Microsoft KB Archive/118460

Strauss: README.TXT Contents

PSS ID Number: Q118460 Article last modified on 12-14-1995

1994

WINDOWS

= SUMMARY =

The following information is the contents of the README.TXT file in the root directory of the Multimedia Strauss CD. The text below remains as released in the README.TXT file, and has not been edited by PSS.

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======================================================== README.TXT =====================================================================

Multimedia Strauss version 1.0 README file Microsoft Corporation May 6, 1994

This file contains information about Multimedia Strauss not included in the User’s Guide.

To read this file on-screen, use the Page Down and Page Up keys. You can also print the file by choosing the Print command from the File menu in any Windows word-processing program. If you open this file in Windows Write, Microsoft Word, or another word-processor, it will be easier to read if you select the entire document and format the text in 10-point Courier.

This README file contains important information on the following topics:

Section Description ——- ——————————————————-

1 RUNNING IN LOW MEMORY OR RUNNING SLOWLY

2 CD-ROM PROBLEMS

3 VIDEO DISPLAY PROBLEMS

4 AUDIO PROBLEMS

5 MEDIAVISION CDPC PROBLEMS

6 TANDY SENSATION SETUP PROBLEMS

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==================================================== 1. RUNNING IN LOW MEMORY OR RUNNING SLOWLY =================================================================

Strauss uses your computer’s system memory to display pictures. If you find that Strauss runs slowly or if you encounter out-of-memory errors, Strauss probably doesn’t have enough memory. Consider doing the following to improve your computer’s performance:


 * Close all unnecessary applications.
 * Determine how much memory your computer has available by typing “mem” and pressing ENTER at the DOS prompt. You need a minimum of 4MB (4,194,304 bytes) of total memory to use Strauss. If you do not have at least 4MB of memory, you may not be able to run Strauss until you add more memory.
 * If you are running Windows in Enhanced mode, set up a permanent Windows swap file on your hard disk. We recommend you have at least a 3MB swap file. See your Windows User’s Guide for more information.
 * Defragment (“clean up”) your hard disk by running a defragmentation program.

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==================================================== 2. CD-ROM PROBLEMS =================================================================

NOTE - Do not remove the Strauss compact disc from your CD-ROM drive while Strauss is in the process of playing music or displaying a new picture.

In order to run properly, Strauss requires an MPC-compatible CD-ROM drive. An MPC-compatible drive “has an average seek time of less than one second and can transfer data from the compact disc at 150K per second while using less than 40% of the CPU bandwidth.” If you are having problems, check the documentation that came with your CD-ROM drive to make sure it meets these requirements. An incompatible CD-ROM drive will slow down the performance of Strauss.

If the Strauss program cannot find the data files that it needs from the Strauss compact disc, you’ll see a message that tells you that the correct CD must be in the drive to continue. To find the source of the problem, do the following:


 * Make sure the Strauss compact disc is correctly inserted into the CD-ROM drive.
 * Make sure the CD Audio driver is correctly installed. See AUDIO PROBLEMS section below.
 * If you have an external CD-ROM drive, make sure the drive is connected to your computer, plugged in, and turned on. If you still see the error message after checking the points above, check the documentation that came with your CD-ROM drive or contact the company that supplied the drive.

There are many places in Multimedia Strauss where you are able to see rectangles highlight the music as it is played. If you are using a Trantor Systems Ltd. driver, tslcdr.sys, Strauss may not always receive updates of the current location on the CD. This driver may cause the rectangles to skip sections of the music. The driver version 1.46f is particularly problematic, causing the pages in the Close Reading to not flip with the music. If you are using version 1.46f, you should switch to a different driver.

A driver which comes with the new Pro Audio Vision Sound card, version 1.46f, causes problems in Multimedia Strauss. This driver does not keep track of the time elapsed when it is playing CD Audio, which causes the pages to turn incorrectly in the Close Reading chapters. Version 1.46 of this driver does not have this problem, so switching to this driver will allow Strauss to work properly.

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==================================================== 3. VIDEO DISPLAY PROBLEMS =================================================================

Multimedia Strauss is a 256-color application. In order to fully appreciate the many beautiful images in Strauss, you need a video card which supports 256 colors in 640x480 resolution. If your computer is capable of displaying only 16 colors, you will still be able to use Strauss, but some things may look very strange. We highly recommend that you run Multimedia Strauss in 256 color mode. If your computer is running in 16-color mode, and the video card will support 256 colors in 640x480 resolution, you should run Windows Setup to change the screen driver to see Strauss at its highest image quality.

Multimedia Strauss is incompatible with some advanced features used by some video cards such as the Mach32 chip set running the ATI drivers and ATI’s ULTRA driver with Crystal fonts.

