
Introduction to d-Time

Thank you for purchasing d-Time, and welcome to the world of accelerated CD-ROM use.  d-Time uses patent pending breakthrough technology to go far beyond the mere caching provided by other CD-ROM enhancement software and transform your CD-ROM into something to rival your hard disk for speed.

This section of the manual explains how RAM, hard disks, and CD-ROM's provide different kinds of data storage for your computer; the pros and cons of each; how mere caching programs try to work around the cons of CD-ROM; and how d-Time goes beyond caching programs.

Ballard Synergy has created a unique way of recording the acceleration done to any CD-ROM title for your future use.  We have coined the word Timelog to describe these records in order to be able to index them.  Please note that it is not necessary to use a Timelog in order to use d-Time.  Timelogs are for your convenience only.  Timelogs are very useful when you use a program often, because they provide a way of keeping a backup copy of the information stored in the acceleration file.  

RAM, Disk, and CD-ROM

The CPU (central processing unit) in your computer operates very rapidly.  A 33 MHz 80386, for example, executes program instructions at a rate of several million instructions per second.  The time it takes to execute a single instruction is best measured in nanoseconds (there are one billion nanoseconds in a single second), with a single instruction taking somewhere between 50 and 100 nanoseconds to complete.

The data that the CPU operates on comes from your computer's Random Access Memory (RAM).  A typical computer today will have 4 or 8 megabytes of RAM.  RAM is almost fast enough to keep up with the CPU.  A typical computer's RAM takes 60 to 80 nanoseconds to store or retrieve data for the CPU.

There are two drawbacks to using RAM for data storage.  Most importantly, RAM forgets the data it contains when power is turned off.  Most operating systems (including DOS and Windows) assume that after a reboot there is no useful data in RAM, so even if you kept your computer turned on all the time, each time a program crashed your system, you would lose the contents of your RAM.

Additionally, RAM is expensive compared to other data storage systems.  The price of RAM fluctuates quite a bit, but one megabyte of RAM is currently selling at about ten times the cost of one megabyte of hard disk space.  A modern word processing or spreadsheet program might come on a dozen 1.44MB floppy disks, and consume 20 or 30 megabytes.  It would certainly not be cost effective to purchase enough RAM to hold all of that information.

Because of RAM's drawbacks, most computer systems include a hard disk.  Hard disks are much less expensive than RAM, and they keep stored data even after power down or restarting.  However, hard disks are very slow when compared to RAM.  Hard disk speed is measured in milliseconds rather than in nanoseconds (there are one thousand milliseconds in a second).  A fast hard disk might be able to access data for the CPU in 8 or 9 milliseconds.  RAM could access the same data in 80 nanoseconds.  RAM is 100,000 times faster than hard disks.

Your operating system (DOS or Windows) tries to strike a balance between RAM and hard disk.  Files and programs that are not currently being used are stored on hard disk.  When you start to use a program, the program is copied into RAM.  When you are working with a file, that file is kept in RAM (this depends on the application-some applications arrange to keep in RAM only those parts of the file that you are actually working with.  This allows these applications to work with files that are too large to fit entirely in RAM).  When you are no longer using a program or file, it is removed from RAM (after any changes you have made are saved in the copy on the hard disk).

CD-ROMs are even less expensive than hard disks.  A single CD-ROM can hold approximately 600 megabytes of data, and costs less than $1 to manufacture (you pay much more than this because you are paying for the software on the CD-ROM, much the same way the price of a book is much more than the cost of the paper, labor and equipment used to print the book).  CD-ROMs have two disadvantages when compared to hard disks.  First, they are for the most part read-only systems.  Even in those circumstances where you might pay someone to store data on a CD-ROM, you would not be able to erase and re-write to the disk.  

Second, CD-ROM drives are very slow.  A typical double speed CD-ROM drive might take 300 milliseconds to find requested data (compared to approximately 10 milliseconds for a fast hard disk), and once it finds the data, it will transfer it to RAM at a rate of 300KB/sec (compared to 2MB/sec or 3MB/sec for the hard disk).

However, CD-ROMs are an ideal way to distribute data, because they are inexpensive, hold a lot of data, and are also very durable.  A CD-ROM, if properly stored in its protective case when not in use, should last for decades.

An ideal system would combine the speed of a hard disk with the large size, low cost, and durability of CD-ROMs.  Caching programs have attempted to do this.  d-Time succeeds.
How Conventional Caching Software Works

RAM is fast but expensive, while hard disks are slower but cost much less, and CD-ROMs are very much slower, but very inexpensive.

Caching software, like Microsoft's Smartdrive, tries to overcome the relative slowness of hard disks and CD-ROMs relative to RAM by using a small amount of RAM to cache data from the hard disk and CD-ROM.

The idea is simple.  Most programs access the same data over and over again.  For example, if you are looking up things in an encyclopedia program, you probably keep coming back to the index.  If the caching program can detect this, it can keep a copy of the index in RAM.  Then, when the encyclopedia software tries to read the index from the CD-ROM, the cache software can bypass the CD-ROM drive, and supply the data from RAM.
The effectiveness of this depends on two factors:  how well the caching software can determine what data is likely to be accessed multiple times; and how much of that data can be kept in RAM.

Even if the caching software is very good at determining what data should be cached, RAM is so expensive that most systems do not have as much as they could use.  4 megabyte systems are very common currently, even though 4 megabytes is barely enough for today's large operating systems and applications.  This leaves very little RAM for caching CD-ROM data.


d-Time: Beyond Caching

d-Time goes beyond the simple caching schemes of other programs.  d-Time expands on the idea of RAM caching by introducing a layer between the CD-ROM and RAM.  Although your hard disk is not as fast as your RAM, it is much faster than your CD-ROM drive.  Unlike a conventional cache program, d-Time can store data from the CD-ROM on your hard disk.  When a conventional cache program is unable to find the data it needs in its RAM cache, it is forced to go to the CD-ROM, and performance plummets.  If d-Time is unable to satisfy a request from RAM, it can try to satisfy the request from the hard disk.  d-Time has to fall back to the CD-ROM only when the data cannot be found in either the RAM cache or the acceleration file on the hard disk.  Because hard disk space is relatively inexpensive, the acceleration file can be large (20 megabytes, for example).  The chances of finding the requested data in the acceleration file are thus much larger, and d-Time has a much better chance than a conventional cache program of avoiding a severe performance drop resulting from having to access data from the slow CD-ROM drive.

Put another way, conventional caching software has only two ways of responding to a request for data.  It can either do very well (the data is in RAM), or it can do very poorly (the data is only on the CD-ROM).  d-Time, on the other hand, has three responses.  It can do very well (the data is in RAM), it can do merely as well as the hard disk (the data is in the acceleration file), or it can do very poorly (the data is only on the CD-ROM).  Because hard disk space is inexpensive, the acceleration file can be made large enough so that requests that do not fall into the "do very well" category will for the most part end up in the "do merely as well as the hard disk category."

However, d-Time does more than increase the speed of your CD-ROMs.  Programs that try to improve the performance of a slow device, whether they are mere caching programs like SMARTDRV.EXE, or sophisticated accelerators like d-Time, are all adaptive programs.  They adjust themselves to how the system is using the slow device.  A large part of the effectiveness of these programs depends on how smart they are in determining what data goes in the RAM cache or, in the case of d-Time, the acceleration file.

When you first start using a CD-ROM, a conventional cache program does not know anything about that disc.  It has to observe how you are using the disk, and slowly and painstakingly learn how best to cache the disc.  When you next turn off or reboot your computer, that information is lost.  Even if you do not turn off or reboot your computer, if you switch discs in your CD-ROM player, the conventional cache program will have to start learning all over again.

d-Time, on the other hand, has Timelogs.  When d-Time has learned how best to accelerate a given CD-ROM for you, you can save a Timelog file for that CD-ROM.  The Timelog records d-Time's knowledge of how to accelerate that CD-ROM.  When you next use that disc, you can load the Timelog, and d-Time will pick up where it left off, without having to go through the learning process again.

