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Fractal Mania v1.1 for DOS BBS Special Edition
Table of Contents
1.0 INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL EDITION
2.0 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
3.0 INSTALLATION
3.1 ADDING FRACTAL MANIA TO YOUR AUTOEXEC.BAT FILE
4.0 USING FRACTAL MANIA v1.1 FOR DOS
4.1 COMMAND LINE OPTIONS
4.2 HOTKEYS
5.0 CONFIGURING FRACTAL MANIA
6.0 HOW TO CONTACT US
7.0 CUSTOM PROGRAMMING
8.0 TECHNICAL SUPPORT
9.0 OTHER DESERT FROG PRODUCTS
9.1 DESERT FROG SCREEN SCENES
9.2 SHOWLOGO
10.0 REGISTRATION AND SITE LICENSES
1.0 INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL EDITION
Fractal Mania v1.1 for DOS (Fractal Mania) is the latest in
a line of sophisticated DOS screen savers from Desert Frog
Software. Unlike most other DOS screen savers, Fractal
Mania does something fun when it blanks the screen. Fractal
Mania can display up to 100 different 256-color palette-
animated fractal scenes for your enjoyment.
This special edition provides a 5-minute delay before
popping up and randomly chooses between the 3 fractal
scenes included.
The registered version comes with a separate utility program
called FMCONFIG. FMCONFIG allows you to enable, disable or
view each scene individually. The length of time to delay
before popping up can be set to between 1 and 60 minutes.
Password protection can be enabled, preventing unauthorized
use of your PC. The palette animation speed can be
controlled to allow you to adjust for the speed of your PC.
Fractal Mania looks at the keyboard, mouse and printer to
decide when it should pop up. This means that it will not
pop up when you are entering data or printing. Fractal
Mania detects when Microsoft Windows 3.0 or greater is
active and avoids interfering with it.
Fractal Mania also detects when you are using a SVGA video
mode and blanks the screen if it cannot properly save and
restore that mode. During telecommunication sessions,
Fractal Mania detects that your modem is active and blanks
the screen instead of popping up a fractal. This allows
your communication session to proceed unimpeded.
The fractal scenes in this program were generated using
FRACTINT, a freeware fractal program produced by the Stone
Soup Group.
2.0 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Fractal Mania for DOS v1.1 requires a hard disk and a VGA
video card and monitor. Expanded memory is recommended but
not required. The program works with DOS versions 2.0 to
6.2 and is compatible with Microsoft and Logitech mice.
OS/2 and Geoworks are NOT supported (see below for
coexistence with unsupported programs).
Fractal Mania requires 256K of available RAM during
installation and removal from memory. Fractal Mania's hard
disk space requirements vary with the number of fractal
scenes you install. Fractal Mania occupies about 7K of RAM
when waiting to pop up.
3.0 INSTALLATION
Fractal Mania is easy to install. Create a directory on the
hard disk, preferably with the name FRACTALM. Copy the
contents of this ZIP file into that directory, and you are
ready to go.
The Fractal Mania program itself is called FRACTALM.EXE. To
run it enter the path and file name as shown below (assuming
that Fractal Mania is installed in a directory called
FRACTALM on your C: drive):
C:\FRACTALM\FRACTALM
Using the full path as shown above, guarantees that Fractal
Mania can find its files when trying to pop up.
3.1 ADDING FRACTAL MANIA TO YOUR AUTOEXEC.BAT FILE
The best way to use Fractal Mania is to add it to your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file. This file is basically a list of
commands that are performed each time you turn on your PC.
By adding Fractal Mania to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, you will
save yourself from having to run it manually.
Fractal Mania should be loaded after any network drivers or
communication programs or other programs that receive real-
time messages. Fractal Mania should also be loaded after
multitasking software like DesqView or OmniView. Finally,
Fractal Mania should be loaded before any DOS Shell or menu
programs.
As an example, assume you have installed Fractal Mania in
the C:\FRACTALM directory. You would then add the following
line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
C:\FRACTALM\FRACTALM
Do NOT add this line to your PATH statement. It should be a
separate line.
Using the full path as shown above, guarantees that Fractal
Mania can find it's files when trying to pop up.
The next time you reboot or power up the system, Fractal
Mania will be automatically loaded and ready to save your
screen.
4.0 USING FRACTAL MANIA FOR DOS v1.1
Fractal Mania has a wealth of options, allowing you to
customize the program for your system and personal style.
When you run the program, you can set one or more command
line options. Once the program is installed in memory, you
can use the menu system or the hotkeys to further control
the operation of the program. You can also just run the
program without using any of the options. In the vast
majority of cases everything will work perfectly without any
further effort on your part.
