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Text File | 1992-05-24 | 54KB | 1,322 lines

┌─────────────┐ ┌────────┐┌───────────┐ │ ┌─────────┐ │ │ ┌──────┘└┐ ┌─┐ ┌────┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └────────┐│ └────┐┌─────┐┌─┐ ┌─┐│ │ │ │ │ └──┐ └────────┐ ││ ┌──┐ ││ ┌─┐ ││ │┌─┐│ ││ │ ┌────┐ │ │ │ ┌──┘ │ ││ │ │ ││ │ │ ││ ││ ││ ││ │ └──┐ │ │ │ │ │ ┌────────┘ ││ │ │ ││ └─┘ ││ └┘ └┘ ││ └────┘ │┌┘ └┐│ │ └──────────┘└─┘ └─┘└─────┘└───────┘└────────┘└───┘└─┘ Version 5.5 Written by Bill Parquet Features: - Ability to view .GIF files while they're being uploaded and downloaded. - Easy to use interactive viewer. - Very fast decoder, 20% faster than VPIC on certain pictures. - Hardware handshaking for use with high speed modems. - Automatic detection and utilization of your machines high memory. - Password protection to keep out prying eyes. - Intelligent screen saver, saves exact screen size & character set - Easy to use installation program with complete online documentation. Page 1 Introduction ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── How often have you downloaded a GIF file from your favorite BBS only to discover you wasted maybe 15 minutes and 150,000 bytes of download credit on an array of dots that doesn't deserve to be called a picture, or had a "bad code in file" after the first 10 lines? Wouldn't it be better to see the picture as you are getting it? Just abort the transfer, saving your time and credits for something more worthwhile if you don't like it? If so, SHOWGIF is just the program for you! It is a TSR that quietly waits for the system to begin writing a GIF file. Once writing begins, SHOWGIF switches to the appropriate VGA or EGA video mode, and shows the picture as it is coming over. Unlike other view it while you get it setups, it works with nearly ALL protocols available. System Requirements For SHOWGIF to operate properly, your system must be equipped with an EGA, VGA, or Super-VGA video card. It also requires about 32k of memory (mostly for GIF decoding). Configuring ShowGIF ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Configuring ShowGIF is a very simple process. After you've extracted the ShowGIF archive, simply run CSHOWGIF. Each option in the CSHOWGIF has extensive online help in case you have any doubt about what it does. If you do not use a VESA driver or don't have these capabilities built into your card's BIOS, you will have to configure ShowGIF to use your video card. The easiest way to perform this is to use the autodetect option in the mode setup menu. Autodetect will try to determine what type of video card you are using. After it is finished testing, it will display a dialog box requesting that you check the mode setup to make sure that the information it came up with is indeed correct. Autodetect should not take more than 2 seconds to perform. If the screen remains inactive for longer than that, then it is likely that the autodetect process has somehow upset your card. If this is the case, reboot your computer and perform the manual configuration described below. Page 2 Even if the autodetect worked perfectly, you should go into the manual configuration menus to make sure the information is correct. The next menu item below autodetect is the card setup. You should perform this option first before setting up the actual modes. In the card menu you will be asked what type of card you have. First hit the TAB key until you are over to the leftmost window. Select the name of the chipset which your card is using. One of the names should look somewhat familiar. If your card's chipset is not on the list you have three options. The first is to try each of the sets in hopes what one of them will be similar enough to your card. Second, (if your cards less than a year old) go through your drivers disks and try to find a VESA driver. Third is just to give up and set up your card as standard VGA. Due the similarity between most of the cards, it may be likely that your exact card doesn't appear on that list. If it doesn't just select any card (Even on the menus with two or three cards, most of them perform the same function) Finally, go to the box on the right and pick out the amount of memory installed on your board. If you have a standard VGA board, your installed memory is 256K. SuperVGA boards may have anywhere from 256K to 1024K installed. You will have to check your setup to determine this. Memory sizes below 256K only occur on older EGA class boards (most EGA boards have 256K). After you've selected your card, chipset and memory size, hit enter and go into the mode setup menu. All of the modes will be listed in order from least to most resolution, VGA modes before EGA modes. To test any mode, simply hit TAB until the cursor appears in the resolution list box, and move up or down until you've highlighted the mode you wish to test and press the 'T' key. The screen should switch into that mode and a series of lines should appear. You