Knowledge Adventure: Spa…ndersea Adventure & Speed/Knowledge Adventure Compilation - Space Adventure - Undersea Adventure - Speed (Packard Bell)(170159)(1994).ISO/demo/readme.doc

Text File | 1994-05-17 | 21KB | 506 lines

               WELCOME TO THE 3-D DEMO DEAL USER'S GUIDE


...from
Knowledge Adventure, Inc.
4502 Dyer Street
La Crescenta, CA 91214
[phone] (orders)
[phone] (technical support)
[phone] (fax)
[phone] (bulletin board - N, 8, 1)

We can also be reached via Internet e-mail:
[e-mail]    (orders)
[e-mail] (technical support)


===CONTENTS=============================================================

MEET THE FAMILY
Get acquainted with the family of software learning tools from Knowledge
Adventure, Inc.

GETTING STARTED
Find out everything you need to know to install and start the
3-D Demo Deal.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Find answers to questions you may have about 3-D Demo Deal.

INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES

LATE BREKING NEWS


===MEET THE FAMILY=====================================================

This section introduces the family of enjoyable software learning tools
developed by Knowledge Adventure, Inc.

About the developer

Knowledge Adventure develops software products in both diskette and
CD-ROM formats for the PC and the Macintosh that encompass a wide base
of information on history, literature, nature, science, art, and music
within an interactive book format that encourages exploration in ways never
before possible.

What are Interactive Books and Movies?

Knowledge Adventure(tm) Interactive Books(tm) encourage exploration by
igniting the innate sense of interest and curiosity that kids of all
ages have about things new and different.  Interactive Books tap the
power of the personal computer to demonstrate how seemingly isolated
facts are linked in a manner that makes them more interesting,
understandable, and memorable.  Most important, these books empower
the user with a sense of control over the entire experience,
reinforcing the thrill of discovery.

The growing family

Interactive Books available to date include the original Knowledge
Adventure(tm); Isaac Asimov's Science Adventure(tm); Space Adventure(tm),
authored by Caltech's Tom McDonough with Astronaut Buzz Aldrin;
Dinosaur Adventure(tm); Kid's Zoo--A Baby Animal Adventure(tm);
Undersea Adventure(tm); America Adventure(tm); Bug Adventure(tm);
3-D Dinosaur Adventure(tm); 3-D Body Adventure (tm); IMAX Speed(tm);
IMAX Discoverers(tm), and Science Adventure II(tm).  Send in your
registration card to be sure you're kept informed of new titles,
including disk-based, CD-ROM, and Macintosh versions of these exciting
products.

Talk to us!

The Knowledge Adventure Bulletin Board System is available to you 24
hours a day at 1200 to 14,400 baud.  You can read commonly-asked
technical questions and answers, download new drivers for your sound
card, order new products, and register your products--all on-line.
Give us a call today!

Here's how to get in touch with us:

Knowledge Adventure, Inc.
4502 Dyer Street
La Crescenta, CA 91214
[phone] (orders)
[phone] (technical support)
[phone] (fax)
[phone] (bulletin board - N, 8, 1)

We can also be reached via Internet e-mail:
[e-mail]    (orders)
[e-mail] (technical support)


===GETTING STARTED======================================================

This section covers everything you need to know to set up and start
3-D Demo Deal on your computer.

What do I need?

To run the 3-D Demo Deal, you will need the following:

- An IBM(r) or compatible computer.  A 386 processor is required, but
  a 486 processor is recommended.

- A color VGA or SVGA monitor.

- A CD-ROM drive that supports ISO 9660.

- A hard disk with at least 2.5 megabytes of available disk space.

- Approximately 520 kilobytes of available RAM.

- A mouse (recommended); the software can also be run using the
  keyboard alone.

- A sound device is required so that you can hear high-quality digitized
  sounds.

How do I install the program?

Follow these steps to install the 3-D Demo Deal on your system:

1. Insert the 3-D Demo Deal compact disc into your CD-ROM drive

2. From a DOS prompt, switch to the drive letter that corresponds to
   your CD-ROM drive.  For example, if your CD-ROM is assigned as the
   letter "X", then type X: and press <Enter>

3. Type: INSTALL and press <Enter>

4. Follow the messages on the screen until the installation is complete.

The Install program will ask you where on your hard drive you'd like to
store the appropriate 3-D Demo Deal files, what sound device you have,
and whether or not you'd like to run under Microsoft Windows(r).
If necessary, your CONFIG.SYS file will be altered so that FILES=20 or
greater and your original CONFIG.SYS file will be saved to CONFIG.BKA.

NOTE: If you have difficulty installing 3-D Demo Deal, turn to
"About installation" in the Questions & Answers section.

