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- Sampler Disc 2 Read Me (PC)
- 10th April 1995
-
- (c) 1995 Dorling Kindersley Multimedia.
- All rights reserved.
-
- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
- Hints About Reading This File
- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
-
- First go to the Edit menu in this window and select "Word Wrap", and maximize the
- window, to ensure you can see all the text in a paragraph. To move round the file, press
- Page Up and Page Down, or click in the vertical scroll bar. You can print this file by
- selecting the Print command from the File menu.
-
-
- This Read Me file contains information on the following topics:
-
- 1. Installing Sampler 2
-
- 2. General system requirements for running Sampler Disc 2
-
- 3. Other important issues for PC Users
-
- 4. List of Director 4.04-compatible video and sound cards
-
- 5. Running video clips using Sampler Disc 2
-
-
- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
- 1. Installing Sampler 2
- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
-
- You require at least 2.5 Mb of space on your hard disk to install Sampler Disc 2. Once
- you have checked this space is available you should:
-
- 1. Insert the disc into your CD-ROM drive.
- 2. Under Program Manager, choose Run from the File menu.
- 3. Type d:\setup (if d is your CD-ROM drive).
- 4. Click OK and follow the instructions.
-
-
- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
- 2. General system requirements for running Sampler Disc 2
- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
-
-
- This Sampler Disc has been created using Macromedia Director (TM) 4.04 for
- Windows. The recommended PC configuration to run Dorling Kindersley Multimedia's
- Sampler 2 is as follows:
-
- 486SX 25 MHz IBM or compatible PC
- 8Mb of RAM
- Double-speed CD-ROM drive
- Sound card, mouse, hard disk
- SVGA 256-colour display
- Loudspeakers or headphones
- Microsoft Windows (TM) 3.1 or later
-
-
- However, Sampler 2 will run on lower specification machines, but it will run more
- slowly, and below the speed of the actual titles.
-
- (Most of the titles featured will run on 386 machines with 4Mb of RAM and a single-
- speed CD-ROM drive. Please check individual box details for the exact specification of
- each title.)
-
- Users should also be aware that Director requires sound cards, video software drivers
- and hardware that fully support Windows 3.1 standards. Guidelines on appropriate
- video and sound cards have been taken from Director 4.04 technical documentation and
- included in section 4 of this README file.
-
- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
- 3. Other important issues for PC Users
- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
-
- A. Certain video and sound cards that have NOT been tested by Macromedia may
- experience problems running the sampler. For example, users with Cirrus cards and
- older Cirrus drivers may find Dorling Kindersley Multimedia's Sampler 2 crashes or
- otherwise behaves badly. (Replacing the driver with a newer Cirrus driver or the
- generic Windows SVGA 256 640x480 colour driver should solve the problem.)
-
- Contact the manufacturer of your particular video or sound card for details of their most
- up-to-date drivers if you experience any problems. Consult the Windows
- documentation supplied with your computer for more information on how to change
- drivers if necessary.
-
- B. For the technically minded, the sound sample rate used for narrations and animations
- in the sampler is 11.025 KHz. (This is a space-saving requirement.) In the final
- products the sample rate is 22.050KHz, giving superior audio quality.
-
-
- C. Sampler 2 uses 256-colour images and will not look its best if your computer is
- running in 16-colour mode. We strongly recommend that you set your display driver to
- 256-colour mode if you have not already done so. You can run your Windows setup
- program to change your display driver. For more information check your Windows
- documentation. (Users with Windows 3.1.0 may need to obtain the necessary 256-
- colour drivers from Microsoft.)
-
- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
- 4. List of Director 4.04-compatible video and sound cards =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
-
- VIDEO CARDS
-
- Director requires video software drivers and hardware that fully support Windows 3.1
- standards. The following video systems have been tested and found to be compatible
- with Director during authoring and playback. We recommend installing the latest
- available video ROM and software. Contact the video card manufacturer for
- information.
-
- Authoring and playback are not limited to these systems. If you experience difficulties
- with a card that is not on this list, first test it at 640 x 480 resolution with the monitor's
- colour depth set to 8-bit (256 colours). Next, contact the hardware manufacturer to find
- out if the problem has been addressed with an updated driver.
-
- The following cards have been tested and provide acceptable results for authoring and
- playback:
-
- Bus Driver
- Video card Type Date Rev
-
- ATI Graphics Wonder VLB 3/19/93 2.3
- ATI Graphics Xpression VLB 6/13/94 1.1
- (See Note 1)
- Compaq QVision 1024/I ISA 1/18/94 7.40
- Diamond Viper PCI 9/27/93 3.01
- (Recommended)
- Diamond Viper VLB 9/17/93 2.01
- Genoa Windows VGA 24 VLB 8/8/93 1.7
- Headland Video 7 RAM II VGA ISA 5/15/92 3.10
- Hercules Graphite Pro VLB 12/29/93 2.21 (See Note 2)
- IBM XGA-2 MCA 11/12/93 2.11
- (See Note 3)
- Number Nine 9GXE64 PCI 6/22/94 1.19.04
- (Recommended)
- Orchid Fahrenheit 1280 ISA 8/10/92 3.0
- RasterOps PaintBoard PC ISA 3/25/93 3.10
- (See Note 2)
- Spider Black Widow VLB 1/20/94 (Recommended)
- Trident 8900C ISA 9/23/92 3.10
- Trident 9000C ISA 7/8/93 VC4.5(WC1.6)
- (See Note 2)
-
-
- Note 1: Set DeviceBitmaps=OFF in the Windows SYSTEM.INI file [MACH] section
- after card software installation if using this driver version.