can stop the test by pressing any key (the mouse is not responsive on this screen). If a mode has failed you can either press enter to edit the mode or press 'D' to delete the mode. If your confident that your card can perform the mode, use the edit option. If the mode cannot be displayed due to a configurization error or if your monitor cannot handle that resolution, use the delete option. If you find a mode which ShowGIF forgot, you may add it any time by pressing the 'A' key. The configurization program will automatically put the mode in the right place, so you don't have to worry about the position of the cursor. Once you are satisfied with the setup, press the TAB key to move to the ok button and press enter. Editing and inserting modes is a fairly complicated process. For this, you will get a dialog box asking all the questions necessary for ShowGIF to utilize the mode. The "Memory" box describes how the memory is mapped in that particular mode. The selections are fairly obvious, select EGA for 16 color modes, VGA for 256 color modes. X13 is Page 3 reserved for 360x480x256 "tweaked" VGA mode available on some cards. Color depth is more dependant on your board than the mode itself. For VGA boards, all modes (even EGA 16 color modes) should use the VGA 6 bit DAC selection. EGA boards should always use the EGA 2 big DAC. Width, Height, and are fairly self-explanatory. Width is the number of pixel columns on the screen. For 640x480, the 640 would go in this input box. The height is the number of rows on the screen. For 640x480, the 480 would go hear. The colors prompt expects the total number of colors displayable on the screen in that particular mode. The AX, BX, CX, and DX fields will be the most difficult to set up. You will have to look in your manual to make sure the numbers here match those for your card. If your manual only lists one number, it goes and AX and the rest of the 'X's are zero. Almost no cards have values in the CX and DX registers. Keep in mind that this expects the numbers in decimal (base ten) and most manuals list the mode numbers in hexidecimal (base 16). If your manual does this, you will have to convert the numbers by hand. Hopefully either the autoconfiguration or card selection will take care of these for you. After you've set up your video card, you'll want to set the other options for ShowGIF. These options can be found in the options setup menu. The first line on this menu will bring up the detection modes menu. This dialog box will allow you to specify the default values for upload and download stream and extension detection. Stream and Extension detection will be discussed more thoroughly later. The next option brings up the memory usage dialog. In most cases you'll want to select the default memory model. You would want to select "large model always" if you are really conscientious about speed. Select "small model always" if your library of pictures consists of many "cartoon" type pictures (i.e. Large single color areas instead of smooth color transitions) "cartoon" type pictures generally refer to hand drawn pictures where normal pictures refer to scanned pictures. If in doubt, use the help command or just select the default memory model and ShowGIF will pick out whichever it feels is appropriate. The next option summons the "display options" menu. This menu is a catch all of sorts for all of the options that don't appear on any of the other menus. "Show GIF sizes" determines if the sizes of the pictures should be show on startup or just the filenames. If pause after display is set, there will be a pause after the viewing is complete in TSR mode (i.e. after the upload or download is complete). Page 4 This option does not affect the interactive viewer. In most cases, you'll want this option off. The delay field is used to set the delay which the result is shown on the screen after the upload/download is complete (or if an error occurred). The password field is used to create a password which must be entered whenever a picture is viewed. The registration code removes the "Unregistered" message during viewing and places your name on the viewing screen. When you register your copy of ShowGIF, you will be given a code to put in here. Setting the keys is the most difficult part of the setup. With the mouse, point to the "Abort display" or "Blank Screen" text, click the mouse button then press the key. With the keyboard, Press either Alt-A, Alt-B, or TAB to highlight the name. Press Space, then press the key you wish to use. The name of the key should appear. The final option under that menu entry allows you to set up the default directories to be used by ShowGIF for the change directory command, move and copy. If you just plan to use ShowGIF for online viewing, you do not need to set up any directories. If you want to use ShowGIF's interactive viewer, its a good idea to put your .GIF directories in the list. The last entry on the top menu brings up the entire online