Installation under Windows

From Program Manager, click on the "File" menu and then select the "Run"
option. In the command line box type X:\INSTALL and press [Enter]
(where "x" is the designation of your CD-ROM drive)

Running under Windows

If you answered YES to the question about running under Microsoft
Windows(r) when you installed 3-D Demo Deal, a new program
group called Knowledge Adventure has been created for your system.  It
contains 3-D Demo Deal, Read Me, and 3-D Demo Deal
Config icons.  Double-click on the 3-D Demo Deal icon to start
the program.  Double-click on the Read Me icon to see the latest
information about 3-D Demo Deal.  Double-click on the 3-D
Demo Deal Config icon to view the installed configuration.

NOTE: You'll find that the following statement has been added to the
[386ENH] section of your SYSTEM.INI file:

     DMABUFFERSIZE=150

Your original SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI files are saved to the files
SYSTEM.BKA and WIN.BKA. (If WIN.BKA already exists, the old WIN.BKA is
renamed to WIN.BKB.)

How do I begin?

To start 3-D Demo Deal, follow these steps:

1. Change to the directory on your hard drive containing the 3-D Demo
   Deal files.  For example, to switch to the C:\KADEMO directory,
   type:

     C: and press <Enter>
     CD\KADEMO and press <Enter>

2. Then, to start the program, type:

     KADEMO and press <Enter>

NOTE: If you have difficulty starting 3-D Demo Deal, turn to
"About startup."


===QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS=====================================

This appendix will answer many of your questions about 3-D Demo Deal
and help you solve problems you may have.

If you do not find the answer to your question here you can call
Knowledge Adventure, Inc. at [phone], or write down your question
and fax it to us at [phone].  Before calling Knowledge Adventure,
please be seated at your computer with the DOS prompt on the screen.

You can also read commonly asked technical questions and answers, among
other things, on the Knowledge Adventure Bulletin Board System.  The BBS
is available to you 24 hours a day at [phone] (N, 8, 1), 1200 to
14,400 baud.

ABOUT INSTALLATION

My disk compression program indicates that I have enough disk space, but
3-D Demo Deal will not install completely.  Why not?

Programs such as Stacker(r) that compress your files on the hard disk may
indicate that you have enough disk space to install 3-D Demo Deal
completely when you really do not.  These programs report on your disk
space based on how much they are usually able to compress your files.  The
files that 3-D Demo Deal copies to your hard disk are already
compressed and your disk compression program will not be able to compress
them further to give you more space.  Try to move or remove any files you
don't need in order to make room for 3-D Demo Deal, then start the
Install program from the beginning.

ABOUT STARTUP

3-D Demo Deal won't start or it freezes on the first screen.
What's wrong?

You may have incorrect sound and music drivers installed.  Use the
SETUP.EXE program supplied with the software to change this
configuration.  First, change to the KADEMO directory on your hard
drive, then type SETUP and press <Enter> to run the program.  Choose the
correct sound device from the list offered.

Also try unloading any TSR programs and reboot your computer from a DOS
system disk.

ABOUT MICE

I can use the keyboard with 3-D Demo Deal, but my mouse doesn't
work.  What should I do?

If you find that the cursor does not respond when you move the mouse,
type CD\KADEMO and press <Enter> at the DOS prompt from your hard drive.
Then type MOUSE and press <Enter>.  Restart 3-D Demo Deal and
try your mouse again.  If this solves the problem, you can modify the
mouse commands in your AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS file to use the mouse
driver supplied with 3-D Demo Deal instead of the one currently
being used by your system.

If you have a Mouse Systems(r) mouse or trackball, or a Mouse
Systems-compatible mouse, you may experience the hand pointer jumping to
the bottom left corner of the screen.  If so, you are using a version of
the Mouse Systems mouse driver that is not compatible with the Microsoft
mouse standard.  Please try the mouse driver that we have provided by
following the instructions above, and the mouse should then work
perfectly.

ABOUT SOUND AND SOUND DEVICES

When I try to run 3-D Demo Deal, I don't hear any sound or music.
What's wrong?

Make sure that your volume control dial is turned up, and that your speakers
have power if they are externally powered.  If sound is still not working,
then you may have configured 3-D Demo Deal for a different sound device
than the one you have.  Run the SETUP.EXE program described under
"About startup."  If the problem persists after you have followed
the instructions above, your sound card's I/O address has probably
been reconfigured.  In order for 3-D Demo Deal to find your card, you
must specify the correct I/O address.  To change the address with the
SETUP program, run SETUP.EXE and select the correct sound device from
the list offered.  After the program runs the sound and music tests, use
the arrow keys to select Change Sound Settings.  You will be prompted to
select/change program defaults (e.g. the I/O address, the IRQ vector,
and the DMA channel that match your sound device.)  After your have made
the appropriate changes select Return to Main Menu to return to
the Sound Test screen, and test those settings with the options Play
Digitized Sound Test and Play Music Test.  Once you are satisfied that
both music and sound are working, select Save Sound Setting and Exit;
your new configuration will be saved.

