home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- From: pbailey@abelard.mit.edu (Philip Bailey)
- Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
- Subject: Comp.Multimedia FAQ
- Keywords: FAQ
- Message-ID: <1992Jun25.182541.18096@athena.mit.edu>
- Date: 25 Jun 92 18:25:41 GMT
- Sender: news@athena.mit.edu (News system)
- Distribution: comp.multimedia
- Organization: Center for Educational Computing Initiatives, at MIT
- Lines: 738
- Nntp-Posting-Host: abelard.mit.edu
-
- There have been a number requests for the Frequently Asked Questions
- file in comp.multimedia, I have been following the group for at least
- 6 months and do not believe one has ever been posted. Some of the
- requests have even come from our organization. With this in mind and
- the understanding that the information will be of use to The Center
- for Educational Computing Initiatives at MIT, I am willing to compile
- & distribute the comp.multimedia FAQ.
-
- I can be reached via email at:
- pbailey.ceci.mit.edu ( Philip H. Bailey )
-
- A mail account for the comp.multimedia FAQ has been set up for FAQ specific
- communications.
-
- If you have questions and/or answers that you would like added, please
- send mail to:
- mm_faq@ceci.mit.edu
-
- The following is a compilation of various articles I have collected,
- I will try & credit sources. I will be adding more topics as I have the time.
-
- Please let me know what you think of the FAQ, are the entries to long, any
- comments etc. Should I even be doing this?
-
- --- comp.multimedia FAQ ---
-
- This message is automatically posted on a regular schedule in an
- effort to cut down on repetitive questions in comp.multimedia. It
- was last changed on 25june92.
-
- This information has not been confirmed, and all disclaimers apply.
- Neither The Center for Educational Computing Initiatives or Philip H.
- Bailey is responsible for the accuracy of the information.
-
- If you have questions and/or answers that you would like added, please
- send e-mail to:
- mm_faq@ceci.mit.edu
-
- If you don't want to see this posting every week, please add the
- subject line to your kill file. Thank you.
-
-
- I can be reached via e-mail at:
- pbailey.ceci.mit.edu ( Philip H. Bailey )
-
- ---
- - - - - - - - - - -
-
- Contents:
-
- 1) Goals of this FAQ
- 2) Interactive Multimedia Protocol- what is it?
- 3) General references for graphics, from Jef Poskanzer's comp.graphics FAQ
- 4) Are there any source codes avail for FLI players
- 5) P*64 Video -- H.261
- 6) Microsoft's RIFF & MCI formats
- 7) Information on Touch Screen Technology
-
- There exist FAQ's in the following groups which may be of interest for
- multimedia resources:
- alt.binaries.pictures
- alt.cd-rom
- alt.graphics.pixutils
- alt.hypertext
- comp.graphics
- comp.ivideodisc
-
- --------------------
- 1) Goals of this FAQ
-
- The goal of this FAQ is not to duplicate information available via
- other news groups, but to deal with the issues specific to multimedia.
- This does not mean that questions about CD-ROMs will not be included,
- but that questions about which CD-ROM to buy, might be better served
- in the alt.cd-rom FAQ.
-
- --------------------
- 2) IMA Standard
-
- >From: thode@nprdc.navy.mil (Walt Thode)
- Subject: Re: IMP: Interactive Multimedia Protocol- what is it?
- Keywords: IMP
- Date: 19 Feb 92 00:41:50 GMT
- References: <1254@gistdev.gist.com>
- Sender: news@nprdc.navy.mil
- Reply-To: thode@nprdc.navy.mil (Walt Thode)
- Distribution: comp
- Organization: Navy Personnel R&D Center, San Diego
- Lines: 62
-
- In article <1254@gistdev.gist.com> flint@gistdev.gist.com (Flint Pellett) writes:
- >I recently got ahold of a fragment of a document that I was told
- >was written by an Interactive Multimedia Steering Committee that
- >is working on developing a Mil Std 1379d (if I got that right), and in
- >it they refer to a "Chinatown Group report" that states the following:
- >
- >"Howard Mirowitz (Mitsubishi) reported that three trial implementations
- >of the Chinatown Interactive Multimedia Protocol (IMP) are underway.
- >The implementations are for X Windows, the Macintosh, and Microsoft
- >Windows."
