NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/comp/multimed/3940

Internet Message Format | 1992-12-28 | 1.9 KB

Xref: sparky comp.multimedia:3940 comp.sys.ibm.pc.games:28191
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games
Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!agate!dog.ee.lbl.gov!hellgate.utah.edu!fcom.cc.utah.edu!u.cc.utah.edu!tcrook
From: [e-mail] (Tom Crook)
Subject: Speeding up Windows CD-ROM titles
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail]
Organization: University of Utah Computer Center Student Mail Machine
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 92 15:08:49 GMT
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Apologies in advance if this is not exactly the right group, but my
site doesn't get alt.cd-rom and nothing else seemed any more appropriate.

I have several cd-roms.  Most of them work satisfactorily, but a
couple of multimedia titles (Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia and King's
Quest V) that run under Windows are quite slow.  My hardware is
marginal, consisting of a 20 Mhz 386 and a Sony 6201 drive which is
fast enough to meet the MPC standard but only has an 8K buffer instead
of the required size (64k?)  I've configured the Sony proprietary
adapter to use DMA access which I presume would be faster than the
default serial channel access, but the Windows titles are still slow.
Non-windows "multimedia" titles, even ones with lots of animation like
Monkey Island and Mixed-Up Mother Goose, run fine.

Short of buying new hardware, which I'd love to do but can't afford,
does anyone have any suggestions on how I could speed things up?  I've
noticed that mail order house TigerSoftware advertises a cd-rom cache.
Does anyone know of other caches, especially available via ftp, that
might work.  Has anyone had experience with the TigerSoftware product?

--
 /~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/
 | Thomas Crook                  He that hath no beard is less than a man   |
 | [e-mail]                            --William Shakespeare    |
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