README for The Jolly Post Office - MAC version 1.0 May 1997
Contents
1.Introduction
2. Care of compact discs
3. System requirements
4. Installing The Jolly Post Office
5. Overview of The Jolly Post Office
5.1 Front Counter
5.2 Match the Mail
5.3 Broken in the Post
5.4 Parcel Post
5.5 Where's Jack
5.6 Stationery
5.7 Design Room
5.8 My Stamp Book
6. Internet features
6.1 World Stamp Book
6.2 Connecting to the Internet
Note: This section includes an important message about controlling time, and therefore costs, when connected to the Internet.
6.3 Understanding the error messages
7. Performance problems
8. Running The Jolly Post Office with low memory
9. Sound problems
10. Screen size and color configuration
11. Printing
1. Introduction
This README file is designed to address most of the problems you may encounter when using The Jolly Post Office. Please take a look at the table of contents above to see if your particular problem is addressed. If you are still having problems or need further technical support, please call the Multimedia Helpline with details of the problem, including any error messages that were produced and the full specification of your Macintosh. If possible, you should be beside your machine when you telephone.
The numbers in New York, USA are:
Telephone:1-800 DKMM 575
Fax: 212 213 5240
E-mail: DKMM@phantom.com
The numbers in London, United Kingdom are:
Telephone: 0171 753 3488
Fax: 0171 753 7575
E-mail: DKMM@dkmm.co.uk
2. Care of compact discs
Contrary to early reports, compact discs (CDs) are very easily damaged if treated carelessly. Such damage has a much greater effect on the digital data of a CD-ROM than on the information of a music CD. A dirty or damaged CD-ROM is quite likely to malfunction. With CD-ROM drives becoming ever faster and more disc-sensitive, this is an increasing problem.
The surface of the disc can quickly gather dirt and is very easily scratched. To protect the data from scratches, fingerprints, dust particles, and smears, do not touch the readout side (unlabeled side) of the disc or place it face down on a hard surface.
Should the CD become dirty, clean it with a soft cloth lightly moistened with CD cleaning fluid or ethyl alcohol, working from the center to the edge. Do not use any type of solvent, such as benzine, lacquer thinner, anti-static agents or LP record cleaners as they may damage the surface.
Never leave the disc in a place subject to direct sunlight, high temperature or high humidity. Recommended storage conditions are:
Ñ Temperature: 10íC to 50íC (50íF to 122íF)
Ñ Humidity: 10 percent to 80 percent
3. System requirements
Ñ Minimum machine specification:
Ñ Macintosh 68040 33MHz processor or above
Ñ 8Mb installed RAM
Ñ Double-speed CD-ROM drive
Ñ 8Mb available space on hard drive
Ñ 8-bit sound
Ñ 14 inch screen or larger, capable of displaying 256 colors
Ñ System 7.01 or later
(A modem with a speed of at least 14400 or a LAN (local area network) connection
An account with an Internet service provider with full Internet access
Open transport 1.1 or higher)
Note: To make use of the Internet connectivity features, you will need a full Internet account that allows you to browse the World Wide Web. AOL users will need version 3 for Macintosh to do this. CompuServe users will need version 3.01 or above.
4. Installing The Jolly Post Office
IMPORTANT: you must disable any screen savers from your machine before running The Jolly Post Office. Virtual memory should be switched off unless absolutely necessary (see section 8, Running The Jolly Post Office with low memory).
1. Insert your disc in the CD-ROM drive and double-click on The Jolly Post Office CD icon.
2. Drag the 'System Software' folder to your system folder.
3. Drag The Jolly Post Office folder onto your desktop or hard disk.
4. Open the folder and click on The Jolly Post Office icon.
5. Overview of The Jolly Post Office
5.1 Front Counter
From the post office counter you can reach any of the games and activities in The Jolly Post Office or click on the objects the customers bring in to take you to an activity or game. Audio help is always available by clicking on the receiver of the telephone which can be found in any module. The games have three difficulty levels which can be adjusted by selecting the dial on the telephone. Click the bell or hit the space bar to return to the front counter at any time.
5.2 Match the Mail
To sort letters for the Jolly Postman while he has a nap, click on the basket on the front counter screen.
Choose a level from the difficulty dial on the phone and try to find all the pairs. See if you can finish before the kettle boils for the Postman's tea. To stop the tea-making sequence or the Postman's dream, click anywhere on the screen.
5.3 Broken in the Post
To repair parcels that have been broken in the post, click the pieces on the table.
Choose the difficulty level of the game by using the dial of the phone and then click and drag the pieces together. Try to get five in a row for the Postman to collect.
