of eight alphanumeric characters. Non-printing characters, underscores, hyphens, punctuation characters etc. are not permissible in machine names.

Printers

Pacts software always prints to the current Windows default printer. It is designed to work with any printer installed on a Microsoft Windows network, but those manufactured by Hewlett Packard (HP) and Oki are recommended. Our current printer suggestions are:

HP5200 A3/A4 (35 pages/minute) monochrome laser (about £980) if you want to print the auctioneers sale book or financial summaries as A3. This machine will print A3 or A4 pages at high speed.

*HP1280 A3/A4 (11 pages/minute) colour inkjet (about £200) if you want to print the auctioneers sale book or financial summaries as A3. However, this printer is not fast enough for buyer invoices or vendor accounts.

*Oki B4400 A4 (26 pages/per minute - first page out 5 seconds) monochrome laser (about £130) which will print all Pacts forms as A4. (Printer does automatic A3 to A4 reduction). Very low running costs.

*Oki C3450 A4 (16 pages/minute colour + 20 pages/minute monochrome - first page out 12 seconds) colour laser (about £240) which will print all Pacts forms as A4. (Printer does automatic A3 to A4 reduction). Very low running costs in monochrome - about one penny per page. Seven pence per page in colour.

Recommendations

If you want to retain an A3 sale book, the two printers marked  * and  * together make an unbeatable combination.

If you want an all A4 but monochrome solution, the  * Oki is the best.

If you want an all A4 solution with colour for vendor/buyer forms and monochrome for all internal documents, then the  *Oki is the best.

Prices quoted exclude VAT.

4th May  2008