PC Direct 1995 September/PCD0995.ISO/readme.txt

Text File | 1995-07-20 | 15KB | 386 lines

                          ==============
                          PC DIRECT
                          CD-ROM
                          SEPTEMBER 1995
                          ==============

     (C)1995 Ziff-Davis UK Limited. All rights reserved.

Welcome
=======
This plain text document describes the programs and files on this
CD-ROM as a guide for those who want to use the disk directly.

A front-end/menu program is included which will introduce the disk
in more depth and help you to learn about, setup and run the
programs on it. To run this, choose File... Run in the Windows
Program Manager and enter d:\PCDIRECT where d: is the letter of
your CD-ROM drive.

To use the menu program, your PC should have Windows 3.1, 4Mb or
more RAM and a VGA or higher resolution screen. Note that it is
a good idea to close other applications when running this program
or other install and setup programs... this prevents possible
conflicts between install and setup programs that need to update
or modify files that may be in use by other applications and helps
to ensure you have sufficient free memory.

This document can be viewed using most text editing and file
viewing programs, such as the Windows Notepad, the DOS EDIT
command or any word processor that can open and read in a plain
ASCII file. As it is a long document, you may want to print it
out so that you can easily browse its content.

Contents
========

Macromedia Showcase CD
----------------------
Macromedia's multimedia applications for the PC and Macintosh,
including Director and Authorware, are leading products among
multimedia authors, being used both by other software houses
for commercial applications and by a growing number of
companies for their own in-house work.

The company's 'Showcase CD', included as part of this PC
DIRECT CD, gives you the chance to meet the company and
its products. Along with a presentation and useful background
information are trial versions of Director, Authorware,
Macromodel and Action!

Dorling Kindersley samplers
---------------------------
Dorling Kindersley has managed to bring the same high
production standards achieved with its print books to a
growing range of multimedia CD-ROM titles. This CD includes
samplers of three of the company's latest products,
narrated presentations that show some of the features and
audio, video and graphics in the full programs. The samplers
provided are for World Reference Atlas, Eyewitness History
of the World and Eyewitness Encyclopedia of Nature.

Windows 95 walkthrough
----------------------
The much heralded Microsoft Windows 95 is due for release
as this CD-ROM is being prepared. PC DIRECT's own on-screen
walkthrough provides an easy-to-run quick introduction to
this major upgrade to Windows & DOS, showing how Windows
95 looks and describing some of its features and utilities.
Even if you've already made the leap and got Windows 95 on
your system, there's some useful tips you might like to
take advantage of.

Insignia MacDisk
----------------
Ever since the introduction of the 1.44Mb floppy 'Superdrive'
on the Mac IIx, Macintoshes have been able to read and write
PC floppies via Apple's File Exchange or other software.
Programs that let you access Macintosh 1.44Mb disks on a PC
may not be as common but are arguably just as valuable.

MacDisk from Insignia, best known for its Macintosh-based
PC emulation software, is an elegant answer. Once installed,
Macintosh floppies can be used on a PC just as if they were
DOS disks. A fully-working 10-day time-limited version of
MacDisk is included on this PC DIRECT CD for you to try.

Frax Smartbook
--------------
Smartbook from UK software house Frax sets out to be one of
the fastest and easiest to use authoring tools. Running
under Windows, you can create 'electronic books' that
include animations, video and other multimedia features
with simple mouse selections. Your finished work can be
then be compiled and distributed... the program's graphics
compression lets you fit quite sophisticated books on a
single floppy.

This CD presents both the Smartbook demonstration (created
with the program itself) and a trial version of the
software itself... this is fully-working but limited to
eight pages per book and does not include the ability
to produce distribution versions of your books.

Avery Label Wizard for Word for Windows
---------------------------------------
A very practical and useful free program, the Avery Label
Wizard bolts into Microsoft Word for Windows 6 to give
you an easy way to create and print labels on a range of
Avery stationery. You can print runs of individual or one-
off labels or make a template that prints a set of labels
based on a data file, such as a mailing list. Avery is
offering sample labels to those who want to try the
program for real as well...

