Kids Cube/4_History.iso/read_eng.txt

Text File | 1995-08-17 | 10KB | 182 lines

This CD-ROM disc compilation and certain other items are
Copyright, 1994, 1995 Aztech New Media Corp.

Thank you for purchasing Aztech's Kid's Cube, Series III. This compilation
represents some of the very best shareware applications for kids that are
currently available.

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To use this disc, log on to your CD-ROM drive (eg. D:) and type GO.
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Many of the applications on this CD-ROM run directly from the CD-ROM,
although you may not be able to save games or save reconfigure options
(you can't change the contents of a CD-ROM). Some games may need to be
placed on your hard drive because the program needs to determine the
configuration of your PC as it installs itself.

Some games want to write a configuration file or a high score file to disk.
Since it is not possible to write information to a CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read
Only Memory) any changes you make to the a game's configuration will have
to be done each time you play the game. To overcome this, you will have to
copy the game to your hard disk or to a floppy.

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A NOTE ABOUT SHAREWARE
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It is important to note that the bundled price of this CD-ROM covers only
the medium, research, assembly, production, packaging, and distribution
costs. The actual intellectual properties (that is, the shareware programs)
require separate payment to the author(s) if you are going to use them.
These programs are "shareware." They are not free unless specifically
identified as such.

Many of the games offer the first episode or level for free with the hope
that you will enjoy them enough to want to buy the additional episodes.
This is one of the best methods of shareware. Try the first level - if
you like it buy the rest.

Other games give you the full functionality and the author expects that
if you like and use their product that you will forward a recommended
payment to them. Usually there are additional incentives for "registering."

For more information on Directories and Disks, please refer to your
MS-DOS Manual or Windows Operating Guide.

All of the applications have been reviewed. They all work. They are
all decompressed and each application resides in its own directory.
You do not need to know the "executable" file. You do not need to
know how to use various decompression programs.

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MOST COMMON SHAREWARE PROBLEMS
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Unfortunately, the MS-DOS world of PC's has its own share of software and
hardware problems because of its more than 15-year legacy of trying to
maintain compatibility with older versions of software and the
all-important customer data. This has led to numerous inconsistencies
and patch fixes for making MS-DOS and PC hardware do things they were
never designed to do.

The shareware Aztech selected for this compilation is amongst the best in
the world and some of these games approach or even exceed the quality of
some commercial game products. Applications will freeze, hang-up, lock out,
cause the screen to go screwy, terminate abnormally and do all the most
horrific things that we all dislike about PC's and none of it is specific
or even necessarily caused by the application currently running. The most
common problems you may run into are:

You did not read the HELP file (which you ARE now reading). This short
file has some useful information about how to use the disc and how to
exit from games that don't have an obvious exit.

Some games on this disc were written without consideration for the
continuing improvements in CPU performance. If the game runs too fast
then you might consider pressing the "Turbo" or similarly-labelled
button on your machine's front panel. It should change the display
from the usual 33, 66 or 100 MHz to something like 8 or 12 MHz.
Read the CD label which states, TO RUN: Log on to CD-ROM drive and
type GO. Go launches a menu which allows you to run the majority of
the games directly from the CD.

Not enough conventional memory usually raises the ire of many of us
with more than 2 MB of RAM. We know we have enough memory to play
most any game. You may have lots of RAM and still be getting this kind
of symptom or error message because the application may require more of
the first 640 KB of RAM in your computer than is actually available.
Read about loading drivers and applications in high memory and how to
disable Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR) programs.

The application is asking for information about your PC that any
"normal" person wouldn't know but is "guessing" at, such as:

The demonic IRQ (Interrupt ReQuest) number, most often asked by
applications when determining the SoundBlaster sound card, usually
defaults to "7."  However, the assumption is that sound cards would
never be used at the same time someone is printing something. IRQ 7 is
also the number for the parallel port. Only one device may use an IRQ
at a time so if the user is playing music on the sound card and wants
to print something or another device is also using IRQ 7, an "IRQ
conflict" arises and the system will instantly hang, usually leaving
the last note played also hanging on your eardrum as an irritating
reminder of the conflict. Changing an IRQ is not something a novice
should do. However, the only real alternatives are to go through all
the options of a particular game to find one that works or getting an
experienced person to identify the conflict and change the IRQ setting
on one or more of the hardware cards.

If the IRQ number is asked for, then another number is also usually
asked for. This is the port address, which is the unique address of
the device, much like the house number on a street is unique to the
human device(s) residing in it. This number usually defaults to 220
for the SoundBlaster and this one has to be handled the same as the IRQ.

The villainous video card is amongst the most common and most
misunderstood creatures of the PC. EGA was wonderful because it was a
standard. However, the world cannot be viewed through 16-color glasses
and so S/VGA was conspired as someone's master plan to reduce tech
support people all over the world to blithering idiots. Again, the
assumption is that you will know which particular VGA or S/VGA card you
have in your PC. While the PC industry has been getting smarter about
automatic detection of these cards, it still remains that most
applications in the PC world do not support every manufacturer's
version of S/VGA. To compound problems, the VESA standard is not
strictly adhered to by even the very largest video card manufacturers.
You may have a manual for the card. If not, many video cards will
identify themselves, typically on one of the very first lines to be
displayed on the PC monitor during bootup. If it flashes by too quickly
for the user to see it, sometimes hitting the PAUSE button on the
keyboard will pause the bootup procedure. More often it will hang the
PC and the user will have to reboot. Adding to this is the question of
what the maximum resolution supported by the card is. Of course you
will always want to pick the best one because you rightly believe
you have bought the most current technology only six months go. Of
course, the de facto standard changed since then.

When it comes to a shareware compilation, each application is written by a
different author. Not every hardware combination of video cards, CD-ROM
drives, memory availability and sound cards can be supported by every
application. Aztech has tried every game on this CD on at least three
entirely different PC configurations.

After trying some of the above, the following are some other things to
attempt.

The first thing to try  is to copy the whole application over to the hard
drive. Some programs want to write a high score or a configuration file or
set up some temporary work area, which cannot be done on a read-only device.
We also found that copying the game to the hard disk solved the problem.

There is almost certainly some basic configuration of every game in this
compilation that will work for most PC's.

If, after copying to the hard disk, the game is still not working
satisfactorily, the best approach to take is a step-by-step
installation of the game. The user should first configure the
game without sound, or at the most with PC speaker support. If
possible, install the game with EGA graphics and no mouse. If
the game works at this level then there is clearly some kind of
conflict in the user's machine and it is likely that the application
is not at fault.

Then, one by one, improve the capability of the game by first
installing either the video card support OR the sound support,
but not both at the same time. Once you know the culprit, it
should be much easier to resolve the problem.

At the end of the day, it may simply turn out that the game can
only be run on a particular user's machine at a configuration that
is less than the user's machine's capabilities.

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Thank you again for purchasing Aztech's Kid's Cube,
Series III. We hope you truly enjoy this compilation.

Other questions concerning the operation of this CD
may be directed to Aztech at:

FAX: [phone]   Attn: Technical Support