5.4 Parcel Post
To help customers send parcels by choosing stamps, click on the scales on the front counter.
Choose stamps to make up the amount shown on the scales and when you think you have the right amount, click on the parcel. To remove a stamp from the tray click on it again. See how many customers you can serve before the Post Office closes at 5pm. The cash register will show you how much money you have taken that day when you have finished serving the last customer.
5.5 Where's Jack
To find Jack from the clues on his postcards click on the globe.
The Giant wants to reply to the postcards that Jack is sending him. From the clues on the postcard click on the country you think Jack is in. The compass and the return address will give you extra clues. Try to get eight states right.
5.6 Stationery
To make and print your own stationery click on the clipboard.
Click on a book and then any of the pictures inside to make them appear on the clipboard. The pictures will always appear in the middle of the page but you can click and drag to move them around. To remove a part of the design pick up the scissors from the pot and click on the part you want to remove. To put the scissors back, click on the pot again. When your design is complete, click on the print button. You can start again by clicking on the top corner page curl.
You can save your designs in the 'My Stationery' book. Keep the design up on the clipboard that you want to save and open up the 'My Stationery' book. Click on the top right hand corner of the book so it says 'Save Me,' then click on an empty envelope. To retrieve this design, click the top right hand corner so it says 'Open Me' and the design will reappear on the clip board. Make sure the book says 'Open Me' when you want to open up a design. If it says 'Save Me' the design in the envelope will be replaced by whatever is on the clipboard, even if it is a blank page and your design will be lost. Remember to always re-save your design once you have taken it out of an envelope.
5.7 Design Room
To make your own stamps click on the design shelf.
To begin drawing choose a pencil and a color. Click on any of the pictures in the book to make them appear on the easel to color them in. If the trail left by the pencil is dotty you will need to draw a bit slower. If you make a mistake, click the backwards arrow to undo the last thing you did. You can backtrack to undo the last three actions. The rubber can be picked up to erase.
Once you are happy with the stamp you have designed you can either send it to your personal collection of stamps, 'My stamp Book,' or to the 'World Stamp Book'(see below). Click on the frame around the stamp to drag it to one of the postboxes.
NOTE: If whilst creating a stamp in the Design Room a dialogue box appears for any reason, this may remove the color from your stamp. To recover your image, click on the undo button on the easel.
In the Design Room there is a book called 'My Pictures.' This is where you can bring pictures from outside The Jolly Post Office into the Design Room. To do this, double click on The Jolly Post Office folder that you have dragged to your hard drive. Inside this folder is another folder called My Data, and inside that is the My Pics folder. Place any pictures you want to bring into the Design Room in this folder. When you go back to the Design Room, the new pictures will appear in the 'My Pictures' book.
NOTE: All images must be in PICT format and in 256 colors. Make sure that the image file names have the suffix ".pct", e.g. dog.pct. Ideally they should be 152 x 100 pixels, anything other than this will be resized. However if the aspect ratio is very different the image may be distorted.
5.8 My Stamp Book
To look at your own stamp collection, click the book with the red stamp on it at the front counter.
My Stamp Book allows you to view stamps that have been made and kept. You can also post a stamp from here to the World Stamp Book or modify it in the Design Room. To see more stamps click the corner page curls. To send a stamp to the Design Room or World Stamp Book, click and drag it to one of the postboxes with the easel or the globe on it.
6. Internet features
The Jolly Post Office contains access to an Internet connection that allows you to design stamps and place them in The World Stamp Book, an online gallery. This can be viewed not only by other users of The Jolly Post Office but also by every person that has an Internet account and standard Web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, etc.). Although other people can view the stamps, only users of The Jolly Post Office can design and enter the stamps into the World Stamp Book.
To gain access to the World Stamp Book you must have an Internet connection. Therefore you must have a direct Ethernet connection to the net or a dialup SLIP or PPP account from an Internet service provider.
If you are able to browse the Internet then you will be able to use the Internet connectivity modules in The Jolly Post Office. You can get a connection to the Internet through a service provider in your area.
Check out the Jolly Postman Website at:
http://www.jollypostman.com
6.1 The World Stamp Book
To visit the World Stamp Book to see stamps that have been sent to the Internet, click on the album with the globe on it at the front counter.
Inside the World Stamp Book, the five tabs down the left hand side give more information on The Jolly Post Office and related products, competitions and related information. Click on the name or letter in the index on the right hand side to access a specific persons stamp, or look through all the stamps by clicking on the curled page corners at the bottom left and right of the screen.
When sending a stamp to the World Stamp Book, you will be asked to fill in details about your name, age, town and country.
You can take copies of stamps from the World Stamp Book and save them in My Stamp Book or take them to the Design Room.