Furthermore, you can use Timelogs that have been created by others.  For example, if a friend of yours buys a new CD-ROM title and uses it with d-Time, and then you buy a copy of that same title, you can get the Timelog from your friend.  You can load the Timelog on your PC, and then your copy of d-Time will know how to accelerate that title without having to go through the learning process on your machine.  Ballard Synergy includes Timelogs for several popular titles on the d-Time CD-ROM.


Installing d-Time

Overview of Installation

Installing d-Time is a simple two step process.  First, a directory is created on your hard disk, and some files are copied from the d-Time CD-ROM.  Then the d-Time configuration program is run.  You can elect to run a default installation using the default settings, or you can customize your installation in several easy steps, specifying various settings.  d-Time can be installed from DOS or Windows.

Two drivers have been included for d-Time: one for Extended and Expanded Memory both, and one for Extended Memory only.  If you have no Expanded Memory available on your system, d-Time will automatically revert to the driver for Extended Memory only.  If this is the case, the size reduction option in the d-Time configuration window will not be available, as the Extended Memory driver is already set at the smallest possible size (8KB to 12KB).  The d-Time driver can be loaded high by using the command "device high."  If you have DOS 6.2 or higher, MemMaker will automatically load the driver high for you.

Necessary Modifications Before Installing d-Time:

If you have Microsoft DOS 6.0 and above with SMARTDRV.EXE v. 5.0 loaded onto your system, d-Time will automatically add the /U option to SMARTDRV.EXE.  Version 5.0 is the only version that caches the CD-ROM drive.  Using CD-ROM cache programs will counteract the acceleration mode by decreasing the system's performance.




MEMORY MANAGERS

To install from DOS, run the INSTALL.EXE program from the d-Time CD-ROM (See Installing Under DOS for details).  To install from Windows, run SETUP.EXE from the CD-ROM if you are using Windows 3.1 or later, or run SETUP30.EXE if you are running Windows 3.0 (See Installing Under Microsoft Windows for details).

The INSTALL.EXE, SETUP.EXE, or SETUP30.EXE programs determine where you wish to install the d-Time files, install the files, and then run the d-Time configuration program.  The d-Time configuration program will add a line to your CONFIG.SYS enabling it to load the d-Time driver, after making a backup of CONFIG.SYS under the name CONFIG.CDT.

When installation is complete, you will need to reboot your system to load the d-Time driver.  If Windows is not running, the d-Time configuration program can reboot for you.  If you are running Windows, you will have to reboot the system yourself.

What You Will Need

	You need the following to install and use d-Time:

1)	DOS version 4.01 or later.  This can be MS-DOS, PC-DOS, DR-DOS or Novell 	DOS.

2)	An 80386 or compatible CPU.

3)	MSCDEX ( Microsoft's CD-ROM driver) version 2.1 or later.

4)	A 40MB or larger hard disk with uncompressed disk space.  We recommend that you have at least 	20 megabytes available for d-Time to use.

5)	A CD-ROM drive and it's corresponding driver, compatible with DOS.

6)	2MB of RAM.


Default and Custom Installation

There are two ways that you can install d-Time.  A default installation installs in a fixed location (C:\D-TIME10) using default values for various settings.  (You can later change these default settings with the DTIME program).  After the files are installed, the DTIME configuration program is started.  The DTIME configuration program will automatically set various parameters, and add a line to CONFIG.SYS to load the d-Time driver.  Before it modifies your CONFIG.SYS, it saves a copy under the name CONFIG.CDT.  If you are running under DOS, you are then asked if you would like to reboot the system to enable d-Time.  If you are running under Windows, you will be reminded that you need to reboot to enable d-Time, but the DTIME configuration program will not reboot the system for you.

A custom installation allows you to select the directory to install d-Time files into.  After the files are installed, the d-Time configuration program is started.  Rather than automatically setting up d-Time, however, the configuration program will let you select values for various parameters.  For more information on using the d-Time configuration program see 





Configuring and Using d-Time.

Setting up your initial configuration and changing your configuration later are both done in the same way, so the instructions cover both situations.

Installing under DOS

Follow these steps:
1)	Insert the d-Time CD-ROM into the drive.

2)	Type "X:INSTALL" and press return, where "X" is the drive letter assigned to your CD-ROM.

You will be asked if you would like to perform a default installation or a custom installation.  If you elect to perform a default installation, several files will be copied from the CD-ROM into the directory C:\D-TIME10, and then the DTIME configuration program will be run.  The DTIME configuration program will automatically set up d-Time for you, and will add the d-Time driver to your CONFIG.SYS file.  A backup copy of your CONFIG.SYS will be made with the name CONFIG.CDT before your CONFIG.SYS is modified.

You will then be asked if you want to reboot.  If you select YES, your system will be rebooted so that the d-Time driver can be loaded.  If you select NO, your CD-ROM will not be accelerated until you next reboot.

If you elect to perform a custom installation, you will be asked to enter the directory you wish to install into.  Choose the default directory, or enter the full path name of another directory, including the drive letter.  The directory will be created for you, and several files will be copied from the CD-ROM.  The DTIME configuration program will then be run.  For information on using the DTIME configuration program, see Configuring and Using d-Time.

Installing on Microsoft Windows

You can install d-Time while Windows is running.  You can either open a DOS window, and follow the instructions under Installing under DOS, or you can use the d-Time Setup program, which runs under Windows.

There are actually two d-Time Setup programs on the CD-ROM.  SETUP.EXE is for use with Windows 3.1 or later.  SETUP30.EXE is for use with Windows 3.0.  The only significant difference between the two programs is that SETUP30.EXE does not support Full Motion Video.  That is because Microsoft Windows Version 3.0 does not support Full Motion Video.  Other than that, the two programs have the same commands and user interface.  In this document, we will call both of these programs "Setup".

To install with the d-Time Setup program, do this:
1)	Select RUN from the FILE menu in Program Manager or File Manager.

2)	Type "X:SETUP" or "X:SETUP30" where X is the drive letter of your CD-ROM, and press return.  Use SETUP if you are running Windows 3.1 or later.  Use SETUP30.EXE if you are running Windows 3.0.

If you wish to set up d-Time from within File Manager, click on the icon for the CD-ROM drive, and then double click on SETUP.EXE or SETUP30.EXE.

If you are not sure which version of Windows you are running, try SETUP.  There is no harm done if you are wrong - Windows will notice that SETUP requires a later version of Windows, and refuse to load the program.

The top of the Setup window contains a box of text.  In it are brief instructions on using Setup.  If the instruction box is not large enough to contain all of the text, you may scroll the text with the scroll bar.  You can also scroll using the HOME, END, PAGE UP, PAGE DOWN, UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW keys.

The bottom of the Setup window contains buttons which invoke various commands.  In the section labeled "Help" is a button that looks like a question mark.  Press this to invoke the Online Help file.  The help file can also be invoked by selecting "Contents..." from the "Help" menu.  See Viewing the Help File for details.

In the section labeled "Install" there are two buttons.  The one labeled "Default" starts a default installation.  The one labeled "Custom" starts a custom installation.  You can also start an installation by selecting "Default..." or "Custom..." from the "Installation" menu.  The installation process is described in Starting an Installation.

If you are running SETUP.EXE, rather than SETUP30.EXE, there is a group of buttons labeled "Video" and a menu named "Video" at the top of the Setup window.  These can be used to view any of the four video presentations included on the d-Time CD-ROM.  See Viewing an Instructional Video for more information on playing the videos.


Viewing the Help File

If you would like to bring up these Online Help files at any time, select "Contents..." from the Help menu, or press the "?" icon at the bottom of the Setup window.