documentation. The online documentation is very similar to this documentation, only pages are connected using hypertext links instead of sequentially. Once you are finished, you can use the File | Save changes to make your changes perminate. If you really mess up and want to change everything back, a revert option has been provided. If you don't want to save your changes, you can use the "Quit" option or just hit Alt-X at any time. Operation ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Once you have ShowGIF fully configured, the interactive viewer may be started by typing SHOWGIF at the dos command line. The TSR viewer is installed by using the /r switch, so before you load your terminal program you would type "SHOWGIF /R". ShowGIF will show an opening screen and go resident. ShowGIF will sit dormant in memory until you begin a transfer involving a .GIF file (using your existing protocols). ShowGIF will probably not start displaying instantly after the transfer begins, as it has to wait until enough information has been received to start decoding. The length of time you have to wait depends on your terminal program and which protocol you are using. If your terminal writes data immediately after it receives it, ShowGIF will usually start Page 5 displaying after the first Zmodem block or after the fourth Xmodem block. If your terminal is using buffered I/O in order to reduce the amount of time spend in disk accesses, it will take considerably longer. After the transfer is complete ShowGIF will finish with either of three messages depending on the result. These messages are "View Successful," "Bad code found" and "View Aborted". After you've logged off and quit your terminal program, you can remove ShowGIF from memory by using the "/u" switch. The first and last steps can be performed automatically if you set up a batch file to load your terminal program. Here is the batch file which I use to start ShowGIF and then my terminal program @ECHO OFF C: CD\QMODEM SHOWGIF /R TAG QMODEM TAG U SHOWGIF /U The first three lines are standard DOS commands. The fourth line loads ShowGIF. The fifth line loads a different TSR. The next line loads the terminal program. After Qmodem is complete, the other TSR is unloaded, followed by ShowGIF. You should note that the TSR's are removed from memory in the opposite order in which they were loaded. If you use a TSR control utility such as TSRCOM (Mark and Release) or POPDROP, you do not have to worry about the load order. Interactive Viewer ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── If you don't specify any arguments when loading ShowGIF, you will get the interactive viewer. The interactive viewer allows you to view pictures one by one in a particular directory, move the pictures around, copy, and erase them without quitting ShowGIF. The interactive portion of ShowGIF works in a similar manner to the other .GIF viewers. To view any particular picture, simply use the cursor keys to move to the file and, once its highlighted, press enter to view the picture. You can also use the alphabet and number keys to instantly jump the next filename beginning with that letter. If you want to view several pictures at once (similar to a slideshow) just highlight each of their names by pressing space and then press enter. The pictures will be viewed one by one with a 3 second delay between displays. Page 6 If you see a picture that you really don't like, you can erase it by moving the cursor on top of the name and pressing ALT-X. You will be given an "are you sure" prompt, to make sure you want to go through with the erasure. If you erase the last file in the directory, ShowGIF will quit. For safety purposes, Erase will only delete one file at a time. If you have several files highlighted using the space bar, erase will still only delete the file underneath the cursor. Changing directories is performed by pressing ALT-C. You will be given a list box containing all of the default directories which you set up in your configurization and an "other" directory at the very end which allows you to enter another directory not on the list. Move the cursor to the directory you want to enter (or "other") and press enter. If you selected other, you will be prompted for the directory name (don't put a '\' backslash at the end). Moving and copying file is performed in a manner similar to changing directories. If you want to move or copy a single file, move the cursor on top of the file and press ALT-M for move or ALT-C for copy. You will then be given the same prompt as change directory. The files will be moved or copied into the directory you specified. Keep in mind that move is the same copy except the files are erased after the procedure is complete. If during either procedure the copy should fail then the process will stop. In the case of move, the file which caused the process to fail will not be erased. ShowGIF Function Keys ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── When