README.TXT
==========

This is the README.TXT file for the Dinosaur Desktops.


Trademark Acknowledgements:

Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.


Copyright (C) PC Dynamics, Inc. 1993.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.


Introduction
------------

The default wallpapers that come with Windows are history. Paleozoic history.
   Dinosaur Desktops transports prehistoric giants that live in the
imagination of children and mysteries of science into a collection of more
than 25 desktop wallpapers for Windows 3.x.
   Dinosaur Desktops features favorite creatures from the Cretaceous, Jurassic
and Triassic periods -- among others, the Apatosaurus, Dilophosaurus,
Pterodactyl, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus Rex and Velociraptor.
There are also fossils, bones, trilobites, a trail of footprints, baby
dinosaurs emerging in a hatchery, a claw displayed as if mounted in a museum
display by a paleontologist, and dinosaurs strolling by moonlight.
   The Mesozoic horde stomps, growls, roars and chews its way around the
computer system; a bellow from T-Rex might wake you up as Windows starts up.
Almost one megabyte of digitally-recorded sounds may be attached to system
events -- flesh-eating Velociraptors might alert you to error messages, or a
heavy-breathing Triceratops to applications as they close.

System Requirements:

    This product requires an IBM PC/AT or compatible with a color monitor
    running Microsoft Windows 3.0 or higher in standard or enhanced mode.
    Approximately 2.5 MB of hard disk space will be needed to store the
    program, wallpaper and sound files.

    For sound support, Windows 3.1 or higher is needed. Although this
    product includes a public domain utility for playing sound through
    your PC's internal speaker, we recommend a Windows-compatible sound
    board to achieve the best results. A Windows-compatible sound board
    is one that includes a device driver that installs into your Windows
    Control Panel as a standard WAVE device. All of the sounds included
    with this product are 11KHz MONO sounds.


Installation
------------

Your Dinosaur Desktops is distributed on a 3.5" high-density diskette.
If you do not own a 3.5" floppy drive, please refer to the next section
for instructions on how to copy the installation file to other media
formats. Otherwise, please follow the steps below to perform the
installation.

    Step 1.   Start Microsoft Windows on your PC.

    Step 2.   Place you original Dinosaur Desktops program diskette into
              one of your floppy drives. These instructions assume you
              are using your A: drive.

    Step 3.   From your Program Manager, select the RUN option on the
              FILE pull-down menu. Type A:\SETUP in the dialog box and
              select OK to begin.

    Step 4.   Follow the on-screen instructions once the SETUP dialog
              box appears.


Copying the Installation Files to other Diskette(s)
---------------------------------------------------

If your PC does not contain a 3.5" floppy drive, you may copy the files
contained on your original diskette to 5.25" diskettes using another PC
equipped with both size drives.

The SETUP program is flexible in that it does not matter which diskettes its
various files are moved to. This allows you to copy the files from your
original diskette onto any number or combination of backup diskettes, as
long as no files are split between diskettes. We recommend you use the 
standard DOS COPY command to perform this procedure. 

Once you've created an alternate set of diskettes compatible with your PC,
you should follow the original instructions for completing the installation.
As you run SETUP, you'll be prompted to change diskettes when needed.


Sound Support
-------------

This product supports sound through Windows' standard WAVE file device. This
feature is available only with Windows 3.1 and higher and requires either
a sound board or a special sound driver which uses your PC's internal 
speaker. For those of you who do not own a Windows-compatible sound board,
we recommend the public domain sound driver developed by Microsoft named
SPEAKER.DRV. This file is available free on CompuServe and many other
popular BBS systems; however, for your convenience, we've included a copy
of it along with this product to save you the trouble of downloading it.

In addition to being copied to your DINODESK directory during installation,
the Microsoft SPEAKER.DRV driver file (SPEAK.EXE) is available free on 
CompuServe in Data Library 15 of the Zenith forum. It can also be found
by typing GO IBMFF (file finder) and searching for the name SPEAK.EXE.
This file is a self-extracting executable program which contains the driver,
instructions and Microsoft License Agreement.

To install the speaker driver follow these instructions:

   1. Run SPEAK.EXE from the DOS command line.

   2. Start Windows.

   3. Double-click on the Control Panel icon in the Main group of Program
      Manager.  This starts Control Panel.

   4. Double-click on the Drivers icon in Control Panel.

   5. Click on the Add button.

   6. Double-click on the "Unlisted or Updated Driver" in the List of
      Drivers.

   7. Type the drive and path to which you installed the Dinosaur Desktops.
      This is normally C:\DINODESK.

   8. Click on the OK button.

   9. You should now see a dialog box titled "Add Unlisted or Updated
      Driver" with an entry in the list titled "Sound Driver for
      PC-Speaker".