-
- The information above is essentially correct. There is a Military
- Standard, MIL-STD-1379D, titled "Military Training Programs," that
- provides standard guidance to military personnel. Appendix D of this
- document was adopted from the Interactive Multimedia Association's
- "Recommended Practices for Multimedia Portability," and describes a
- standard virtual device interface that sits between interactive
- courseware and the hardware it runs on. The general idea is to
- facilitate portability of applications in general. The DoD is interested
- in it because it facilitates portability of its interactive courseware
- both within the DoD and between the DoD and the commercial/industrial/
- educational marketplace. The specification of the current version of
- this interface was begun some years ago; thus, it currently applies to
- what might be called the "interactive videodisc" world.
-
- More recently, the IMA has begun work on extensions and revisions to the
- interface described above. It currently has a wide range of focus groups
- dealing with areas where multimedia standards might be beneficial to the
- industry in general. The "Chinatown Group" (the name did indeed come
- from the habit of the members, who represented many of the Silicon Valley
- "biggies," of meeting in various San Francisco Chinatown restaurants) was
- working independently on a more complete, object-oriented version of a
- standard interface. The "Chinatown Group" was subsequently incorporated
- as one of the focus groups within this new IMA compatibility effort.
-
- >Obvious next questions:
- >
- >1. Has anyone heard of or seen this IMP in action, or is it vapor?
- >2. If it doesn't exist yet and is still in development, what dates
- > are targeted?
- >3. If you have seen it used, what does it do for you?
- >4. Is it possible to see it somewhere, or even better yet, get a copy
- > of some implementation of it from somewhere?
-
- For more information about the specifics of the trial implementations of
- the IMP, contact Howard Mirowitz (Mitsubishi Electric) at (714) 236-6197
- or as 71740.2677@compuserve.com.
-
- For more information about the IMA's Compatibility Project, contact its
- headquarters at (410) 626-1380. Philip Dodds, the head of the effort,
- can be reached as 70304.1123@compuserve.com.
-
- For more information about the interactive video version of the IMA
- standard interface, contact Scott Lewis, the chair of the IVPC Special
- Interest Group. His phone number is (512) 928-1200, and he can be
- reached as slewis@nprdc.navy.mil.
-
- For more information about the DoD's adoption and mandating of
- MIL-STD-1379D Appendix D, contact me at (619) 553-7703.
-
- --Walt Thode Internet: thode@nprdc.navy.mil
- UUCP: {everywhere_else}!ucsd!nprdc!thode
-
- ----------------------------
- 3) General references for graphics questions:
-
- The following is from Jef Poskanzer's comp.graphics FAQ of 19may91
- Check the latest version for more details, the `*` entries are repeated
- here for convenience.
-
- Contents:
-
- * 1-) General references for graphics questions.
- 2-) Drawing three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional screen.
- 3-) Quantizing 24 bit images down to 8 bits.
- 4-) Converting color into grayscale.
- 5-) Quantizing grayscale to black&white.
- 6-) Rotating a raster image by an arbitrary angle.
- * 7-) Free image manipulation software.
- 8-) Format documents for GIF, TIFF, IFF, BIFF, NFF, OFF, etc.
- 9-) Converting between vector formats.
- 10-) How to get Pixar films.
- 11-) How do I draw a circle as a Bezier (or B-spline) curve?
- * 12-) How to order standards documents.
- 13-) How to FTP by email.
- 14-) How to tell whether a point is within a planar polygon.
- 15-) How to tesselate a sphere.
-
-
- 1-)
- Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice (2nd Ed.), J.D. Foley,
- A. van Dam, S.K. Feiner, J.F. Hughes, Addison-Wesley 1990, ISBN
- 0-201-12110-7
- Principles of Interactive Computer Graphics (2nd Ed.), Newman and
- Sproull, McGraw Hill, ISBN 0-07-046338-7
- Procedural Elements for Computer Graphics, David F. Rogers, McGraw
- Hill, ISBN 0-07-053534-5
- Mathematical Elements for Computer Graphics 2nd Ed., David F. Rogers
- and J. Alan Adams, McGraw Hill, ISBN 0-07-053530-2
- Applied Concepts in Microcomputer Graphics, Bruce Artwick, Prentice-Hall,
- ISBN 0-13-039322-3
- Digital Picture Processing, vols. 1&2, Azriel Rosenfeld and Avi Kak,
- Academic Press 1976
- Three Dimensional Computer Graphics, Alan Watt, Addison-Wesley, ISBN
- 0-201-15442-0
- An Introduction to Ray Tracing, Andrew Glassner (ed.), Academic Press
- 1989, ISBN 0-12-286160-4
- Graphics Gems, Andrew Glassner (ed.), Acedemic Press 1990, ISBN
- 0-12-286165-5
-
- More specific technical references can be obtained from an ACM/SIGGRAPH
- mail daemon. Send a message to
-
- graf-bib-server@decwrl.dec.com
-
- Just place important keywords in the Subject: field of your mail message.
