Contacting Us

You can contact us by sending email to an address of the form
support@company.co.uk
where "company" is "abelsim". (Apologies for not writing the address more clearly, but this way may avoid us getting even more spam!)

Support

If you believe you have found a bug in the latest version of Abel, Mabel or Mobel, please do tell us, so that we can correct it and make a new version available to you and others. The latest versions of Abel and Mabel are available as an update for free download by buyers of the original software. Updates for Mobel are also free, via the App Store.

If you believe you have found a bug, or cannot find out how to do something even after studying the latest documentation - or simply want to share your experiences - please send an email to the address given above.

If you are having problems installing Abel/Mabel/Mobel, or getting it to run properly after you've installed it, please look through the lists of known problems below and also look at the troubleshooting section of the Abel/Mabel documentation before contacting us for help.

If you've got a problem and you're not using the latest version of Abel/Mabel/Mobel, download and install the latest version: the problem may already be fixed!

Known Problems for Abel on Windows PCs

Version 3.7
Microsoft have introduced a compatibility problem, causing Abel versions after 3.7.0a to be unusable on Windows 95/98/ME/2000. The download page allows users of these older Windows PCs to download version 3.7.0a, as well as allowing users of more modern Windows PCs to download the latest version.

Version 3.6
There are no reported problems in Abel 3.6.

Version 3.5.3b and 3.5.3 only
Two small problems in these early-2008 updates have been fixed in version 3.6.

Windows Vista and Windows 7
If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7 with Abel 3.5.3b or earlier versions, you may find that Abel's help system doesn't work, or that you can't save changes to method collections, option files, etc. These issues were fixed in version 3.6.

Installing Abel version 3.5.1 and before
The Abel CD (version 3.5.1 and before) was a multi-session disc, containing both audio tracks for listening to in a domestic CD player, and data for installing the program. A very small number of CD drives cannot read multi-session discs. If you have one of these CD drives you will only be able to use the CD for listening to, not to install Abel. If this happens to you, send an email to the address given above, and we'll send you a replacement CD.

On Windows 2000 and XP systems, when you instert the Abel CD (version 3.5.1 and before), you might get a message:

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\AUTOEXEC.NT. The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose 'Close' to terminate the applcation.
This is a known problem affecting the installer (not Abel itself) and is caused by a missing or corrupt file on the PC (not by Abel). It is reported, with a fix, on Microsoft's website, see the Microsoft information (for XP, but it seems to apply to Windows 2000 too). Note that you can only follow their first suggested repair route if you have the CD for your version of Windows - and some PC suppliers no longer supply Windows CDs with their systems. The article does give further suggestions that don't involve the Windows CD. If you can't solve the problem, or are unhappy to follow such procedures on your PC, email AbelSim at the address given above to request a CD that avoids the problem.

Known Problems for Mabel on Apple Mac

Version 1.0

For users with Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) only, there is a problem with opening method collections. When you click File>Open on the menu bar, the dialog that appears may not show the available method collections. It seems that Apple have introduced an incompatibility, or even a bug, in Lion. This is fixed in Mabel version 1.0.2 (see the download page).

There is a problem if you try to add a Treble Place method from the microSIRIL library. This is fixed in version 1.0.2. Users of Mabel 1.0 with MAC OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) or 10.7 (Lion) can upgrade to version 1.0.2 (see the download page). If you have an earlier version of OS X please mail the abelsim support address (above) if you need a workaround for this problem.

For users with Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) only, there is a problem with adding and editing call change compositions. Please mail the abelsim support address (above) if you need a resolution for this problem.

Known Problems for Mobel on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

Version 1.0.0 and 1.1.0
Due to device limitations, the rhythm of the ringing may be slightly unsteady at some ringing speeds (specifically, if the inter-bell gap is a submultiple of about 1.53 seconds: for example, with 16 bells at 3:30 peal speed). If you notice that the rhythm is unsteady, change the ringing speed (peal time) up or down by 2 or 4 minutes, and the problem will disappear.