This Read Me file contains information on the following topics:
1. System requirements for running Eyewitness Science
2. Installing Eyewitness Science
3. Performance problems
4. Running Eyewitness Science with low memory
5. Sound problems
6. Screen size and color configuration
7. Printing and copying
8. Playing Video
If you need further technical support on any Dorling Kindersley product, please call the Multimedia Helpline with details of the problem, including any error messages that were produced, and the full specification of your Macintosh.
• Eyewitness Science may be run directly from the CD simply by double-clicking on the application icon.
• For improved performance, you can install Eyewitness Science on your hard disk. To do this, drag the folder called 'Eyewitness Science ƒ' to your hard disk. Open the folder and double-click the Eyewitness Science application icon.
• Note that Sound Manager 3.0 is required for systems up to System 7.5 (if you have 7.5 you should NOT update your Sound Manager). The program will give an error message if it is not present. To install Sound Manager 3.0, drag the Sound Manager extension and the Sound control panel from the folder labeled 'System Software' on the 'Eyewitness Science' CD onto the System Folder on your hard disk. Restart your Macintosh before retrying to start Eyewitness Science. If you still experience problems with Sound Manager 3.0 contact your Apple dealer for further help.
• Note that QuickTime™ 2.0 is required for systems up to System 7.5 (if you have 7.5 you should NOT update your QuickTime™). The program will give an error message if it is not present. To install QuickTime™ 2.0, drag the QuickTime™ extension (and the QuickTime™ PowerPlug extension if you have a PowerPC) from the folder labeled 'System Software' on the 'Eyewitness Science' CD onto the System Folder on your hard disk. Restart your Macintosh before retrying to start Eyewitness Science. If you still experience problems with QuickTime™ 2.0 contact your Apple dealer for further help.
If Eyewitness Science runs slowly or sound output is interrupted, try the following suggestions:
• Running Eyewitness Science with less than 2.4MB of free RAM can cause problems (see section 4, Running Eyewitness Science with low memory). If your Macintosh has more than 2.4MB of memory available, the program can be set to take advantage of this. To do this, first install the program on your hard disk (see section 1, Installing Eyewitness Science). Select the 'Eyewitness Science' icon and choose Get Info from the File menu in the Finder. You can then use the Get Info dialog box to increase the amount of memory set aside for Eyewitness Science. Allocating more memory to the program can improve performance.
• Running Eyewitness Science with your Macintosh in Virtual Memory mode can cause sound break-up. In Virtual Memory mode, your Macintosh uses a section of its hard drive as RAM. Although this increases the free RAM available to Eyewitness Science, access to that RAM can be slow. For best performance, use the Memory control panel to turn Virtual Memory off and then restart your Macintosh.
• An old or slow CD-ROM drive will impair the program's performance. The only solution to this problem is to upgrade your CD-ROM drive.
• SCSI termination problems can affect your CD-ROM drive. Your CD-ROM drive must be either internally or externally terminated. Consult your Macintosh documentation for more information on SCSI termination.
• You may have performance problems playing the large animations and transitions if your Macintosh is an older or low specification model. You can disable the transitions functionality by deselecting transitions in the Eyewitness Science Options window. Transitions will be deselected automatically when Eyewitness Science is started up for certain models whose performance will be enhanced without them. They can be enabled by selecting transitions in the Eyewitness Science Options window. If problems occur trying to get to the Eyewitness Science Options window the transitions may be defaulted to off automatically by dragging the file labeled 'Eyewitness Science Prefs' on the 'Eyewitness Science' CD onto the Preferences Folder in the System Folder on your hard disk.
• Eyewitness Science requires 2.4MB of free RAM to run. You can check on the amount of RAM available by opening the About This Macintosh dialog box from the Apple menu in the Finder. If you have 4MB of RAM and your system software is using more than 1.6MB then you will have less than 2.4MB of free RAM available. If this is the case, then try the following suggestions to free up additional RAM:
• Make sure you have only one application running at a time.