  10. Click on "Sound Driver for PC-Speaker", then click on the OK button.

  11. You should now see a dialog box titled "PC-Speaker Setup". Click on
      the OK button.

  12. This will bring another dialog box up titled "System Setting Change".
      Click on the Restart Now button. This will restart Windows with the
      speaker driver installed.


Running Dinosaur Desktops for the First Time
--------------------------------------------

Once you've completed the basic installation as described at the beginning
of this manual, you're ready to begin using your Dinosaur Desktops Wallpaper.

  Windows 3.1 users
  -----------------
  For Windows 3.1 users, the Dinosaur Desktops Wallpaper installs as a
  Control Panel applet. Double-click on the Dino Desktops icon that appears
  in the Control Panel window.

  Windows 3.0 users
  -----------------
  For Windows 3.0 users, double-click on the Dinosaur Desktops icon that
  appears in the newly-created Dinosaur Desktops group. If you do not have
  a group by this name, it's likely your desktop program manager is not
  compatible with the PROGMAN.EXE program that comes with Windows. In this
  case, you'll need to consult your desktop manager's instruction manual
  for directions on how to add a new program or group item. The executable
  program to add is named DINOCPL.EXE and is located in the directory you
  specified during installation, usually named C:\DINODESK.


Adding or changing the Desktop Wallpaper
----------------------------------------

To add or change the Windows desktop wallpaper, choose from one of the
wallpapers listed, then click the Ok button. If you want to select a
wallpaper that is not in the list, select "(Other)" [at the bottom of
the list]. An edit window will appear in which you can enter a wallpaper
filename (typically, wallpaper has a filename extension of BMP). Once you
have entered a wallpaper filename, you can click the Ok button to make it
the new desktop wallpaper.


Tiling and Centering Wallpaper
------------------------------

The Tile and Center radio buttons allow you to control whether the selected
wallpaper will be tiled or centered. Tiled wallpaper is designed to be
repeated horizontally and vertically on the desktop. Centered wallpaper is
centered horizontally and vertically on the desktop. Don't be afraid to
experiment; you may find that even though a particular wallpaper was intended
to be tiled, you like it better centered.

Previewing Wallpaper
--------------------

To quickly view the extensive collection of wallpaper available, you can
preview the selected wallpaper. First, choose from one of the wallpapers
listed, then click the Preview button. A full-screen previewing window will
appear, with the wallpaper as it would appear on the desktop. Any mouse or
keyboard activity will exit the previewing window. Additionally, mouse
users can double-click on a listed wallpaper to preview it. "(None)" cannot
be previewed, nor can "(Other)" when a wallpaper filename has not been
entered.

256 color Wallpapers
--------------------

Wallpapers intended for 256 color (or higher) video drivers have a small
"256" to the left of the descriptive text in the list window. If you select
or preview a 256 color wallpaper and it only displays a couple of colors,
you are probably using a video driver capable of displaying only 16 colors.

A quick note on memory usage
----------------------------

Windows uses system memory for storing the current desktop wallpaper. The
amount of memory used depends on the color resolution of your current video
driver, as well as the size of the wallpaper. For example, to store a
640x480 wallpaper (full-screen VGA) when using a 256 color video driver
requires approximately 300 KB of system memory. To store the same wallpaper
using a 16 million color video driver requires approximately 900 KB of
system memory. This is something to be aware of, especially if you notice
performance degradation after selecting a large wallpaper.


Sounds
------

Dinosaur Desktops also includes several sound files for your listening
enjoyment. They are in standard WAVE format as 11KHz MONO sounds. You can
use Sound Recorder, in the Accessories Group, or you can attach them to
system events such as Windows startup and Windows exit.

  Attaching sounds to System Events
  ---------------------------------

   1.  Start Control Panel.

   2.  Double-click on the Sound icon.

   3.  Select an event in the Events list. If all the entries are grayed,
       you do not have a Windows-compatible WAVE sound driver.

   4.  In the Files list, navigate to the directory in which you installed
       Dinosaur Desktops (typically C:\DINODESK) and select one of the
       .WAV files.

   5.  You can test the sound, once selected, by clicking the Test button.

   6.  You can continue to attach sounds to other events by selecting a new
       event. In this case, restart at step 3.

   7.  When you have attached the sounds you want to the system events, make
       sure the Enable System Sounds checkbox is checked, and click the Ok
       button. If you make a mistake and want to start again with the 
       previous settings, just click the Cancel button.

   8.  Online help is also available in the Sound dialog by clicking the Help
       button.