If, after selecting new settings, you are still not hearing sound or music
during the setup tests, and you have checked your sound card's correct
address, it's likely that your sound card and another device (such as a
CD-ROM drive or scanner) may be sharing the same I/O address.  Such a
conflict may cause either 3-D Demo Deal or the SETUP program to
halt.  Write down the current configuration of all of the device cards in
your computer.  Try changing some of the settings (jumpers or dip
switches) to various configurations until all of your programs work
correctly.  If you wish, you can pull the peripheral cards out of your
computer and test just your sound card with 3-D Demo Deal.

The digital audio (voice and sound effects) doesn't sound very good on my
Reveal SoundFX SC600 Wave 32 sound card.  What's wrong?

The quality of the digital sound can be improved by changing into the
SOUNDFX directory created by the Reveal sound card installation.  From
here run the SSINIT program.  Once in the program choose the Hardware
option and then select the Advanced option.  From this menu, set the
Treble slider to -20. Also make sure the treble and/or bass boost
switches on your speakers are OFF.

I purchased a sound device after installing 3-D Demo Deal.  How do I
get the software to recognize my new piece of hardware?

Type SETUP at the DOS prompt from your KADEMO directory on your hard
drive and press <Enter>.  Highlight the correct sound device and press
<Enter>, and 3-D Demo Deal will be reconfigured to work with your
new hardware.

ABOUT HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY

Can I use 3-D Demo Deal on an EGA or laptop display?

3-D Demo Deal will not run on some laptops because it uses a special
high-resolution VGA 360x480x256 color overscan mode.  It will not work
on a MONO, CGA, EGA displays, internal-plasma, or LCD monitors found on
laptop PCs.  Most laptops, however, have a connector for an external
monitor, and 3-D Demo Deal will work fine with your laptop hooked to an
external color VGA monitor with the internal LCD monitor disabled.

What can I do about video problems like stripes on the screen?

You may need to move some DIP switches on your video card.  For example,
if you see horizontal stripes on the screen while using Headland
Technology's Video-7(r) VRAM card to display VGA graphics, move DIP
switch number 8 to the position opposite the one that it is currently
in.  This will enable IBM nonstandard video modes to display correctly
without affecting the operation of your other software.  This problem can
also occur if the BIOS on your video card is not current.  If you feel
you may have a video incompatibility, contact your video card manufacturer
and inquire about a vido BIOS upgrade.

ABOUT SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY

I have trouble running 3-D Demo Deal after using certain
memory-resident programs.  What should I do?

3-D Demo Deal requires approximately 520 KB of RAM in order to run.
Even when there is adequate total RAM to run the program, there may be
conflicts with other programs occupying memory.  If you experience
difficulty in running 3-D Demo Deal under these circumstances, please
remove other memory resident programs from memory. In MS-DOS versions
5.0 and above type "MEM /C | MORE" to see what programs and drivers are
loaded in memory.  To verify the RAM available, check the next screen
for "Largest executable program size" parameter in K. In MS-DOS version
6.0 and above try running the MEMMAKER program to free more conventional
RAM. For more information about conventional memory and memory management
please consult your DOS manual.


3-D Demo Deal requires approximately 520 kilobytes of RAM in
order to run.  Even when there is adequate total RAM to run the program,
there may be conflicts with other programs occupying memory.  If you
experience difficulty in running 3-D Demo Deal under these
circumstances, please remove other programs from memory before starting
3-D Demo Deal.


===INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES===============================================

Please contact the following local dealers to acquire additional
Knowledge Adventure (tm) products in your geographic area.

Be sure to also inquire about the availability of international versions
of your favorite Knowledge Adventure (tm) programs.  We are proud to
announce that our programs are being translated into German, French, and
Spanish, with more languages to come later in 1994.

In Australia, contact:

Sega Ozisoft Pty. Ltd.
Lock bag 7 Rosebery NSW 2018
Phone:  [phone]
Fax:  [phone]
Hot Line: [phone]

In the United Kingdom:

GuildSoft LTD.
The Computer Complex
City Business Park, Stoke
Plymouth PL 4BB
Phone: [phone]
Fax:  [phone]

In France:

EDUSOFT
132 Boulevard Camélinat
92 247 MALAKOFF Cedex
Phone: [phone]

In Germany:

HEUREKA-Klett Softwareverlag
Bestellservice
Postfach 11 70
71398 Korb
Phone:  [phone]
Fax:  [phone]

In Israel:

ISB Systems Trade Ltd.
76 Allenby Street
Tel Aviv 65812
Phone: [phone]
Fax:  [phone]

In Spain:

ANAYA Multimedia
Dpto. De Marketing
Juan Ignacio Luca de Tena 15
28027 Madrid
Phone: [phone]


===LATE-BREAKING NEWS======================================================

This "README" file has some additional information and late-breaking news
that could not make the manual as well as some important pieces of
technical information.

