SERIAL= Security key
The SERIAL directive must be present in order for A-Shell to run. In older versions of A-Shell (see History, below), SERIAL had to be the first line of the initialization file except for comments. While that is no longer true, it still is normally the first line of the ini file.
If the security key field is set to DEMONSTRATIONXX, then A-Shell will operate in demonstration mode. If the field is set to XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, then the first time A-Shell is invoked, then the security key will be requested:
A-Shell Serial Number:
A-Shell Serial # nnnn security key:
Company name:
You should then enter the serial number, security key and company name as received with the A-Shell software license. This key will then overwrite the SERIAL line in miame.ini. An incorrect security key will cause A-Shell to operate in demonstration mode.
Use the LICENS command from the A-Shell prompt to force A-Shell to prompt for a new security key.
The security key and company name must match. Case and punctuation of the company name are not important.
Note that the SERIAL line in miame.ini can be replaced with an INCLUDE=<fspec> line, where <fspec> is the full native filespec of a file which contains SERIAL. This feature allows sites supporting multiple A-Shell installations to maintain just one miame.ini for all the installations, while storing the one thing that is unique—the SERIAL specification—in a separate file.
History
2008 June, A-Shell 5.1.1117: Beginning with this update it is possible to have comments (starting with either ; or #) appear in the file above the SERIAL line. Prior to this update, SERIAL had to be the first line of the file in order for A-Shell to run.
