Contents of Microsoft Dinosaurs for the Macintosh README File
PSS ID Number: Q107768
Article last modified on 11-30-1993
PSS database name: MMTitles

1.00

MACINTOSH


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The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft Dinosaurs for the Macintosh, version 1.0
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SUMMARY
=======

The following is the complete text of the README file that comes
with Microsoft Dinosaurs for the Macintosh. This document has not been
edited or modified by PSS.

======================================================================
Microsoft Dinosaurs Version 1.0 README File
======================================================================

This README File contains information on the following
topics:

Section Description
---------------------
1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR RUNNING DINOSAURS
    What you need to run Dinosaurs
2. SCREEN SIZES AND COLOR CONFIGURATION
    What makes Dinosaurs look best
3. SOUND PROBLEMS
    Common problems playing sounds, and how to fix them
4. RUNNING IN LOW MEMORY OR RUNNING SLOWLY
    Make Dinosaurs run on low-memory machines
5. PRINTING AND COPYING
    How to print and copy Dinosaurs screens
6. OVERVIEW MOVIE
    Running the Overview Movie
7. DEMONSTRATION MODE
    How to make Dinosaurs run a slide show

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1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR RUNNING DINOSAURS
--------------------------------------------------------

To install and run Dinosaurs you need:

a Macintosh computer with a Macintosh-compatible color monitor
System 6.0.7 or later.
4 MB of memory.
1 MB of available hard disk space.
a CD-ROM drive.

You can run Dinosaurs directly from the compact disc. To
play the movies, certain files must be in your system
folder (QuickTime is the most important). You can drag
these from the System Files folder on the CD into your
System Folder. If Dinosaurs can't find these files, it
will prompt you to run the Installer.

The Installer will add any necessary files to your
System Folder. It will also copy the Dinosaurs program
files to a folder titled "Microsoft Dinosaurs" on your
hard disk; this makes the program load a little faster
when you start it.  The sounds and pictures remain on the
CD, so you still need to insert the CD to run Dinosaurs.

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2. SCREEN SIZES AND COLOR CONFIGURATION
----------------------------------------

On startup, Dinosaurs checks your monitor and displays
the images as best it can on your Macintosh. If your
video mode can be adjusted to make Dinosaurs run better,
the program will prompt you to do so.

Dinosaurs will run on any Macintosh compatible color
monitor, although the Dinosaur movies look best in
"Thousands of colors."

Dinosaurs is not designed to run in black and white.

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3. SOUND PROBLEMS
------------------

Sound may be inaudible if the sound level is turned
down. To set the sound level, use the Sound control
panel, and experiment with the speaker volume setting
until you get a comfortable sound level. If you set
the sound level to maximum, you may get sound distortion
just as you would on a stereo system.

If your Macintosh is running in Virtual Memory mode, you
may find that sounds will break-up: when Virtual Memory
is turned on, these are sometimes placed on the hard disk
rather than into real RAM. For best performance, turn off
Virtual Memory. To do this in System 7, bring up the
Memory control panel, choose the Virtual Memory Off
option, and then restart the computer. Note - Dinosaur
movies will not run with Virtual Memory turned on.

Macintosh computers have built-in speakers. The speakers
vary in quality and loudness depending on which Macintosh
you have.

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4.  RUNNING IN LOW MEMORY OR RUNNING SLOWLY
-------------------------------------------

Dinosaurs should run on any Macintosh with 4 MB of
memory.

If Dinosaurs runs slowly or displays out-of-memory
messages, it probably does not have enough free memory.
Here are some things you can do to help:

Run only one application at a time. If other
applications are running, close them, then start
Dinosaurs again.

Try running Dinosaurs in 16 color mode.  To do this,
reset your video mode in your monitors control panel,
then restart Dinosaurs.  When Dinosaurs requests to
change your video mode press the Continue button.

