home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- INTRODUCTION
- ============
- This is the documentation for PMView BETA VERSION 0.85a. You don't have
- to read this file if you don't want to, though you might miss out on
- some useful information.
-
- PMView 0.85a has some interesting new features that I'll document
- quickly in the next section:
-
- NEW FEATURES
- ============
- 1) New menu structure. We no longer stuff everything under _Edit. ;-).
-
- 2) A "quick BMP dump" for our registered users. The full save will be
- in 0.87.
-
- 3) New clipboard support.
-
- 4) _Transform _Size to resize your actual bitmap, either proportionally
- or not.
-
- 5) _Transform _Quick Dither to make your bitmap more suitable for use
- as a background (again, you need to register in order to save your
- bitmap).
-
- 6) _View _Zoom, with many hotkeys, to let you zoom in or out of your
- bitmap.
-
- 7) Support for scrolling using arrow keys.
-
- 8) A renamed _Options notebook
-
- 9) A key for hiding the mouse pointer while in Fullscreen mode.
-
- 10) Various bug and "feature" fixes.
-
- There are probably other additions that have slipped my mind for the
- moment. The user interface for the slideshow is *still* not quite
- right, but we will improve it significantly (honest!) in 0.86. We
- decided to release 0.85a now because of the added convenience
- (especially to our registered users), and because it fixes a rather
- nasty bug that can crop up under the March beta (and thus might show up
- under OS/2 2.1 GA.)
-
- * * *
-
- Let me introduce myself. I'm Raja Thiagarajan, Official Documenter (tm)
- of PMView. Peter Nielsen, who wrote PMView, asked me to write the docs.
- I'd appreciate any comments or questions about these docs, just as
- Peter would appreciate any comments or questions about PMView itself.
- Both of our electronic mail addresses are in Appendix 1 at the end of
- this file; Peter's address can also be found by selecting _Help _About
- from the PMView menu.
-
- If you have a uudecoder and an electronic mailbox that can be reached
- from the Internet, you can join our beta program by sending me an
- e-mail message. It doesn't cost anything; we just expect you to fill
- out an e-mailed survey form and give us bug reports (or other
- feedback!) on new versions of PMView as they're released. To join our
- beta program, just drop me a line at sthiagar@nickel.ucs.indiana.edu.
-
- All the above provisions are void where prohibited, and subject to
- change (though that's not likely).
-
- Please read the License and Warranty information in LICENSE.DOC. If
- you've read some of the repressive provisions of other companies'
- software, you may be in for a pleasant surprise.
-
- (I'll just make one short comment here: Since PMView is shareware, you
- are permitted [even encouraged!] to pass on the PMView ZIP file. You
- may NOT modify this file, or pass on any of its individual components.)
-
- PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
- ====================
- To use this program, you *must* be running OS/2 2.0 or later. PMView
- is a fully 32-bit program. (This is part of the reason PMView is so
- fast. The other part is because Peter has spent literally *hundreds* of
- hours fine-tuning the decoding routines by hand, in 80486 assembly
- language.)
-
- Our beta testers report that if you are running the original,
- shrinkwrapped version of OS/2 2.0, you must install CSD 6055 (also
- known as "the Service Pack") for everything to work. The version of
- OS/2 2.0 that IBM sold initially had some bugs in the Palette Manager
- subsystem that will prevent PMView from running. All other versions
- (preinstalled 2.00.1, the various 2.1 betas, and 2.1GA itself) are
- reputed to work fine.
-
- USING THE PROGRAM
- =================
- To use the program, set the PMVIEW_INI environment variable (see the
- next section), place PMVIEW.EXE somewhere on your path and enter the
- command
-
- PMVIEW [flag(s)] [filename]
-
- where "flag(s)" and "filename" are optional. The flags are documented
- two sections below this one. "Filename" is an optional name of a file
- you want to view. (If you don't provide a filename, PMView will start
- up with a black screen.) The filename can include a drive, directory
- path, or both. If you don't give an extension, PMView will try to
- "guess" it anyway. (Specifically, if you leave off the extension and
- PMView can't find a file with that name, it'll try the extensions .BMP,
- .GIF, .JPG, .TGA, and .PCX, in that order. You can modify this using
- the _Extensions page on PMView's options notebook.)