active, ShowGIF allows you to perform two functions. (This includes both immediate mode and during file transfers) The first function is "Abort-View" It aborts the ShowGIF file viewer, but not the transfer itself. I don't see any practical use for this other than in immediate mode when you've "seen enough of the picture." During a download, if you abort the terminal's transfer using ESC, Ctrl-Break or whatever, ShowGIF will automatically abort along with the driver. Keep in mind that the abort view will not abort the view immediately. Viewing will terminate as the next block of data goes to disk. The second function is an "on-demand" screen blanker. Its there to prevent those particularly embarrassing moments when your spouse walks into the room and happens to notice that you are downloading that new X-Rated picture. Despite that there is nothing on the screen, the download and view will progress normally. Any subsequent keypress will unblank the screen. The screen will automatically un-blank when Page 7 ShowGIF finishes (i.e. at end of transfer or if an error occurs). The default settings are backspace for abort view and tab for blank screen. You may change these with CSHOWGIF. Note that, Shift/Ctrl/Alt shift key combinations are NOT recognized! (i.e. Shift-X, Alt-X, Ctrl-X, and X are all the same). ALSO NOTE: do not choose combinations that your protocol uses for its functions. For example, if you're protocol uses Ctrl-C to abort the transfer, don't set blank- screen to C. How ShowGIF Works ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Many of the worries associated with the operation of ShowGIF stem from a lack of understanding about ShowGIF's means of operation. If you are completely confident with ShowGIF, you can skip this section, however if you are concerned that ShowGIF will affect the reliability of your transfer, I highly recommend reading the section. General Description DOS contains several services which allow applications (such as your terminal program) for opening, closing, writing to, and reading from files. ShowGIF positions itself between the application program (usually your terminal program or external protocol) and the DOS. In this position it intercepts calls to DOS, checks to see if they are of any importance to itself, then passes them along to DOS unaltered. This sounds dangerous and destructive but, in this situation, it is beneficial. ShowGIF can be in one of two states when it intercepts these DOS calls. The first state is where it monitors all the open and write calls. If one of these calls implies that a GIF file is going to disk, ShowGIF makes note of this file and switches to the second state. In the second state, ShowGIF monitors write and close calls. If the write is to go to aforementioned file, ShowGIF intercepts the data and decodes it to the screen before sending it along to DOS. If it sees that the application is going to close the file one of two things happens. It will either print "View Successful" or "Transfer Aborted or File Incomplete" depending on whether the decoder finished and switched back to the monitoring state. All this happens unbeknownst to the file transfer software. The software assumes that it is performing normal opens, writes, and closes. The upshot of this is that, from the standpoint of the terminal program, downloads and uploads with ShowGIF and uploads and downloads without ShowGIF are Page 8 identical, or nearly so. Modes of Detection ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Starting in ShowGIF 5.0, unlike previous versions, there are two ways in which a GIF file can be detected. They are: Detection by Filename-Extension This is the original method of detecting GIF files. If a file opens with the GIF extension, ShowGIF will begin decoding. The advantages to this method are that it is very simple and quick. The disadvantages to it are that it will not detect a GIF file when the picture in circumstances such as when the protocol uses a temporary name that does not have the GIF extension (as in Procomm Plus and SeaLink) or when the GIF file is in an archive. Detection by File Streams Detection by file streams works by monitoring the output to all the open files, and checking this output for the presence of the keyword "GIF87a." or "GIF89a" This will detect a GIF file with any name and even if its part of another file (such as stored in a ZIP file). Unfortunately, this method may slow down drive access on the very slowest computers (by slow I mean 4.77 MHz 8088) and may cause it to start unnecessarily. (For instance, it would believe this text file is a GIF because of the header string listed above). Memory Models ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── There are three different memory model options available to ShowGIF. These memory models actually refer to two different .GIF decompressors. Each decompressor has its particular advantage. The Large model decoder uses a temporary output buffer to greatly