README.TXT for Wintune 2.0, final version 12-2-94

*** IMPORTANT ***
PLEASE TAKE A FEW MINUTES AND READ THESE RELEASE NOTES. THEY WILL
SAVE YOU TIME AND TROUBLE LATER. --The WINTUNE 2.0 Task Force
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
TO INSTALL WINTUNE 2.0:

1) If you have a beta version of WINTUNE 2.0, please delete it,
   and all related files. In particular, delete any .TRF files (the 
   format has changed), WT20.INI from \WINDOWS; and delete HELL16C.DLL,
   GETINFO.DLL, TIPADW16.DLL in your \WT20 directory and and any WT*.VBX 
   files from \WINDOWS\SYSTEM. Also delete the Wintune icons and WT20 
   group from Program Manager. Then exit and restart Windows before 
   running WINTUNE setup.

2) run SETUP.EXE from File/Run in Progman

3) when setup is complete, run Wintune. PLEASE FILL IN THE USER
   INFORMATION FORM as completely as possible.

4) If you have trouble during setup, please check the file sizes and
   modification dates against those listed below. If any are off, you
   need to download WINTUNE again.

Files in WINTUNE 2.0 setup:

Name            Length       Date
CMDIALOG.VB_    10,865   04-28-93
GETINFO.DL_     22,263   09-27-94
GSW.EX_        151,678   02-18-94
GSWDLL.DL_      24,408   02-18-94
HELL16C.DL_    224,800   12-01-94
README.TXT      12,454   12-02-94
SETUP.EXE        8,480   10-07-93
SETUP.INF          217   08-30-94
SETUP1.EX_      20,207   10-01-94
SETUPKIT.DL_     3,657   04-28-93
SSIDXTAB.VB_    39,604   05-23-94
TIPADW16.DL_    26,663   11-04-94
VBRUN300.DL_   276,684   05-12-93
VER.DL_          6,307   03-10-92
WINTUNE.TR_     22,511   11-08-94
WT20.EX_       103,956   11-09-94
WTFAQ.HL_      *41,059   12-02-94
WTGRAPH.VB_     41,683   02-18-94
WTHELP.HL_     251,961   10-31-94
WTSS3D.VB_      28,209   08-24-93
WTSS3D2.VB_     44,100   06-01-93
WTTEST.HL_       3,992   10-18-94
WTTIP.HL_       52,762   11-04-94
   *not less than
   
File lengths, dates and locations after setup

Name           Length       Date         Directory
CMDIALOG.VBX   18,688   04-28-93   \windows\system
GETINFO.DLL    37,652   09-27-94             \wt20
GETINFO.DLL    37,652   09-27-94   \windows\system
GSW.EXE       262,704   02-18-94   \windows\system
GSWDLL.DLL     45,584   02-18-94   \windows\system
HELL16C.DLL   303,104   12-01-94             \wt20
README.TXT     12,454    12-02-94            \wt20
SSIDXTAB.VBX   61,664   05-23-94   \windows\system
TIPADW16.DLL   44,064   11-04-94             \wt20
TIPADW16.DLL   44,064   11-04-94   \windows\system
VBRUN300.DLL  398,416   05-12-93   \windows\system
VER.DLL         9,008   03-10-92   \windows\system  (varies)
WINTUNE.TRF   107,940   11-08-94             \wt20
WT20.EXE      276,519   11-09-94             \wt20
WTFAQ.HLP    *101,049   12-02-94             \wt20
WTHELP.HLP    640,060   10-31-94             \wt20
WTSS3D.VBX     28,209   08-24-93   \windows\system
WTSS3D2.VBX    44,100   06-01-93   \windows\system
WTTIP.HLP     115,259   11-04-94             \wt20
   * not less than

PROBLEMS?