You do not have to run Setup to view this file.  You can open it from the File Manager by double-clicking it with the mouse, and Windows will automatically run the Windows Help program to view it.

To view the various topics within the Online Help, scroll through the list and double-click on the topic of your choice.  To move immediately to any topic or subtopic from within the Help text, simply double-click on the double underlined name of that topic.  


Viewing an Instructional Video

There are four audiovisual presentations about d-Time on the d-Time CD-ROM.  To view one of these, select the name of the one you wish to view from the Video menu, or press one of the buttons under the Video label at the bottom of the Setup window.

The instruction box in the Setup window will be replaced with the video you selected.  If the instruction box is too small to hold the video, the video will be scaled down by factors of two until it fits.  If the instruction box is larger than the video, the video will be scaled up by the largest factor of two that does not make the video too large for the window.

If you select "Fit to Window" from the Video menu, the video will be scaled so that it exactly fits the instruction box.  If you have a fairly fast video system and CPU, this option works well.  On slower CPUs, or with slower video systems, playback might be significantly slowed.

The video will automatically play from the beginning to the end, and then the instruction window will revert back to displaying text.


Controlling Video Playback

When a video is being displayed, six buttons and a scroll bar appear below the instruction box.

The button on the far left rewinds to the beginning of the video.  If the video is playing when you press this button, it will continue to play.  If it was paused, it will remain paused.

The next button rewinds by one second.  Unlike most buttons, which only take action when you release the mouse, the rewind buttons take action as soon as you press the mouse, and they automatically repeat as you hold the mouse button down.  You can rewind several seconds by simply pressing and holding the rewind button with the mouse until the video has rewound the desired amount.  The video continues to play or remains paused, whichever it was when you pressed the button.

The third button is the stop button.  This button ends video playback and returns the instruction box to displaying text.

The fourth button is the play/pause button.  If the video is playing, pressing this button will pause playback.  It the video is paused, pressing this button will resume playback.

The fifth button is the fast forward button.  It skips forward by one second.  Like the rewind button, this button acts as soon as you press the mouse button rather than waiting until you release it, and it automatically repeats as long as you hold the mouse button down.  The video continues to play or remains paused, whichever it was when you first pressed the button.

The sixth and final button skips to the end of the video.  If the video is playing, it is automatically paused.

You can also control video playback with the scroll bar below the instruction window.  Clicking the arrows at the ends of the scroll bar moves the video backwards or forwards one frame at a time.  Clicking between the arrows and the thumb moves the video backwards or forwards one second at a time.  Finally, you can drag the thumb with the pointer to quickly move backwards or forwards.

You can also control playback with the keyboard.  The HOME key moves to the beginning of the video.  The END key moves to the end.  The PAGE UP key rewinds by one second, and the PAGE DOWN key skips forward by one second.  The UP ARROW rewinds by one frame, and the DOWN ARROW moves forward by one frame.  The SPACE key and the ENTER key switch between play and pause.  The ESC key stops playback and restores the text display in the instruction window.

If You Do Not Have "Video For Windows"...

If you do not have Microsoft's Video for Windows drivers installed, the Setup program will detect this when you try to play a video, and offer to install the Video for Windows runtime for you.  A copy of this is on the d-Time CD-ROM.  If you elect to install the Video for Windows runtime, the Setup program will start Microsoft's Video for Windows Setup program for you.  Follow that program's instructions to install the video drivers.


Starting an Installation

If you have a monochrome VGA display, select the "Monochrome VGA" option from the Video menu.  When Setup runs the d-Time configuration program at the end of the installation process, the program will automatically adjust its colors for a black and white display.

You can start a default installation by selecting "Default..." from the Install menu or by double clicking on the "Default" button under "Install" at the bottom of the Setup window.  You will be asked to confirm your choice, and then installation will begin.

You can start a custom installation by selecting "Custom..." from the Install menu or by double clicking on the "Custom" button under "Install" at the bottom of the Setup window.  You will be asked to supply the name of the directory in which you wish to install d-Time.

The Setup program will check to see if the directory you specified already exists.  If it does not, the Setup program creates it.  If the directory already exists, the Setup program checks to see if there are any files in it.  If there are, you will be warned that you are installing in a directory that is not empty, and asked if you really mean to do this.  If you do, Setup will continue.

The Setup program copies several files from the CD-ROM to the installation directory.  This should only take a few seconds.  You are then asked if you would like the Setup program to create a group for d-Time in Program Manager.  If you tell it to do so, a group named "CD-ROM Accelerator" is created, and icons are added for DTIME.EXE and for this help file.  In addition, if you are running under Windows 3.1 or later, icons will be added to the group for the four video presentations included on the d-Time CD-ROM.  Double clicking one of these icons will start Microsoft's Media Player with the selected video.  The videos themselves are not installed on your hard disk.  They are kept on the d-Time CD-ROM.

Finally, Setup will offer to run the d-Time configuration program for you so that you can configure your newly installed d-Time program.  If you allow Setup to run the configuration program for you, Setup will start it in a full screen DOS window, and then Setup will exit.

What the d-Time configuration program does depends on whether you are doing a Default installation or a Custom installation.  If you are doing a Default installation, the configuration program will set up d-Time using default values, add a line to your CONFIG.SYS to load the d-Time driver (after making a backup of CONFIG.SYS under the name CONFIG.CDT) and then remind you that you will have to exit Windows and reboot the system in order to enable d-Time.

If you are doing a Custom installation, the configuration program will not automatically set up d-Time.  Instead, it will let you examine and modify various parameters first.  See Configuring and Using d-Time for instructions on how to use the d-Time configuration program.


Registering Your Copy

Please take a moment to fill out the registration card and mail it.  This will allow Ballard Synergy to inform you of future releases of d-Time and other products that may be of interest to you.


Configuring and Using d-Time

d-Time allows you to set a number of parameters that control how it operates.  These parameters can be viewed and modified from the program DTIME.EXE.  This program will be copied from the d-Time CD-ROM into the directory you specify during custom installation (or C:\D-TIME10 if you used the default directory or elected to perform a default installation).  In the examples in this help document, we will assume that you have installed in C:\D-TIME10.  If you have installed somewhere else, replace the "C" with the drive letter of the drive you have installed on, and the "D-TIME" with the name of the directory you installed in.   We will refer to the setup and configuration mini-program DTIME.EXE as DTIME, not to be confused with d-Time,  which is the total software package.

If you are running Microsoft Windows, you may run DTIME by selecting the RUN command from PROGRAM MANAGER or the FILE MANAGER and typing "C:\D-TIME10\DTIME" and then pressing the ENTER key; or by double-clicking on the d-Time icon in the CD-ROM Accelerator group.

From DOS, type "DTIME" at the DOS prompt.

When you first install d-Time, the installation program will automatically run DTIME.EXE for you so that you can set up your initial configuration.  Setting up your initial configuration and changing your configuration later are both done the same way, so the following instructions cover both situations.


Overview of Configuration

The DTIME user interface consists of a single screen.  At the top of the screen is a menu consisting of nine commands.  You may select one of these commands by using the mouse to point at the command, and then clicking the left or right mouse button.  Please note that these menus are not drop-down or pull-down menus.  Clicking the mouse on one of them immediately executes the command named by the menu.  When the pointer is over a command, that command will be highlighted.

(All DTIME commands can be accessed from the keyboard if you do not have or do not wish to use a mouse.  See Navigating Without a Mouse for information on keyboard access.)

The DTIME menu commands are described in detail in The Menu Commands.

The DTIME screen is divided into three main sections below the menu area.  On the right, just below the menu is an area labeled "Help Window." This area changes as you move the pointer over various areas of the screen to reflect what those areas do.  For example, when the pointer is over the "Ver" menu command, which is a command that reports the version number of d-Time, the contents of the help window will be "This command will display the version information." If you then move the pointer over to the "Quit" menu item, the contents of the help window will change to read "Quits from d-Time."

