This version of Abel runs on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and 10; it is likely to work on future versions of Windows. (An older version of Abel is also available, running on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, and Windows 2000.)

• Abel is not suitable for the Apple Mac, for which you should use Mabel (see the AbelSim website, which also tells you about Mobel, a simulator for Apple iPhone, iPod touch and iPad).
• Abel does not work well on Windows NT, which does not provide accurate enough timings to give a good rhythm. Abel does not work at all on Windows 3 variants, nor on DOS.
• Though Abel will run (after a fashion) using a Windows emulator under Linux, the rhythm tends to be unsteady, and we do not formally support Abel on Linux.

Abel has a small number of restrictions in its functionality, and a few unexpected "features" in its behaviour. They're mostly pretty obscure, but this section lists them so that you know what to expect.

• If you input a lead-end composition that uses calls that don't exist in a method (e.g. singles, when you haven't specified place notation for a single), Abel accepts it - but when it gets to ringing the non-existent call it continues with plain leads for ever
• Call-place compositions work only for methods with all the calls at the same point in the lead. This means they can't be used if you've put in details of both half-lead and lead-end calls for a method.
• There is a restriction when ringing methods where a call alters rows after the end of the current lead (e.g. Southrepps Bob Doubles, which is Reverse Canterbury with Plain Bob bobs: at a bob the 3-4 places after the lead end are changed to plain hunt). Call-place compositions will not behave correctly if the alteration to the rows after the lead end affect the observation bell. For example, in Southrepps, a Home or an In will behave correctly, but Out or 4ths will cause subsequent calls to occur at incorrect lead ends. Lead-end compositions work correctly for these method types, and should therefore be used in preference to call-place compositions
• When adding/editing compositions, you can copy/cut/paste within the composition, but cannot paste text from other sources
• If you add a wav file for a method that didn't previously have one, then it won't be picked up until the method is selected again, by double click in the method list or by selection of a non-generic composition
• If you've got "Stop at Rounds" set, and there's a method change or call just after rounds comes up, then you are prompted to make the splice or call even though the changes stop before you get to it
• If you're ringing a spliced call-place composition, and insert extra splices (eg, by double clicking the methods list during the ringing), the position of calls will not be recalculated (so, for example, the next "bob home" may not be when the observation bell is next "home")
• Splices always occur at the end of the place notation for the current method, and start at the beginning of the place notation for the next method. This means you can't do half-lead spliced, unless you define methods half a lead at a time. It also means you can't ring Kent and Oxford together, and get the change of method called in the usual place (when the treble's in 3-4 down)
• If Abel is configured to use MIDI for bell sounds, and you change the number of MIDI device drivers in your system (e.g. by adding a new sound card), Abel may not send bell sounds where you expect until you reconfigure your sound options via the Sound Options Dialog
• If you are ringing on a large number of bells, or using a fairly high pitch for your bell sounds, and you change your musical scale to Pentatonic, you may receive error messages as the Pentatonic scale can use more notes than Abel has defined. To fix this, choose a lower pitch for the tenor bell, fewer bells, or a different scale
• The "moving ropes" feature may not work well on very old, low power, PCs, particularly on more than 6 or 8 bells: it is more likely to work well if you set the screen options for bells in a line rather than a circle, and configure the graphics processor and screen for at least 16-bit colour. On all PCs it is restricted to, at most, 16 bells.

Earlier Abel CDs contained music tracks, playable on audio CD players, of Abel ringing. There are no music tracks on the current CD because they gave problems with Abel installation on a small proportion of PCs. However, the same recordings are included as MP3 files on the CD, so you can copy them to your PC or MP3 player, and if you wish you can burn them to a music CD.

There are no music tracks included in the Abel download, because they would make the download much larger.

At the time of writing, there are no known bugs in the latest version of Abel.

See also:

  Welcome to Abel for Windows
  End user licence and guarantee
  Getting started