Computer Inter@ctive 16

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Text File | 1997-11-20 | 17.7 KB | 428 lines

Kurian Thomas and Jayakrishnan K P R E S E N T ┌▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄┌──────────────────────┐▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄┐ │▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ RaPMusik Ver [1.04] │▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ ├▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀└──────────────────────┘▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀┤ | The Freeware \________________/ WAV/RPM Player | |_ \____________/ _| \____________________________/▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒\_____________________________/ \______________________________/ ■ Works even on a PC/XT !!! RaPMusik now has a slow mode that allows it to run even on a XT @10 Mhz. ■ WAV File Support RaPMusik can now playback any PCM (Pulse Code Modulated), Stereo/Mono, 16 bit or 8 bit .WAV files on the PC Speaker. ■ HGA/MGA (Monochrome) displays supported RaPMusik now supports the Monochrome 720x348 mode as also the earlier 640x200 CGA mode, which allows it to run on all graphics video adapters currently available. ■ Auto playback feature RaPMusik can now be asked to play a song a specified number of times and then exit to DOS. This will allow RaPMusik to be run from a batch file without any user intervention. ■ User defined colors Foreground as well as background colors used by RaPMusik can be set by the user. (The exact number of colors available depends on the video adapter present). ■ Default settings through environment variable RPM All default setting including the colors, volume, speed, repeats and device can be setup using the environment variable RPM. ■ Improved mouse handling Mouse handling routines have been improved so as to provide auto repeat features. The File selection now includes the drives present in the system, which allows you to change drives with the mouse. The mouse can also be used to delete portions of the filename string by blocking it. ■ Software incompatibility warnings Programs that switch the machine into protected mode, either to provide EMS memory or multitasking, but cause programs like RaPMusik to function incorrectly, are now detected at startup and a warning displayed. * \ \ \ \ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ \ █ █ \ ┌─────────────────┐╓────────▀──────────────────▀────┴───╖┌─────────────────┐ │╔═══════════════╗│║ ║│╔═══════════════╗│ │|░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░|│║ Record and Playback Music ║│|░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░|│ │ │║ ┌────────────────────────────────┐ ║│ │ │ _______ │║ │ ┌───────────┐ │ ║│ _______ │ │ / _____ \ │║ │ │ │ │ ║│ / _____ \ │ │ / / \ \ │║ │ │ * * │ ┌─┬─┬─┬─┐ │ ║│ / / \ \ │ │| / ▄ \ |│║ │ │ │ │0│0│0│0├┬┐ │ ║│| / ▄ \ |│ │| \ / |│║ │ └───────────┘ └─┴─┴─┴─┴▀┘ │ ║│| \ / |│ │ \ \ _____ / / │║ └─┬──┬──┬──┬──┬──┬───────────────┘ ║│ \ \ _____ / / │ │ \ _______ / │║ │██|██|██|██|██│ ╔═╗ ╔═╗ ╔╦╗ ║│ \ _______ / │ │ │║ └──┴──┴──┴──┴──┘ ╠╦╝ ╠═╝ ║ ║ ║│ │ └─────────────────┘╙────────────────────────────────────╜└─────────────────┘ Hardware Requirements: ====================== Minimum: PC XT @10 MHz 400KB free conventional memory A good Internal Speaker DOS ver 4.0 or above Recommended: PC AT 386 @33 MHz 500KB free conventional memory 1 MB free extended memory Mouse A good Internal Speaker (Sound Blaster/Covox, if available) DOS ver 4.0 or above Since a wave track of around 60 secs at 22050 Hz takes around 1 Mb of disk space, the entire file will not fit into the available conventional memory. This leads to buffer fill breaks during playback which may cause the music to pause occasionally to load the buffer. These breaks in the playback will not occur if there is sufficient free extended memory. Remember RaPMusik can use the available XMS memory only if HIMEM.SYS has been loaded. Power Tips: =========== ■ The scrolling of the message can be stopped at any time by using the space bar. This functions as a toggle switch. Next time you depress it, the scrolling resumes. ■ Rapmusik always waits for some time before repeating the playback. This wait period can be cut short by pressing the <Enter> key or the Left Mouse Button. ■ In the "Enter Filename" prompt under "Playback", the key <CTRL> <BKSP> will cause RaPMusik to delete characters until and including the last backslash. This is very useful when one wants to load another file from the same directory. Instead of keeping the <BKSP> key pressed, Just one press of <CTRL> <BKSP> and then <Enter> will allow you to view those files. ■ To obtain the title of a song when at DOS prompt, simply give a type command on the .rpm file. eq: assume that the title of the file "RHAP.RPM" has to obtained. Just execute the command given below TYPE RHAP.RPM to display the title of the RHAP.RPM file. ■ RaPMusik has the facility to load and start song playback. This is done by adding the filename as the command line parameter. eq: RPM c:\songs\RHAP.RPM one can also specify a directory, or include wildcard characters, which will cause RaPMusik to display a selection of the appropriate files. eq: RPM c:\songs RPM c:\songs\*.