Aaahh... nothing like the smell of holidays in the air. It's that time of the year when stores attempt to lure you in, and fish for what you have left in your skinny little wallet. Preparations are made to fly off to exotic locations --like Aunt Bea's house in Somesmalltown, Iowa, as families bicker over whether to serve whole cranberries or that burgundy-jelly-can-mold with the turkey. 'Tis the season, and I hope that you all find merriment in whatever it is you choose to celebrate. Personally, I'm going to celebrate the completion of this CD (whew!).
And speaking of the CD, we've got a hefty load of great demos, shareware, and freeware that would cause even the heartiest breed of reindeer to lose a little altitude. To coincide with our special "gaming" feature in the magazine, we bring you some great demos including Tomb Raider II, Quest For Glory V: Dragon Fire, Ares, Food Chain, and for all of you Myth hackers, a collection of five Myth editors. You'll also find extended bonus packs of Escape Velocity Override and Apeiron, which both include plug-ins for different scenarios and guides for making your own. Plus, for any of you hardcore gamers with 3D cards installed, we bring you the latest version of X-Plane (don't worry if you don't, we've got the classic version too).
For those of you right-brainers, check out the QuarkXPress demo, DesignWorkshop Lite, and Gif•gIf•giF for your designing inspiration, or the Xx demo and D-SoundPRO for musical stimulus. Left-brainers can get organized with the Communic8 demo, Schedula demo, and Yank, or be challenged by X-Words Deluxe and the X-Files Trivia Challenge. And no-brainers will love Al Morale and Bob the Fish.
This month's Staff Video, "A Not PC Christmas", was a treat to film (I'm still trying to figure out how to explain expensing marshmallows and lighter fluid to accounting). I won't give away the details, so you'll have to check it out for yourselves. I think Cheryl and David truly deserve Oscars for their performances this month. And after watching us all galloping through the building, our fellow office mates all think we're completely insane. I'll have to agree...
Hope you all have a great Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, Boxing Day, and New Year!
Enjoy the Disc!
Kris Fong
MacAddict/Digital Media Editor
"A better machine. A better magazine"
About the Disc
Documentation included with each program will make it clear whether it is shareware, freeware, a demo, etc. Please read all accompanying documentation prior to using any software contained on this disc.
Note that not all software contained on this cd is available/installable from the MacAddict Tour. Last minute changes and additions make it impossible to have everything listed there. Look through the disc in the Finder to access programs you can't find in the MacAddict Tour.
First, our standard disclaimer:
We are NOT RESPONSIBLE for any problems caused by using the software on this disc. We did not create the software, we have simply made a collection that we think is useful. If you have problems with any particular piece of software, please contact the author or company directly for help. We will not provide technical support for software.
If you use our disc, you are doing so at YOUR OWN RISK (please read the legal disclaimer and agreement of usage document at the root level of the disc). We test things out as much as possible before sending it out, but we can't exhaustively test out each piece of software on every type of machine and system configuration each month. If you lose data, or your system becomes corrupted, or your computer blows up, don't say I didn't warn you.
The MacAddict Disc Catalog
I have used a program called "DiskTracker," by Mark Pirri, to catalog each and every MacAddict disc back to #1. This program is located on most of the recent discs, in the "Utilities" folder in the "Software" folder. The catalog file itself is located at the root of the disc, and is named "MacAddict CD Catalog (1-x)." You will need to install DiskTracker on your hard drive, and then extract the catalog file (by double-clicking it) to your hard drive. Then use DiskTracker to open the catalog file.
If you continue to use the DiskTracker program, please register it. It is a great program, and the author deserves to be rewarded for his hard work.
Using the Disc
If you still have questions or problems with the disc after reading this file, visit our cd-rom help pages at the URL below. You can view problems reported by others, possible workarounds or solutions, send bug reports, and request a new disc from customer service if your disc is broken or missing. You can also use the phone number below to request a new disc in the latter case.
http://www.macaddict.com/cdrom/
The direct phone number for customer service is 1-800-666-6889. Please call them to request a new disc if yours is missing or broken, or for any issues regarding your subscription.
The MacAddict Tour
Pressing command + Q will quit to the finder from anywhere in the interface.
When you double-click on one of the "MacAddict Tour" icons (either 68k or PPC), you launch our custom-designed REALbasic interface. BE AWARE before doing so that the interface requires Mac OS 7.6 or greater and AT LEAST 8 MB of real RAM (i.e. without RamDoubler or some other software ram, such as virtual memory). This is IN ADDITION TO the amount of RAM used by your system software. For example, if you have exactly 8 MB of real RAM installed and you are running system 7.6.x, you will not be able to reliably run the interface because your system software takes up some of that RAM. We also recommend installing QuickTime 3 (if you haven't already, the freeware version is in the Apple folder on the disc). We found that compressing our movies using the Sorenson codec resulted in better video quality and handling, and kept the file size down (especially with our bigger size format). This codec is supported in QuickTime 3. The upgrade to QuickTime 3 Pro is also recommended if you integrate multimedia files into your everyday work.
If you aren't sure what version of the system software you are using or how much RAM you have installed, select the "About This Macintosh..." menu item under the Apple menu in the Finder. The version of your system software and some memory details will be displayed. Without any applications running, look at the number labeled "Largest Unused Block." If it is 8,000K or greater you can run the interface.
If you don't have the required amount of RAM, launching the "MacAddict Tour" is just asking for trouble. It will probably launch, and then at some point your computer will freeze up or give you a strange error.
Okay, Wiseguy, I don't have enough RAM...is my Phat Disc useless?
No! You can still just use the ol' finder to look through the disc and install what you want, even if you can't run the interface. The disc software is organized by category, so you can easily find things.
I have included a software index in every software category folder that provides descriptions of each software title, as well as contact information, version #'s, and the type of software it is (demo, shareware, freeware, etc.). Many of the installers will give you information about a program when launched, with the option to cancel before you actually install anything. Also, many of our installers do NOT put extensions, control panels, etc. into your system folder for you. They simply install a folder on your desktop with all the necessary parts with instructions on where to put them. This way, you will know exactly what went into your system folder (because you put it there personally) and you won't have to go hunting to get rid of it.
Unfortunately, some of the installers are not made by us, and we can't control their behaviour.
A Final Note About Installing Stuff From The Disc
When you use the software from our disc, PLEASE be careful! We try to test everything before we put it on the disc, but due to possible installer corruptions, bad discs, conflicts with your particular system, a less tolerant cd drive (meaning it is less forgiving of minor flaws on a cd), and a myriad of other variables beyond our control, you may still have problems with some or all of the programs on the disc.
To avoid causing yourself frustration and possibly losing important data, the first thing you should do is BACK UP IMPORTANT FILES before using anything on our disc. Then, install things ONE AT A TIME and try them out to make sure they don't cause problems on your system before installing the next one. You will save yourself a great deal of trouble.
Keep in mind that none of the software on the disc is written by us, so we can only offer limited technical support if you call or email us. You should always try to contact the author or company directly, since they are the ones that wrote it. Again, any program you use from our disc is at your own risk (please read the legal disclaimer and agreement of usage document at the root level of the disc).