4.1 COMMAND LINE OPTIONS
Fractal Mania can accept various commands when it is run
from the DOS prompt. There are two types of command line
options. One type controls how Fractal Mania configures
itself. This type is entered when Fractal Mania is first
run, and the configurations they set do not change while the
program is in memory. The other type commands Fractal Mania
to do something now. These only work when Fractal Mania is
already active.
The following are command line options. They are entered
like this: FRACTALM /D /S C:\FRACTALM. This set of options
tells Fractal Mania to always swap to the disk and to put
its swap files in the FRACTALM directory on the C: drive.
The command line options are:
/D Force disk swapping. Allows you to prevent
Fractal Mania from using expanded memory. You would want to
choose this option if you need to reserve the expanded
memory for another program, or if you have an extended
memory RAM disk that you would like to use for the Fractal
Mania swap files.
/G Go to sleep. Allows the user to prevent Fractal
Mania from popping up automatically. It is not necessary to
use this command when running your telecommunications
software. Also useful if Fractal Mania causes problems when
popping up over a particular program. Use this command line
option when Fractal Mania is already active.
/H hexkey Specify TSR hotkey in hexadecimal notation.
It is possible that one of the programs you use may itself
use the default <ALT><LeftShift><I> hotkey for something.
If that is the case you will want to change the hotkey which
activates Fractal Mania to something else. This option
allows you to do so. Two alternate hotkeys are:
<ALT><LeftShift><Z> (enter A2C as the hexkey) and <ALT><TAB>
(enter 80F as the hexkey). See section 4.2.1 CREATING
CUSTOM HOTKEYS for instructions on creating hotkeys other
than those shown above.
/M Disable swapping messages. Fractal Mania normally
displays a message when swapping itself to and from the hard
disk. If you don't want the message displayed, select this
option.
/N No mouse detection before popping up. The Fractal
Mania mouse motion detection routine may conflict with some
programs. Use this option to disable the mouse detection in
case of conflicts.
/S path Specify drive and directory for swap files. When
swapping itself to the disk, Fractal Mania normally puts
it's swap files in the C:\ directory. If you want them
stored somewhere else, use this option to enter the drive
and directory to use. Use this command to change the drive
to one that has more space if you see a message like "Swap
path invalid or insufficient swap space" when you run
FRACTALM.EXE.
/U Unload Fractal Mania. Removes Fractal Mania from
memory. This will not be possible if another TSR program
has been loaded after Fractal Mania. Fractal Mania will
provide a message on the screen telling whether or not it
was successfully unloaded. Use this command line option
when Fractal Mania is already active.
/W Wake up. Reactivates the Fractal Mania automatic
pop-up code. Use this command when the program is asleep
and you are ready for it to resume it's automatic function.
Use this command line option when Fractal Mania is already
active.
/? Show these command line options. Use this command
line option when Fractal Mania is already active.
4.2 HOTKEYS
Hotkeys are commands to Fractal Mania that can be used at
any time, including while another program is running! Each
hotkey is actually a pair of keys depressed simultaneously.
Hotkeys are shown like this in the descriptions that follow:
<ALT><LSHFT><I> This means to depress the ALT, Left
Shift and I keys simultaneously. It is called the Alt-Left
Shift-I hotkey.
<ALT><LSHFT><I> Alt-Left Shift-I the "Instant-on"
hotkey. When pressed, this hotkey tells Fractal Mania to
immediately display a scene. If Fractal Mania is swapping
to disk it will actually take several seconds for the scene
to appear. If Fractal Mania is popping up over a graphics-
mode program there will be an additional delay while Fractal
Mania stores the contents of video RAM on the hard disk.
<ALT><LSHFT><G> Alt-Left Shift-G tells Fractal Mania to
go to sleep. This hotkey is useful when you don't want
Fractal Mania to pop up automatically. It is also useful if
Fractal Mania causes problems when popping up over a
particular program. For situations where you know you will
always want Fractal Mania to sleep, you are better off using
the command line switches in a batch file as described in
section 4.1.
<ALT><LSHFT><W> Alt-Left Shift-W tells Fractal Mania to
wake up. This hotkey reactivates the Fractal Mania automatic
pop-up code. Use this command when the program is asleep
and you are ready for it to resume it's automatic function.
There is an equivalent command line switch that can be used
in a batch file (see section 4.1).
5.0 CONFIGURING FRACTAL MANIA
Aside from the Command Line switches, the unregistered
version of Fractal Mania does not provide any configuration
controls. The pop-up delay, scene selection, palette
animation speed and password control are all controlled
using FMCONFIG, a stand-alone program provided to registered
users.
6.0 HOW TO CONTACT US
There are three good ways to contact Desert Frog Software.