-
- ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
- =====================
- To backtrack a little, there is an OS/2 environment variable that
- PMView uses: PMVIEW_INI. This variable specifies the filename
- (including full path) that PMView should use for storing its options.
- If this environment variable is not set, PMView will create the file
- PMVIEW.INI in the current directory and store its information there.
- Thus, if you don't want *lots* of copies of PMVIEW.INI scattered around
- your hard drive, we recommend that you put the line
-
- set PMVIEW_INI=C:\OS2\PMVIEW.INI
-
- in your CONFIG.SYS. (Of course, you can use any other path or filename
- that you want; we find it convenient to keep all our OS/2 INI files in
- one place.)
-
- FLAGS
- =====
- There are five optional flags that you can use when invoking PMView.
-
- /IDLE_LOAD, /NO_IDLE_LOAD: Use these flags to temporarily force (or
- disable) idle-time priority for PMView's image-loading thread. See
- BUGS.DOC for a discussion of idle-time priority.
-
- /PAL_MAN, /NO_PAL_MAN: Use these flags to temporarily force (or
- disable) the use of Palette Manager.
-
- /INI: Use this flag to temporarily set the pathname for PMView's INI
- file. For example:
-
- PMVIEW /INI=D:\TEMP\PMVIEW.INI
-
- will cause this PMView session to read (and write) its settings to
- D:\TEMP\PMVIEW.INI instead of the file specified by the PMVIEW_INI
- environment variable. For instance, you could have several different
- INI files with different settings and put an icon for each on your
- desktop, with different "/INI=" flags in the Parameters field of each
- object's settings notebook.
-
- PMVIEW COMMANDS
- ===============
- Here's a list of the menu commands and a comment on what each one does:
-
- _File _Open: This starts a dialog box that lets you open (i.e., load
- and look at) a new file. This should be fairly straightforward.
- Initially, PMView will list all the *.BMP, *.GIF, *.JPG, *.TGA, and
- *.PCX files in the current directory. To change this, type the filename
- filter you want in the "Open Filename:" area and then click the "Open"
- button. For instance, to get a list of GIF files that start with "ray",
- enter RAY*.GIF and click "Open". You can put several of these together,
- separated by semicolons (";"). So, for instance, "RAY*.GIF;*.BMP" will
- list all the files that either start with "RAY" and have the extension
- "GIF" *or* have the extension "BMP."
-
- A shortcut for selecting one of these extensions is to pick it off the
- "Type of file:" list. Check it out.
-
- You can use the ^O (that is, Control-O) shortcut key to invoke this
- command at any time, as long as a slideshow isn't running. ^O will work
- even if PMView is in Full Screen mode (e.g., after hitting F3) or
- iconified. If you have the "Override system colors in fullscreen mode"
- option set, this dialog will appear, but it will *not* necessarily be
- readable. That's *why* overriding system colors isn't the default.
-
- To start up a slideshow, simply select several files before clicking
- the "Open" button. The images will be loaded, one at a time, in
- alphabetical order. (I *know* that's dumb, but we can't fix it until we
- do 0.86.) You can jump forward to the next image by pressing either
- mouse button, or by hitting the SPACEBAR. To end the slideshow, press
- ESC.
-
- _File _Reopen: This reloads your current file from disk, which means
- any changes you had made to it (or your view of it) are lost.
-
- _File _Save: This feature doesn't work in the unregistered version. In
- the registered version of 0.85a, this lets you do a "quick BMP dump" of
- your current image. We hope that the registered version of PMView will
- eventually let you write files in any format that it can read;
- currently, we've got that scheduled for version 0.87.
-
- _File Save _as: This doesn't work in the unregistered version. In the
- registered version, it currently does exactly the same thing as _File
- _Save.
-
- _File _Delete: This deletes the file that you're viewing. See BUGS.DOC
- for a note about a "feature" of WPS that affects this. You can use ^D
- as a shortcut.