On the left of the DTIME screen just below the menu is a window labeled "Install Accelerator Setup" if you are installing d-Time, or "Current Accelerator Setup" if you have already installed d-Time.  You can change any one of these settings by clicking on it.  You will be prompted for the appropriate information.  For more information, see The Accelerator Setup Window.

The bottom half of the DTIME window contains several graphic indicators of certain system parameters.  The first two of these contain information about the RAM cache and the disk acceleration file.  During installation, they indicate what fraction of free XMS RAM and disk space, respectively, will be allocated to d-Time.  If d-Time is already installed, these indicate the amount of RAM cache and hard disk space that have been allocated to d-Time.

The next two indicators show you the speed of your CD-ROM, and of the disk on which you have placed the acceleration file.  These will be marked as "unknown" until DTIME benchmarks the CD-ROM and disk.  DTIME benchmarks them when you create the acceleration file, or when you select "Benchmark" from the command menu.

Finally, the last indicator shows you how often d-Time has been able to find data in the RAM cache or in the acceleration file, thus avoiding access to the slower CD-ROM drive.

When DTIME needs more information from you, or needs verification before continuing with an action that will alter data, it will display a dialog box.  A dialog box is a window that will pop up on top of the DTIME screen.  At the top of the dialog box there is text describing why DTIME has presented the dialog box.   Beneath the dialog there are buttons you can press to indicate your response.  Depending on the dialog, there may be one or more of these buttons, with labels such as "YES," "NO," "OK," or "CANCEL." These buttons work much like the menu commands: move the pointer over the one you wish to select.  It will become highlighted.  Then press the mouse button.

Sometimes DTIME needs more information than YES/NO or OK/CANCEL.  In those cases, the dialog box will contain an area where you can enter text.  Simply type the text using your  keyboard.

When DTIME is doing a lengthy operation such as verifying the acceleration file, it will display a dialog that tells you what is happening.   When this disappears, begin where you left off.


The Menu Commands

There are nine commands accessible from the menu at the top of the DTIME screen.  The first of these is "Install" if you are installing, or "Update" if you are viewing or changing the configuration.  The other eight commands are the same whether you are installing or reconfiguring.


The Accelerator Setup Window

The DTIME Accelerator Setup window is used to review and change several operating parameters of d-Time.  Using this window, you can change the CD-ROM drive that is accelerated, the amount of RAM and hard disk used to accelerate the CD-ROM, how read ahead is handled, how FMV (Full Motion Video) is handled, and how much memory the d-Time driver uses.

The window is divided into two columns.  The left column contains the names of various parameters that you can change.  The right column displays the settings for those parameters. Initially these will be the default values for each parameter.  If you make changes, the right column will show the new values that will be stored when you select "Update" or "Install" from the menu at the top of the screen.

The Accelerator Setup window is used much like a pop-up or drop-down menu.  Simply move the mouse pointer to the parameter you wish to change, and click the mouse button.  A dialog for changing that parameter will pop up.  As you move the mouse over the Accelerator Setup window, the Help window's contents will change from a summary of what is controlled by the chosen parameter to specific instructions regarding that parameter.


Navigating Without a Mouse

You do not have to use a mouse or other pointing device in order to use the DTIME program.  The TAB key moves through the menu items at the top of the screen from left to right, and then moves into the Accelerator Setup window, and then back to the menu.  To select a menu item, you can repeatedly press the TAB key until that item is highlighted, and then press the ENTER key.

To select an item from the Accelerator Setup window, repeatedly press the TAB key until the first item in the Accelerator Setup window is selected, and then use the up and down arrow keys to move within the window (you can also use HOME and END to move to the top and bottom, respectively, of the window).

You can immediately invoke one of the nine menu commands by typing the first character of the menu name.

When a dialog box is displayed, one of the buttons at the bottom will be highlighted.  Pressing ENTER presses that button.  You can change which button is highlighted by using the left or right arrow keys, or you can cycle through the buttons by pressing the TAB key.

Using TIMESTAT.EXE

Your d-Time directory (C:\D-TIME10 if you elected to do a default installation, or wherever you installed if you elected to put it elsewhere during a custom installation) contains a program named TIMESTAT.EXE, which you can run if you'd like to see how well d-Time is working.

To run TIMESTAT from DOS, simply type "TIMESTAT" at the DOS prompt.
Install/Update

This is the first item on the menu.  It will be "Update" if d-Time is installed and running.  Otherwise, it will be "Install".

If you are installing, this command instructs the DTIME program to add a line to CONFIG.SYS to load the d-Time driver, and to create an acceleration file on your hard disk, if you have opted to use one.

If you are reconfiguring, the line that loads the d-Time driver in your CONFIG.SYS will be altered to reflect any changes you have made in the settings, and your acceleration file will be modified as needed.

In general, you use the Accelerator Setup window to adjust the settings to your liking, and then use the "Install" or "Update" command to save those settings.  For information on using the Accelerator Setup window, see The Accelerator Setup Window.

Install/Update will ask for confirmation before making any changes to your system.

If Install/Update modifies your CONFIG.SYS, it will make a backup copy of your original CONFIG.SYS under the name CONFIG.CDT.

Please note that if you are using the DOS 6.XX [MENU] command in CONFIG.SYS in order to store multiple configurations in one CONFIG.SYS file (or if you are using some third party product that does something similar), DTIME may not correctly update CONFIG.SYS.  DTIME will put the line to load the d-Time driver at the end of CONFIG.SYS.  If that is not the correct place for the configuration you are using, you will have to edit CONFIG.SYS with your favorite text editor and move the d-Time line to a place that is included in your configuration.

If you have installed or are modifying settings for an acceleration file, DTIME will create (if necessary) and verify the acceleration file.  This can take a few moments.

Remove

The "Remove" command uninstalls d-Time.  You will have the option of removing the acceleration file.  Duplicate Timelog files and the d-Time line in CONFIG.SYS will be removed.  You will have to reboot your system to actually remove d-Time from memory.

Help

The "Help" command displays the file README.TXT from the d-Time CD-ROM.  The file is displayed in a dialog box.  At the bottom are buttons labeled NEXT, PREV, and DONE.  The NEXT button displays the next page.  The PREV button displays the previous page.  The DONE button ends display of README.TXT and returns to DTIME.




Timelog

The "Timelog" command is used to manipulate Timelog files.  For information on Timelog files, see Timelogs.

To use Timelogs, you must be using an acceleration file.  When you select the Timelog command, you will be asked if you would like to load a Timelog.  If you select YES, you will be presented with a list of available Timelog files.

You can select a file from the list either by using the arrow keys and the PAGE UP, PAGE DOWN, HOME, and END keys, or you can use the mouse.  To scroll the list with the mouse, move the pointer to just off the top or bottom of the list and move it left and right.  As you move it, the list will scroll.  When the CD-ROM whose Timelog you wish to use is visible in the list, click it, or highlight it using the arrow keys, and press ENTER.

You will be asked if you want to load the Timelog.  Select YES if you do, or select NO if you have selected the wrong Timelog, or have changed your mind.  If you select YES, the Timelog will be loaded.  This can take several minutes.  A countdown will be displayed while the Timelog loads, so you can see how much is left to do.

If you change your mind after starting to load the Timelog, you can stop the load by pressing the ESC key.

The "Timelog" command is also used to save Timelogs that you create yourself.  To save a Timelog you have created, answer NO when first asked if you want to load a Timelog.  You will be asked to identify the CD-ROM that you are creating a Timelog for.  DTIME will suggest a name for it.  The name DTIME suggests is the volume name of the CD-ROM.  If you would like to select another name, type the new name.  Select OK when the name is to your liking.  You will then be asked if you really want to create the Timelog.  Answer YES or NO as the case may be.  If you answer YES, the Timelog will be created.