If you have trouble getting Wintune installed and running, check
the file dates and sizes you have against those above--chances are
one or more will be off. If that's not the problem, try viewing
WTFAQ.HLP If you don't have it, go to a DOS prompt, change to
the directory where the installation files are, and type:

	EXPAND WTFAQ.HL_ WTFAQ.HLP

Then exit the DOS prompt, and double-click WTFAQ.HLP from File
Manager. That should launch WINHELP.EXE with WTFAQ.HLP loaded.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
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VIEWING .TRF ENTRIES WITHOUT RUNNING A TEST

Many Beta-2 testers requested this capability; so we added it in beta-3. 
You can now establish an association in file manager (File/Associate) of 
type ".TRF" with WT20.EXE. Once that's done, double-clicking on a .TRF 
file in file manager or any other app that supports associations (MS-
Mail 3.2, for instance) will launch Wintune, load the .TRF in question, 
and set the most recent test results "as current"--in effect, you'll see 
Wintune behave as though that test had just been run.

You will still have to run a test, using the "Start" button before any 
of the individual test commands will work. We apologise for the 
inconvenience; but this is necessary to assure that all program setup is 
properly executed (for instance, if you exit the app and change 
smartdrive settings, just running the disk test again wouldn't help--
because Wintune detects disk cache type and size when the Start button 
is pressed, *not* when an individual disk test is run).

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AUTOMATICALLY LOADING THE LAST SAVED TEST "AS CURRENT"

If you wish, you can have Wintune automatically load the most recent 
test in the default .TRF file (normally WINTUNE.TRF) automatically each 
time Wintune loads. To do so, edit the command line (click on the 
WT20.EXE icon in Program Manager, select File/Properties) and add a /L.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
EXPERT MODE

We've added a new mode that eliminates some of the system messages (such 
as the one about other applications running), and which provides a "Load 
Test As Current" command in the File menu. The Help/Full Tips command 
has been eliminated from Standard Mode, and is now only available in 
Expert Mode.

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IF YOU HAVE A NON-STANDARD DISK CACHE, Or are running OS/2 or NT,
then you will need to manually set the disk cache size in the WINTUNE 
command line. The syntax for this is:

	/Cnnnn

Where nnnn is your disk cache size in KB. Legal values are 16--16384. 
Ie, to manually set a 2MB cache size, use command-line switch:

	/C2048

If you don't set a cache size, you will get a simplified disk test with 
results that may not be comparable to those from a test with a detected 
cache size.

NT users: Since NT has a dynamic cache, our current test can never be 
completely accurate, but as a practical matter, we're getting good 
results on both NT 3.1 and 3.5 with a manually sett cache size of 4MB. 
This appears to approximately match the performance of NT's dynamic 
cache and the built-in Wi16 emulation subsystem.

OS/2 users: you should manually set Wintune's cache size to the same 
size as that set in the DISKCACHE line in CONFIG.SYS (for FAT drives) or 
to that set with CACHE= in the IFS=HPFS.IFS line of CONFIG.SYS. For 
instance, if you are using OS/2 with a FAT drive, and DISKCACHE = 
1024,L,W set:

	/C1024

If you are running HPFS and have IFS=C:\OS2\HPFS.IFS /CACHE:512 ...

Then set:

	/C512
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OTHER ISSUES

 - Disk results different from Wintune 1.0: The disk test in 2.0 is    
  *very* different than in 1.0, and we don't expect it to match. The 2.0
  results (which are a weighted average of cached and un-cached
  performance... we now detect both WFWG 3.11 32-bit cache and SMARTDRV.   

  If you are using Windows NT, OS/2, or an undetected 3rd-party disk 
  cache, you will need to set a /C command-line switch as discussed 
  above.

 - Where's the Bird (in the video test)? He's gone. His replacement is
 they "Eyeball", which you will see at the end of a *full* video test.

 - GPFs: The only condition where we expect Wintune to GPF is running a
full video test with a bad video driver. If that happens, switch to Quick
Test mode (so you don't get the GPF anymore) and contact your video supplier
for a new driver.