When a stamp is posted to the Internet, it will not appear in the World Stamp Book immediately. The stamps will be stored and entered into the new book at regular intervals. On rare occasions stamps can become corrupted when they are sent and therefore not all stamps will appear in the World Stamp Book.
When using the World Stamp Book, the stamps that you download are stored on your hard disk. When a new issue of the World Stamp Book is released the old stamps are removed from your hard disk. If, due to lack of hard disk space, you want to remove them before a new issue is released, delete all the files in the cache folder. You can locate the cache folder by opening The Jolly Post Office folder and then the My Data folder, then finally the cache folder.
It is important that you do not delete the cache folder.
Occasionally when you are looking at stamps in the World Stamp Book, problems with the Internet connections can prevent stamps from appearing. When this happens, The Jolly Post Office cannot display these stamps and will show a default stamp which says 'Lost In The Post' instead. The next time you try to view that stamp The Jolly Post Office will try to display it correctly again. Sometimes these corrupt stamps remain. If this is a recurrent problem then you should clear the cache folder (see above).
6.2 Connecting to the Internet
If you have configured the dialer to dial on demand, an Internet connection is made when you first enter a part of The Jolly Post Office that uses the Internet. If you have not configured the dialer to dial on demand, you need to start the dialer before you start The Jolly Post Office. If you have already started your Internet connection, or have set it to start on demand The Jolly Post Office will use the current Internet settings.
IMPORTANT
Although The Jolly Post Office will start an Internet connection if possible, it is unable to close the connection once it has finished. It is therefore important to either set a reasonable time out in the Internet configuration of around 5 minutes, or once you have used the parts of The Jolly Post Office connected with the Internet, you exit from the program and close your Internet connection.
NOTE: If your timeout has not been set, to disconnect from the Internet you must quit out of The Jolly Post Office entirely and disconnect manually.
If you cannot set a timeout, you can cut down the amount of time spent connected to the Internet by firstly storing all the pictures you wish to send to the World Book in My Stamp Book. Then exit The Jolly Post Office and start up your Internet connection. Go back into The Jolly Post Office and post these stamps to the World Stamp Book from My Stamp Book. When this has been done exit The Jolly Post office again and disconnect from the modem.
6.3 Understanding the error messages
NOTE: The following section contains information for the Mac and PC.
If a problem occurs while using the Internet connection with The Jolly Post Office, a dialogue box offers parental help containing the error message and error code which can be matched to the error categories below.
Clicking on the 'Parental Help' button will bring up an error number and error message. For example you may see the following:
" Problem initializing modem or network (-18) "
There are a total of six error messages, each described in its own section below. You should therefore match your error against one of these messages and read the corresponding section. In most cases the problem will most likely be caused by your Internet connection in which case you should contact your Internet service provider for assistance. However, if the
problem cannot be solved through this route, contact the help line on the number given at the top of this file, quoting the error number.
"Problem initializing modem or network"
This means that The Jolly Post Office could not find a way to connect to the Internet. This may be caused by a number of problems so begin by checking the following:
Ñ Check that your modem is switched on (if applicable) and that all network cables are connected properly.
Ñ Check that you have access to the Internet by using another Internet product. For example, you may try launching a Web browser and testing whether you can access the Internet.
Ñ If you cannot access the Internet in any way, either your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is not available or, your machine's network settings are incorrect. In both instances you should contact your ISP for advice on how to rectify the problem.
Ñ If you can access the Internet then this means that The Jolly Post Office is having problems finding your Internet connection. This is most likely to be the case when using older machines and modems. The software in The Jolly Post Office sometimes cannot start this Internet connection itself so we advise that if you are going to use the Internet parts of The Jolly Post Office that you connect your modem to the Internet before starting.
It should be noted that some ISP's do not provide full Internet access as standard. If you have problems running standard Internet software such as a Web browser that has not been provided by your ISP, then you may not have a full Internet connection. If this is the case then you should contact your ISP and ask them how to use standard Internet software with your connection.
"Could not contact host server"
This means that The Jolly Post Office cannot contact the Internet servers that are dealing with the Internet parts of the product. Most problems of this nature are temporary and so can be resolved by trying again at a later stage. This can happen for a number of reasons:
Ñ Internet servers are quite often unavailable because the computers hosting these servers are down. You can check this by trying to visit the host machine using a Web browser. Try connecting to:
http://www.jollypostman.com/
If you cannot contact the server but can contact other sites on the Internet you should wait until the server becomes available again. If you cannot contact any other sites then there is a problem with your network connection. Please run through the section above "Problem initializing modem or network".