speed up the decoding process. This buffer dramatically speeds up the decoding process, unfortunately, this buffer increases the required overhead by about 45k. This increase in overhead is unnoticeable in interactive mode, but more than doubles the size of program in TSR mode. The other disadvantage is that large single color areas which occur in cartoon (hand drawn) .GIFs cause the buffer to overflow causing the image to have distorted bands. Page 9 The small model overcomes the problem of using too much memory and is completely accurate on cartoon .GIFs. Unfortunately, it makes up for these improvements in a 40% loss in speed. This mode is more ideal for the TSR mode. The default memory model is a hybrid between the two. When you select default, ShowGIF automatically utilizes the large model viewer in interactive mode and the small model viewer when it goes resident in the TSR mode. Command Line Options ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── /u Uninstalls ShowGIF. This returns all the memory used by ShowGIF and restores the system vectors tapped by ShowGIF. The Uninstall routine was repaired somewhat, but if it still causes trouble, MARK & RELEASE can be used successfully. A word of warning to the wise: If you install ShowGIF and install another TSR, then uninstall ShowGIF, memory will become fragmented (not unlike fragmentation on your hard drive) and your computer will probably lock up the next time you load a program. /eu:+ /eu:- Enables or Disables detection of GIF files by the extension of their filename on file uploads. These switches can override the setting made during setup. /ed:+ /ed:- Enables or Disables detection of GIF files by the extension of their filename on file downloads. These switches can override the setting made during setup. /su:+ /su:- Enables or Disables detection of GIF files by the contents of the file input streams. These switches can override the setting made during setup. /sd:+ /sd:- Enables or Disables detection of GIF files by the contents of the file output streams. These switches can override the setting made during setup. /p:+ /p:- Forces or prevents ShowGIF from waiting for a keystroke after displaying the picture. This allows you to admire the picture for a little bit after drawing is complete. This will override any setting made in setup. You may want to enable this feature for viewing GIFs in immediate mode: "SHOWGIF /p:+ KYM256.GIF" or if you use ShowGIF for viewing GIF files. Page 10 /d:xxx Sets a delay for the result to remain on the screen after viewing is complete. xx may range from 1 to 255, and is proportional to the number of seconds (divide by 18.2) /f:x Enables hardware handshaking on a particular port. The number may be from 1 to 4 for the four standard COM ports. This option must be instated at the command line, there is nowhere in CSHOWGIF to use hardware handshaking. Hardware handshaking gives ShowGIF permission to directly manipulate the modem flow control registers. When this option is enabled, ShowGIF will block the flow of data while it is decoding the picture and writing it to disk. Only newer error-correcting (ARQ) modems will listen to ShowGIF's request to block data flow. If your terminal already supports hardware flow control (often referred to as "RTS/CTS flow control" or "RTS during write") you don't need to enable this option in ShowGIF. However, if you experience numerous errors on an otherwise perfect connection, try enabling this option. 'File' Displays a certain file then exits. (Immediate mode). You may wish to use the /p:+ switch with this command. An example would be "SHOWGIF BALLOONS.GIF" in which showgif would merely display that picture then exit. /? Displays a help screen listing all the commands (except /b) /m:d Use default memory model. All of the /m switches override the normal configuration. /m:s Use the small memory model always /m:l Use the large memory model always ShowGIF messages ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Run-Time messages These messages will occur after a picture is displayed: "Bad Code In File" Usually means that the picture data is in some way garbled. For those interested, it means that ShowGIF encountered a Zev-Lempel code that exceeded the acceptable range. "Transfer aborted or GIF incomplete" The defined abort key Page 11 was pressed and ShowGIF has returned to protocol's text screen. "View Successful" The picture passed through ShowGIF without any flaws. Installation Messages These messages will occur when you are trying to load ShowGIF "ShowGIF: Already Installed" ShowGIF is already ready to use and won't let you install it twice. "ShowGIF: /u requires that ShowGIF be installed" ShowGIF has searched through memory and cannot find its resident portion. ShowGIF was probably already uninstalled "ShowGIF: Invalid switch" ShowGIF could not understand one of the command line switches. Use ShowGIF /h to list the valid switches. "ShowGIF: Uninstalled" This just informs