The Timelog will be stored in the C:\D-TIME10 directory (unless you chose to install in another directory).  The Timelog file will have an extension of .CDT.  The filename is a string of letters and numbers that identifies the CD-ROM (each CD-ROM has a product code, and that code becomes the name of the Timelog file).

Benchmark

The "Benchmark" command measures the performance of the CD-ROM and the hard disk.  You can use the results of this command to decide if you want to have an acceleration file or not.

When you invoke the "Benchmark" command, you will be asked if you want to benchmark the CD-ROM drive.  If you select YES, the system will appear to freeze for approximately ten seconds.  The system is not really frozen.  It is just ignoring the keyboard and mouse while it devotes all of its time to measuring the CD-ROM.  When the testing is done, you will be told how fast your CD-ROM transferred data.

After finishing with the CD-ROM (either because you skipped it, or because the testing was completed), if you have an acceleration file, you will be asked if you want to benchmark the disk that contains the acceleration file.  If you select YES, then the system will appear to freeze for about ten seconds.  You will then be told the data transfer rate of your hard disk.

The ratio of disk transfer rate to CD-ROM transfer rate will be displayed on the main screen to the left of the bar charts.

Flush

The "Flush" command causes d-Time to forget what is in memory and/or the acceleration file.

You will first be asked if you want to clear the acceleration file.  If you select YES, then that file will be erased.  The file will still exist on your hard disk, but it will contain no acceleration data.

You will then be asked if you want to clear the RAM cache.  If you select YES, DTIME will forget all the information about your CD-ROMs that it had stored in RAM.  If you select NO, the information will be retained.

If you clear the acceleration file, d-Time will not perform any acceleration until the system is rebooted.  However, it will continue to perform RAM caching.

When the Extended Memory (XMS) driver is installed, the only thing to be flushed will be the acceleration file.

Eject

The "Eject" command ejects the CD-ROM from the drive.  This only works if your drive supports auto-eject.

Ver

The "Ver" command displays a dialog that tells you the version number of your copy of d-Time.

Quit

The "Quit" command exits from the DTIME program.  If you have changed the settings and have not selected "Install" or "Update," you will be asked if you would like to make the changes.  Selecting YES will invoke the Install/Update command for you.  Selecting NO will skip the Install/Update.

You will be asked if you really want to quit.  Select YES if you really do want to quit.  Select NO if you selected the quit command by accident, or have changed your mind.
Selecting the CD-ROM Drive

The "CD-ROM Drive" line in the Accelerator Setup window indicates which drive will be accelerated.  If you have only one CD-ROM drive, it should be listed on this line.
If you have more than one CD-ROM drive, you can select which to accelerate by clicking on this line.  You will then be presented with a dialog that will allow you to enter the drive letter of the drive you wish to accelerate.   (Note: d-Time can only accelerate one CD-ROM drive at a time).

Setting the DOS RAM Cache Size

The "DOS RAM Cache" line of the Accelerator Setup window displays how much memory is allocated for a RAM cache.  You can change this setting by clicking on this line.  You will then be presented with a dialog that will allow you to enter a new value.

The DOS RAM cache is allocated from Extended Memory (also known as XMS memory).   Settings vary from 64KB to 8MB.




Setting the Windows Cache Size

The "Windows Cache" line of the Accelerator Setup window displays how much memory is allocated for a RAM cache when Windows is running.  You can change this setting by clicking on this line, and entering the new value in the dialog box that will be presented to you.

You cannot set this to be larger than the amount of RAM you have allocated for the DOS cache.   If you try to enter a larger value, your entry will be rejected.   We recommend that it be set to half the value of the DOS cache.

Windows needs at least two megabytes of free memory to run in Enhanced Mode, so make sure that you leave at least that much free if you plan to use Enhanced Mode.


Setting the Read Ahead Size

The "Read Ahead by" line of the Accelerator Setup window displays the size of the read ahead buffer.  This buffer is used to accelerate applications that are reading the CD-ROM data in order, one CD-ROM sector at a time.   An example of this would be an encyclopedia program.

If you are using such applications, the recommended setting for this parameter is 12KB, or six sectors.  You can change this setting by clicking the pointer on the "Read Ahead by" line in the Accelerator Setup window, which will bring up a dialog box in which you can enter the new size.

This parameter may be set from 0 (disabled) to a maximum of 6KB or 3 sectors when the Extended Memory (XMS) driver is in use.

Setting Up the Acceleration File

The "Disk Space" line of the Accelerator Setup window displays how large the acceleration file is currently (if you have already installed d-Time) or will be (if you are installing d-Time).  You can change the size and the location of the acceleration file by clicking on this line.

When you click on this line, you will be presented with a dialog that will let you select a drive for the acceleration file.  If you have an acceleration file on another drive, you will be asked if you would like to delete it.  Because the acceleration file is a hidden file, it is easiest to let d-Time delete it for you, rather than doing it yourself later.

After you select a drive, you are asked if you would like to benchmark that drive.  If you say YES, the drive will be benchmarked.  Otherwise, the program continues.

Next, you will be asked for the size of the acceleration file.  Enter the amount of hard disk space you want to allocate, unless you want to accept the suggestion that will be provided.  Keep in mind that we recommend a minimum of 20MB for the acceleration file.

If you are using an acceleration file, and wish to stop and delete the file, you can simply set the size to zero.

After you finish, the new setting will be indicated on the "Disk Space" line.  If a new acceleration file has been created, or the size has been changed, the actual changes will not take place until you select "Install" or "Update" from the main menu.  (The main menu will offer an "Install" option if you are doing an installation, or an "Update" option if you are making changes to an existing installation).

If you have changed the Disk Space value, when you "Update" or "Install" you will be informed that d-Time is creating the acceleration file.  You will be told how many fragments on the disk are used for the acceleration file.  d-Time will also verify the integrity of the file.

If the free space on your disk is highly fragmented, it is a good idea to run a defragmentation program before creating an acceleration file.  If you are running DOS 6.XX, just type "DEFRAG" at the DOS prompt before you run DTIME, and ask DEFRAG to optimize the drive that you plan to use for the acceleration file.  See your DOS manuals for information on using the DEFRAG utility.

Note that DEFRAG will not defragment the acceleration file, so if you notice that your disk is fragmented after installing the acceleration file, you should delete the acceleration file, run DEFRAG to defragment the disk, and then recreate the acceleration file.
Full Motion Video

The "Full Motion Video" setting allows you to control how d-Time handles CD-ROMs that include full motion video.  If this setting is DISABLED, d-Time will accelerate full motion video from the CD-ROM just like any other CD-ROM data.  If this setting is ENABLED, d-Time will detect when full motion video is being played, and will check to see if the CD-ROM is fast enough to handle the video.  If the CD-ROM is fast enough to handle the video playback on its own, d-Time will avoid filling the RAM cache and the acceleration file with the video data, which will leave much more room for other data.

To change this setting, simply click on the "Full Motion Video" line in the Accelerator Setup window.  You will be asked if you want to enable Full Motion Video.  Press YES if you want it enabled, or NO if you want it disabled.   We recommend that you disable it if the CD-ROM drive you are accelerating is a single speed drive.

Please note that there are several factors that may effect the performance of Full Motion Video on your system.  The amount of RAM on your system is very important, and so is the speed of your system itself.  The video card will make a difference also - the better the video card, the better Full Motion Video will perform.  If you find that FMV seems to run in a disjointed, jerky manner, you can reduce the size of the video window.  This should increase the speed, therefore helping Full Motion Video to appear much more seamless.  (Please note: Microsoft Windows Version 3.0 does not support Full Motion Video.)
Size Reduction

The "Size Reduction" setting allows you to make the d-Time driver smaller in memory.  Making the driver smaller will also make it slower, so there is a trade-off involved in changing this setting.