Ñ Sometimes Internet servers become inundated with requests for information. This means that you can be refused your connection to the server if the host is busy. Try again at a later stage.
Ñ On a really slow connection you won't even be able to receive a refuse message. The connection will timeout after a minute or so of trying. Try lengthening your timeout period on your modem.
Ñ Another problem may be that your server address file has been damaged. If this information has changed then it is likely that The Jolly Post Office is trying to contact the wrong server at a different address. You should replace the file 'ip.ini' in your Jolly Post Office folder with the original from the CD which can be found in the corresponding folder:
On a Mac this can be found in The Jolly Post Office folder.
There are actually two servers that deal with the Internet aspects of The Jolly Post Office. One manages any files that are posted to the Internet and the other maintains the World Book. If you can view the World Book but cannot post files to the Web, and vice-versa, then maybe one of the servers may not be responding. One server is accessed using File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and the other Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Your ISP may not provide you with both of these protocols. You should check with your ISP that they provide both these services.
"The network connection has been broken"
This means that The Jolly Post Office was able to initialize your network connection, contact the required host server and was in the process of transferring files when something went wrong. This can happen for a number of reasons relating to the server or the connection timing out. In all cases you should try connecting again at a later stage.
"Out of memory"
This means that The Jolly Post Office has run out of free memory to work with.
1) First check that your machine has at least 8Mb RAM installed as noted in the minimum machine specification.
2) Quit all other applications that are running. This should free up more memory.
3) Sometimes runaway processes or crashed applications do not release system memory. Try restarting your machine.
4) Try increasing the memory allocation for The Jolly Post Office. Within the finder, click on 'The Jolly Post Office' icon and select 'Get Info' from the File menu. Increase the "Preferred size" figure.
5) Check that your memory configuration is optimized for your machine. Consult your MAC user manual.
"Local file handling problem"
1) One frequent cause of this problem occurs when you try running The Jolly Post Office from the CD-ROM rather instead of copying it to your hard disk. If you have not already installed The Jolly Post Office on your hard disk, see "Installing The Jolly Post Office" section at the start of this document.
2) The Jolly Post Office will try to create new files as they are required. Ensure that you have adequate free memory available on your hard disk.
3) The Jolly Post Office expects a particular file structure to be in place. If folders have been renamed or removed from their expected position then The Jolly Post Office will not be able to complete functions. In this case reinstalling the application will solve the problem. See "Installing The Jolly Post Office".
4) If you have locked or altered the sharing settings on any of The Jolly Post Office files or folders installed onto your hard disk you may encounter this problem. The most direct way to solve this is to reinstall The Jolly Post Office.
"Internal problem"
An error has occurred within The Jolly Post Office application which is not relating to your Internet connection. Therefore, make a note of the error number and the circumstances in which the error occurred and call our helpline for assistance using the number given at the top of this file.
7. Performance problems
If The Jolly Post Office runs slowly or sound output is interrupted, try the following suggestions:
Ñ Running The Jolly Post Office with your Macintosh in Virtual Memory mode may cause sound break-up, particularly on older Macs. In Virtual Memory mode, your Macintosh uses a section of its hard drive to emulate RAM. Although this increases the free RAM available to The Jolly Post Office, access to that RAM can be slow. For best performance, use the Memory control panel to turn Virtual Memory off and then restart your Macintosh. However, if you are low on memory you may have no choice but to leave Virtual Memory switched on.
Ñ An old or slow CD-ROM drive will impair the program's performance. The only solution to this problem is to upgrade your CD-ROM drive.
Ñ Running The Jolly Post Office with less than the minimum amount of free RAM can cause problems (see section 3, System Requirements for running The Jolly Post Office.) You can check to see if there is any free RAM available by opening the About This Macintosh dialog box from the Apple menu in the Finder. If there is free RAM available you can set the program to take advantage of this. First install the program on your hard disk (see section 4, Installing The Jolly Post Office), then select The Jolly Post Office icon and choose Get Info from the File menu in the Finder. You can then use the Get Info dialog box to increase the amount of memory set aside for The Jolly Post Office. Allocating more memory to the program can improve performance.
Ñ Go to the Options menu in The Jolly Post Office and turn off music and auto-narration.
Ñ SCSI termination problems can affect your CD-ROM drive. Your CD-ROM drive must be either internally or externally terminated. Consult your Macintosh documentation for more information on SCSI termination.
Ñ Some performance problems may be caused by low memory conditions. Try reading the following chapter on running The Jolly Post Office with low memory.