- E.g.,
-
- Subject: ray traced musical spheres
-
- Please be as specific as possible. "Graphics" is too vague and would
- only flood the mailer. Additional keywords help. Some of the complete
- reference files are obtainable via anonymous ftp thru gatekeeper.dec.com
- (pub/misc/graf-bib) [megabytes]. Additional years references will be
- added over time.
-
- An automatic mail handler at Brown University allows users of "Computer
- Graphics: Principles and Practice," by Foley, van Dam, Feiner, and
- Hughes, to obtain text errata and information on distribution of the
- software packages described in the book. Also, users can send the
- authors feedback, to report text errors and software bugs, make
- suggestions, and submit exercises. To receive information describing
- how you can use the mail handler, simply mail graphtext@cs.brown.edu
- and put the word "Help" in the Subject line. Use the Subject line
- "Software-Distribution" to receive information specifically concerning
- the software packages SRGP and SPHIGS.
-
- Finally, all C code from "Graphics Gems" is available via anonymous ftp
- from weedeater.math.yale.edu. Look in the directory pub/GraphicsGems/src,
- and get the README file first.
-
- 7-) Free image manipulation software.
-
- There are a number of toolkits for converting from one image format to
- another, doing simple image manipulations such as size scaling, plus
- the above-mentioned 24 -> 8, color -> gray, gray -> b&w conversions.
- Here are pointers to some of them:
-
- PBMPLUS, by Jef Poskanzer. Comprehensive format conversion and image
- manipulation package. The latest version is always available via
- anonymous FTP as export.lcs.mit.edu:contrib/pbmplus.tar.Z and
- ftp.ee.lbl.gov:pbmplus.tar.Z. The version of 22nov89 (which currently
- is still the latest version, except for the one official patch so far)
- was posted to comp.sources.misc, and is therefore accessible via mail
- to one of the archive servers. This version is also available in the
- X11R4 release tape.
-
- IM Raster Toolkit, by Alan Paeth (awpaeth@watcgl.uwaterloo.ca).
- Provides a portable and efficient format and related toolkit. The
- format is versatile in supporting pixels of arbitrary channels,
- components, and bit precisions while allowing compression and machine
- byte-order independence. The kit contains more than 50 tools with
- extensive support of image manipulation, digital halftoning and format
- conversion. Previously distributed on tape c/o the University of
- Waterloo, an FTP version will appear someday.
-
- Utah RLE Toolkit. Conversion and manipulation package, similar to
- PBMPLUS. Available via FTP as cs.utah.edu:pub/urt-*,
- weedeater.math.yale.edu:pub/urt-*, and freebie.engin.umich.edu:pub/urt-*.
-
- Fuzzy Pixmap Manipulation, by Michael Mauldin <mlm@nl.cs.cmu.edu>.
- Conversion and manipulation package, similar to PBMPLUS. Version 1.0
- available via FTP as nl.cs.cmu.edu:/usr/mlm/ftp/fbm.tar.Z,
- uunet.uu.net:pub/fbm.tar.Z, and ucsd.edu:graphics/fbm.tar.Z.
-
- Img Software Set, by Paul Raveling <raveling@venera.isi.edu>. Reads and
- writes its own image format, displays on an X11 screen, and does some
- image manipulations. Version 1.3 is available via FTP as
- export.lcs.mit.edu:contrib/img_1.3.tar.Z, and
- venera.isi.edu:pub/img_1.3.tar.Z along with a large collection of color
- images.
-
- Xim, by Philip R. Thompson. Reads and writes its own image format,
- displays on an X11 screen, and does some image manipulations.
- Available in your nearest X11R4 source tree as contrib/clients/xim.
