-------- 0.9.0a1
WARNING: This is an alpha version. This is to see how things work on your
end, and what new bugs have been introduced. Please report to the 
forum.

Most important: The circuit file format is different! You will either have
to recreate, or use the script conv0809 (in the datafiles directory) to
conver old *.circ files into the new format. The load files remain
compatible.

The good news: Loads of new things. Please consult the Changelog to
get all the details, but the most important things are:
 
  - possibility to add LC (parallel or series) as one component to
    the circuit. This was difficult to do before

  - the scrollbar behaviour is nicer.

  - loads of bugs removed (and several new introduced, I'm sure)

-------- 0.8.4
Partly 'cause I was already thinking about it, and given the final impetus
by Lawrence Glaister (ve7it[at]shaw.ca), I will be implementing a sort of
'instrument interface' to linsmith. The idea is to automatically transfer
data from, eg. a network analyser to the program.

Though Lawrence's original idea was to add drivers for each specific
instrument, I think it would be more elegant to receive the data through a
more standardized input (unloading some of the work of my back ;-). Options
I'm considering are:

	* pipes (somewhat awkward in use but simple to do),
	* unix sockets
	* tcp sockets (or udp?) - this would be
	  probably the most versatile method of all, 
	  permitting even data acquisition over the 'net.

I'm thinking on implementing of implementing a simple set of commands to
remotely control the instrument. Say:

	* reset			(reply with instrument ID)
	* measure f     	(f: frequency, reply: f, R, X)

I imagine there might exist some standard already, or other commands seem
necessary - I'm open to suggestions!

John