8. Running The Jolly Post Office with low memory
The Jolly Post Office requires a minimum amount of free RAM to run. You can check how much free RAM is required by doing the following:
1. Insert The Jolly Post Office CD into the CD-ROM drive.
2. Double-click on The Jolly Post Office folder to open it, then click once to highlight The Jolly Post Office icon.
3. From the File menu, select Get Info.
4. Under the Memory Requirements section, look for the figure in the Minimum Size box. This is the minimum amount of free RAM that The Jolly Post Office requires in order to run.
You can then check how much free RAM is available by opening the About This Macintosh dialog box from the Apple menu in the Finder. If you do not have enough free RAM to run The Jolly Post Office, try the following suggestions to free up additional RAM:
Ñ Make sure you have only one application running at a time.
Ñ If you still have less than the minimum amount of free RAM, you can allocate some hard disk space to work as Virtual Memory. You can set your Macintosh to use Virtual Memory by using the Memory control panel, found in the Control Panels folder within your System folder, then restart your Macintosh. However, using Virtual Memory may slow your Macintosh's access time to RAM causing sound and video breakup, so only switch it on if it is really necessary.
Ñ You may be able to reduce the amount of memory used by your system software by removing unused Apple menu items, fonts, extensions, sounds, etc., from your system folder. These items can occupy considerable amounts of memory and their removal may allow The Jolly Post Office enough RAM to run efficiently. Consult your Macintosh documentation for more information on how to remove these items.
Ñ The Jolly Post Office can be set to run in less than the recommended amount of RAM. To do this, first install the program to your hard disk (see section 4, Installing The Jolly Post Office.) Select The Jolly Post Office icon and choose Get Info from the File menu in the Finder. You can then use the Get Info dialog box to decrease the amount of minimum and preferred memory set aside for The Jolly Post Office. Allocating less memory to the program may allow the program to run, but will also affect the program's performance, and may cause the program to crash.
Ñ Do not set the preferred memory size to more than or equal to the amount of free RAM on your system as this may cause problems.
If The Jolly Post Office crashes, or freezes up, the most likely cause is a problem with the disc. You should try the following solutions:
1) If you are stuck in the product and cannot exit, press OPTION (Alt) + COMMAND (APPLE) + ESC to force The Jolly Post Office to shut down. Do this only if the application has truly crashed; we do not recommend you try this with other applications. You should try cleaning the disc before trying to run The Jolly Post Office again.
2)If you are still having problems with crashes and freezes, from the Apple menu choose Control Panels, then Memory. In the Memory control panel, make sure that the Modern Memory Manager is set to Off (if this is present on your machine). DO NOT click Use Defaults. Now restart your computer and try to run The Jolly Post Office again.
9. Sound problems
If The Jolly Post Office produces no sound at all, check the following points:
Ñ Use the Sound control panel to check that the sound volume level on your machine is turned up.
Ñ If you have external speakers, check that they are on and that their volume control is turned up.
Ñ If you wish to use either the internal or external speakers, make sure that you have not left headphones plugged in.
If The Jolly Post Office produces interrupted or distorted sound, check the following points:
Ñ If the sound volume level in the Sound control panel is set at maximum volume it may cause sound to distort. The same problem may occur with external speakers set at maximum volume. Experiment with different volume levels until you find a comfortable sound level.
Ñ Running your Macintosh in Virtual Memory mode may cause sound breakup. In Virtual Memory mode your Macintosh uses a section of its hard drive as RAM. Although this increases the free RAM available to The Jolly Post Office, access to sounds stored in that RAM can be slow. For best performance, use the Memory control panel to turn Virtual Memory off, and then restart your Macintosh. However, users who are low on memory may have no choice but to leave Virtual Memory switched on.
Ñ The built-in speakers supplied with Macintosh computers vary in quality depending on the age and model of the machine. A poor quality speaker may cause distorted sound, especially at high volume levels.
Ñ The Jolly Post Office requires the Macintosh to have some spare memory available to generate the sounds. For this reason, do not allocate quite all the available memory to The Jolly Post Office when you start it up. See "Running The Jolly Post Office" with low memory for more details on how to set the memory allocation.
10. Screen size and color configuration
The Jolly Post Office will run on any color monitor with a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels and that supports 256 colors.
The Jolly Post Office is not designed to run on multiple monitors. If you have such a setup, the program will run on your primary monitor only.
11. Printing
Screens in The Jolly Post Office are stored and displayed as color pictures. They are optimized for screen rather than print reproduction. Screen images can be printed, however, and will be of the same quality as a picture made with a screen-capture function.
Black and white prints will be of poor quality. If you have a laser printer, better quality images will be achieved by using the color/grayscale option.
The Print function may be affected by low memory. Refer to section 8, Running The Jolly Post Office with low memory.