- A more recent version is available via ftp from video.mit.edu. It uses
- x11r4 and the OSF/Motif toolkit to provide basic interactive image
- manipulation and reads/writes GIF, xwd, xbm, tiff, rle, xim, and other
- formats.
-
- xloadimage, by Jim Frost <madd@std.com>. Reads in images in various
- formats and displays them on an X11 screen. Available via FTP as
- export.lcs.mit.edu:contrib/xloadimage*, and in your nearest comp.sources.x
- archive.
-
- TIFF Software, by Sam Leffler <sam@okeeffe.berkeley.edu>. Nice
- portable library for reading and writing TIFF files, plus a few tools
- for manipulating them and reading other formats. Available via FTP as
- ucbvax.berkeley.edu:pub/tiff/*.tar.Z or uunet.uu.net:graphics/tiff.tar.Z
-
- xtiff, an X11 tool for viewing a TIFF file. It was written to handle
- as many different kinds of TIFF files as possible while remaining
- simple, portable and efficient. xtiff illustrates some common problems
- with building pixmaps and using different visual classes. It is
- distributed as part of Sam Leffler's libtiff package and it is also
- available on export.lcs.mit.edu, uunet.uu.net and comp.sources.x.
- xtiff 2.0 was announced in 4/91; it includes Xlib and Xt versions.
-
- ALV, a Sun-specific image toolkit. Version 2.0.6 posted to
- comp.sources.sun on 11dec89. Also available via email to
- alv-users-request@cs.bris.ac.uk.
-
- popi, an image manipulation language. Version 2.1 posted to
- comp.sources.misc on 12dec89.
-
- ImageMagick, an X11 package for display and interactive manipulation
- of images. Uses its own format (MIFF), and includes some converters.
- Available via FTP as export.lcs.mit.edu:contrib/ImageMagick.tar.Z
-
- Khoros, a huge (~100 meg) graphical development environment based on
- X11R4. Khoros components include a visual programming language, code
- generators for extending the visual language and adding new application
- packages to the system, an interactive user interface editor, an
- interactive image display package, an extensive library of image and
- signal processing routines, and 2D/3D plotting packages. Available via
- FTP as pprg.unm.edu:pub/khoros/*.
-
- Don't forget to set binary mode when you FTP tar files. For you MILNET
- folks who still don't have name servers, the IP addresses are:
-
- export.lcs.mit.edu 18.30.0.238
- ftp.ee.lbl.gov 128.3.254.68
- cs.utah.edu 128.110.4.21
- nl.cs.cmu.edu 128.2.222.56
- venera.isi.edu 128.9.0.32
- ucbvax.berkeley.edu 128.32.133.1
- weedeater.math.yale.edu 130.132.23.17
- freebie.engin.umich.edu 141.212.68.23
- pprg.unm.edu 129.24.13.10
-
- Please do *not* post or mail messages saying "I can't FTP, could
- someone mail this to me?" There are a number of automated mail servers
- that will send you things like this in response to a message. See
- item 13 below for details on some.
-
- Also, the newsgroup alt.graphics.pixutils is specifically for discussion
- of software like this. You may find useful information there.
-
-
- 12-) How to order standards documents.
-
- The American National Standards Institute sells ANSI standards, and also
- ISO (international) standards. Their sales office is at (212) 642-4900,
- mailing address is 1430 Broadway, NY NY 10018. It helps if you have the
- complete name and number.
-
- Some useful numbers to know:
-
- CGM (Computer Graphics Metafile) is ANSI X3.122-1986. GKS (Graphical
- Kernel System) is ANSI X3.124-1985. PHIGS (Programmer's Hierarchical
- Interactive Graphics System) is ANSI X3.144-1988. IGES is ASME/ANSI
- Y14.26M-1987. Language bindings are often separate but related numbers;
- for example, the GKS FORTRAN binding is X3.124.1-1985.
-
- Standards-in-progress are made available at key milestones to solicit
- comments from the graphical public (this includes you!). ANSI can let
- you know where to order them; most are available from Global Engineering
- at 800/854-7179.
-
- -------------
- 4) Are there any source codes avail for FLI players
-
- >From: Frank.van.der.Hulst@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Frank van der Hulst)
- Subject: Re: FLI Format
- Date: 21 Jun 92 02:23:07 GMT
- Organization: Dept. of Comp. Sci., Victoria Uni. of Wellington, New Zealand.