Anagram Genius
--------------
A superb little program, Genius 2000's Anagram Genius
generates anagrams from your chosen name or other text.
Its clever dictionary and scoring system means that,
with a little human guidance, you can quickly come up
with remarkably fun, insulting or cryptic anagrams.
It's a super tool for newsletter authors, puzzle
setters and so on and plain fun for most people.

Anagram Genius is a low-cost retail program... this CD
includes a trial version which is limited to ten full
runs or about one month's use.

SmartSurf
---------
From the prolific Oakley Data Services comes this new 'Smart'
utility for Windows. SmartSurf monitors the time you spend
on-line to various services such as CompuServe or an Internet
account, building up a log that shows both the time and
money you're spending. The program can even be setup to
work completely automatically. Unlike most of the 'Smart'
programs, SmartSurf is free rather than shareware... but
it does run on 'software batteries' which you can pick up
as necessary by visiting Oakley's site on the World Wide
Web or its forum on CIX!

Ultimate Soccer Manager
-----------------------
On the entertainment side this month, we feature
Impression's new Ultimate Soccer Manager. This DOS-based
game demonstrates that running a football club is not as
easy as it sometimes looks from the terraces and that
there's still a lot of life in this popular game theme.
A playable demonstration version of this DOS-based game
is included on this CD.

WinCIM v1.4 and NetLauncher
---------------------------
As usual, your PC DIRECT CD-ROM carries a free copy of the
WinCIM front-end to CompuServe along with a new member
sign-up offer that lets you try out this huge on-line
service for a month at little or no cost. We also include
NetLauncher, CompuServe's new Internet access software. This
lets you step right into the World Wide Web from your
CompuServe account.

Edison's Nightmare
------------------
Another new screensaver with the compliments of PC DIRECT
to brighten your Windows desktop. Edison's Nightmare is
fast, full-screen, if somewhat bizarre, animation.

Using the CD directly
=====================
You can access the CD directly using the Windows File Manager,
Program Manager and other software if you do not want to use the
menu program. For example, you can start one of the programs on
the CD by choosing Run from the Program Manager File menu,
clicking the Browse button and then finding the relevant program
file. For example, you can install the Anagram Genius demo by
starting the program file INSTALL.EXE in the \ANAGRAM directory
on the CD.

The following list summarises which files to start to run or
install programs on the CD.

Macromedia Showcase CD

    This contains several components. Run the program file
    SETUP.EXE in the root directory to install the opening
    presentation, a readme file and icons which will install
    the trial products.

Dorling Kindersley samplers

    Run the program file SETUP.EXE in the DKSAMPS directory
    to install the samplers. Icons will be created which
    will run each of the presentations along with an icon
    providing setup instructions.

Windows 95 walkthrough

    To run this direct from the CD, run the file GFI.EXE in
    the \W95WALK directory. The program can be installed to
    your hard disk by copying the files in W95WALK to a
    suitable directory if desired... create an icon that
    runs GFI.EXE if desired.

Insignia MacDisk

    To install MacDisk, run the program INSTALL.EXE in the
    \MACDISK directory, either from Windows or from DOS.

Frax Smartbook

    Both a demonstration program and an evaluation version
    of the software are included. To install the demonstration,
    run the file SETUP.EXE in the SMRTBOOK\DEMO directory
    from within Windows. To install the evaluation version of
    the software, run the file SMRTBOOK\EVAL.

Avery Label Wizard

    The Avery Label Wizard installs into Word for Windows
    version 6 automatically... just start Word for Windows,
    choose File... Open and then select the document SETUP.DOC
    in the \AVERY directory on the CD. The setup procedure
    creates an icon for the Wizard on the Word toolbar.

Anagram Genius

    Run INSTALL.EXE in the \ANAGRAM directory on the CD to
    install Anagram Genius.

SmartSurf

    To install SmartSurf, copy the files in the \SMRTSURF
    directory to a suitable directory on your hard disk.
    If desired, create icons for the files SMARTSRF.EXE,
    SMARTSRF.HLP and README.TXT. SmartSurf uses a library
    file CTL3DV2.DLL which is normally installed to
    your main WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. If this file is
    not already present on your PC, you can copy it there
    from the SMRTSURF directory. After doing this, or if
    you already have CTL3DV2.DLL on your system, you can
    delete the two files CTL3DV2.DLL and CTL3DV2.XXX from
    the SmartSurf directory on your hard disk.