-
- _File E_xit: This quits PMView and returns you to OS/2. ^X is the
- shortcut key.
-
- _Edit: These commands copy images to or from the OS/2 clipboard.
- Palette information is preserved for 256-color images; thus, you can
- copy from one PMView session and paste into another without color
- distortions.
-
- _Edit _Cut: This removes the current image from PMView (giving you an
- empty window) and puts it on the clipboard.
-
- _Edit _Copy: This puts a copy of the current image on the clipboard
- (without removing it from PMView).
-
- _Edit _Paste: This pastes the image that is currently on the clipboard
- into PMView.
-
- _Transform: These commands change the image that you have loaded in
- PMView. (The original copy on your disk is unaffected, of course.)
-
- _Transform _Flip: This turns the image upside down. If you had an image
- of a big "M", it would look like the image of a big "W".
-
- _Transform _Mirror: This reverses left and right on the image. If you
- had an image of a left parenthesis, it would look like a right
- parenthesis.
-
- _Transform _Rotate->90 _Clockwise: This rotates the image clockwise by
- 90 degrees. An arrow that pointed up would now point right.
-
- _Transform _Rotate->90 Counter CounterClock_Wise: This rotates the
- image counterclockwise by 90 degrees. An arrow that pointed up would
- now point left.
-
- _Transform _Size: This opens a control that changes the actual size of
- the image. You can specify the new size of the image in pixels or
- percentage (%). If Keep Proportional is checked (the default), the new
- image will have the same proportions as the original (eg, a circle
- would still be a circle).
-
- _Transform _Quick Dither: This does a quick job of reducing an image to
- OS/2's default 256-color palette. If you want to save an image to use
- as a background for your desktop or a folder, doing a quick dither on
- it first may improve its appearance. If you plan to also size the
- image, do quick dithering *last*.
-
- _Color: These commands change the colors in your image. (Your pixel
- data will also change to go along with the changing colors.)
-
- _Color _Brightness/Contrast: This opens a control that lets you adjust
- the brightness, contrast, and saturation of your image. Brightness and
- contrast work pretty much the way they do on a TV set. Saturation
- refers to how much color appears in the image (some TV sets have a
- control marked "color" that does this). If you turn the saturation all
- the way down, you'll get a black-and-white image.
-
- Peter notes that if you're handling 24-bit images and don't use the
- Palette Manager, you should adjust saturation *last*. This is because
- the other adjustments take *twice* as long when saturation has been
- moved away from 0% under those circumstances. To reiterate: If you're
- running OS/2 in 24-bit (or 15- or 16-bit) mode, or if you've loaded a
- 24-bit image (i.e., a Targa, JPEG, or 24-bit BMP image) and disabled
- Palette Manager, change saturation *last*.
-
- If you change your mind later, you can come back to this control and
- press the Reset button. This will return you to your original settings
- for brightness, contrast, and saturation.
-
- _Color RGB B_alance: This opens a control that lets you adjust the
- relative strengths of red, green, and blue in your image. As with
- _Brightness/Contrast, you can use Reset if you change your mind later.
-
- _Color _Negative: This creates a "negative" of your image; for example,
- black pixels will become white. Of course, if you do this twice, you'll
- have your original image again.
-
- _View: These commands change how you see the image, but don't actually
- change the image itself.
-
- _View _Zoom: This opens a secondary menu that lets you zoom in or out
- on your image or jump directly to certain zoom factors. For instance,
- to zoom in so that your image is twice normal size, type ^2. In
- general, the Control key zooms you in, and the Alt key zooms you out.
-
- _View _Full Screen: Choosing this command (or pressing F3) erases your
- WHOLE screen (and not just the PMView window) and draws the image on
- it. F3 acts like a toggle; pressing it again redraws the screen and
- puts the image "back" in the PMView window.
-
- (Why would you want to do this? If you have an image that's as large as
- the whole screen, you won't be able to see it while you have PMView's
- window border, menu bar, title bar, etc. on the screen. For instance,
- if you installed the optional bitmaps with OS/2, try loading
- OS2LOGO.BMP. You won't be able to see the whole image because it's too
- big. Now press F3. The whole image will be visible. Press F3 again to
- go back to having the image in the PMView window.)
