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---------
Fastgraph
---------
Fastgraph is a versatile, high-performance programmer's graphics library for
DOS-based PC systems. It is powerful enough to satisfy the most demanding
graphics application, yet it is easy enough for even the novice graphics
programmer. Fastgraph includes more than 170 hand-optimized routines, from
pixel display to sophisticated animation tools. This collection of routines
provides a programmer with proven, powerful tools to take command of the PC
and PS/2 text and graphics video environment.
Fastgraph's major functional areas include:
* Video mode detection and initialization
* Colors, virtual colors, and palettes
* Graphics fundamentals, including points, solid and dashed lines,
polygons, circles, ellipses, solid and dithered rectangles, region
fill, and clipping
* Redefinable world space coordinate system
* A scalable stroked character font
* Image display facilities, including mode-specific and mode-independent
images, clipped and reversed images, image retrieval, pixel run maps,
PCX file display and creation, and fast image transfer
* Physical, virtual, and logical video page management
* Resizeable video pages for smooth, flicker-free panning
* Animation and special effects
* Keyboard, mouse, and joystick support
* Sound effects and music, both synchronous and asynchronous
* Support for Borland C++, Turbo C and C++, Microsoft C and QuickC,
Power C, Turbo Pascal, QuickBASIC, Microsoft FORTRAN, and MASM/TASM
* Support for small, medium, and large memory models
* Extensive tutorial-style user's guide and reference manual
* No royalties
Fastgraph is an ideal development tool for entertainment and educational
software, presentation graphics products, scientific and engineering
applications, CAD/CAM, animation, and any application that requires robust
graphics. Fastgraph supports 22 video modes, including VGA (standard and
extended), EGA, MCGA, CGA, Hercules, Tandy, and monochrome and color text.
With Fastgraph, it's possible to write programs that run in many different
video modes by changing only a few lines of code, resulting in fast program
development.
Originally developed for use in commercial video games, Fastgraph represents
the cutting edge in graphics technology for the IBM PC. It has been used in
commercial products such as Accolade's Test Drive III, Day of the Viper, Steel
Thunder, and Gunboat; ComputerEasy's Video Poker a la Carte; Compu-Teach's
Once Upon a Time series, Puppet Playhouse, and Destination Mars; and all our
shareware products.
---------------
Fastgraph/Light
---------------
Fastgraph/Light is the shareware version of Fastgraph. It includes all the
features of Fastgraph except the world space coordinate system and stroked
character font. Unlike Fastgraph, Fastgraph/Light uses an external video
driver (FGDRIVER) that you load before running a program developed with
Fastgraph/Light, just as you load a mouse driver before you run a program that
uses a mouse. Fastgraph does not use the external video driver but instead
includes the necessary functions directly in your EXE or COM file.
Any programs developed using Fastgraph/Light are 100% source code compatible
with Fastgraph. If you upgrade from Fastgraph/Light to Fastgraph, all you
need to do is re-link your programs. As with Fastgraph, we don't charge
royalties for using Fastgraph/Light. The Fastgraph/Light software license
agreement allows you to distribute the external video driver without charge
as part of your applications.
-----------------------------------
Terms of Fastgraph/Light Evaluation
-----------------------------------
This is an EVALUATION VERSION of Fastgraph/Light and is distributed as
shareware. It is a full-functioned version with all features found in the
registered version of Fastgraph/Light. However, programs created with the
evaluation version will display an evaluation notice when run. In addition,
programs created with the evaluation version may not be sold, given away, or
distributed in any form.
You may evaluate Fastgraph/Light for 30 days, after which you must either
register the product, purchase Fastgraph, or discontinue its use. Upon
receipt of your Fastgraph/Light registration fee, we will send you disks
containing the latest registered version of the product and a license
agreement that entitles you to use the product without royalties in any
programs. You'll also receive access to special conferences on our technical
support bulletin board. For an additional fee you also can purchase typeset
manuals. Please see "Ordering Information" at the end of this file for
complete registration information.
--------------------------
Installing Fastgraph/Light
--------------------------
The Fastgraph/Light evaluation kit is distributed in two formats. One format,
called the zipped format, is a group of three standard ZIP files. Your
evaluation kit will most likely be in this format if you obtained it from a
bulletin board (BBS), a shareware distributor, or other on-line service. The
other format, called the unzipped format, consists of two 360KB 5.25-inch
disks (or one 720KB 3.5-inch disk) containing the same files as the zipped
format distribution. If you purchased your evaluation kit from Ted Gruber
Software, it will be in this format.