- Lines: 15
-
- In article <1992Jun20.020227.2203@sarah.albany.edu> tw5232@albnyvms.bitnet writes:
- >Are there any source codes avail for FLI players, I'm trying to write one for
- >both Macintoshes and Amigas...
-
- There is a file called FLILIB.ZIP on Simtel (MSDOS.GRAPHICS I think) which
- contains C source code for FLI encoders & players. Be warned that this is
- somewhat machine-specific, particularly in terms of MS/LS byte first stuff.
-
- It also contains some Intel 8086 assembler routines (not a lot).
-
- I've ported part of this (the part which creates a FLI) to Unix, including
- translating the assembler into C. You can find that in a file called
- PVQUAN13.ZIP on garbo.uwasa.fi or Simtel.
-
- Frank.
-
- ---------------------------
- 5) P*64 Video -- H.261
-
- >From: stephen@corp.telecom.co.nz (Richard Stephen)
- Subject: Re: P*64 Information Request
- Keywords: standard, video coding
- Date: 4 May 92 10:13:12 GMT
- Organization: Business Development, Telecom Corporation of New Zealand
- Lines: 21
-
- In article <1992May4.160839.7835@waikato.ac.nz> ldo@waikato.ac.nz (Lawrence D'Oliveiro, Waikato University) writes:
- >If it's any help, I have in front of me a photocopy of the article "Overview
- >of the px64 kbit/s Video Coding Standard" by Ming Liou, published in
- >Communications of the ACM, April 1991, Vol 34, No 4.
-
- The definitive document is CCITT Recommendation H.261. It is only the
- video coding algorithm. There may even be an equivalent ANSI document by
- now. If you want additionally the MUX/DEMUX arrangement of the
- bit-streams within the 64 kb/s time-slots and where the video is
- allowed to lie, read H.221.
-
- regards
- ============================ Richard Stephen =============================
- | Business Development | email: stephen@corp.telecom.co.nz
- | Corporate Strategy & Development | voice: +64-4-382 3180
- | Telecom Corporation of NZ Ltd | FAX: +64-4-801 5417
- | PO Box 570, Wellington, NZ |
-
-
- >From: turletti@jerry.inria.fr (Thierry Turletti)
- Subject: Re: P*64 Information Request
- Keywords: H.261 CODEC
- Date: 7 May 92 15:42:19 GMT
- Organization: INRIA, Sophia-Antipolis (Fr)
-
- We have implemented a software version of H.261 codec. It runs on top of UNIX
- and X-Windows. The coder output is directed towards a standard TCP connection,
- instead of the leased lines or switched circuits for which regular H.261
- codecs are designed. This enable us to test video conferences over regular
- internet connections.
- The coder uses the simple video capture board "VideoPix" provided by SUN for
- the SparcStation.
- We have to polish it a bit, but the first release is now available by anonymous
- ftp from avahi.inria.fr, in "/pub/h261.tar.Z".
-
- The graphical user interface of the codec makes use of the Motif 1.1
- toolkit. Therefore, you might experience some problems during
- compilation if you have Motif release 1.0. In this case, you can use a
- compiled version of the codec (the compilation was done on a
- SparcStation IPX). It is available by anonymous ftp from
- avahi.inria.fr in "/pub/h261_exe.tar.Z"
-
-
- Thierry Turletti Project RODEO
- e-mail: turletti@sophia.inria.fr INRIA Sophia-Antipolis
- - FRANCE -
-
- ---------------------
- 6) RIFF & MCI
-
- >From: matts@microsoft.com (Matt Saettler)
- Subject: Re: Compound File Formats, RIFF vs ODA
- Date: 7 May 92 19:59:21 GMT
- Organization: Microsoft Corporation
-
- The RIFF format was developed by IBM and Microsoft.
-
- Here is a copy of an article I posted many months ago...
-
- With this posting, I'm announcing that I have uploaded the
- IBM/Miscrosoft RIFF and MCI definition document to usenet.
- Microsoft is making this document available for public download
- from Compuserve, the MM Sys BBS, Microsoft Online,
- and through anonymous ftp.
-
- The files are available for anonymous ftp download from
- the ~ftp/vendor/microsoft/multimedia directory on the
- machine uunet.uu.net on the internet.
-
- If you don't have anonymous ftp access, try Compu$erve
- in the MULTIMEDIA or MSOPSYS forum, or Microsoft Online.