• You may be able to reduce the amount of memory used by your system software by removing unused Apple menu items, fonts, extensions, sounds, etc. from your system folder. These items can occupy considerable amounts of memory and their removal may allow Eyewitness Science enough RAM to run efficiently. Consult your Macintosh documentation for more information on how to remove these items.
• If you still have less than 2.4MB of RAM free, you can allocate some hard disk space to work as Virtual Memory. You can set your Macintosh to use Virtual Memory by using the Memory control panel. Using Virtual Memory will, however, slow your Macintosh's access time to RAM and may cause sound and video breakup.
• Eyewitness Science can be set to run in less than the recommended 2.4MB of RAM. To do this, first install the program to your hard disk (see section 1, Installing Eyewitness Science). Select 'Eyewitness Science' icon and choose Get Info from the File menu in the Finder. You can then use the Get Info dialog box to decrease the amount of minimum and preferred memory set aside for Eyewitness Science. Allocating less memory to the program may allow the program to run, but may also affect the program's performance.
• Do not set the preferred memory size to more than or equal to the amount of free RAM on your system as this may cause problems for the system.
If Eyewitness Science produces no sound at all, check the following points:
• Use the Sound control panel to check that the sound volume level on your machine is turned up.
• If you have external speakers, check that they are on and that their volume control is turned up.
• If you wish to use either the internal or external speakers, make sure that you have not left headphones plugged in.
• If Eyewitness Science produces interrupted or distorted sound, check the following points:
• If the sound volume level in the Sound control panel is set at maximum volume, it may cause sound to distort. The same problem may occur with external speakers set at maximum volume. Experiment with different volume levels until you find a comfortable sound level.
• Running your Macintosh in Virtual Memory mode can cause sound breakup. In Virtual Memory mode your Macintosh uses a section of its hard drive as RAM. Although this increases the free RAM available to Eyewitness Science, access to sounds stored in that RAM can be slow. For best performance, use the Memory control panel to turn Virtual Memory off, and then restart your Macintosh.
• The built-in speakers supplied with Macintosh computers vary in quality depending on the age and model of the machine. A poor-quality speaker may cause distorted sound, especially at high volume levels.
• Eyewitness Science requires the Macintosh to have some spare memory available to generate the sounds. For this reason, do not allocate quite all the available memory to Eyewitness Science when you start it up. See section 4. on Running Eyewitness Science with low memory for more details on how to set the memory allocation.
• Eyewitness Science will run on any color monitor with a resolution of 640x480. When run, Eyewitness Science will automatically set your system to run in 256 color (8-bit) mode. The program will work on a grayscale monitor, but is not designed to work in black and white.
• Eyewitness Science is not designed to run on multiple monitors. If you have such a setup, the program will run on your primary monitor only.
• Screens in Eyewitness Science are stored and displayed as color pictures. They are optimised for screen rather than print reproduction. Screen images can be printed, however, and will be of the same quality as a picture made with a screen-capture function.
• Black and white prints will be of poor quality. If you have a laser printer, better quality images will be achieved by using the color/grayscale option.
• Both Print and Copy functions may be affected by low memory. Refer to section 4, Running Eyewitness Science with low memory.
• Video screens can not be printed or copied using the Eyewitness Science print and copy options. They can however, be printed with a screen-capture function.
• If Eyewitness Science fails to play any video at all the most likely reason is that Quicktime is not installed on your system. (Quicktime is normally installed as part of System 7.5, but even if your Macintosh is running System 7.5, there is no guarantee that Quicktime is available-someone may have removed it from your Macintosh system). If you suspect Quicktime is not installed see section 2, Installing Eyewitness Science.
• If the videos played in Eyewitness Science are slow or jumpy this may be due to Virtual Memory being turned "on" on your Macintosh. Use the Memory control panel to make sure that Virtual Memory is switched off.
Networking can also cause a delay in access to video files. If your Macintosh is connected to a network, try disconnecting it.
• You may have performance problems playing the large video panel if your Macintosh is an older or low specification model. You can disable the large video panel functionality by deselecting Large Video in the Eyewitness Science Options window.
