Strauss: README.TXT Contents
  
PSS ID Number: Q118460
Article last modified on 12-14-1995
 
1994
 
WINDOWS
 

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The information in this article applies to:
 
 - Microsoft Multimedia Strauss for Windows, version 1.0
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SUMMARY
=======
 
The following information is the contents of the README.TXT file in
the root directory of the Multimedia Strauss CD. The text below remains
as released in the README.TXT file, and has not been edited by PSS.
 
=====================================================================
                                README.TXT
=====================================================================
 
Multimedia Strauss version 1.0 README file
Microsoft Corporation
May 6, 1994
 
This file contains information about Multimedia Strauss not
included in the User's Guide.
 
To read this file on-screen, use the Page Down and Page Up keys.
You can also print the file by choosing the Print command from
the File menu in any Windows word-processing program.  If you
open this file in Windows Write, Microsoft Word, or another
word-processor, it will be easier to read if you select the
entire document and format the text in 10-point Courier.
 
This README file contains important information on the following
topics:
 
Section   Description
-------   -------------------------------------------------------
 
   1      RUNNING IN LOW MEMORY OR RUNNING SLOWLY
 
   2      CD-ROM PROBLEMS
 
   3      VIDEO DISPLAY PROBLEMS
 
   4      AUDIO PROBLEMS
 
   5      MEDIAVISION CDPC PROBLEMS
 
   6     TANDY SENSATION SETUP PROBLEMS
 
=================================================================
1.  RUNNING IN LOW MEMORY OR RUNNING SLOWLY
=================================================================
 
Strauss uses your computer's system memory to display
pictures.  If you find that Strauss runs slowly or if
you encounter out-of-memory errors, Strauss probably
doesn't have enough memory.  Consider doing the following to
improve your computer's performance:
 
 * Close all unnecessary applications.
 
 * Determine how much memory your computer has available by
   typing "mem" and pressing ENTER at the DOS prompt.  You need
   a minimum of 4MB (4,194,304 bytes) of total memory to use
   Strauss.  If you do not have at least 4MB of
   memory, you may not be able to run Strauss until
   you add more memory.
 
 * If you are running Windows in Enhanced mode, set up a
   permanent Windows swap file on your hard disk.  We recommend
   you have at least a 3MB swap file.  See your Windows User's Guide
   for more information.
 
 * Defragment ("clean up") your hard disk by running a
   defragmentation program.
 
=================================================================
2.  CD-ROM PROBLEMS
=================================================================
 
NOTE - Do not remove the Strauss compact disc from
your CD-ROM drive while Strauss is in the process of
playing music or displaying a new picture.
 
In order to run properly, Strauss requires an
MPC-compatible CD-ROM drive. An MPC-compatible drive
"has an average seek time of less than one second and
can transfer data from the compact disc at 150K per
second while using less than 40% of the CPU bandwidth."
If you are having problems, check the documentation that
came with your CD-ROM drive to make sure it meets these
requirements.  An incompatible CD-ROM drive will slow down
the performance of Strauss.
 
If the Strauss program cannot find the data files
that it needs from the Strauss compact disc, you'll
see a message that tells you that the correct CD must be
in the drive to continue.  To find the source of the problem,
do the following:
 
 * Make sure the Strauss compact disc is correctly
   inserted into the CD-ROM drive.
 
 * Make sure the CD Audio driver is correctly installed.
   See AUDIO PROBLEMS section below.
 
 * If you have an external CD-ROM drive, make sure the
   drive is connected to your computer, plugged in, and turned
   on.  If you still see the error message after checking the
   points above, check the documentation that came with your
   CD-ROM drive or contact the company that supplied the drive.
 
--------------
CD Drivers
--------------
 
There are many places in Multimedia Strauss where you are able to
see rectangles highlight the music as it is played.  If you
are using a Trantor Systems Ltd. driver, tslcdr.sys, Strauss may
not always receive updates of the current location on the CD.  This
driver may cause the rectangles to skip sections of the music. The
driver version 1.46f is particularly problematic, causing the pages in
the Close Reading to not flip with the music.  If you are using
version
1.46f, you should switch to a different driver.
 
------------------
SOUND CARD PROBLEM
------------------
 
A driver which comes with the new Pro Audio Vision Sound card,
version 1.46f, causes problems in Multimedia Strauss.  This
driver does not keep track of the time elapsed when it is playing
CD Audio, which causes the pages to turn incorrectly in the Close
Reading chapters.  Version 1.46 of this driver does not have this
problem, so switching to this driver will allow Strauss to work
properly.
 
=================================================================
3.  VIDEO DISPLAY PROBLEMS
=================================================================
 
Multimedia Strauss is a 256-color application.  In order to fully
appreciate the many beautiful images in Strauss, you need a video
card which supports 256 colors in 640x480 resolution.  If your
computer is capable of displaying only 16 colors, you will still be
able to use Strauss, but some things may look very strange.  We
highly recommend that you run Multimedia Strauss in 256 color mode.
If your computer is running in 16-color mode, and the video card
will support 256 colors in 640x480 resolution, you should run
Windows Setup to change the screen driver to see Strauss
at its highest image quality.
 
------------
ATI DRIVERS
------------
 
Multimedia Strauss is incompatible with some advanced features
used by some video cards such as the Mach32 chip set running the
ATI drivers and ATI's ULTRA driver with Crystal fonts.
 
