SPEED II upgrades

How to upgrade SPEED II to release 7.3. SPEED II, the development environment for Wang computers, is the predecessor of APPX. These instructions were published on www.appx.com and moved here in October 2026. Release notes for each SPEED II release are in SPEED II release notes.

From SPEED II 7.0, 7.1, or 7.2 to 7.3

Introduction

Following are the instructions necessary to upgrade from SPEED II Release 7.0 (or 7.1 or 7.2) to Release 7.3. The UPDATE utility does NOT perform this type of upgrade.

Before starting the upgrade you should backup your current SPEED II and design volumes!

Compatibility

Release 7.0 systems can be upgraded to Release 7.3 by running the conversion program described below. All existing applications should be completely compatible between the two releases.

It is possible to have both Release 7.0 and 7.3 running at the same time. If you do so, the following restrictions apply:

1. Release 7.0 and 7.3 must be installed on different volumes.
2. Release 7.0 and 7.3 should not share DESIGN files.
3. Release 7.0 and 7.3 can share company data files.

Performing the Upgrade

The following steps are required to perform this upgrade successfully. Do not perform the upgrade without first making a backup.

Follow these instructions, in the exact order given, or unpredictable results can occur.

You should be logged on with a Wang Security Administrator ID.

1. Backup SPEED II and all design files.
2. Restore the contents of the 7.3.x release tape to your SPEED II volume.
3. DELETE the system directory file (00001100 in $$$$$011 on SPEED II volume).
4. Run SPEED II utility ($ in $ on SPEED II volume).
   Restructure the Installation Control files.
   Set the "Date Pivot Year" (Window 2 of Installation Information).
   Exit SPEED II.
5. Run SPEED II utility. (You need to exit SPEED II and re-run it.)
6. Restructure the APPLICATION DESIGN files for EVERY APPLICATION on your system.
   Skipping any applications, even ones which are rarely used, can cause intermittent problems which are hard to diagnose.
7. Rebuild the System Directory for all Company / Applications. This can be done by selecting '4) Data File Management' from the main SPEED II menu.
   Leave the Company and Application Id fields blank, and press ENTER two times.
   Select option '17) Update System Directory'. SPEED II will automatically rebuild the System Directory.

If your installation uses a Foreign Language, update your foreign language file using the Language Utility. Refer to the instructions below for additional information.

SPEED II is now ready to be used.

---

Foreign Language Instructions

Six new mnemonics have been added to the language file. International installations will need to update their language files as part of the installation of this release.

The release tape includes prior version index files to allow upgrading from a release 6 language file or from a release 7.0 (shipped with SPEED II releases 7.0.0 through 7.2.x).

If you are upgrading from a release 6 language file you will need to rename some files in library $$$ before running the language utilities:

Old Name:				New Name:
$0000000				$000R700
$0000002				$000R702
$000R600				$0000000
$000R602				$0000002

A list of the new mnemonics can be printed by using the language utilities.

---

Notes

The "Pass Chars 80-9F to Printer?" field controls how SPEED II handles hex characters 80-9F when producing a report. It is located Window 3 of Installation Information.

If set to 'Y', then SPEED II will act as it did in Release 7.0.

If set to 'N', then it will treat the character as an underlined character 00-1F, which is how Release 6.x and below worked.

This field was added as part of the fix for ECR 3820. International sites will probably want to set this field to 'N'. Changes to values in Installation Configuration do not take effect until SPEED II is restarted.

To install SPEED II Release 7.3 on a new machine, restore the tape, then run '$$' in '$' to enter the registration. Then start SPEED II and set up Installation Configuration.

Release 6.x systems can be converted to Release 7.3 by following the instructions here.

Release 5 systems can be upgraded to Release 7.3 by first installing Release 6 and following the Release 5 to 6 upgrade instructions, and then following the Release 6.x to Release 7.3 instructions above.

See the Y2K Implemenation Guide for a discussion of the Pivot Year.

From SPEED II 6.x to 7.3

Introduction

This document is intended to assist users of SPEED II Release 6 (including 06.00.00 through 06.01.07) to upgrade to Release 7.3.

Compatibility

Release 6 systems can be upgraded to Release 7 by running the conversion program described below. All existing applications will be completely compatible with Release 7. Release 5 applications will have to be converted to Release 6 by installing Release 6 and following the Release 5 to 6 upgrade instructions.