The procedure for installing Fastgraph/Light on a hard disk differs depending
on the format of your Fastgraph/Light evaluation kit. The next two paragraphs
explain the installation procedure for each format.
If you are installing the zipped format Fastgraph/Light evaluation kit, you
should have three files named FGL110A.ZIP, FGL110B.ZIP, and FGL110C.ZIP.
Create a new, empty subdirectory (preferably called \FGTEMP) and extract the
contents of the three ZIP files into that directory. After doing this, run
the INSTALL program to move the necessary files to their permanent locations.
When you're through using INSTALL, you can delete the files from the temporary
directory.
If you are installing the unzipped format Fastgraph/Light evaluation kit, you
can install it directly from the distribution disks. Load the disk labeled
"Installation and Utilities" in any available diskette drive, make that drive
your current drive, and then type INSTALL at the DOS prompt. From this point,
just follow the directions on the screen.
The INSTALL program will ask you for the compilers and memory models you wish
to use. It also will ask for the name of the directories for the Fastgraph
utilities, include files, and libraries. For the utilities, we suggest using
the default name \FG. For the include files and libraries, we recommend
specifying the directories where the compiler you've chosen normally searches
for such files. INSTALL will automatically try to determine these directories
and propose them as defaults.
---------------
On-line Manuals
---------------
The Fastgraph/Light evaluation kit includes complete versions of the tutorial-
style "Fastgraph User's Guide" and the "Fastgraph Reference Manual". These
two extensive manuals explain Fastgraph and Fastgraph/Light in detail and are
the definitive references for using the products. While they specifically
describe Fastgraph, everything in the manuals also applies to Fastgraph/Light
unless stated otherwise.
The User's Guide is a detailed tutorial about Fastgraph. The companion
Reference Manual gives descriptions of each Fastgraph routine in alphabetical
order. We recommend reading Chapter 1 of the User's Guide and the first
section of the Reference Manual before you try Fastgraph or Fastgraph/Light.
The User's Guide is split into two files, USER1.TXT and USER2.TXT. The file
REF.TXT contains the Reference Manual. The INSTALL program places these files
in the \FG directory. All three of these files are ASCII text files, suitable
for any 80-column (or wider) printer.
----------------
Example Programs
----------------
The Fastgraph/Light evaluation kit contains files for all the example programs
in the Fastgraph User's Guide. The INSTALL program places these files in the
\FG\EXAMPLES directory. The example programs supplied with the zipped format
evaluation kit are written in C (as are the examples in the User's Guide).
You can obtain QuickBASIC, Turbo Pascal, or FORTRAN versions of the examples
from our technical support BBS by calling (702) 796-7134. The unzipped format
evaluation kit includes examples for all supported languages.
------------------
Distribution Files
------------------
The zipped format Fastgraph/Light evaluation kit contains the following files:
In FGL110A.ZIP:
README.1ST This file
ORDER.FRM Product order form
INSTALL.EXE Fastgraph/Light installation program
FGDRIVER.EXE Fastgraph/Light video driver
CLIP.EXE Clipping utility for pixel run files
CONVERT.EXE Conversion utility for pixel run files
SNAPSHOT.EXE Screen capture utility to create pixel run files
FGLS.LIB Fastgraph/Light small model library
FGLM.LIB Fastgraph/Light small model library
FGLL.LIB Fastgraph/Light small model library
FGLS.MIX Fastgraph/Light small model library for Power C
FGLM.MIX Fastgraph/Light small model library for Power C
FGLL.MIX Fastgraph/Light small model library for Power C
FGLQB.LIB Fastgraph/Light library for Microsoft QuickBASIC
FGLQB.QLB Fastgraph/Light quick library for Microsoft QuickBASIC
FGTP.TPU Fastgraph/Light unit for Turbo Pascal
FASTGRAF.BI Fastgraph/Light function declarations for QuickBASIC
FASTGRAF.H Fastgraph/Light function prototypes for C
INTRFACE.FOR Fastgraph/Light function interfaces for FORTRAN
In FGL110B.ZIP:
USER1.TXT Fastgraph User's Guide (through Chapter 8)
USER2.TXT Fastgraph User's Guide (Chapter 9 and beyond)
REF.TXT Fastgraph Reference Manual
In FGL110C.ZIP:
*.C Example programs written in C
*.ASM Example assembly language programs
CORAL.* Data files for the example programs
If your Fastgraph/Light evaluation kit does not include all these files, you
may download a complete kit from our BBS by calling (702) 796-7134. There is
no charge (other than the phone call) for using the BBS.