Ultimate Soccer Manager

    This is a DOS-based game. To install it, simply copy
    the files in the \USM directory on the CD to a suitable
    directory on your hard disk. To play the game, first
    change to your USM directory and then enter SETUP
    to configure your soundcard. Next, enter USM to play
    the game. The game uses a mouse so you should ensure
    that your DOS mouse driver is loaded when your PC starts
    or at least before you start the game.

WinCIM

   Run the program file SETUP.EXE in the WINCIM directory
   to install this software.

NetLauncher

   Run the program file SETUP.EXE in the NETLNCHR directory
   to install this software. Note that you should have an
   existing CompuServe account and a copy of WinCIM or other
   CompuServe access software installed before you install
   NetLauncher. If you're a new user, start with the WinCIM
   package.

Edison's Nightmare screensaver

   To install this manually, copy the file EDISON.SCR from
   SCRNSAVE directory on the CD-ROM to your main WINDOWS
   directory. This particular screensaver also uses the
   multimedia library file DISPDIB.DLL which should be
   installed in your main WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. You
   should check to see if your PC has this file already...
   it does not come with Windows as standard but may have
   been installed on your PC by one of your other programs.
   If you can't find DISPDIB.DLL in your WINDOWS or
   WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory, you can copy it across from
   the SCRNSAVE directory on the CD. After doing this,
   you can select 'Edison's Nightmare' from the Desktop
   options section of the Windows Control Panel in the
   normal way. Please see the 'Info' box in the screensaver's
   'Setup' display for more information.

Directory guide
---------------
The following notes provide a quick guide to the important
directories on the CD...

\ Root directory  The root directory contains the front-end
                  program...

                  PCDIRECT.EXE      CD-ROM Menu program
                  PCDIRECT.DAT      Data file for above
                  README.TXT        This file

                  and files from the Macromedia Showcase...

                  ACROREAD.EXE
                  FILEIO.DLL
                  INSTALL.INS
                  LINGO.INI
                  QTSYS.LIB
                  QTW.INI
                  QTWIN.LIB
                  README.WRI
                  SETUP.EXE
                  SETUP.LGO
                  SHOWCASE.BMP
                  SHOWCASE.EXE
                  SHOWCASE.ICO
                  SHOWCASE.INI
                  SHOWCASE.LIS

\ANAGRAM          Anagram Genius

\AVERY            Avery Label Wizard

\DKSAMPS          Dorling Kindersley samplers

\FRONTEND         CD-ROM Menu install program and other
                  supporting files

\MACDISK          MacDisk

\MACROMED         Macromedia Showcase CD

\NETLNCHR         NetLauncher software

\SCRNSAVE         Edison's Nightmare screensaver

\SMRTBOOK\DEMO    Smartbook demonstration

\SMRTBOOK\EVAL    Smartbook evaluation software

\SMRTSURF         SmartSurf

\USM              Ultimate Soccer Manager

\W95WALK          Windows 95 walkthrough

\WINCIM           WinCIM software

\DATACONN         These directories contain the remainder
\FILES            of the Macromedia Showcase CD
\SAVE_DIS
\WINLOGOS

Notes about the CD-ROM menu program
===================================

Memory limitations
------------------
If your PC has limited memory, you should avoid running other
programs while you use the CD-ROM Menu program. If necessary,
start programs directly using the filenames given above. Note
that it is a good idea in any case to close other applications
before running install and setup programs on your system.

Display setup
-------------
The menu program looks best if your PC is setup to display
256 or more colours. Most PCs can do this provided the
relevant driver is selected in the Windows SETUP program. See
the welcome message in the CD-ROM Menu program for more
information.

TOOLHELP.DLL
------------
The CD-ROM Menu program uses a library file called TOOLHELP.DLL
that is supplied with Windows 3.1. If this file has been deleted
from your main WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory, the CD-ROM program will
not run. A copy of the file is provided in a directory called
MININS on the CD. You can restore this to your WINDOWS\SYSTEM
directory with the Windows File Manager or from DOS with
a command such as:

    COPY d:\MININS\TOOLHELP.DLL C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM

where 'C:' is the drive where WINDOWS is installed and d: is
your CD drive. TOOLHELP.DLL is used by many Windows programs
and should really be present in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.