-
- PMView's options notebook has a _Fullscreen page that has three
- settings to handle centering or scaling the image when you press F3.
- See below under _View _Options for more information.
-
- _View Fit _Image: Choosing this command (or pressing F4) will shrink or
- grow the window so that you can see the whole image and nothing but.
- Unless:
- 1) The image is too big (in which case you should try F3 instead), OR
- 2) The image isn't wide enough (PM will NOT let the window become
- too narrow for the menu bar), OR
- 3) You have "Never" selected as your option in "Automatically Adjust
- Window Position" (on the _Window page of PMView's options notebook)
- and the only way to show the whole image would be to move the
- window. (This might happen if your window is positioned too close to
- the right or bottom edge of the screen.) In this case, you can change
- the option to "When required"; see the _View S_ettings documentation
- below.
-
- _View _Refresh: Choosing this (or pressing F5) will redraw the image in
- the window. You may want to do this if (for whatever reason) the image
- gets corrupted. Unfortunately, as of this writing, there is a bug in
- *all* the available 256-color screen drivers that support Palette
- Manager. (This is not a bug in PMView.) When you drop down a menu and
- then get rid of it, the area that was under the menu is drawn with the
- wrong colors. To redraw the image with the correct colors, hit F5.
-
- _View _Options: This opens a notebook that lets you control PMView's
- many options. Taking one page at a time:
-
- _View:
-
- -- _Center image if it is smaller than window: If set, PMView will draw
- an image that's smaller than its window in the center of the window. If
- not set, PMView will draw the image in the upper left corner.
-
- -- Zoom image to _fit window: If set, then whenever you load an image
- or resize PMView's window, PMView will zoom the image so that it fits
- perfectly either horizontally or vertically in the window. Otherwise,
- the image will always be drawn at "actual size" until you use a Zoom
- command. All zooming in PMView is proportional; circles will *always*
- stay circles.
-
- _Fullscreen:
-
- -- _Center image if it is smaller than screen: If set, PMView will
- center the image when drawing in Full Screen Mode. Othewise, the image
- will be drawn in the upper left corner of the screen.
-
- -- Zoom image if it is _larger than screen: If set, PMView will zoom
- out so that your image will fit onscreen, if necessary. As mentioned
- above, zooming is done proportionally.
-
- -- Zoom image if it is _smaller than screen: If set, PMView will zoom
- in so that your image will reach completely across the screen either
- vertically or horizontally. Again, zooming is proportional.
-
- -- _Hide mouse pointer: If set, PMView will initially hide the mouse
- pointer when you enter Fullscreen mode. See below under "Special Keys
- in PMView" for more information on turning the mouse pointer off and
- on.
-
- As is noted on the page, two other options that modify Full Screen mode
- can be found elsewhere.
-
- _Window:
-
- Automatically adjust window size and position:
-
- -- When _loading a new image: If set, PMView will automatically adjust
- the window's size and position to display newly-loaded images at actual
- size.
-
- -- When _editing or zooming: If set, PMView will adjust the window's
- size and position if it's appropriate during an edit or zoom operation.
- For instance, if you take a tall, narrow image and rotate it, it will
- become a short, wide image. If this option is set, PMView's window will
- resize (and possibly move) accordingly. Otherwise, you might get a
- horizontal scroll bar and some blank space in your window.
-
- Automatically adjust window position:
-
- o _Never
- o When _required
- o _Always move to upper left corner
-
- If you pick the first option, the upper left corner of PMView's window
- will never budge. If you pick the second option, PMView will leave the
- upper left corner in place *unless* moving it a short distance will let
- you see your whole image. Then it will move. Finally, "Always move to
- upper left corner" means that your window will move to the upper left
- corner of your screen every time you hit F4 (or load a new image, if
- the first option on this page is checked).