* ■ RaPMusik can be run in two modes, Manual and Automatic. The examples shown so far requires user intervention, either to start playback or to stop it.In Automatic mode RaPMusik runs a song a specified number of times before returning to DOS. eq: RPM c:\songs\RHAP.RPM 2 Will play the file RHAP.RPM two times and then return to DOS. This facility is useful when you want to run a series of specified songs one after the other from a batch file. NOTE: If ESC key is used to stop playback or if an error (like file not found) occurs,RaPMusik immediately reverts to Manual mode. ■ The syntax for the environment variable RPM is set RPM=DEVICE, M[f][s], Fno, Bno, Dno, Vno, Rno, G[on][off] where: DEVICE can be either SPK for Internal Speaker, SB for Sound Blaster or CV for Covox Speech Thing. (SPK) Optionally, the base address of playback device can be supplied. eq. set RPM=SB:220, will set the (220) base address of Sound Blaster to 220h. Similarly the base address of Covox can be set to LPT1 by setting RPM to CV:378. (378) M[f][s] is the Mode the demo should run in. Mf = Fast Mode, Ms = Slow Mode. (CALC) Fno is the Foreground color and no ranges from 0-63. (3) Bno is the Background color and no ranges from 0-63. (0) Dno is the Demo Speed and no ranges from 1-1000. (CALC) Vno is the Volume and no ranges from 1-10. (5) Rno is Number of Times the song should be repeated and no ranges from 1-30000. (30000) G[on][off] is to enable/disable the percentage bar that is displayed during disk accesses. (on) () = Default. (CALC) = Determined at run time by RaPMusik. NOTE: The command line gets precedence over the environment variable regarding the number of times the playback should occur. The HGA/MGA adapter cannot display colors and on this adapter, RaPMusik will always have the default setting of F7,B0. Colors from 16-63 are available only on the EGA/VGA cards. The background color (Bno) is valid only on EGA/VGA cards. On a normal CGA card the background color is always set to B0 (Black). If the default device is set to SB (Sound Blaster) and a Sound Blaster card is not present in the system, RaPMusik defaults to the Internal Speaker. If the machine is slow, or if RaPMusik is forced into slow mode through the "set RPM=Ms" command, the DEVICE is always taken to be SPK or CV. In other words, the Sound Blaster option is not available under slow mode. A question mark (?) for the foreground or background color, causes rapmusik to select a random color combination. Trouble Shooting: ================= If RaPMusik comes out after starting playback, stating that the machine may be slow after all, set the environment variable RaPMusik to Ms to force RaPMusik into Slow mode and then rerun RaPMusik. eq: C:\MUSIC> set RPM=Ms C:\MUSIC> RPM <┘ If RaPMusik refuses to load, or otherwise hangs, this could be due to an incompatibility or conflict with a resident program(TSR). Try executing RaPMusik after removing all TSR software from the system. Remember this includes any device drivers also. If RaPMusik loads, but the sound is garbled or not otherwise clear, Try executing RaPMusik after removing all TSR software including device drivers from memory. This can be achieved in DOS 6.00 and above by using the F5 key. Press F5 when the "Starting MS-DOS" message appears and you bypass execution of both config.sys and autoexec.bat. This will ensure that no TSR programs are currently in memory. If RaPMusik still fails to load, drop us a mail at "rpm@xtendmail.com" stating the machine type and configuration, current contents of the "config.sys" and "autoexec.bat" with complete details of what happened when "RPM.COM" was run. Sound Blaster & Covox: ====================== The original Sound Blaster has a maximum playback rate of just 23 KHz. Songs which require a playback rate larger than 23 KHz will therefore tend to drag during playback. It should be noted that this problem does not occur with the Sound Blaster Pro and later versions which have a maximum playback rate of 44 KHz. HGA/MGA Adapters: ================= The HGA/MGA adapters do not support color and RaPMusik always defaults to F7,B0 irrespective of the environment variable setting. On a HGA/MGA adapter RaPMusik uses only a small window of 640x200 on the screen of 720x384 pixels.RaPMusik uses the whole screen only in the CGA,EGA and VGA adapters. If your card supports both MGA and CGA, switching to CGA using the mode command(mode co80) will enable RaPMusik to use the entire screen. Protected Mode Warning: ======================= The INTEL 80286 microprocessor has what is called the REAL mode and the PROTECTED (PVAM) mode. The REAL mode exists for downward compatibility with the 8086 microprocessor, while the PROTECTED mode is designed keeping in mind the need to perform multitasking. In this mode the 80286 microprocessor has access to the full 16 MB of address space, as also virtual memory capacity of upto 