you that ShowGIF has been successfully Uninstalled and memory freed. Quirks ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Most quirks are due to ShowGIF's sensitivity to the creation of a GIF file alone and not its origin. For instance, COPYing a GIF file around also will kick in the viewer. Applications ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Bimodem I have tested ShowGIF using Bimodem and haven't encountered any specific problem but my beta testers have informed me that ShowGIF has a tendency to skip every other file during a bimodem transfer. DesqView The screen saver routine is capable of detecting DesqView. If DesqView is resident, ShowGIF will avoid low-level video I/O in saving and restoring the screen. This should allow most implementations of DesqView to maintain control of the video screen. Because the 8088 and 286 architectures are Page 12 unable to dynamically remap RAM and maintain control of the video memory, I don't recommend using DesqView on anything less than a 386 based machine. ShowGIF has been tested successfully in both text mode (coresident with Qmodem) and in graphics mode (coresident with Windows 3.0 standard mode) under DesqView 2.24 using an Orchid Prodesigner II. Other setups should yield similar results. DSZ/GSZ At normal speeds, we haven't experienced any problems with DSZ, you can use ShowGIF with confidence. At speeds at or above 9600 baud, you must enable hardware handshaking in ShowGIF, using the /F:x option. If you don't do this, GSZ/DSZ will loose data. Procomm Plus Testing with Procomm plus was successful. If you have hardware flow control (RTS/CTS in ALT-S modem setup) you shouldn't need to enable ShowGIF's own hardware flow control. Zmodem writes its data immediately after obtaining it, so there shouldn't be any problems. As always, ShowGIF will not auto-resume along with the zmodem. Other Protocols write the data in 10k steps, so you'll have to wait for 10k of data to pass before ShowGIF can process it. This will cause data loss to occur if you are using ShowGIF with a 9600+ baud modem on a machine slower than a 12 MHz AT. Qmodem I personally feel that Qmodem is a fantastic terminal program. I have not have any trouble with ShowGIF and Qmodem since ShowGIF's initial development. If you have a high speed modem, make sure that you have "RTS during write" disabled. This really won't affect your throughput, it should be automatically turned off if you've used the quick modem setup. For best results, I recommend setting the write buffer to the minimum size. Telemate ShowGIF can be used effectively with Telemate. You have to keep several things in mind when ShowGIF is in use. Foremost, I don't recommend doing anything fancy such as opening additional windows during the transfer and trying to multi-task. Secondly, be sure to familiarize yourself with Page 13 the abort procedure. Unlike many terminal programs, which accept a single "ESC" to terminate the transfer, you have to hit "ESC y". You will not see the confirmation dialog box when ShowGIF is active, so you will have to fly by instrument or use the abort view command. Telix Telix somewhat defeats ShowGIF by writing data in fairly large steps. If ShowGIF does not activate immediately after the transfer starts, don't worry, it will eventually start. Answers to Common Questions ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── I'm using ShowGIF in immediate mode. The picture comes up quickly then disappears. Is there any way to make it pause at the end? Yes: Use the command line /p:+ or turn pausing on in the setup. Note that if you turn it on in the setup, you may want it off in regular use, or else the screen will pause at the end of a download! Why won't ShowGIF sense when I'm downloading a GIF file? Procomm Plus users will experience the problem. Fortunately, ShowGIF 5.5 addresses this issue with stream detection. To use stream detection give /s:+ command line or the change the setup. What usually happens is that the terminal (or protocol driver) makes a temporary file of some sort to be renamed after the transfer. This file usually doesn't have the GIF extension. Stream detection looks at the file contents instead of the file name. Why does showgif wait a very long period of time before starting, and operate in widely spaced bursts? Users of Telix's built in Zmodem may experience this problem. Telix's sending its output to disk in large bursts causes this problem. Since ShowGIF operates off these disk- writes (not modem accesses), your problem occurs. The best solution to this problem is to disable buffering. If you're using a hard drive to download, the write time for each block is negligible. If you cannot disable buffering, your other options are to use a different protocol or an external protocol driver, or just not let it get to you. Why does a lockup often follow uninstallation of ShowGIF? The most probable cause of this is installing something on top of ShowGIF. Here is what