1994 TIME ALMANAC Reference Edition for Macintosh
Release notes and Program Tips
5/19/94
Tech Support Department
202-244-4770
Recommended System Settings
For best overall results while running the TIME Almanac, you should have at least
2.5 megabytes of free system memory available to the program.
For maximum performance while running videos with the TIME Almanac, virtual memory should be turned "off" and your CD settings should be set to "fast".
Memory
If your system does not have 2.5 megs of free memory available, the TIME Almanac will use whatever memory is present as long as there is at least 1.5 megs. If there is not 2.5 meg of system memory free when you launch the program, it will tell you so and ask if you would like to run in a smaller partition. Click OK to begin.
Of course, the more memory you have available, the more windows the program can open at once. Graphic screens and photos take a great deal of memory and movies require even more.
If you have lots of system memory available, you can increase the memory partition beyond 2.5 megs. First copy the application's icon (TIME Almanac) to your hard drive. Next 'get info' on the program by highlighting the icon and then pressing COMMAND-i (or APPLE-i). The TIME Almanac's information box will appear on your screen. Click on "Preferred Size" and type in the new amount of system memory you wish to allocate to the program. As a suggested amount, 3 megs is highly recommended.
When using the program, please close windows that you are through with. Do this by clicking the close box (upper left corner of each window), or by command-W or Escape on the keyboard. You can close all windows (except the main screen) with the "Close Windows" command from the "Windows" menu. The program will warn you when it gets low on memory, but it is best to preclude this situation.
Printer Message
If you are running on a Mac with a newly installed system, you may see a message warning you that printing cannot take place until you select a printer. Simply go to the chooser (under the Apple menu) and select any printer, such as the LaserWriter or ImageWriter (even if you do not have one physically installed). This will prevent the message from appearing.
Video Playback Tips
If you are experiencing poor video playback on Performas and other Macs
released since Fall 1993, here are a few things to try.
1. In your memory control panel, make sure that virtual memory is "off" and your CD-ROM drive's speed is set to "fast".
2. CD-ROM drives vary in their data transfer and access rates. If your CD-ROM drive has a high (slow) data access rate, the video may appear slow or "jerky" and the audio may seem out of sync. One solution is to obtain the most current driver for your CD-ROM drive. Sometimes this will help the drive read the data off the disc more efficiently. If your CD-ROM drive is exceptionally slow, the only real solution may be to buy a newer, faster CD-ROM drive.
Also, there are a few third-party CD-ROM driver programs that can improve the performance of a CD-ROM drive by using a portion of your hard drive to "cache" some of the information on the CD. These driver programs support many different models of CD-ROM drives. Contact a local Macintosh software dealer for recommendations on which programs support your CD-ROM drive.
3. Another thing that can help the video playback performance is to clear the Mac's "PRAM" which stores certain configuration information. To do this simply hold down the following keys while the machine is starting up: [COMMAND], (Apple key), [OPTION], [P], and [R] . Keep these keys depressed until you hear the startup "bong" 8 times, then release the keys and let it continue booting.
Copying Videos to the Clipboard
Note also that you can copy all or part of a video to the clipboard and paste it into any QuickTime savvy application. You cannot, however, play the video clip from the Almanac's "Clipboard" window. Only the first frame of the clip shows up here, even though a video clip is actually in the clipboard.
QuickTime and Video Playback
This CD-ROM includes QuickTime 1.61. This (and system 7 or greater) are required for the playback of videos. If you have a previous version of QuickTime installed, please remove it and install 1.61. To remove an older version, open your "Extensions" folder which is inside your System Folder. Drag the QuickTime icon out of the "Extensions" folder and onto the desktop, or the trash.
Now, close the "Extensions" and System folders. Open the "QuickTime 1.61" folder on the CD-ROM. Drag "QuickTime" onto your System Folder icon. It should ask you if it is OK to place the init in the extensions folder. Click OK.
Repeat this procedure for the "Scrapbook File" inside the "Replacement Scrapbook File" folder on the CD-ROM. This will give you a scrapbook that works with movies or parts of movies.
After installing the new QuickTime (or any extension or control panel), restart the Mac from the Special menu.
If you are experiencing poor video playback performance, it may be caused by several factors. First, make sure that you have the latest CD-ROM driver software. Old versions sometimes work poorly with QuickTime. Second, make sure your CD-ROM drive's speed is set to "fast".
QuickTime also works best when it has a great deal of memory to work with. If a movie plays poorly when you have several other windows open (especially photos, charts, and other videos), try closing some of these and re-opening the video.
Photo Captions
Some photos that are narrow may not display the entire caption. To see the whole caption, widen the photo window by dragging the grow box (lower right corner) to the right.