1 GB. The next microprocessor by INTEL, the 80386 added a further mode called the Virtual 8086 mode which enables one 80386 to emulate multiple 8086 machines. This microprocessor also added the capability to address upto 4 GB of RAM (provided you can afford that much), virtual memory addressing of upto 64 Tb (Tera bytes) and a Memory Paging Unit which allows it to translate any given logical address to any given physical address. This Memory Paging Unit unfortunately functions only under the PROTECTED mode and the V8086 modes. Although DOS (at least until ver 5.00) worked primarily in REAL mode, Some wise programmer figured that it is possible to use the unused memory above 640KB and below 1 MB as UMB's on a 386, since all that has to be done is to ask the Memory Paging Unit to translate that logical address to a physical address above 1 MB. They fiddled around with the idea and came up with a further bonus (a EMS emulator) that would interpret EMS calls and swap in memory from above 1 MB. Thus a host of such software (including eventually EMM386) made their appearance. But as mentioned earlier, the Memory Paging Unit would work only under PROTECTED mode. Therefore these EMS emulators switch a 386 into PROTECTED mode to provide extra memory in the form of UMB's and EMS pages (which few current software recognise anyway). Under PROTECTED mode all interrupts are redirected to the root process and only then filter down to reach the application software. This interfers with programs that attempt to sustain high interrupt rates, thereby preventing such programs (including RaPMusik) from working as expected. The Solution: If RaPMusik reports that the machine is currently in PROTECTED mode, It is advisable to remove all EMS emulators, Multitasking OS etc. (It is best if you can completely bypass the execution of the config.sys and autoexec.bat files) and only then execute RaPMusik. Critical Error Messages: ======================== 1) STACK HANDLER FAILURE An error has occurred in the stack handling functions of RaPMusik. This should not occur under normal circumstances. If this error is occurring repeatedly, please report it and the circumstances under which it occurred to the authors. Solution: Rerun RaPMusik. 2) MALLOC FAILED The attempt to allocate memory using the C function malloc() has returned an error. This should not occur under normal circumstances. If this error is occurring repeatedly, please report it and the circumstances under which it occurred to the authors. Solution: Remove any TSR program is any and Rerun RaPMusik. 3) NEED GRAPHICS ADAPTER RaPMusik is unable to recognise the video adapter present in this system. RaPMusik supports the HGA/MGA mode and the CGA mode. Any other card (like the EGA and VGA cards) which are downward compatible with the CGA are also supported. Solution: Run RaPMusik on a system having a HGA/MGA, CGA, EGA or VGA card. 4) WINDOWS NESTED TOO DEEP The maximum number of windows that can be opened has been exceeded. This error should not occur under normal circumstances. If this error is occurring repeatedly, please report it and the circumstances under which it occurred to the authors. Solution: Rerun RaPMusik. 5) INVALID ENVIRONMENT SETTINGS This Error message occurs only if there is an internal buffer overflow while processing the RPM environment string. This occurs because the values specified in the environment variable are too large and therefore invalid. Solution: Correct or Remove the RPM environment variable using the DOS 'SET' command and then rerun RaPMusik. 7) DEFAULT ERROR HANDLER Critical Error: Error Code Not in Error Handler. This error should never occur. (I wouldn't bet on it - Murphy) Actually this message has been left in as a catch all for any other errors handler calls that may have been coded in. Be sure to inform us if this error is reported by RaPMusik. Solution: Rerun RaPMusik. Disclaimer: =========== RaPMusik can and does monopolize the use of system interrupts to achieve clarity during playback.Therefore it is recommended that RaPMusik should not be run under a multitasking shell like windows or in a file server. This software has been tested on a standalone PC AT 386 @40 MHz machine running DOS ver 6.22 and has been found to be functioning satisfactorily. This however does not imply that RaPMusik will work on all machines currently available. If you detect an incompatibility, kindly inform the authors about it. Policy: ======= THIS SOFTWARE CAN BE FREELY COPIED OR GIVEN AWAY PROVIDED - 1) NO MODIFICATIONS ARE MADE TO THE FILES "RPM.COM" & "RPM.DOC" 2) THIS DOCUMENTATION MUST ACCOMPANY EVERY COPY OF THE "RPM.COM" EXECUTABLE FILE. 3) NO FEE IS CHARGED ON ANY PERSON DESIRING TO OBTAIN THIS DEMO. Contact Address: ================ Xtend Technologies (P) Ltd. "Blue Hill", Kalathiparambil Lane Ernakulam South, Kochi - 682 016. Phone: +91-484-366495, 362447 Mail : rpm@xtendmail.com BBS : +91-484-366495 Web : http://www.xtendtech.com X--------------------------------------------------------------------------X ------------------ ------------ -------