happens, you install ShowGIF, then you (mistakenly) install another TSR. After you finish, Page 14 you uninstall ShowGIF with the /u switch. Now there is a 32k unused 'hole' in your used memory. Next thing you know, a different program tries to fit 200k of data into that 32k hole. Since this data doesn't fit, it over-writes your TSR in memory. Nothing seems wrong until you try to activate this now nonexistent TSR... This may be due to other causes. If you suspect ShowGIF is conflicting with another program, be sure to let me know about this problem. Why won't ShowGIF view my more unusually sized pictures? The addition of Stream Detection opened ShowGIF to various vulnerabilities. The worst of which is the chance of activating on Non-GIF format files. In order to protect itself, ShowGIF will check to see if the information following the GIF header is pausible. Horizontal resolution must be between 320 and 1280. Vertical resolution must be between 200 and 1024, among other things. There is no real solution to this problem. ShowGIF wraps the picture around several times in the middle of the screen or Showgif gets past the first quarter of the screen and locks up. Recheck which configuration file you are using. The plane switching method probably isn't correct, please be sure to check the resolutions you're using with the test command in the modes menu of CSHOWGIF. My monitor goes nuts when viewing certain large pictures. Your monitor may not handle the resolution that your card is using. Be sure to test all of your resolutions using the test command in the modes menu of CSHOWGIF. What can I do about ShowGIF significantly slowing down my file transfer? Use a different protocol or a different driver. The one that you are currently using depends on completion of drive accesses before proceeding with the transfer. Since ShowGIF slows down disk access, poorly constructed protocols may suffer. I'm concerned that ShowGIF will interfere with the transfer itself. There is no reason to worry about ShowGIF interfering with the transfers themselves. ShowGIF operates transparently with most protocols. The only noticeable effect (for the Page 15 protocol) is that drive access will be noticeably slower (as ShowGIF is both "un-GIFfing" the data and writing it to the drive). If the protocol uses interrupt driven I/O properly, no loss of speed will occur. Because ShowGIF operates with the streams of data going to the disk, NOT the streams of data coming from the modem, protocol reliability is not affected. What can I do if ShowGIF does not support my video card? The best thing you can do in this case is to obtain a VESA driver and install it before ShowGIF. ShowGIF will make use of this driver in order to manipulate your card instead of trying to directly manipulate it by itself. What's New? ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1.0 a First version of SHOWGIF <Not released> - Converted from an experimental standalone GIF decoder into a decoder/viewer then into a TSR. 1.0 b Several features added: <Not released> - Status report at the end of viewing (Not a gif, bad code, etc.) - Support for ATI, TSENG chipsets, separate versions of the program - Switch back normal video if d/l is aborted before viewer is aborted. - Squeezing pictures to fit 320x200 (MCGA version) 2.0 Several problems fixed: <Beta Test version> - Code parsing routine completely re-written for speed - Rest of the main loop translated into machine language - Lockup after "Picture is not a GIF" message resolved - Picture information put up while drawing - Stack frame is normalized after each picture -- no more lockup's after viewing 'too many' pictures - 500% overall increase in speed! (benchmark 20 seconds in 1.0 to 4 seconds in 2.0) 3.0 Improvements made <Beta Test version> - Support for EGA (After lots of coaxing!) - X axis scaling for pictures larger than 320 MCGA,EGA 3.5 Improvements made <First release!> - One program can handle various video cards Page 16 - Internal configuration for video hardware - Support for 10 more video cards and several more chipsets 3.7 Improvements made <Beta Test> - 16 color (EGA) modes supported in standard VGA configuration (640x350 and 640x480) - Offset picture difficulties corrected. 4.1 Improvements made <Rare Second release> - User definable resolutions (compatible with VPIC) - Algorithm for deciding on a particular video mode re- coded. Better judgement is used when choosing video modes. 