Special Note: Using Strauss with ATI video cards

If you are using an ATI video card and one of the “mach” video drivers (mach8 or mach32) as your Windows display driver*, the Device Bitmaps setting for the video card must be set to “Off”. This enables the animations in Strauss to run properly. To check/change this setting, do the following:


 * 1) Launch the Mach FlexDesk Control Panel by double-clicking on the “mach FlexDesk Control Panel” icon usually found in the “mach Utilities” program group in Program Manager. The “mach Utilities” group is created when you run the ATI mach video driver setup program.
 * 2) Click the “Advanced…” button.
 * 3) Make sure “Device Bitmaps” is set to “Off”, or set it to “Off” if it is not.
 * 4) Click OK to close the FlexDesk Advanced Settings.
 * 5) Click OK to close the FlexDesk Control Panel.

You will need to restart Windows for the changes to take effect.


 * You can verify the Windows Display driver selection by launching the “Windows Setup” icon found in the “Main” program group of the Windows Program Manager.

For information about ATI video cards or the ATI installation utility referred to above, contact ATI Technical Support at (416) 756-0711

Some older display drivers may cause problems for Multimedia Strauss. If the color of the text in Multimedia Strauss does not appear to be correct, you should try installing more current video drivers. Contact your hardware manufacturer for more details.

Whenever the mouse arrow is placed on top of clickable text (i.e., glossary words and the text in ‘Pocket Audio Guide’) the cursor should turn into a hand to show that the text is clickable. However, some display drivers will cause this cursor to display incorrectly. This may look very strange, but the cursor will still work exactly as it should.

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==================================================== 4. AUDIO PROBLEMS =================================================================

All of the music in Multimedia Strauss plays directly from the CD. Make sure the CD is clean if the music sounds garbled or distorted. In order for the music to play properly on your machine, you must have the correct driver installed. If the correct driver is not installed, you will get the following message: “Failed to open CD-Audio device driver. Please check that CD-Audio is installed.” To fix the problem, install the CD-Audio device driver by following these steps:


 * 1) Open the Control Panel from the Program Manager.
 * 2) Double-click the Drivers icon, or choose Drivers from the Settings menu.
 * 3) Choose Add…
 * 4) Choose CD Audio from the list box.
 * 5) Choose OK.

If CD-Audio is installed and you are still not able to hear the music, but you can hear the voice audio, such as the glossary pronunciations and “A Word from the Author,” it is possible that your CD-ROM is not properly connected to your sound card. Your CD-ROM owner’s manual should show you how to check that your CD-ROM is properly connected.

If you don’t hear any sounds, make sure that the volume for your speakers is set to an audible level.

If the volume is set to an audible level and you still hear no sounds at all, something may be wrong with your sound board setup. Check to see that the driver is installed correctly and, if necessary, reinstall it. Refer to the documentation that came with your sound card for more information on installing audio drivers.

Please note that Strauss requires an MPC-compatible sound board to be installed and is not intended to run with drivers which use the PC internal speaker, such as the unsupported “PC Speaker” driver. Such a driver will in most cases not play any sounds, and if the driver setup option “Enable Interrupts” is not checked, your system may crash. If you have both a sound board and the PC Speaker driver installed, it is preferable to un-install the PC Speaker driver.

A small number of Media Vision sound card drivers (Pro Audio Spectrum cards) may not play glossary pronunciations or “A Word from the Author” properly. If you have a Media Vision card and don’t hear glossary pronunciations or “A Word from the Author,” but you do hear music, you may need to upgrade your driver. Contact Media Vision Technical Support to find out how to obtain a new driver.

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==================================================== 5. MEDIAVISION CDPC PROBLEMS =================================================================

If you are running Multimedia Strauss using Mediavision CDPC hardware, you may encounter errors when you successfully make a match in ‘The Prankster’s Game’. Because these errors specifically involve the CDPC hardware, you should check to make sure the hardware is correctly installed. However, it is still possible that you will encounter errors when matches are made. Please note that this is only a problem in ‘The Prankster’s Game’ and will not affect any of the other chapters in Multimedia Strauss.

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==================================================== 6. TANDY SENSATION SETUP PROBLEMS =================================================================

Most Tandy Sensations use WinMate as their default desktop shell. WinMate may cause a conflict with the setup procedure and needs to be disabled by changing the shell= line in the SYSTEM.INI file to read as follows:

shell=progman.exe

To change the shell= line in the SYSTEM.INI file:


 * 1) From the Windows Accessories group, run Notepad.
 * 2) Open the SYSTEM.INI file and comment out the shell= line in the[boot] section by typing a semicolon  at the beginning of the shell= line. This is the line that is loading the Tandy WinMate shell.
 * 3) Create a new line under the commented shell= line that reads:

shell=progman.exe

  After saving the changes to the SYSTEM.INI file, exit and restart Windows. The WinMate shell will now be disabled and your shell will now be Program Manager.   Run the Multimedia Strauss Setup. 

Upon completion of Multimedia Strauss Setup, you can change your shell back to the WinMate desktop, if so desired:


 * 1) Edit the SYSTEM.INI file again by commenting out the “shell=progman.exe” line (adding a semicolon to the beginning of the shell=progman.exe line).
 * 2) Remove the semicolon  in front of the previously commented “shell=” line that loads WinMate.

KBCategory: kbreadme kbreadme kbmm KBSubcategory:

= Additional reference words: kbhowto 1994multi media multimedia multi-media =

Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1995.