Liren Large Software Subsidy 7/07.iso/b/b405/1.ddi/README.DOC

Text File | 1992-01-14 | 10.0 KB | 178 lines

                       WELCOME TO KNOWLEDGE ADVENTURE!

           Thank you for purchasing Knowledge Adventure.  We hope to
      send you off on the greatest adventure of all . . .

           We would love to hear from you -- if you have any questions,
      suggestions, or ideas, please don't hesitate to call us at
      800-542-4240 or fax us at 818-542-4205.  Our mission is to make
      exciting, breakthrough educational software, and the more
      feedback we get from you, the better we will be able to do that.
      Also, remember to send in your registration card so we will know
      where to send the FREE KNOWLEDGE ADVENTURE BONUS DISK and can let
      you know about future updates!

           We have designed Knowledge Adventure to be as clear and
      intuitive as possible.  We have tested it extensively with
      children and adults so that you probably won't even need to open
      our manual.  But we do suggest you take a look at our User's
      Guide for additional ideas on how to make your experience with
      Knowledge Adventure even more rewarding.

           This "readme" file has some additional information and
      late-breaking news that could not make it into the User's Guide.

           TANDY/CGA/MCGA Displays.  Knowledge Adventure works only with
      EGA and VGA displays.  Most newer computers have either of these
      two types of display.  Some older Tandy monitors, early IBM PS/1
      series monitors, and some laptops, do not support either EGA or
      VGA graphics and will not run Knowledge Adventure.  Knowledge
      Adventure requires EGA or VGA level graphics for the high quality
      images contained in the product.

           MOUSE SUPPORT.  Knowledge Adventure takes great advantage of
      your mouse if you have one, but it does not require one.  There are
      keyboard equivalents spelled out in the User's Guide that will
      allow you to enjoy KA without a mouse.

           If you do have a Microsoft-compatible mouse, you must run
      a Microsoft-compatible mouse software driver to enable it.  Some
      mice are Microsoft-compatible but do not have Microsoft-compatible
      software drivers and will not work with KA.  We have provided a
      Microsoft-compatible mouse driver with KA that will work with many
      mice.  If you have a mouse, and it does not work from within Knowledge
      Adventure, then you must run the proper driver and should try the
      driver that we have included.  If your mouse DOES work within Windows,
      that still does not guarantee that you have run your mouse driver,
      since Windows uses it own drivers that will not work with other
      programs.

           If you find that the cursor in KA does not respond when you
      move the mouse, go to the KA subdirectory in DOS and type the word
      mouse and press the Enter key.  (If you are a Windows user, exit
      Windows first; it is not always necessary, but your chances are
      better that KA will run flawlessly if you have not launched the
      program from within Windows.)  Then start KA in the normal manner
      by typing KA at the prompt and pressing the Enter key.

           MOUSE SYSTEMS. If you have a Mouse Systems mouse or trackball,
      or a Mouse Systems-compatible mouse, you may experience the hand
      pointer jumping to the bottom left corner of the screen.  If so,
      you are using a version of the Mouse Systems mouse driver that is
      NOT compatible with the Microsoft mouse standard.  Please try the
      mouse driver that we have provided by following the instructions
      in the paragraph above, and the mouse should then work perfectly.

           SOUND.  Even if you do not have a supplemental sound card or
      other specialized output device for sound, Knowledge Adventure
      will reproduce its sounds through your computer's speaker on all
      but the oldest machines.  In general, if you have an IBM AT-class
      (286) machine or its equivalent, you should be able to hear some
      sounds through the PC speaker.  These sounds will not be as loud
      or as clear as from an add-on sound device, but in many cases they
      will still be quite acceptable.  Sound out of the PC speaker will
      not work on an XT class machine.

           ADDING A SOUND DEVICE AFTER INITIAL INSTALL.  If you
      purchase a new sound device after you've installed Knowledge
      Adventure, you will need to rerun a portion of the Install
      program in order to take advantage of the device's sound
      capabilities.  To accomplish this, run Install from the
      beginning, starting with Disk 1.  Advance through the Install
      questions providing the same responses as you did during the
      initial installation until you come to the screen that asks which
      sound device you have.  Select one by pressing the number next to
      its name on the screen.  You do not need to continue with the rest
      of the Install procedure; just press the Esc key when the program
      asks if you wish to continue to Disk 2.  All of the necessary
      changes will have been made at that point, and you will be able
      to use the software with your new sound device.