4.1b Cosmetic changes <Preferred second release> - Mistake in "VGA.CFG" corrected (oops!) - Thought I fixed the "text at the bottom of the screen problem" but it still didn't work. 5.0 Beta version which leaked out. 5.1 Many Improvements made <Third release> - Opening screen - EGA routines GREATLY improved -- 3x's improvement in speed - Initialization translated into machine language (except EGA color selection) for compactness & control - Various sections carefully optimized for a 50% increase in speed for VGA. - EGA screen output GREATLY improved for about 250% improvement in speed overall. - Bug with viewing certain pictures which are interlaced/smashed in EGA mode corrected - File stream detection added. - Checks the GIF header for information feasibility. - Immediate mode GIF viewing. - Control over the message delay after viewing. - Optional press a key pause after picture display. - Bios video functions disabled during view. (Note: if this causes problems, it can be disabled with the /b switch) - More extensive command line options. - Bug with uninstall corrected -- Sometimes it cannot find the resident portion even if it is present! (I think!) - Problems with memory allocation fixed (Doesn't take any more memory then it really needs -- only about 30k) - Abort-view key made more responsive (though I don't Page 17 really see a need for using it) - On-demand screen blanker added. - Ability to redefine the control keys. 5.1b Minor additions (Registered version only) - Added TSENG4, AHEADB, ZYMOS plane switching techniques. 5.5 Many changes <Fourth Release> - New Interactive viewer, supporting slideshow, change directory, move, copy, and erase files - Decoders completely re-written and re-optimized, now an additional 4 times faster than the Showgif 5.1. - Support for tweaked 360x480x256 VGA - Easy to use configurization program with autodetection and a complete online manual - Support for the new GIF89a standard - Support for the new VESA standard - Better screen saver: Able to save screens with sizes other than 80x25 and custom character sets - Support for DesqView - Automatic detection and utilization of your machines high memory (Qemm, etc.) - Password protection of .GIF format files Shareware ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── If you've been using ShowGIF for longer than a month, you should consider registering. For this version I'm offering two plans are offered Plan I: $15: You will be given a registration code which is good for the latest version (only). Plan II: $30: You will be given three full registration packages along with a registration code which is good for the version you registered and two thereafter. Each packet includes a disk with the latest version of ShowGIF and a bound and printed copy of the documentation. Notification of new versions will be provided after either of the plans expires. If you wish to contact me, Call The Gif Cache at 419/531-2693 (24 hours, HST/v.32) or the Henrietta Outhouse at 216/965- 5463 (24 hours, HST) or you can send mail to BILL PARQUET 30231 BATES RD. PERRYSBURG, OHIO 43551-3827 Page 18 Software Credits ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── I will give credit for all the software that I have mentioned throughout this document. **VPIC is a first rate picture file viewer and converter. It has yet to be matched by anything else. 4.5 is the newest version at the time of this writing. VPIC may be obtained from: BOB MONTGOMERY 132 PARSONS RD LONGWOOD FL 32779 **GIF is a trademark of Compuserve, an H&R Block company. **Qmodem may be the best communications program in existence. 4.31 is the newest version at the time of this writing. Qmodem can be obtained from: THE FORBIN PROJECT, INC. POST OFFICE BOX 702 CEDAR FALLS, IA 50613 **Procomm Plus is a noteworthy terminal package made by: DATASTORM TECHNOLOGIES, INC POST OFFICE BOX 1471 COLUMBIA, MO 65205 **Telix is a noteworthy terminal package made by: EXIS, INC POST OFFICE BOX 130 WEST HILL, ONTARIO M1E R4 **Mark & Release are TSR management programs and are copyrighted by Turbo-Power software: TURBO-POWER SOFTWARE POST OFFICE BOX 66747 SCOTTS VALLEY, CA 95066-0757 Kudos ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── I'd like to think a few people, without which, ShowGIF would be far less complete. Dave Sharpless: I'd like to thank Dave for writing the interface for the interactive viewer and all of his useful insights and ideas. Without his help, ShowGIF 5.5 would be much less complete! Page 19 John Sharpless: Sysop of the Henrietta Outhouse III, For bringing ShowGIF's success & distribution. ShowGIF would probably only be used by the three of us and a handful of people in Toledo if it weren't for him. The ShowGIF 5.5 Beta Testers: Jim Condon John James Donaldson Mike Lutheran Dave Sharpless Robert Novello Michael Witt GIF Boards ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── These are a few boards which I am on myself and highly recommend for obtaining .GIF format files at a reasonable price: The Gif Cache 419/531-2693 14.4k HST Dual Standard (v.32) $5/Month (Optional) BaudVille 313/848-8837 14.4k HST Electric Blue BBS 908/241-7982 The McHenry BBS 815/385-7113,9011,9936,9013,9347 14.4k HST, v.32, Compucom $60/Year (Req'd) PriZm Image Center 508/697-3508 (v.32) 508/697-7771 (HST/v.32) 508/279-1552 (HST) $8/Month (Volume discounts available) NiteLog Imaging 408/655-1096 (2400 new user line) 408/655-8294 (HST/v.32) 408/655-8297 (HST/v.32bis) Thank you for using ShowGIF! Page 20