Special Note: Using Strauss with ATI video cards
 
If you are using an ATI video card and one of the "mach" video drivers
(mach8 or mach32) as your Windows display driver*, the Device Bitmaps
setting for the video card must be set to "Off".  This enables the
animations in Strauss to run properly.  To check/change this setting,
do the following:
 
   1.   Launch the Mach FlexDesk Control Panel by double-clicking on
   the "mach FlexDesk Control Panel" icon usually found in the
   "mach Utilities" program group in Program Manager.  The "mach
   Utilities" group is created when you run the ATI mach video
   driver setup program.
   2.   Click the "Advanced..." button.
   3.   Make sure "Device Bitmaps" is set to "Off", or set it to
   "Off" if it is not.
   4.   Click OK to close the FlexDesk Advanced Settings.
   5.   Click OK to close the FlexDesk Control Panel.
 
You will need to restart Windows for the changes to take effect.
 
*You can verify the Windows Display driver selection by launching the
"Windows Setup" icon found in the "Main" program group of the Windows
Program Manager.
 
For information about ATI video cards or the ATI installation utility
referred to above, contact ATI Technical Support at (416) 756-0711
 
---------------
OLDER DRIVERS
---------------
 
Some older display drivers may cause problems for Multimedia Strauss.
If the color of the text in Multimedia Strauss does not appear to
be correct, you should try installing more current video drivers.
Contact your hardware manufacturer for more details.
 
--------------------
HAND CURSOR PROBLEMS
--------------------
 
Whenever the mouse arrow is placed on top of clickable text (i.e.,
glossary words and the text in 'Pocket Audio Guide') the cursor
should turn into a hand to show that the text is clickable.  However,
some display drivers will cause this cursor to display incorrectly.
This may look very strange, but the cursor will still work exactly
as it should.
 
=================================================================
4.  AUDIO PROBLEMS
=================================================================
 
All of the music in Multimedia Strauss plays directly
from the CD.  Make sure the CD is clean if the music sounds
garbled or distorted.  In order for the music to play properly on
your machine, you must have the correct driver installed.  If the
correct driver is not installed, you will get the following message:
"Failed to open CD-Audio device driver.  Please check that CD-Audio
is installed." To fix the problem, install the CD-Audio device
driver by following these steps:
 
   1.   Open the Control Panel from the Program Manager.
   2.   Double-click the Drivers icon, or choose Drivers from the
   Settings menu.
   3.   Choose Add...
   4.   Choose CD Audio from the list box.
   5.   Choose OK.
 
If CD-Audio is installed and you are still not able to hear the
music, but you can hear the voice audio, such as the glossary
pronunciations and "A Word from the Author," it is possible that
your CD-ROM is not properly connected to your sound card.  Your
CD-ROM owner's manual should show you how to check that your
CD-ROM is properly connected.
 
-------------------------
SOUND DOESN'T PLAY AT ALL
-------------------------
 
If you don't hear any sounds, make sure that the volume for your
speakers is set to an audible level.
 
If the volume is set to an audible level and you still hear no
sounds at all, something may be wrong with your sound board
setup.  Check to see that the driver is installed correctly and,
if necessary, reinstall it.  Refer to the documentation that came
with your sound card for more information on installing audio
drivers.
 
Please note that Strauss requires an MPC-compatible
sound board to be installed and is not intended to run with
drivers which use the PC internal speaker, such as the
unsupported "PC Speaker" driver.  Such a driver will in most
cases not play any sounds, and if the driver setup option
"Enable Interrupts" is not checked, your system may crash.
If you have both a sound board and the PC Speaker driver
installed, it is preferable to un-install the PC Speaker driver.
 
------------------
MEDIA VISION CARDS
------------------
 
A small number of Media Vision sound card drivers (Pro Audio
Spectrum cards) may not play glossary pronunciations or "A Word
from the Author" properly.  If you have a Media Vision
card and don't hear glossary pronunciations or "A Word from
the Author," but you do hear music, you may need to upgrade
your driver.  Contact Media Vision Technical Support to find out
how to obtain a new driver.
 
=================================================================
5. MEDIAVISION CDPC PROBLEMS
=================================================================
 
If you are running Multimedia Strauss using Mediavision CDPC hardware,
you may encounter errors when you successfully make a match in 'The
Prankster's Game'.  Because these errors specifically involve the CDPC
hardware, you should check to make sure the hardware is correctly
installed.  However, it is still possible that you will encounter
errors when matches are made. Please note that this is only a problem
in 'The Prankster's Game' and will not affect any of the other
chapters in Multimedia Strauss.
 
=================================================================
6.  TANDY SENSATION SETUP PROBLEMS
=================================================================
 
Most Tandy Sensations use WinMate as their default desktop shell.
WinMate may cause a conflict with the setup procedure and needs to be
disabled by changing the shell= line in the SYSTEM.INI file to read
as follows:
 
   shell=progman.exe
 
To change the shell= line in the SYSTEM.INI file:
 
   1.   From the Windows Accessories group, run Notepad.
 
   2.   Open the SYSTEM.INI file and comment out the shell= line in
   the[boot] section by typing a semicolon (;) at the beginning of the
   shell= line. This is the line that is loading the Tandy WinMate
   shell.
 
   3.   Create a new line under the commented shell= line that reads:
 
   shell=progman.exe
 
   4.   After saving the changes to the SYSTEM.INI file, exit and
   restart Windows. The WinMate shell will now be disabled and
   your shell will now be Program Manager.
 
   5.   Run the Multimedia Strauss Setup.
 
Upon completion of Multimedia Strauss Setup, you can change your shell
back to the WinMate desktop, if so desired:
 
   1.   Edit the SYSTEM.INI file again by commenting out the
   "shell=progman.exe" line (adding a semicolon to the beginning
   of the shell=progman.exe line).
 
   2.   Remove the semicolon (;) in front of the previously commented
   "shell=" line that loads WinMate.
 
KBCategory: kbreadme kbreadme kbmm
KBSubcategory:
 
Additional reference words: kbhowto 1994multi media multimedia multi-media
=============================================================================
Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1995.