-
- _Loading:
-
- Loading/Startup options:
- o Startup _minimized (iconized)
- o N_ormal
- o _Fullscreen each loaded image automatically
-
- If you pick the first option, PMView will start up minimized when you
- *first* load it. The second option will make it start up with the size
- of the image you specify on the command line (or the size it was when
- it last closed). (To make it do this *every* time it loads an image,
- select "When loading a new image" on the window page.) The last option
- will make PMView go into Full Screen mode *every* time it loads an
- image.
-
- (Why would you want to start up PMView iconified? Suppose you have
- associations set in OS/2 so that whenever you double-click on the name
- of a GIF file, it starts up PMView automatically. It's quite convenient
- to be able to double-click on *several* GIF files and have each one
- appear as an icon at the bottom of your screen, so you can pick which
- ones to look at *after* they're done loading. One of our beta testers
- wanted this feature, so here it is. He also said he'd register if we
- added this feature, so I'm waiting for his check to arrive ;-)
-
- Progress indicator options:
- o _Never show progress indicator
- o _Hide when PMView is started with a filename
- o _Always show progress indicator
-
- These options decide the visibility of the progress indicator, that
- sliding bar that some people love and some people hate. Select the
- first option if you hate seeing it, select the last if you like seeing
- it. If you select the second option, PMView will display the progress
- indicator *except* when you first start up with a filename on the
- command line.
-
- _Slideshow:
-
- Here's where you set the options for a slideshow. To run a slideshow,
- select several files while doing _File _Open. Then use SPACEBAR to move
- forward an image or ESC to end the slideshow.
-
- o Manual
- o Automatic
- If you select manual, you must always move to the next image manually.
- If you select automatic, you also have the option of waiting for the
- next slide to be loaded automatically.
-
- Delay between images
- Here, you specify how many seconds PMView spends before automatically
- moving to the next image. In order to work around a bug, we set the
- minimum delay to 5 seconds. This "lower limit" will almost certainly be
- removed in 0.86.
-
- -- _Cycle slideshow: If this option is set, the slideshow will go back
- and load the first image after it finishes with the last one.
- Otherwise, you'll get a message box at the end of the slideshow.
-
- _Directory:
-
- On this page you can type the paths for the default load directory
- (where PMView will initially go the first time you do a _File _Open)
- and the default save directory (where PMView will save files by
- default). File saves are *not* enabled in the unregistered version of
- PMView.
-
- _Extensions:
-
- This page is allows you to change the ordering, lettering, or comments
- on the extensions that PMView loads. For instance, if you're running
- HPFS and use the extension .JPEG for your JPEG files, you can type
- "JPEG" in the Extension field, type "My JPEGs" in the description
- field, and click "Ok >>". Then whenever you do a _File _Open, PMView
- will *also* display files with the extension of *.JPEG. What's more "My
- JPEGs" will appear in the Type of File list. *And* if you enter PMVIEW
- filename at an OS/2 prompt, PMView will be able to add the .JPEG
- extension automatically. Way to go, Peter!
-
- _Palette:
-
- -- Use _palette manager: If on, PMView will use the palette manager to
- display images. (Of course, if you don't have palette manager support,
- this option won't be available.)
-
- -- _Smooth palette change in adjustment dialogs: If on, PMView will use
- palette animation to show brightness/contrast/saturation or color
- adjustment changes *in real time*. Pretty nifty!
-
- -- _Override system colors in Full Screen mode: If on, PMView will use
- all 256 colors in Full Screen mode, rather than letting OS/2 reserve 20
- for the user interface. Of course, if you chose this option and then
- type ^O, you may not be able to read the resulting dialog box....
-
- Spe_cial:
-
- -- Use PMView's _own scaling routines: If on, PMView will use its own
- scaling routines rather than using the ones built into the screen
- driver. (As of this writing, I know of four platforms that support
- palette manager, and *three* of them don't scale correctly. All four of
- them are reputed to work fine in the GA version of OS/2 2.1, though.)
- Even if you have a platform that scales correctly, you may want to try
- this option because it may be *faster* this way. Of course, it will
- take up more memory.