Numerous fields have been added to the Installation Configuration files. All of these fields will be set to default values during the conversion process. After conversion, verify the values in your Installation Control files. The fields that may require the most manual changes are those associated with printing.

If you are upgrading a large system to Release 7, it is possible to have both Release 6 and Release 7 running at the same time, but we recommend that you avoid doing this unless absolutely necessary. If you choose to run 6 and 7 concurrently, the following restrictions apply:

Release 6 and Release 7 must be installed on different volumes.

Release 6 and Release 7 cannot share DESIGN files.

Release 6 and Release 7 can share company data files.

All applications referenced by Release 6 of SPEED II must be in Release 6 format. All applications referenced by Release 7 of SPEED II must be in Release 7 format. Unpredictable results will result if one release attempts to reference another release's design files.

Be sure to convert all referenced applications and follow these instructions carefully. If you run out of space during the conversion, display or print the conversion logs, which will indicate what the problem is.

Upgrading Release 6 to Release 7:

The following steps are required to perform this conversion successfully. A WANG VS System Security Administrator must perform the conversion to ensure that file access violations will not cause the conversion to cancel. Do not run the conversion program without first making a backup.

Have all users stop using SPEED II.

Backup your existing design files, SPEED II utility files, and installation control files. Do not run the conversion program without first making a backup.

SCRATCH the library '$' on your SPEED II volume.

Use the Wang Backup Utility to RESTORE the release media contents to your SPEED II volume. Use the 'SCRATCH' option for duplicate files.

If your installation has Wang OFFICE and you want SPEED II to alert you to incoming mail you must copy the files in library $WO into library $ on your SPEED II volume.

Run the conversion program CONVERT in $UPDATE on your SPEED II volume.

IMPORTANT: The conversion program must complete without interruption. If it does not complete, files must be restored. Do not run the conversion program without first making a backup. The conversion program will be restructuring your design files.

The first time this program is run you should convert only the Installation Control files by pressing pf1 when the first screen appears. Once the conversion of the Installation Control files is complete press pf16 to end the conversion program.

Enter your Release 7 registration information using the program '$$' in library '$' on your SPEED II volume.

Run the conversion program CONVERT in $UPDATE on your SPEED II volume again. You can now convert any or all of your applications.

To convert all versions of a specific application enter the application id and leave the version blank. To convert all applications of a specific version enter the version and leave the application id blank.

The conversion will take an average of 15 minutes per Commercial Application (C-app) when run on a VS 5450.

IMPORTANT: The conversion program must complete without interruption. If it does not complete, files must be restored. Do not run the conversion program without first making a backup. The conversion program will be restructuring your design files.

Verify that there is sufficient disk space available on the design volume to perform a restructure of your largest design file. The largest file is usually the 00000800 file in your largest application.

Run SPEED II. For every converted application:

Enter Application Design.

Select Design File Management.

Select Enter/Edit File Specifications.

Enter a number of records for the Domain file.

Press the END key.

Create the Domain file. (The Domain file (00000900) is a required design file for Release 7. This file must exist, even if your site does not use Domains.)

In Installation Configuration, the value for "Pass Chars 80-9F to Printer?" should be set as desired. This field controls how SPEED II handles characters 80-9F when producing a report. It is located at the bottom of Installation Information's third screen.

If the field is set to 'Y', then SPEED II will act as it did in Release 7.0. If set to 'N', then it will treat the character as an underlined character 00-1F, which is how Release 6.x and below worked.

This new field was added as part of the fix for ECR 3820. International sites will probably want to set this field to 'N'. Remember that changes to values in Installation Configuration do not take effect until SPEED II is restarted.

---

If your site uses any special security classes or you have set priorities on the different function processors, you will need to make these changes again. If you have any Rights programs, you will need to recreate them under Release 7 and then reassign the special security privileges to them.

Design files which have been converted to Release 7 (or applications which have been developed using Release 7) can be downgraded to Release 6 by using the Restructure Files selection in Design File Management. SPEED II will not allow you to enter Application Design with design files in the wrong format. If you want to downgrade you must use EZPATCH (in library '$') to change the 00000000 file in the library '$$vvaaa1' (where vv = version and aaa = application id). You need to change the '7' at position 4 to a '6'.