The unzipped format evaluation kit contains the following files:
README.1ST This file
ORDER.FRM Product order form
INSTALL.EXE Fastgraph/Light installation program
FGLIGHT.ARJ All other files in FGL110A.ZIP (compressed)
MANUALS.ARJ Fastgraph User's Guide and Reference Manual (compressed)
EXCOMMON.ARJ Files common to all example programs (compressed)
EXC.ARJ Example programs written in C (compressed)
EXMSF.ARJ Example programs written in FORTRAN (compressed)
EXQB.ARJ Example programs written in QuickBASIC (compressed)
EXTP.ARJ Example programs written in Turbo Pascal (compressed)
UNARJ.EXE Robert Jung's file decompression utility
We'd like to personally thank Robert Jung for his liberal licensing agreement
covering the use of his UNARJ utility. UNARJ and its companion product, ARJ,
are excellent products that we highly recommend.
--------------------
Notice to BBS Sysops
--------------------
You may post the zipped format Fastgraph/Light evaluation kit on your BBS for
public downloading if you do not modify any of the files in any way. Please
use the three ZIP file names listed above and insure they contain all the
necessary files.
--------------------------------
Notice to Shareware Distributors
--------------------------------
Ted Gruber Software hereby grants shareware distributors or vendors the right
to distribute the Fastgraph/Light evaluation kit, subject to the following
conditions:
a) You must obtain WRITTEN PERMISSION from Ted Gruber Software
to distribute the Fastgraph/Light evaluation kit.
b) You must obtain a set of master distribution disks from Ted
Gruber Software and only distribute identical copies of the
master disks.
c) You must not include any other files or products on the
Fastgraph/Light evaluation kit disks.
d) You must not modify the evaluation kit files in any way.
We'll automatically send new versions of Fastgraph/Light as we release them.
--------------------
Ordering Information
--------------------
Please use the order form below to register Fastgraph/Light, order Fastgraph,
or order Fastgraph manuals. For your convenience, this form appears by itself
in the ORDER.FRM file.
We accept Visa, MasterCard, and COD (extra charge for COD orders). Purchase
orders are welcome from most companies, schools, and government agencies.
Site licenses are available for Fastgraph/Light and Fastgraph. Please call or
write for specific details.
Order from: Voice: (702) 735-1980
Ted Gruber Software FAX: (702) 735-4603
PO Box 13408 BBS: (702) 796-7134
Las Vegas, NV 89112 CIS: 72000,1642
Name: _____________________________________________________________________
Company: _____________________________________________________________________
Address: _____________________________________________________________________
City: _____________________________________ State: ________ Zip: ________
Phone: _____________________________________
Please send the following products:
+=====+=========================================+=======+============+=======+
| | | Price | Shipping | |
| Qty | Product Description | Each | Each | Total |
+=====+=========================================+=======+============+=======+
| | Fastgraph professional graphics library | | U.S. $0 | |
| | (includes Fastgraph User's Guide and | $149 | Canada $5 | |
| | Fastgraph Reference Manual) | | Other $15 | |
+-----+-----------------------------------------+-------+------------+-------+
| | Registered version of Fastgraph/Light | | U.S. $0 | |
| | (includes on-line manuals but no | $49 | Canada $0 | |
| | printed manuals) | | Other $3 | |
+-----+-----------------------------------------+-------+------------+-------+
| | Fastgraph User's Guide and | | U.S. $5 | |
| | Fastgraph Reference Manual | $25 | Canada $5 | |
| | (for Fastgraph and Fastgraph/Light) | | Other $15 | |
+=====+=========================================+=======+============+=======+
Subtotal | |
******************************* +=======+
* Orders outside the U.S. and * Nevada residents add sales tax | |
* Canada are sent by surface * +=======+
* mail. If you would like us * COD orders (U.S. only) add $4 | |
* to ship your order by air, * +=======+
* please double the listed * Total | |
* shipping charges. * +=======+
*******************************
Specify disk format: Method of payment:
[ ] 3.5-inch [ ] payment enclosed
[ ] 5.25-inch [ ] COD
[ ] purchase order # ____________________
[ ] Visa
[ ] MasterCard
For credit card orders only:
Card number: _______________________________ Expiration date: __________
Signature: ____________________________________________________________