           ADDITIONAL KEYBOARD SUPPORT.  In addition to the keyboard
      equivalents to certain mouse-based actions described in the
      User's Guide, the following may also be used (where more than one
      action is indicated, the result will depend on the location of
      the cursor):

          Ctrl + Enter            Locks/unlocks category buttons; and
                                  Fast scroll through the index

          Ctrl + PgUp             Page Up/Page Down in the text window
          Ctrl + PgDn

          Ctrl + PrtScr           Print text window

          Tab                     Cycles through buttons or "travel"
          or                      areas; when a dialog box is
          Shift + Tab             displayed, cycles only through the
                                  buttons within it

           PRINTER PORT.  If you would like to print through a port
      other than LPT1, include a line with just "p2" or "p3" in the
      KA.CNF file.

           USING DISK COMPRESSION PRODUCTS.  Programs such as
      Stacker(r) that compress your files on the hard disk may indicate
      that you have enough disk space to install Knowledge Adventure
      completely when you really do not.  These programs report on your
      disk space based on how much they are usually able to compress
      your files.  The files Knowledge Adventure copies to your hard
      disk are already compressed and your disk compression program
      will not be able to compress them further to give you more space.

           IF YOU DIDN'T COMPLETE INSTALL BECAUSE OF LOW DISK SPACE.
      You have the option of installing a portion of Knowledge
      Adventure when you do not have the full 7 megabytes required on
      your hard disk.  (Note: When Knowledge Adventure is finished
      installing, you will see that the files amount to just over six
      megabytes on your hard disk; the additional space is used during
      Install for temporary files that are later deleted.)  If you
      choose to do this, the program will still run.  You will notice,
      however, that at times Knowledge Adventure does not appear to
      respond when you click on an icon or one of the other "travel
      button" areas.  This happens because the program is looking for a
      particular screen that isn't there.  Just click again, or try
      clicking on another area, and the program will respond.

           KNOWLEDGE ADVENTURE WITH WINDOWS(r) OR DESQVIEW(r).
      Knowledge Adventure will run under both Windows and DESQview.
      Because of conflicts with certain aspects of those operating
      environments, however, sound output may be limited.  In Windows
      Enhanced Mode and in DESQview, you will only get sound output by
      using a Sound Blaster(r) card.  In Windows Enhanced mode, be sure
      to add the line DMABUFFERSIZE=050 (or a higher value) in the "386
      enhanced" section of the SYSTEM.INI file to allow the Sound
      Blaster to work correctly.  In Windows Standard mode, all types
      of sound output will work fine.  For Windows users, we have also
      included a KA.PIF file that is optimized for using Knowledge
      Adventure under Windows (Windows will use it automatically).

           CONFLICT WITH MEMORY-RESIDENT PROGRAMS.  Knowledge Adventure
      requires approximately 400KB of RAM in order to run.  Even when
      there is adequate total RAM to run the program, there may be
      conflicts with other programs occupying memory.  If you
      experience difficulty in running Knowledge Adventure under these
      circumstances, please remove other programs from memory.

           ADDITIONAL CREDITS.  Additional photographs or illustrations
      were provided by Comstock, Inc.; Phototech (a division of
      PhotoBank, Inc.); Patrick O'Neil; Mark Porterfield; Larry Hill;
      and Colleen Grogan.  Music segments were performed by Steve
      Hall.  The Install program was written by Larry Gross.
      Supplemental globe development was provided by Michael "Binky"
      Batchelder.

           SPECIAL THANKS.  Special thanks to the families of everyone
      involved in Knowledge Adventure for all of their time, patience,
      understanding and support throughout the many very long days and
      nights of work in the past months.  And a special thanks to David
      Gross, 5, for the inspiration for this product, and for letting
      us use his computer for scanning images and testing the product.

           Thanks again for your interest in Knowledge Adventure!

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      Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
      DESQview is a registered trademark of Quarterdeck Office Systems.
      Stacker is a registered trademark of Stac Electronics.