MacHitachi V.3 needs a Macintosh with 68030 (or better) processor or a PowerMacintosh, with at least 16 colors (or grayscales), a screen resolution of 640 x 400 pixels, Color QuickDraw, QuickTime 2.0 (or better), System 7.1 with AppleScript (better: System 7.5 or later), and a CD-ROM drive (double-speed is recommended).
MacHitachi V.3 occupies about 3 MB RAM. In addition, the Acrobat Reader needs annother 2 MB (minimum), so that you should have a Mac equipped with at least 8 MB RAM.
QuickTime movies usually perform best, if the system allows for a screen depth of 16 bit (e.g. "Thousands of Colors" or, to be a bit more precise: 32768 colors). To augment the frame rate of a movie, it will help to switch the background image off (see: "Preferences" in the "File" menu).
On a PowerMacintosh, a fast 68k-emulator can speed up MacHitachi considerably. Ironically, a so-called "native" version of this program runs not as fast as pure 68k code on today's systems.
Known Incompatabilities
SoftFPU does not work with MacHitachi. Where it is installed, MacHitachi will eventually crash the system. This might even bee true if SoftFPU is switched off, but still present in the system.
Installation
MacHitachi itself needs no installation at all. It has been designed to run from CD. The same is true for the "MacHitachi Database", which must definitely reside on CD.
If you run MacHitachi the first time, it will ask you for the location of the Acrobat Reader. In special cases where the Hitachi CD has been renamed (by some kind of network, for example), you have to locate the MacHitachi Database on CD as well.
These and other infos are then stored in a preferences file on your system disk.
The only thing to install is the Acrobat Reader. To do so, start the application "AcroRead.mac", then, follow the instructions given by the installer.
Please make sure that the QuickTime extension is active. On PowerPCs, the QuickTime PowerPlug should also be in the extensions folder.
Annotations
- Background Image
MacHitachi is preset to show its own screen background image. It is, however, possible to switch this option off (see: "Preferences" in the "File" menu). Then, you can switch between applications by selecting the appropriate windows. In addition, you can even use drag-and-drop to export QuickTime movies to the desktop or to any suitable program (such as SimpleText).
Under low-memory conditions, switching on the background image might not show an immediate result. Then, it will be necessary to restart MacHitachi in order to see the picture on screen.
- Networking
MacHitachi V.3 is specified to operate in an AppleTalk network. Data can easily be shared between users. But, you should better not view any QuickTime movies under this condition: The required data rate from CD is so high, that other users will not get much access time in between. Launching MacHitachi under these circumstances can take several minutes, and impatiant users might even think their Mac is hanging.