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WINTUNE.TRF

Our default test results database (WINTUNE.TRF) contains significantly
more information in this release--the same four systems are shown on
start-up, but you'll find that a much wider range of systems are now
available for comparison. Many thanks to our beta testers who contributed!

The file starts with four "standard" systems that are used a defaults in comparison
displays, then has about two dozen common systems that are ordered from fast
through slow systems (all are pretty much correctly set up), and winds up with a
bunch of "example" systems with problems such as compressed disk drives, a
TSR that slows overall performance, L1 cache disabled, turbo switch off, etc:

Examples:

At the end of the build-14 version of WINTUNE.TRF there are 13
example systems that illustrate typical problems. They're intended
as a diagnostic aid in debugging systems that deliver odd results
the examples in this version are:

	* EX: Pwr Mgt On (Gateway Colorbook)
	* EX: Pwr Mgt On (Gateway Colorbook)
	* EX: Pwr Mgt Off (Gateway Colorbook)

	The first two files illustrate what can happen when testing
	a notebook with power management--the first shows anomolously
	low CPU results, the second low disk. The third file shows
	how the same system tested with power management disabled. We
	reccomend disabling power management when running WINTUNE on
	Notebook computers.

	* EX: L1 and L2 Cache Off (NCR 3333 486/33)
	* EX: L2 Cache Off (NCR 3333 486/33)
	* EX: L1+L2 Cache On (NCR 3333 486/33)

	These examples illustrate the effect of level-1 (internal) and
	level-2 (external) CPU cache. The system in question has a
	256KB L2 cache. In the first example, both caches are disabled;
	yielding low overall performance. In the second case the L1 cache
	internal to the 486 CPU is enabled, but external cache is
	disabled--so CPU performance is improved, but RAM, video and
	(particularly) disk performance still suffer. The third example
	shows the result of enabling both caches--optimal performance.

	* EX: Compressed Disk ( AMD 486 DX2/66)

	This example shows typical performance from a non-cached disk
	compresser such as Stacker. A caching compressor such as Doublespace
	yields significantly better performance.

	* EX: Notebook wi APM On.

	This example shows a notebook computer with Advanced Power Management
	(APM) enabled--low (and erratic) performance. Turn APM off when
	running Wintune, then turn it back on if needed for use.

	* EX: Stacked Disk, no Cache

	This example is similar to the compressed disk example above.

	* EX: TSR (Chameleon) Loaded

	Here a well-tuned system suffers because a DOS terminate-and-stay
	resident (TSR) utility is stealing CPU cycles, reducing overall
	performance.

	* Ex 486SX with Turbo switch OFF

	Here a system gives low overall performance--indicating either
	Turbo OFF or a problem with memory wait states.

	* Ex: APM Enabled (NCR 486 SX/SLC Notebook)

	Another example with Advanced Power Management.

You can select any of these entries in the Comparisons tab--and if you
want to see how the front-panel display looks for these conditions, use
Edit/Preferences to select Expert Mode, and load the test in question
"As Current"--this will show you the front panel pointer display and
tips (it's especially instructive to view the RAMprobe curve for the
three NCR CPU cache examples--load each in turn "as current", and click
on the RAM pointer)

YOU CAN HELP! We're interested in expanding this collection of example
problems. If you encounter a system with an unusual problem, please save
results on it, and mail it to jruley on AOL. Please include a full
description of the problem. Thanks! --jR
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BUGS

If you find a bug (please check all text in this file *first*):

1) save your results

2) go to details/all, copy all text

3) Send a mail message to jruley@aol.com. Detail what's wrong. Follow that
with the text copied in (2), and attach your WINTUNE.TRF file (which
contains the results you saved in step 1).

4) If you experience a crash, run Dr. Watson and MSD.EXE, and send me
the results.

Thanks!

John D. Ruley
Editor-at-Large
jruley@aol.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SHH! DON'T TELL ANYONE!

If you read this far...

Then you're a *really* dedicated WINTUNER. So try the
following:

	Help/About
	Click on "from"

Enjoy! --jR