-
- -- Use _idle time loading and saving: If on, PMView will use the lowest
- priority in OS/2 when it loads and saves files. This can be a problem
- if you're running a "greedy" OS/2 or DOS program that "eats" lots of
- CPU; idle-time threads *never* have their priority boosted and can thus
- get "stuck". On the other hand, if you turn this option off, PMView
- will use ordinary priority, which may degrade your multitasking
- performance while it's running.
-
- Whew! We're done with the options notebook! If you think it took a
- long time to read all that, just imagine how long it took me to *write*
- it ;-). On to the last menu, which is _Help.
-
- _Help _Image: This gives you various statistics about your current
- image: The name and size of the file it was taken from (0 if it came
- from the clipboard), that file's image format, the size of the image in
- pixels, how much RAM the image is currently taking up in your system
- (this is usually the height times the width [rounded up to the nearest
- multiple of four] times your screen's color depth), the file's "color
- space," and how many colors are in the image. If you load a JPEG or
- TARGA file, the latter will be slowly counted by a background thread.
- In this case, you can close this dialog, carry out other operations,
- and check back later for the actual color count.
-
- _Help _System: This gives information on your system's current status:
- what version of OS/2 PM you're running, how wide and tall your screen
- is (in pixels), whether your screen driver supports Palette Manager,
- how many colors you have, how many physical colors you have (what's the
- difference? Beats me) and how much physical RAM you have.
-
- _Help _About: Finally, this displays product information about PMView,
- as well as information about how to register the program. If you like
- PMView, please support shareware by registering it. Registered versions
- of PMView will include working _File _Save (and _File Save _As)
- commands, a niftier icon, and probably some other extras as well.
-
- SPECIAL KEYS IN PMVIEW
- ======================
- In addition to the menu commands given above, we have a few special
- keys in PMView.
-
- While you are in Fullscreen mode, you can turn the mouse pointer off
- and on by typing ^M. This will only work while you're in Fullscreen
- mode, and only while PMView has the focus.
-
- If you have scrollbars visible, you can scroll around via the keyboard.
- The up, down, right, and left arrows move 8 pixels in the direction
- you'd expect. Alt and an arrow moves 1 pixel. Ctrl and an arrow moves a
- screenful. Thus, if your PMView window is 200 pixels tall and you type
- ^Up, your viewport will move 200 pixels up.
-
- In addition to the arrow keys, PgUp and PgDn are "synonyms" for ^Up and
- ^Dn respectively. ^PgUp and ^PgDn move all the way up and down.
- Finally, Home moves your viewport all the way to the left, and End
- moves it all the way to the right. (To move one screenful left or
- right, use ^Left or ^Right.)
-
- The scrolling keys may sound confusing, but they're really what you'd
- expect. If you want to keep it simple, just stick to the arrows, and
- remember that Alt moves a smaller amount and Ctrl moves a larger amount
- (just like Alt zooms to make a smaller image, and Ctrl zooms to make a
- larger image).
- * * *
-
- If you've made it this far, congratulations. Here's a cute trick for
- you to try: Make OS/2 minimize to the desktop (by opening OS/2
- System->System Setup->System and selecting "Minimize _window to
- desktop" on the _Window page of the notebook). Now, load a colorful
- image and then minimize PMView. Pretty neat, huh? Thanks to Steve Ryner
- (the Official Artist [tm] of PMView) for discovering this trick.
-
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- ================
- The Graphics Interchange Format (c) is the Copyright property of
- CompuServe Incorporated. GIF (sm) is a Service Mark property of
- CompuServe Incorporated.
-
- This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG
- Group.
-
- APPENDIX 1: HOW TO CONTACT US
- ==============================
- Both Peter and I would love to hear from you. If you have any comments,
- suggestions, or wishes for new PMView features, please write to us.
-
- Peter can be reached on the Internet at pnielsen@finabo.abo.fi or
- pnielsen@aton.abo.fi.
-
- Alternatively, you can send Peter a paper letter at Gertrudsgatan 22 D
- 73, SF-20520, Turku, Finland. (Take into account the delays of
- international mail when you do this!)