Reduce the amount of memory being used by your
system software. In the Finder, choose About this
Macintosh from the Apple menu to see how much memory
your computer has and how much is being used by the
system. If, for example, the dialog box displays
"Total memory  4,096K" and the line underneath displays
"System Software   3,500K," this indicates that you have
4 megabytes of RAM, but the Macintosh is using 3.5 of
those for its operating system. In this case, there is
little unused memory for running applications.  Any
applications that are running will also be listed in
this box.

You may be able to reduce the amount of memory used
by the system. The process for doing this will differ
depending on whether you are running a version of System
7 or System 6. In either case, you may have many fonts
or DAs (Apple menu items) installed, and could remove
those you are not using. For instructions on removing
fonts or DAs, refer to your Macintosh documentation.
Utilities such as screen savers and desk pictures
also occupy RAM.
Under System 7, you may have system extensions you do
not need, such as printer drivers for printers you don't
have. If you remove items like these to free memory,
make sure to keep copies somewhere on your hard disk or
on a backup disk so that you can re-install them if you
need them later.

Dinosaurs is pre-set to its preferred memory size.
You can change the amount of memory the program uses by
choosing Get Info from the File menu in the Finder, and
then changing the memory allocation.  If you don't have
enough memory to launch Dinosaurs, you can set Dinosaurs
to use less memory.

Be warned that a low memory setting may cause the
program to perform poorly. For example, it may not play
sounds or display pop-up windows if it runs out of
memory. If you allocate Dinosaurs less than 1.8 MB,
problems are likely to result.

------------------------
5.  PRINTING AND COPYING
------------------------

The screens in Dinosaurs are stored and displayed as
large color pictures, which are optimized for best
screen reproduction rather than for print reproduction.
You can, however, print screen images, which will be of
the same quality as a screen shot made with a screen-
capture function.

Dinosaurs may not print to some low-resolution dot
matrix printers, such as the Apple ImageWriter.  If you
encounter problems printing to a dot matrix printer,
you may try copying the image to the clipboard, using
the Copy command from the Edit menu, and then pasting
the image into another application which supports dot
matrix printing, such as MacPaint, or Microsoft Works.

If you have only a black-and-white printer, Dinosaurs
will not print very well. Dinosaurs can print better
grayscale images--if you have a laser printer, choose
the Color/grayscale option for better quality. You can
also print in color if you have a color printer.
Depending on the type of printer you have, printing a
picture may take several minutes. Because the pictures
can be quite large, you may have difficulty copying or
printing in low-memory conditions.  In this case, close
all other applications and then try again.

The Print and Copy commands affect only the topmost
window.

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6. OVERVIEW MOVIE
-------------------

If you have difficulty running the Overview Movie try the
following:

Some Macintosh high end video cards do not support 16
colors, on these systems the Overview Movie looks best in
Thousands or Millions of colors.  Use the monitors
control panel to change the video mode.

Some high end video cards require more memory for the
Overview Movie to run.  If you are experiencing out of
memory errors you may change the memory allocation for
the Overview Movie.  To do this you will need to copy the
Overview Movie to your hard disk and increase the
preferred memory setting in the Get Info dialog from the
Finder's File menu.

Note: To quit the Overview Movie under System 6.0 press
"Command Q".

----------------------
7. DEMONSTRATION MODE
----------------------

Dinosaurs has a demonstration mode that begins an
automatic random "slide show" when the computer has been
idle for a certain period.

To activate demonstration mode, hold down the Shift key
while you click the Slideshow button in the Options
dialog. This displays a dialog box. Check the "Start
random automatically" box and specify the number of idle
minutes that must elapse before starting the slide show,
then click OK.

The slide show will end automatically as soon as you use
Dinosaurs again.

Demonstration mode will remain active until you turn it
off: to do this, hold down Shift again and click the
Slideshow button in the Options dialog, clear the "Start
random automatically" box in the dialog box, and then
click OK.

Additional reference words: 1.0 macmm dinosaurs readme readme.txt multi
media multimedia multi-media read me text

Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1993.