They are:
Phone: (602) 843-0183
U.S. Mail: Desert Frog Software
P.O. Box 10413
Glendale, AZ 85318-0413
CompuServe: 70641,1102
Ask for Bill Mann.
7.0 CUSTOM PROGRAMMING
Desert Frog Software provides custom programming services.
We specialize in graphically-oriented applications for DOS
and Windows and provide a high-quality scanning service.
Custom versions of this program are also available.
To discuss your project contact Bill Mann at (602) 843-0183.
We are located in Arizona, which is always on Mountain
Standard Time. Our time is two or three hours earlier than
on the East Coast and the same time as, or one hour later
than, the West Coast, depending on time of year.
8.0 TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Desert Frog Software provides free technical support to
users of our products. Please see section 6.0 HOW TO
CONTACT US.
9.0 OTHER DESERT FROG PRODUCTS
Desert Frog Software has produced some other screen-saver
programs you may be interested in.
9.1 DESERT FROG SCREEN SCENES
Desert Frog Screen Scenes (Screen Scenes) provides 49 (16 if
you don't have a VGA system) different scenes for your
enjoyment. The wide range of scenes includes a
kaleidoscope, an aquarium full of Crazy Fish, the long-
awaited hopping frog scene and a set of wild 256-color
palette-animated fractals!
9.2 SHOWLOGO
ShowLogo is a business-oriented screen saver. Both DOS and
Windows versions are now available. Instead of the wild
graphics that are displayed by Fractal Mania, ShowLogo
displays a scanned or painted image in the popular .PCX
format. ShowLogo allows you to display your own scanned or
painted image, or you may have your image professionally
scanned by Desert Frog Software. ShowLogo also allows the
user to lock the system or leave a message. VGA and a hard
disk are required.
The DOS and Windows versions of ShowLogo share configuration
files so the settings you make in DOS carry across to
Windows and vice versa. Please contact Desert Frog Software
directly for more information.
10.0 REGISTRATION AND SITE LICENSES
Discounted site licenses are available for all Desert Frog
products. See section 6.0 for information on how to contact
us directly.
Fractal Mania is shareware. US and International
registration information is shown below. Please use the
enclosed order form to expedite your order.
U.S. REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Send the materials listed below to:
Name: _______________________________________________
Address: _______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
I understand that all payment must be made using a check
drawn on a US bank or an international money order.
Qty. Item Unit Price Total Price
--- ----------------------------- ---------- -----------
___ Fractal Mania v1.1B $15.00 ___________
___ Additional Fractal Disk #1 $5.00 ___________
___ Additional Fractal Disk #2 $5.00 ___________
___ Combo Pack (Fractal Mania +
both Fractal disks) $23.00 ___________
Shipping and Handling + $2.00
Total ___________
Disk Type: 5 1/4 ___ 3 1/2 ___
Please send your order to:
Desert Frog Software
Fractal Mania BBS Edition
P.O. Box 10413
Glendale, AZ 85318-0413
Please help us out by answering the following question:
Where did you get your shareware copy of Fractal Mania?
[ ] BBS ___________________ [ ] Catalog _________________
[ ] Friend [ ] Other ____________________________________
EUROPEAN REGISTRATION INFORMATION
The registration fee for Fractal Mania v1.1 is 17 Pounds
Sterling. This includes the additional fractal disks as
well as shipping and handling. This fee may change due to
exchange rate changes. Please contact Hillfoots Data
Services for the current fee.
Send your registration to:
Hillfoots Data Services
Mains House
Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire
FK13 6PQ, UK
Name ____________________________________________________
Address ____________________________________________________
Address ____________________________________________________
Address ____________________________________________________
Address ____________________________________________________
Disk Format: [ ] 3.5" [ ] 5.25"
Quantity Price per copy Total
____ Fractal Mania v1.1B 17 Pounds Sterling _____
Total _____
1.1d
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND REGISTRATION INFORMATION
The registration fee for Fractal Mania v1.1 is $35.00
Australian. This includes the additional fractal disks as
well as shipping and handling.
Orders Can be placed with:
BUDGETWARE
P.O. Box 496
Newtown NSW 2042
AUSTRALIA
Phone (02) 519-4233 Int'l +61 2 5194233
Fax (02) 516 4236 Int'l +61 2 5164236
BUDGETWARE accepts cheques, money orders, BANKCARD, VISA
and MASTERCARD.
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND REGISTRATION FORM
Name ____________________________________________________
Address ____________________________________________________
Address ____________________________________________________
Address ____________________________________________________
Address ____________________________________________________
Disk Format: [ ] 3.5" [ ] 5.25"
Quantity Price per copy Total
____ Fractal Mania v1.1B $35.00 Australian _____
Total _____
1.1d