- Note 2: Use in 256-colour mode only.
- Note 3: This card does not draw extremely wide arcs properly.
-
- The following video cards have been tested and provide acceptable results for playback:
-
- Bus Driver
- Video card Type Date Rev
-
- Actix ProStar VL VLB 8/18/93 1.42
- (See Note 1)
- ATI Graphics Ultra ISA 3/19/93 2.3
- ATI Graphics Ultra Plus ISA 4/25/94 2.3
- ATI Graphics Ultra Pro VLB 4/25/94 2.3
- ATI Graphics Ultra Pro ISA 4/25/94 2.3
- Blackship Color DesignerA3 VLB 7/8/93 1.32
- Diamond Speed Star Pro ISA 2/17/94 1.08
- Diamond Speed Star VGA ISA 4/14/92
- Diamond Stealth 24 VLB 6/3/94 3.00
- Diamond Stealth Pro VLB 10/6/93
- Elite Group GD5426/28 VLB 8/18/93 1.32b
- ELSA Winner2000 Pro PCI 6/23/94 1.22
- Hercules Dynamite Pro ISA 12/1/93 2.10 (See Note
- 2)
- Hercules Dynamite Pro VLB 12/1/93 3.00
- Hercules Graphite Power ISA 4/6/94 2.10
- IBM XGA Display MCA 11/12/93 2.11 (See Note 3)
- Matrox MGA Power Graphics PCI 3/28/93 1.42
- Media Vision ProGraphics 1280 VLB 9/15/93 1.01
- Media Vision ProGraphics 1024 VLB 4/15/94 1.5
- Mitac MVA-CL5428-1MB VLB 3/15/94 V1.43
- Number Nine 9GXe Level 10 ISA 2/9/94 V3.11
- (See Note 4)
- Number Nine 9GXe Level 11 VLB 2/9/94 3.10.061 (See Notes 4, 5)
- Number Nine 9GXe Level 14 VLB 4/7/94 3.15
- (See Note 4)
- Number Nine 9GXE64 VLB 6/22/94 1.19.04
- (Recommended)
- Orchid Celsius VLB 10/1/93 1.32 (Recommended)
- Orchid Fahrenheit 1280 Plus VLB 3/1/94 rel 7
- (See Note 6)
- Orchid Fahrenheit VA VLB 4/29/93 5.01
- Orchid Kelvin 64 PCI 3/14/94 1.1
- Orchid Kelvin 64 VLB 2/23/94 1.21
- Orchid ProDesigner IIS ISA 3/1/92 2.0
- Paradise WD90c33 VLB 6/28/93 1.2
- Standard 1Mb-24X ISA 3/19/93 1.30
- STB Horizon VL Pro VLB 6/29/93 1.3
- STB Lightspeed PCI 12/1/93 1.1
- STB Pegasus VLB 11/29/93 1.3
- TrueVision Bravado 8 ISA 1/15/92
-
- Note 1: Driver version 1.53 sometimes freezes when playing certain Director
- transitions. Driver version 1.42 is recommended.
- Note 2: Does not always properly display QuickTime digital video in 16-bit (thousands)
- and 24-bit (millions).
- Note 3: Does not draw extremely wide arcs properly.
- Note 4: Sound break-up or distortion may occur during complex transitions.
- Note 5: The cursor sometimes disappears when using a large virtual desktop.
- Note 6: Video snow appears during some palette transitions.
-
-
- SOUND CARDS
-
- The following sound cards have been tested and are compatible with Director:
-
- Sound Card Notes and comments
-
- Compaq Business Audio
- Creative Labs SoundBlaster
- Creative Labs SoundBlaster Pro
- Creative Labs SoundBlaster 16
- Creative Labs SoundBlaster AWE32
- Gateway 2000
- IBM M-Audio *
- MediaVision ProAudio Spectrum
- MediaVision ProAudio Spectrum 16
- MediaVision ProAudio Spectrum 16 Pro
- Microsoft Windows SoundSystem Version 1
- Microsoft Windows SoundSystem Version 2
- Orchid SoundWave 32
- Reveal Forte 16
- Roland Rap-10
-
-
- * IBM computers that have the M-Audio sound card should use driver version 1.3 or
- higher for best results. Older versions of this driver don't play all sounds in Director or
- AVI movies. The version 1.3 driver did not pass the 16-bit sounds test for Director.
- Testing revealed that 8-bit sounds are corrupted when played after a 16-bit sound. At
- the time these release notes were written, version 1.3 (dated 1/10/94) was the most
- recent driver available from IBM.
-
-
- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
- 5. Running video clips using Sampler Disc 2
- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
-
- There are a number of video clips included on the CD-ROM, and these can be played at
- three different sizes, although the quality of each playback will depend on the power of
- your PC.
-
- The three sizes are:
-
- - small (240 x 180 pixels)
- - medium (320 x 240 pixels)
- - large (where the 'small' video clip is pixel-doubled to display at 640 x 480
- pixels)
-
- We recommend owners of 386 machines to select the 'small' option, owners of 486
- machines to select the 'medium' option, and owners of more powerful machines to try
- using the 'large' option, (Anyone having problems with the overall quality of the video,
- e.g. sound breaking up, should try switching to a smaller size display.)
-
-
-