-
- This document describes multimedia interfaces (MCI) and data
- formats (RIFF). IBM has committed to include support for these
- in OS/2. These interfaces are already supported in the Multimedia
- Extensions for Windows (MME). These extensions will be included
- in Windows 3.1, and are in the current (final) beta.
-
- Included in the RIFF file format is a waveform (audio) definition;
- this format is the system standard for Windows and OS/2 (and, hence
- a.b.s.d).
-
- Here's the rmtxt.ztx.readme file:
-
- This document is available in two forms: RTF and Text.
-
- The source (compressed) files are:
- Text: RMTxt.zip(6 character) or RIFFMCIT.ZIP
- RTF: RMRTF.zip(6 character) or RIFFMCIR.ZIP
-
- Documents are distributed to:
- uunet.uu.net: ~ftp/vendor/microsoft/multimedia
- MM Sys BBS: 206 936-4082 9600,n,8,1
- Compu$erve: Go Multimedia, forum 6, go msopsys
-
-
- The file formats and interfaces discussed here are supported in the
- Multimedia Extensions to Windows. In addition, IBM has stated that
- they will support these formats and interfaces in OS/2
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Multimedia Programming Interface
- and Data Specifications 1.0
-
- Issued as a joint design by IBM Corporation and
- Microsoft Corporation
-
- August 1991
-
- This document describes the programming interfaces and
- data specifications for multimedia that are common to
- both OS/2 and Windows environments. These
- specifications may be enhanced to incorporate new
- technologies or modified based on customer feedback
- and, as such, specifications incorporated into any
- final product may vary.
-
- Microsoft is a registered trademark, and Windows is a
- trademark of Microsoft Corp.
-
- IBM and OS/2 are registered trademarks of International
- Business Machines Corporation.
-
-
- Overview
-
- This document describes the file format and control
- interface specifications for multimedia. These
- specifications allow developers to use common file
- format and device control interfaces.
-
-
- Resource Interchange File Format
-
-
- The Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF), a tagged
- file structure, is a general specification upon which
- many file formats can be defined. The main advantage of
- RIFF is its extensibility; file formats based on RIFF
- can be future-proofed, as format changes can be ignored
- by existing applications.
-
- The RIFF file format is suitable for the following
- multimedia tasks:
-
- o Playing back multimedia data
-
- o Recording multimedia data
-
- o Exchanging multimedia data between applications
- and across platforms
-
- Chapter 2, Resource Interchange File Format,
- describes the RIFF format.
-
-
- Multimedia File Formats
-
-
- A number of RIFF-based and non-RIFF file formats have
- been defined for the storage of multimedia data.
- Chapter 3, Multimedia File Formats, describes the
- following file formats:
-
- o Bundle File Format
-
- o Device-Independent Bitmap (DIB) and RIFF DIB file
- formats
-
- o Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) and
- RIFF MIDI file formats
-
- o Palette File Format
-
- o Rich Text File Format
-
- o Waveform Audio File Format
-
-
- Media Control Interface
-
-
- The Media Control Interface (MCI) is a high-level
- control mechanism that provides a device-independent
- interface to multimedia devices and resource files.
-
- The Media Control Interface (MCI) provides a command
- set for playing and recording multimedia devices and
- resource files. Developers creating multimedia
- applications are encouraged to use this high-level
- command interface rather than the low-level functions
- specific to each platform. The MCI command set acts as
- a platform-independent layer that sits between
- multimedia applications and the underlying system
- software.
-
- The MCI command set is extensible in two ways:
-
- o Developers can incorporate new multimedia devices
- and file formats in the MCI command set by creating
- new MCI drivers to interpret the commands.
-
- o New commands and command options can be added to
- support special features or functions required by
- new multimedia devices or file formats.
-
- Using MCI, an application can control multimedia
- devices using simple command strings like open, play,
- and close. The MCI command strings provide a generic
- interface to different multimedia devices, reducing the
- number of commands a developer needs to learn. A
- multimedia application might even accept MCI commands
- from an end user and pass them unchanged to the MCI
- driver, which parses the command and performs the
- appropriate action.
-
- Chapter 3, Media Control Interface, describes MCI and
- its command set in detail.