SELF-RUNNING DEMO MODE.  3-D Demo Deal normally runs in menu mode, allowing
the user to select each product demo that they wish to view.  3-D Demo Deal
can also be run in a continous loop during which the menu will only be
displayed if the user presses the Esc key.  To start the demo in loop mode
simply type "KADEMO -L" instead of the usual "KADEMO."

MEMORY REQUIREMENTS. 3-D Demo Deal requires approximately 520 KB of
RAM to run.  A portion of the Kid Zoo:A Baby Animal Adventure actually
require 535 KB of free conventional RAM to hear the full digital audio
effects.

RUNNING FROM WINDOWS.  To avoid possible complications under the Windows
environment, clicking on the 3-D Demo Deal icon will actually shut
down Windows, run 3-D Demo Deal, then re-start Windows on exit from
3-D Demo Deal.  You may get a message saying, "Application still
active. Quit the application before quitting Windows." Switch to any other
running DOS applications and exit them normally, then click on the KADEMO
icon again.  If you have Windows applications already running, they will
be shut down and you will be asked to save any unsaved data.

POWER.EXE.  The DOS POWER.EXE program, used for power conservation (mainly
on laptops and notebooks), can cause miscellaneous problems with 3-D DEMO
DEAL and other applications.  If detected, the install program will
add a line in your KADEMO.BAT file to temporarily disable this feature
before entering 3-D Demo Deal.  The POWER program will be active
again the next time you reboot your computer.

LAPTOP/NOTEBOOK COMPUTER DISPLAYS. 3-D Demo Deal requires a color VGA
monitor to display its high-resolution images.  It will not work on the
internal plasma or LCD monitors on laptop PCs.  Most laptops, however,
have a connector for an external monitor, and 3-D Demo Deal will work
fine with your laptop hooked to an external VGA monitor.  3-D DEMO DEAL
will run fine on certain laptop screens, such as the Toshiba 4400SXC,
COMPAQ LTE's and the PC BRAND NB 486slc which have 256 shades of
grey or color screens.  The only problem will be that the right edge of
the screen will be slightly cut off.  This is due to the fact that
3-D Demo Deal runs in the extra high resolution VGA video mode of 360
x 480 pixels with 256 colors and most of the internal laptop screens can
only display 320 pixels in width.

MONO, CGA, and EGA DISPLAYS. 3-D Demo Deal requires a VGA color
monitor and therefore will not run with Mono, CGA, or EGA monitors.

MOUSE SUPPORT. 3-D Demo Deal takes great advantage of your mouse if
you have one, but it does not require one.  There are keyboard equivalents
which will allow you to enjoy the product without a mouse.  Refer to
"Using 3-D Demo Deal" for more information.

LOW VOLUME SOUND OR MUSIC.  Sound cards that allow software volume control
may have different volume levels for sound and music.  If you hear a
noticeable difference, you should run the volume control program that came
with you sound card to equal out the settings.

WINMATE USERS.  3-D Demo Deal install program will not generate a
Knowledge Adventure program group and icon if you run under Winmate - even
if you said YES to the Windows question during install.  Manually add the
KADEMO Icon to Winmate after installation is complete.

COMPAQ PROLINEA.  During INSTALL, press ENTER if you get a message stating
that you do not have a VGA System.  If you receive a similar message while
executing KADEMO, please contact Compaq Technical Support for a patch
program that will correct this problem with some early model Prolineas.

GRAVIS ULTRASOUND.  The Gravis Ultrasound requires a large driver to load
its more realistic "wavetable" instruments to the sound card (about 50kb
more than other sound cards requiring a total of 580 kb).  Consequently,
you may have to free up additional memory in order to perform properly.
If you plan to run 3-D Demo Deal from Windows please do NOT run your
ULTRAMID or ULTRASND TSR program before entering Windows.  3-D DEMO
DEAL will load and unload this program itself.  NOTE:  The Gravis
Ultrasound will not play the music/sound tests during setup.

ROLAND SOUND CARDS.  Roland sound cards have high quality music but no
digital speech capability.  You will not get digitized speech and sound
effects with these sound boards.

DIGISPEECH PORTABLE.  If you are using the Digispeech PortAble Sound Plus,
check the date of your BMASTER.* driver files.  If the files are dated
earlier than August, 1993, contact Digispeech or our BBS for an update.

REVEAL SOUND FX.  For inquiries about your Sound FX, contact Reveal at
(800) 4-REVEAL or fax [phone].