Each time you click the mouse on the "Size Reduction" line in the Accelerator Setup window, the setting will change.  There are several possible settings.  The default is DISABLED, which uses the most memory but runs the fastest.  An asterisk will mark the setting that saves the most memory.

This feature is disabled when the Extended Memory driver is in use.


CONFIG.SYS Parameters

The above Accelerator Settings correspond to the following parameters, which are listed in the device driver commands via the CONFIG.SYS:

/D:[NAME]  NAME is the CD-ROM driver name which will be accelerated.  Usually the default name is MSCD001.

/U:[UNIT]  If you have more than one CD-ROM drive, the UNIT option tells d-TIME which CD-ROM drive to accelerate.

/M:[SIZE]  The SIZE in KB of DOS RAM Cache.  The memory will be allocated in Extended Memory.  The minimum value is 64KB.

/W:[WINSZ]  Windows Size (WINSZ) in KB of RAM Cache while in Windows.  The minimum value is 64KB.

/R:[COUNT]  The COUNT frames are read from the CD-ROM and placed in the read ahead buffer when one frame is requested by title.  The values 0-8 (0KB-16KB) are valid.  Large frames are better for streaming and small frames are better for random reads.

/F:[FNAME]  FILE name for a hard disk file.  The disk file created on your hard disk is a hidden file.

/X:[RATE]  RATE is the CRITICAL KB/Sec transfer rate.  The /X option detects when full motion video clips are played by monitoring the CD-ROM drive's data transfer rate, and stops disk acceleration if the Full Motion Video is enabled.

/T:[TICKS]  The /T option monitors the value stored in the /X option.  When playing full motion video clips, d-Time will check for the value of the /X and /T options.  Once the driver discovers that the established /X and /T values are met (the rate is maintained for the specified number to tick), the hard disk acceleration file will be disabled until the values no longer equal the value of /X and /T.  This is done automatically to save the user hard disk space by saving only random access data, and to allow the synchronization of full motion video with sound in slow computer systems.  Normally, only the first second of the full motion video clip will be saved to the hard disk.  /T is the critical tick in 1/18th of a second (18=1 second).  0 disables Full Motion Video mode.

/C: Always checks the CD-ROM drive for media changes.  Without this option, RAM caching benchmarks will be improved by about 5%.  However, choosing not to use this option could cause the driver to miss a media change.

/S1 to /S7:  Allows the user to reduce the amount of memory required by the driver.  Using the /S option decreases the performance of the driver when using RAM only caching.


Suggested Setting's for Optimum Performance
Expanded Memory Only (EMS) Driver:

DOS RAM cache:
A large amount of RAM cache is not necessary with CD-ROM acceleration.  64KB is the recommended setting.

Windows RAM cache:
Windows RAM cache should usually be half the size of DOS RAM cache, or 64KB minimum.

Read Ahead:
12KB or 6 sectors is recommended to insure that data is available when requested.

Disk Accelerator Space:
Ballard Synergy recommends 20MB.  The more space you allocate, the better the performance.

Full Motion Video:
Choose enabled on double speed drives and above, disabled for single speed drives. Answering YES to this will store all pertinent data even if it's Full Motion Video.  Saying NO will save a significant amount of space on the disk file.

Size Reduction:
Set at S5. Higher size reduction results in more base memory saved. (This option slows performance somewhat when using RAM only).


Suggested Setting's for Optimum Performance
Extended Memory Only (XMS) Driver

When you're using the XMS driver, the DOS RAM cache and the Windows cache will be set at 64KB, and Size Reduction will be disabled. We recommend that the acceleration file be set at 20MB or larger, and that the Read Ahead be set to 0KB.



All About Timelogs


What Is A Timelog?

d-Time accelerates your CD-ROM applications by determining what data from the CD-ROM is frequently accessed, and keeping a copy of that data in the acceleration file or in RAM, where it can be accessed much faster than from the CD-ROM.  As you work with a given CD-ROM, d-Time watches, and is able to refine its understanding of what data should be kept in the acceleration file and in RAM to best accelerate that CD-ROM.  In essence, d-Time learns about that CD-ROM.

A Timelog file is a way for d-Time to save what it has learned about a given CD-ROM, so that the next time you work with that CD-ROM, d-Time can pick up where it left off, rather than having to start all over again learning about that CD-ROM.


Loading A Timelog

To load a Timelog file, first run the DTIME.EXE program.  If you are running DOS, do this by typing "DTIME" at the DOS prompt.  If you're in Windows, you can open the group called CD-ROM Accelerator and double click on the d-Time icon.

If you are running Microsoft Windows, you can either open a DOS window and type the command given above, or you can select RUN from the FILE menu of either File Manager or Program Manager, and type the command given above.

When the DTIME program finishes starting up, select the "Timelog" item from the DTIME command menu.  (For instructions on the d-Time user interface, including how to select an item from the command menu, see Configuring and Using d-Time.

You will be asked if you would like to load a Timelog.  Press the YES button.

A list of Timelogs will be presented.  There are several ways to view the list: you can scroll through it by pressing the PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN keys; you can jump to the beginning or end of the list by pressing the HOME or END keys, respectively; you can step through it with the UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW keys.  When you step up or down from the top or bottom of the displayed list, the list will scroll.  You can also scroll the list by using the mouse.  Place the pointer just off of the top or bottom of the list and move it.  As you move it, the list will scroll.

If a Timelog is available for the CD-ROM title currently in the drive, d-Time will automatically find it.  Press ENTER to select it.

To select a different Timelog to load, scroll through the list so that the name of the desired Timelog is visible.  Next, highlight the name of the Timelog by moving the pointer with the mouse until it is over the name.  Alternatively, you may use the UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW keys to move the selection up or down.

For many titles, two Timelogs are included on the d-Time CD-ROM.  One is for use when you do not have Full Motion Video enabled.  The other is for use when you do have Full Motion Video enabled.  (For information on enabling and disabling the Full Motion Video option, see Configuring and Using d-Time.  For best results, when two Timelogs are available, select the one that matches your current settings.

After you highlight the name of the Timelog you wish to load, click the left or right mouse button or press the ENTER key.  You will then be asked to confirm that you wish to load the Timelog.

If the settings in the Timelog match the current settings, you will simply be asked if you want to load the Timelog.  If the settings do not match (for example, the Timelog was recorded with Full Motion Video enabled, and you have Full Motion Video disabled), you will be asked if you want to load the Timelog even though the settings do not match.  If another Timelog is available for the same CD-ROM title whose settings do match your current settings, you should press the NO button and select the other Timelog.

 After you confirm that you want to load the Timelog, d-Time will read data from the CD-ROM and store it in the acceleration file.  This may take several minutes, depending on the size of the acceleration file.  A countdown will be displayed while  the acceleration file is being loaded from the Timelog.  If you change your mind and want to stop the load, press the ESC key.

Don't worry if the loading stops before the countdown reaches zero.  This is normal, because the Timelog may have been recorded on a system with a larger acceleration file than you are currently using.

After the Timelog finishes loading, quit from the DTIME program (type 'Q' or select "Quit" from the command menu), and start your CD-ROM application.

Making Your Own Timelogs

You are not limited to using the Timelog files that are included on the d-Time CD-ROM.  You can make your own Timelogs for the applications that you use.

To make a Timelog, first use your application normally for a while in order to fill the RAM cache and the acceleration file with information from that CD-ROM, and to allow d-Time to observe how you are accessing that CD-ROM.

When you reach the point where you would normally be finished running your application, start the DTIME.EXE program, just as you would if you were going to load a Timelog.  Select the Timelog command from the command menu, or press the 'T' key.