-
- You can reach me, Raja Thiagarajan, on the Internet at
- sthiagar@nickel.ucs.indiana.edu. Generally speaking, I read my Internet
- mail almost every day (except for holidays!).
-
- If you prefer to support the U.S. Post Office, you can send me paper
- mail at 4423 East Trailridge Road, Bloomington, IN 47408-9633. However,
- I recommend that you save a tree (and some time) by sending me e-mail
- instead.
-
- APPENDIX 2: WHERE TO GET NEW VERSIONS OF PMVIEW
- ===============================================
- When a new version of PMView comes out, the first thing we will do is
- send it to registered users. If you give us an e-mail address when you
- register, we will e-mail the new PMView to you immediately.
-
- After we have finished sending copies to registered users, we will post
- a copy to Hobbes on the Internet. This is the world's best ftp site for
- finding OS/2 software. Its official designation is cdrom.com.
- PMView will be put in the /pub/uploads directory initially; after a
- while, it will be moved to the /pub/os2/2.x/graphics directory.
-
- After we have posted a copy to Hobbes, we will post a copy to
- CompuServe. [*********WHERE!?!?!?!?!?*********] So, to find the latest
- version of PMView, look on Hobbes and CompuServe.
-
- NOTE: The above appendix refers to new release versions of PMView. New
- beta versions are sent to people on our beta list (with registered
- users getting them first, if it's necessary to do it in more than one
- batch ;-) and may not end up on Hobbes. If you *really* want to get all
- the new beta versions of PMView, send us a bug report (or a short note
- saying you want to join the beta program) and an e-mail address at
- which you can accept big, uuencoded mail messages from the Internet. We
- reserve the right to limit the number of beta testers.
-
- APPENDIX 3: TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- ====================================
- Architecture: 32 bit, 4 threads
- Internal image format: 8 and 24 bit
- Transformations: All formats
- Palette Manager support: Yes, 256 colors (if your display driver
- supports Palette Manager)
- True Color support: Yes, 24 bit, 16.7 million colors or less (if your
- display driver supports True Color)
-
- Image formats that can be read and written
- ------------------------------------------
- GIF: Full support: 87a, Basic support: 89a
-
- BMP (OS/2 1.x): Full support: 1, 4, 8 and 24-bit bitmaps or bitmaparrays.
- BMP (OS/2 2.x): Full support: 1, 4, 8 and 24-bit bitmaps or bitmaparrays.
- HUFFMAN1D, RLE_4, RLE_8 and RLE_24 compressions
- supported.
- BMP (Windows 3.0): Full support: 1, 4, 8 and 24-bit bitmaps.
- RLE_4 and RLE_8 compressions.
-
- JFIF: Support in accordance with the Independent JPEG Group's revision 4.0.
-
- PCX: Full support
-
- TARGA: PMView supports Targa formats 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, and 11.
- #1 is uncompressed, color-mapped images with 16, 24, or 32-bit palette entries
- #2 is uncompressed RGB images with 15, 16, and 24 bit support
- #3 is uncompressed grayscale (256 shades) support
- #9 is RLE color-mapped images with 16, 24, or 32-bit palette entries
- #10 is RLE RGB with 15, 16, and 24 bit support
- #11 is compressed grayscale (256 shades) support
- These are the most popular Targa formats. We've succeeded in loading
- every Targa file that we've found. If PMView fails to load a Targa file
- that you need, please contact us so we can figure out how to support
- your file's format in our next release.
-
- APPENDIX 4: DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM
- ==============================
- If you're curious, Peter Nielsen is developing PMView on the following
- system:
-
- IBM PS/2 model 95 486/50MHz
- 64 Mb RAM
- 2400 Mb hardfile
- XGA-2 + 21" multisync
- IBM OS/2 2.0 GA + SP
-
- He's using the following tools:
- IBM C-SET/2
- IBM OS/2 developers toolkit + IBM Workframe/2
- Microsoft MASM 6.0
- Solution System's BRIEF 3.0 for OS/2
-
- Th-th-that's all, folks!
-
- Raja Thiagarajan / PMVIEW.DOC / 6-21-93 release
-