-
-
- Registering Multimedia Formats
-
-
- This document discusses several multimedia codes and
- formats that require registration. These multimedia
- elements include the following:
-
- o Compression techniques
-
- o RIFF form types, chunk IDs, and list types
-
- o Compound-file usage codes
-
- o Waveform audio format codes
-
- To register these multimedia elements, request a
- Multimedia Developer Registration Kit from the
- following group:RIFF forms;registering
-
- Microsoft Corporation
-
- Multimedia Systems Group
- Product Marketing
- One Microsoft Way
- Redmond, WA 98052-6399
-
- The Multimedia Developer Registration Kit also lists
- currently defined multimedia elements.
-
- Any detailed feedback or questions to matts@microsoft.com, please.
-
- Matt Saettler, Microsoft Multimedia Systems Group
-
- ----------------
- 7)
- >From: Haydn Huntley <huntley@garbo.cs.indiana.edu>
- Subject: Re: Brands of touch screen monitors?
- Keywords: monitors touch screen
- Organization: Indiana University, Bloomington
- Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 10:33:27 -0500
-
- In article <5355@pdxgate.UUCP> tauren@rigel.cs.pdx.edu (Tauren N Mills) writes:
- >I'm looking for sources and brands of touch screen monitors.
-
- I've also been researching touch screen monitors and touch screen
- panels. Elographics sells both kinds of devices, and Edmark sells
- just the panels. Elographics' panels install relatively permanently,
- while Edmark's use velcro. Elographics' are much more expensive ~$700
- for just the panel, additional for the monitor. Edmark charges about
- $275. The advantage of the Elographics panels is that they are pretty
- durable, and would be suitable for a public access kiosk, while the
- Edmark panels would be the kind of thing you'd place on PC's at home
- or in a classroom.
-
- Phone numbers:
- Elographics (615) 482-4100
- Edmark (800) 426-0856
-
-
- --Haydn
-
- ;; *****************************************************
- ;; * Haydn Huntley huntley@copper.ucs.indiana.edu *
- ;; *****************************************************
-
- >From: exubrst@exu.ericsson.se (Brad Steele)
- Subject: Re: Information of Touch Screen Technology
- Date: 23 Jun 92 13:24:15 GMT
- Organization: Ericsson Network Systems, Inc.
-
- Are you talking hardware or software?
-
- I know how they work in hardware. There are a row of lensed
- LEDs along the top and right of the screen. Along the bottom
- and left there are a row of photodiodes. They are aligned so
- that each photodiode can only detect the LED directly opposite
- it. The LEDs are turned on and the output from the photodiodes
- are scanned. When you put your finger on the screen you will
- block a vertical light path and a horizontal light path. This
- will give the scanning chip coordinates that it passes on to
- the computer. Just for grins, put two fingers on a screen at
- once. The screen will pick a square either above and to the
- left or below and to the right depending on the direction it
- scans. Why can't you see it?. The LEDs are near-infrared.
-
- Regards,
- Brad Steele
-
- >From: sasrer@unx.sas.com (Rodney Radford)
- Subject: Re: Information of Touch Screen Technology
- Date: 23 Jun 92 14:33:55 GMT
- Organization: SAS Institute Inc.
-
- >I know how they work in hardware. There are a row of lensed
-
- [ rest of followup deleted for space ]
-
- Yes, that is one method of implementing touch screen systems, but not the
- only method. I have an old terminal from the Plato educational system that
- used very small wires arranged in grid across the screen. One half of the
- wires (either the horizontal or vertical wires) are attached to a flexible
- membrane, while the other set is attached to a hard surface under the membrane.
- As you touch the screen, the wires touch, and simple scanning hardware/software
- can determine the position of the touch (this is very similar to the membrane
- keyboard on most calculators work). The system I have supports 16x16 touch
- points on a 512x512 black/white graphics screen.
-
- There are very possibly, even other methods. Anybody else have any ideas?
-
- ---
- Rodney Radford || Computer Graphics/Imaging
- sasrer@unx.sas.com || SAS Institute, Inc.
- (919) 677-8000 x7703 || Cary, NC 27513
- --
-
- -------------------
-
- End of FAQ
-
- ---- insert Standard Disclaimer ----------------------------------------------
- name: Philip H. Bailey | Center for Educational Computing Initiatives
- e-mail: pbailey@ceci.mit.edu | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- phone: (617) 253-0163 | Building E40-381, 1 Amherst Street
- FAX: (617) 258-8736 | Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
-
-
-