You will be asked if you would like to load a Timelog.  Answer NO.

You will be asked to identify the CD-ROM.  d-Time will suggest a name, based on the label on the CD-ROM.  You are free to change the name if you wish.  If you are going to create different Timelogs of a given CD-ROM with different settings (e.g., one with Full Motion Video enabled and one with it disabled), then it is a good idea to indicate the settings in the name (e.g., append "FMV" to the Timelog that was recorded with Full Motion Video enabled).

When the name is set to your liking, press OK.  You will be asked to confirm that you wish to make a Timelog.  Press YES, and the Timelog file will be created.
If you have already created a Timelog for the same CD-ROM, and the settings in that Timelog are similar to the current settings, then the new Timelog file will overwrite the old one.  You will be asked to verify that you really want to do this before the old file is overwritten.

Obtaining New Timelogs

A Bulletin Board Service has been set up to allow you to obtain new Timelogs from Ballard Synergy and other sources.  Please call the Ballard Synergy BBS at (206) 656-8125 for additional Timelogs as they become available. 

List of Predefined Timelogs

Timelogs for many titles are included on the d-Time CD-ROM.  The following is only a partial list.

3D Dinosaurs
3D Studio (Autodesk)
Alone in the Dark
Arthur's Teacher Trouble 
Ask Me Multimedia Guide
Beauty and The Beast
Beethoven Multimedia
BodyWorks 3.0
Britannia Issue 3 
Carmen San Diego
Microsoft Cinemania '94 
Commanche CD
Compton's Family Choice
Critical Path
Curse Of Enchantia
CyberRace
Dark Sun Shattered Lands
Day of the Tentacle
Dr. Windows
Dracula Unleashed
Dragon's Lair
Dune
Fractal Frenzy
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
Great Cities of the World Volume 2
Guy Spy and the Crystals of Armageddon 
Hell Cab
Info-Mac lll Collections
Iron Helix
Jones in the Fast Lane
The Journeyman Project
King's Quest V
King's Quest VI 
Kodak Photo CD
Loom 
M.Y.S.T.
Maddog McCree
Mammals: A Multimedia Encyclopedia 
Man Enough
Maps and Facts 
MegaRace
Microcosm
Microsoft Bookshelf 93
Microsoft Complete Baseball
Microsoft Dinosaurs
Microsoft Encarta 1994 Edition
Microsoft Home
Mixed Up Mother Goose
Monarch Notes
Multimedia Audubon's Birds
Multimedia Catalog PC
Multimedia PC-Titles Cat
Multimedia World (Aris)
Oceans Below
PC-SIG Library 11th Edition
Peter and The Wolf
Print NW Six Sigma
Project Gutenberg 
QRZ! Ham Radio
Quantum Gate
Rebel Assault
Return to Zork 
Selectware Demo
Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective
Sound It Out Land
Space & Astronomy CD-ROM October 1993
Space Shuttle
SpaceQuest IV
Sports Ilustrated 1994 Multimedia Sports Almanac
Stellar 7 
Strange Dead Fellows
Strike Commander
Super Games (150+)
The 7th Guest
The Adventures of Willy Beamish
The Animals
The Best of the Bureau 
The Cautious Condor
The Chaos Continuum
The Horde
The Manhole
The Software Toolworks Multimedia Encyclopedia
Time Table of History: Science & Innovation
Who Shot Johnny Rock? 
Wrath Of The Gods






Questions and Answers


Accessing the CD-ROM:

I have two (or more) CD-ROM drives.  Can d-Time accelerate them all?

Version 1.1 of d-Time only works with one CD-ROM drive at a time.  We recommend using d-Time with the slowest of your drives.


Caching:

Can I use d-Time with  caching software?

d-Time will work with hard disk caching software. You should disable any CD-ROM caching software.


Can I use d-Time to cache my hard disk?

No.  d-Time is a CD-ROM accelerator.  Although part of accelerating a CD-ROM involves caching, the d-Time cache is specifically designed to work with CD-ROM, not hard disks.


The Acceleration File:

Can I put my acceleration file on my SyQuest drive? How about on a RAM disk?

The acceleration file can only be installed on a local non-removable hard disk. 


Can I put the acceleration file on a compressed disk?

No.  The acceleration file must be on an uncompressed partition.


Other Questions:

How can I tell if the d-Time driver has loaded and is working?

Run TIMESTAT.EXE from the d-Time directory on your hard disk.  If the d-Time driver is not loaded and functioning, TIMESTAT.EXE will respond "Null: Can't Find Device Driver."


What if I've got a monochrome VGA monitor?

d-Time supports monochrome VGA.  During SETUP in Windows, choose Monochrome VGA from the Monochrome Menu and click on it.  Then click on install.  If you are setting up from DOS, type   "INSTALL.EXE BW" rather than "INSTALL.EXE", and d-Time will set itself up to run in black and white mode.  However, you cannot run the installation or the program with a Hercules monochrome text monitor.




On a peer to peer network such as Windows for Workgroups, can the d-Time program be installed on the server, but the acceleration file be created on a remote workstation?

d-Time can be installed on a peer to peer network, but the acceleration file must be on the same computer that the d-Time program is installed on.  If you are using a workstation to access a CD-ROM drive which is attached to the server, d-Time will accelerate your use of that CD-ROM drive.


Compatibility:

What hardware and software is d-Time compatible with?

Ballard Synergy anticipates that you will be able to run d-Time with any CD-ROM drive or CD-ROM title, and also that it will retain its functionality without regard for the make or model of your computer.  d-Time has been extensively tested and found to run seamlessly with a large number of computer systems, CD-ROM drives, CD-ROM titles, Memory Managers, DOS and Windows versions, sound cards and SCSI host adapters.  Below is a partial list of particular items that d-Time has been tested with:

CD-ROM Titles

d-Time should work with all CD-ROM titles.  The following is a list of titles that we have tested and found it compatible with: 

3D Dinosaurs
3D Studio (Autodesk)
Alone in the Dark
Arthur's Teacher Trouble 
Ask Me Multimedia Guide
Beauty and The Beast
Beethoven Multimedia
BodyWorks 3.0
Britannia Issue 3 
Carmen San Diego
Microsoft Cinemania '94 
Commanche CD
Compton's Family Choice
Critical Path
Curse Of Enchantia
CyberRace
Dark Sun Shattered Lands
Day of the Tentacle
Dr. Windows
Dracula Unleashed
Dragon's Lair
Dune
Fractal Frenzy
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
Great Cities of the World Volume 2
Guy Spy and the Crystals of Armageddon 
Hell Cab
Info-Mac lll Collections
Iron Helix
Jones in the Fast Lane
The Journeyman Project
King's Quest V
King's Quest VI 
Kodak Photo CD
Loom 
M.Y.S.T.
Maddog McCree
Mammals: A Multimedia Encyclopedia 
Man Enough
Maps and Facts 
MegaRace
Microcosm
Microsoft Bookshelf 93
Microsoft Complete Baseball
Microsoft Dinosaurs
Microsoft Encarta 1994 Edition
Microsoft Home
Mixed Up Mother Goose
Monarch Notes
Multimedia Audubon's Birds
Multimedia Catalog PC
Multimedia PC-Titles Cat
Multimedia World (Aris)
Oceans Below
PC-SIG Library 11th Edition
Peter and The Wolf
Print NW Six Sigma
Project Gutenberg 
QRZ! Ham Radio
Quantum Gate
Rebel Assault
Return to Zork 
Selectware Demo
Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective
Sound It Out Land
Space & Astronomy CD-ROM October 1993
Space Shuttle
SpaceQuest IV
Sports Ilustrated 1994 Multimedia Sports Almanac
Stellar 7 
Strange Dead Fellows
Strike Commander
Super Games (150+)
The 7th Guest
The Adventures of Willy Beamish
The Animals
The Best of the Bureau 
The Cautious Condor
The Chaos Continuum
The Horde
The Manhole
The Software Toolworks Multimedia Encyclopedia
Time Table of History: Science & Innovation
Who Shot Johnny Rock? 
Wrath Of The Gods

