Creating CD-ROM based demo of hi-res MS-DOS software

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2 total messages Started by Michael Malak Wed, 28 Dec 1994 20:07

#1818

Author: Michael Malak
Date: Wed, 28 Dec 1994 20:07

66 lines
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I need to create a CD-ROM for the purposes of marketing and demonstrating
our DOS-based software.  Ideally the demo would run under DOS for reasons
I'll list later, but if the only solution involves Windows, I'll go with
that.  So far, I've heard of Instant Replay Professional by Lifeboat
Publishing (a.k.a. Programmer's Paradise).

1.  Are there any competitors to IRPRO? (i.e. create demos including
    animation playback that run under DOS)?  

2.  Does anyone have any experience with IRPRO, e.g., performance of
    animation playback?

Basically, my needs are:

a.  Resultant demo runs under DOS, ideally.  Windows is a second choice.
    I don't care what the creation software runs under.

b.  Display 1024x768x256 images directly if the system running the demo
    supports it.

c.  Play back an animation of my DOS software in operation.  I have
    a $1600 black box which digitally scan converts 1024x768 down to
    NTSC in real-time, so I'm hoping some standard full-motion video
    capture board can digitize the resultant signal without too much
    loss of resolution.  By the way, any suggestions on boards that
    can digitize 640x480 at a fairly high frame-rate?  One of the
    highlights of my software is its speed in updating the screen.
    Not much changes over time, but I would like to capture those
    small but rapid changes.  As this will end up on a CD-ROM, file
    size is not a concern.

d.  Simple ability for the user to navigate the demo via the keyboard.
    Mouse support is not important.
 
The reasons I would prefer the demo run under DOS are:

I.  One of the largest markets for my software is Asia, where not
    everyone has Windows.

II. I fear getting the Windows demo to work in the field might be
    more difficult.  I plan to ship a CD-ROM drive along with the
    CD-ROM, and installation needs to be as simple as possible
    (incidentally, anyone have any suggestions for the easiest-to-
    set-up CD-ROM; e.g., is there such a thing as a parallel-port
    CD-ROM, and if so, what is its performance?)  If the end-user
    is not familiar with Windows, then just getting his system to
    work with Windows, over the phone to Asia (12 time zones difference)
    might be tough.

III.  My software runs under DOS, and although none of my competitors'
      runs under Windows, I would like to maintain the message that
      my software is state-of-the-art (which it is, in its field).
      Although Windows now has fast graphics (thanks to local-bus),
      it is still limited in processing interrupts frequently and
      without latency.  Having the demo run under DOS might avoid
      such discussions with the potential customer in the first
      place.


Any suggestions, including suggestions of where to get information?


-- 
Michael Malak                   Washington, DC dance info: 
malak@access.digex.net          FTP://ftp.digex.net/pub/access/malak/schedule
                                or e-mail me to subscribe

Re: Creating CD-ROM based demo of hi-res MS-DOS software

#1819

Author: Joel Greenberg
Date: Wed, 28 Dec 1994 23:15

65 lines
4441 bytes

In article <3dsgid$4k6@access1.digex.net>, malak@access1.digex.net (Michael Malak) says:
>

>I need to create a CD-ROM for the purposes of marketing and demonstrating
>our DOS-based software.  
<snip>

>1.  Are there any competitors to Instant Replay Professional by Lifeboat
>Publishing (i.e. create demos including animation playback that run under DOS)?  
>
>b.  Display 1024x768x256 images directly if the system running the demo
>    supports it (and other important video stuff).

If you want to stay in the DOS world, why limit yourself to a program that
only makes demos?  Sounds like you'll want to use a multimedia authoring
system in order to show off your product.  While I made a decision not
to program anymore in DOS, I have looked at the authoring systems out there
and you may want to consider Multimedia GRASP from Paul Mace Software.  It
should handle your demo just fine.  While I've only used Dan Bricklin's
Demo II program (I think that's the name), I haven't used many others; 
however, I'm not sure how well they'd handle the higher screen resolutions.
It's going to be a real pain to be able to handle all the hi-res cards your
program will be playing on and if it were me, I'd feel better with a program 
that's billed as a multimedia development tool rather than a demo tool.  


><snip>
>II. I plan to ship a CD-ROM...anyone have any suggestions for the easiest-to-
>    set-up CD-ROM; e.g., is there such a thing as a parallel-port
>    CD-ROM, and if so, what is its performance?)

Trantor used to make a parallel to SCSI converter and I think they still do,
but they're now owned by Adaptec.  I've used it with a tape backup drive and
a CDROM and it was slooooooooow.  However, their new model may be faster. So,
you could hook up a SCSI CDROM to the converter and have it appear as
another disk under DOS, if you have the appropriate drivers.

>
>Michael Malak                   Washington, DC dance info: 
>malak@access.digex.net          FTP://ftp.digex.net/pub/access/malak/schedule
>                                or e-mail me to subscribe
>

Michael, here's the bottom line:  You're going to have mondo configuration
problems under DOS.  First, you'll need the right drivers for each users
hi-res video card.  Next, they'll need to load up AND TWEAK the appropriate
drivers for whatever parallel port gizmo you buy.  All this will be done
via the CONFIG.SYS and possibly AUTOEXEC.BAT files.  And then who knows
what else your customers have on their machines that will conflict with 
those drivers. Blech...

Windows tried to make life easier for programs by taking care of all these
configuration issues for you.  If you could get your hi-res card to work
with any Windows program, it will work with all of them (and vice-versa).
You're right about the video speed problem with Windows 3.1; you will
not see an improvement until Windows '95, unless you want to program your
demo in C or C++ and use the WinG video library developed by Microsoft (but
not officially supported by them).

Sorry I couldn't give you better news.

Joel Greenberg
Freelance Multimedia Developer
Austin, TX
joelg@bga.com

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