CD-ROM Drives

d-Time communicates with your CD-ROM using the driver interface defined by Microsoft.  Accordingly, it should work with any interface that Microsoft supports.  We have tested d-Time with the following drives: 

Chinnon CDS-535
Mitsumi FX CD
NEC CDR-36
Panasonic CR-523
Sony 6211-10 
Sony CDU-31
Teac 50
Texel DM 3021
Texel DM 3024
Toshiba 3201
Toshiba 3401

SCSI Host Adaptors

d-Time uses standard interfaces to communicate with your CD-ROM drive and your hard disk.  Accordingly, it should work with any SCSI host adapter that supports the standard interfaces (INT 13h for disk access, and Microsoft CD-ROM extensions for CD-ROM access).  We have tested d-Time on systems that have included the following SCSI host adapters: 

Adaptec 1542B SCSI
Adaptec 1542C SCSI
Adaptec 1570 SCSI Audio Machine
Always Technology IN-2000
Bus Toaster SCSI II Adapter
Future Domain TMC-1670SVP
MiniSCSI EPP
NCR Corporation NCR700 
NCR Corporation NCR710 
NCR Corporation NCR720 
NCR Corporation NCRC766
NCR Corporation NCRC96 
NCR Corporation NCRF96 
Parallel to SCSI
Pro Audio 16 SCSI
Sound Blaster 16 SCSI
Trantor T358 
Ultrastor 14FB

Sound Cards

d-Time does not use a sound card nor does it use any system resources that would conflict with a sound card.  Accordingly, it should be compatible with all past, present, and future sound cards.  It was been explicitly tested with the following sound cards:

 Pro-Audio 16 SCSII
Sound Blaster 16 no ASP
Sound Blaster 16 SCSI-2
Sound Blaster MultiCD
Sound Blaster Pro
Sound Blaster Pro DLX
Sound Galaxy NX Pro
Wave Jammer using Microsoft Sound Systems 

Computer Systems

d-Time will work with any IBM compatible PC system.  We have specifically tested it using the following systems:

Ambra 486 DX-50 Portable computer system. 
Austin CX486-66 Portable System
Cannon 486 computer series
Chips and Technology 386 DX-25
Compaq Presario
Epson EISA Series
ESP 4MXL 486 Series Computer
Gateway 2000 Pentium P5-60.
Harvard Data 486 EISA.
IBM PS-2
Intel Panther computer system
Opti Computer System 386 DX-25
Opti Computer System 386 DX-33
Packard Bell
Softline 486 computer system 

Memory Managers

d-Time has been tested and is compatible with the following memory managers:

386 Max v7.00
DOS 4.01 through DOS 6.22 Memory Managers.
MS Windows 3.0-3.11 Memory Manager
QEMM 386 v6.02
QEMM 386 v7.01

DOS Versions

d-Time has been tested and works with the following DOS operating systems:

DR. DOS 5.0
DR. DOS 6.0
MS-DOS 4.01
MS-DOS 5.0
MS-DOS 6.0
MS-DOS 6.20
MS-DOS 6.22
NOVELL DOS 7.0
PC-DOS 5.0
PC-DOS 6.1
PC-DOS 6.3


Windows Versions

d-Time has been tested and found to be compatible with the following versions of Microsoft Windows:

Microsoft Windows v3.0
Microsoft Windows v3.1
Microsoft Windows v3.11
Microsoft Windows for Workgroups v3.11


Troubleshooting

We have employed a courteous and knowledgeable technical staff to assist users having difficulty with d-Time.  We made this product simple to run, gearing it for both novice and experienced PC users.  A few necessary modifications to the CONFIG.SYS file are automatically performed during d-Time's installation process.  If you are having problems and are unable to solve them by referring to the manual, the Online Help, or the README.TXT files, our Customer Support Line will be able to assist you with more in-depth explanations.  Our hours are from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific Time, Monday through Friday.  The number is (206) 656-8071.


Accessing the CD-ROM:

I get a "Divide overflow" when I try to access the CD-ROM.  Why?

You need to run the optimizer for your memory manager.  If you are using Microsoft's DOS 6.0 or above (HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE), run the MEMMAKER command.
1)	If you are using 386MAX.SYS, run the MAXIMIZE command.
2)	If you using QEMM386.SYS, run the OPTIMIZE command.


The Acceleration File:

I am trying to increase the size of the acceleration file, but d-Time  tells me that there is not enough expanded memory to create an acceleration file.  What should I do?

Change the settings of your memory manager to allow for more expanded memory.  (Note: This only applies when you are running the Expanded Memory (EMS) driver).


d-Time won't create an acceleration file. It says I do not have an EMS driver. How do I get one?

If you are using MS-DOS 6.XX, run MEMMAKER.  When it asks you if you have any programs that use expanded memory, tell it that you do.  If you are not running DOS 6.XX, or you are using a memory manager such as QEMM386, consult your memory manager documentation for instructions on enabling EMS memory.

If you are going to create an acceleration file of 25 megabytes, you will need 512K of expanded memory.  For a 30 megabyte acceleration file, you will need 768K of expanded memory.  For a 100 megabyte acceleration file, you will need 1280K of expanded memory.




I don't see the acceleration file on my disk.  Where is it?

Because the acceleration file is meant to be used by d-Time, it is created as a hidden file.  If you have something that displays hidden files, you can find the acceleration file in the root directory of your hard disk.


I Installed d-Time, and XXX Broke!

Windows won't run in Enhanced Mode anymore!  What do I do?

If you are in Windows, select EXIT from the Program Manager's FILE menu to shut down Windows.  Then run the DTIME.EXE program and adjust the "Windows Cache" settings to provide at least 2 megabytes of RAM for Windows.


I installed d-Time and now I cannot get sound from my CD-ROM applications.  Why?

Try setting your memory manager to allow for more expanded memory.  It is possible that you are running out, and some drivers that you need are not able to load.


My DOS programs no longer work.  Why did d-Time break everything?

You are probably running out of memory.  Run DTIME.EXE and increase the Size Reduction option to save memory.


When I run my memory manager's optimizer, it complains about a disrupted high memory chain.  What do I do?

Uninstall d-Time.  Run your optimizer.  Reinstall d-Time and enable DOS/Windows RAM cache.  Run your optimizer again.  Finally, run DTIME.EXE and create an acceleration file, if you want to use one, and then run the optimizer once more.


Other Questions:

I modified d-Time's settings manually, and now I'm not getting accelerated.  What do I do?

Run DTIME.EXE and let it make the changes for you.


I don't see any acceleration.

d-Time must have read the CD-ROM title through at least once in order to accelerate it.
You may have a CD-ROM cache installed that is conflicting with d-Time.  If you have SMARTDRV.EXE, try placing a "/U" at the end of the SMARTDRV.EXE line in AUTOEXEC.BAT.

It's also possible that d-Time is not loaded.  Run TIMESTAT.EXE from your d-Time directory.  If d-Time is not loaded, TIMESTAT will respond "Null: Can't Find Device Driver."   If that is the case, make sure that the d-Time line in CONFIG.SYS has not been deleted or disabled.

If you have flushed the acceleration file and have not rebooted since flushing it, you will need to reboot.

For certain titles, you may not be able to perceive the changes easily.   However, if you run TIMESTAT.EXE, the program will tell you the hit/miss ratio.  The hit ratio will tell you how well d-Time is working.  The more hits, the better the performance.  Misses show the percentage of times the program returned to CD-ROM to access information, and hits show the percentage of times the program obtained the information it was looking for in the acceleration file or in RAM.



