NOVELL TECHNICAL INFORMATION DOCUMENT DOCUMENT PROCESSING INFO: Replaces Document FYI-M-1209 TITLE: Configuring ViewMAX - Beginning DOCUMENT ID: TID800076 DOCUMENT REVISION: A DATE: 18AUG94 AUTHOR: KBANTA;DPARTRID ALERT STATUS: Yellow DISTRIBUTION: Public INFORMATION TYPE: Issue README FOR: NA NOVELL PRODUCT CLASS: Desktop Products NOVELL PRODUCT and VERSION: DR DOS 6.0 CATEGORY: Viewmax ABSTRACT: DR DOS Setup has a section that allows end users to choose basic configuration options for ViewMAX. Available options include screen type, mouse type and port, and color palette. This document provides detailed instructions on how to install ViewMAX through SETUP. ----------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER THE ORIGIN OF THIS INFORMATION MAY BE INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL TO NOVELL. NOVELL MAKES EVERY EFFORT WITHIN ITS MEANS TO VERIFY THIS INFORMATION. HOWEVER, THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS FOR YOUR INFORMATION ONLY. NOVELL MAKES NO EXPLICIT OR IMPLIED CLAIMS TO THE VALIDITY OF THIS INFORMATION. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ISSUE VIDEO The DR DOS default for screen driver is VGA. If a user is not sure what screen type to select choose the default. If a blank screen appears when running ViewMAX the wrong screen driver has probably been selected. Try Ctrl-Q to restore the DOS prompt. Ctrl-Q is the keyboard shortcut for quitting ViewMAX. Check the video card manual for the type of video card installed. DR DOS comes with drivers for the most common types of video cards. Setup also allows a choice of color palette. There are 8 different color palettes available, although more can be created by editing the VIEWMAX.INI file. Two of the palettes (Monochrome and LCD/Plasma) can be used on the special displays that come with some laptops. These same two palettes can also be used on color systems. IMPORTANT FOR MONOCHROME VIDEO DISPLAYS If a monochrome display is installed it is recommended that the user choose the monochrome palette. Choosing a full color palette could result in some sections of the ViewMAX screen having the same foreground and background color. IMPORTANT FOR CGA VIDEO DISPLAYS Because of the limited amount of video memory in a CGA video card, ViewMAX can only display in black and white (2 color mode) on CGA displays. Any of the color palettes can be selected when installing ViewMAX for CGA but the screen may not be acceptable when translated into black and white (this is the same problem that was mentioned above for monochrome displays). It is recommended that CGA users select the monochrome palette when setting up ViewMAX. IMPORTANT FOR EGA VIDEO DISPLAYS Early EGA displays did not come with enough memory to display 640x350 in 16 colors. If one of these cards is installed select the CGA driver. If an end user is not sure what type of EGA card is being used try the EGA driver. If it is one of the older cards vertical stripes that may have blinking characters in them will appear or the screen may fill with random characters as the mouse is moved. If the video adapter is not an EGA card and the screen gets characters as mentioned above or simply gets a blank screen with a cursor blinking in the upper left corner then the video card is not 100% compatible with the video driver selected. Check hardware manuals for compatibility. At this time Novell does not offer any screen drivers other than the ones found on the DR DOS 6 ViewMAX disk. If the video card is not compatible with the drivers included please submit an SPR form detailing the manufacturer, type and model of the video card. MOUSE The ViewMAX setup offers 5 different choices for mouse. The first option is for keyboard only support. The second option is for Bus mouse or a pointing device that requires its own driver. This option is the default. As long as the device has a driver that can emulate a mouse then it can be used with ViewMAX. This includes devices such as trackballs and graphics tablets. The PS/2 mouse option is for any computer that uses a PS/2 type mouse. The other options are drivers for the specific devices listed. IMPORTANT FOR MICE THAT USE DRIVERS If a mouse driver is loaded in CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT or command line prior to running ViewMAX then the Bus Mouse option (default) should be used. This option is also recommended if there is trouble configuring a mouse to work with ViewMAX. Set ViewMAX for bus mouse and load the driver. If the problem continues make sure the mouse is installed correctly. Most pointing devices come with their own diagnostic software to help trouble shoot problems. When ViewMAX is set for Bus it does not matter if the mouse is a true bus mouse or is attached to a COM port. ViewMAX does not try to control the mouse directly but instead communicates with the mouse driver. The Microsoft and Logitech options in Setup are drivers. If a driver is already loaded and either of these options is chosen the mouse may behave erratically or not move at all. Either unload the mouse driver or change the ViewMAX setup to bus mouse. If you find yourself in ViewMAX with your mouse not working exit ViewMAX with a CTRL-Q (holding the Control key and striking Q). To continue using ViewMAX a CTRL-RIGHT SHIFT will toggle the cursor to keyboard control. This is not the same as choosing keyboard control from Setup. When cursor control has shifted to keyboard the HOME key takes the place of the mouse button, not the ENTER or SPACEBAR key. To drag a selection box use the END key. Double clicking is accomplished by striking the HOME key twice quickly. IMPORTANT FOR ALL MOUSE USERS If you have trouble executing applications from ViewMAX (double clicking) you may wish to adjust the double click speed in the Options/Preferences menu in ViewMAX. The default setting is 3 (medium) but it may be easier for some users to select 1 (slow). If you change this setting be sure to Save Preferences so that this speed setting is preserved. AUTOMATIC STARTUP The final question in Setup is whether to load ViewMAX at boot time. If the answer is yes then the ViewMAX command will be added to your AUTOEXEC.BAT. Users can enter Setup at any time and change the ViewMAX configuration without affecting any other installation settings. Changing the configuration through Setup will not affect any User Preferences set previously nor will it affect configured applications. CONFIGURATION TIPS AND COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT VIEWMAX ViewMAX requires 512K of RAM to run. ViewMAX memory requirements can be reduced by disabling the clock and calculator accessory. To do this rename VIEWMAX.ACC (for example to VIEWMAX.ACX). ViewMAX will then not attempt to load the accessory. This will save approximately 20K. ViewMAX will use approximately 20K of the available DOS memory to execute an application. This is due to overhead required to shell. ViewMAX will not reduce DOS memory when executing an application if TaskMAX is running and ViewMAX controls TaskMAX. Each application that is executed from ViewMAX will be spawned as a new task. If ViewMAX is used to control TaskMAX it is recommended that the Bus mouse option be used. This will allow the user to have mouse control in other applications. It is important to remember that any device loaded before TaskMAX is universal to all tasks. Any driver or TSR loaded after TaskMAX is available only in the task in which it was loaded. The Format command in the ViewMAX File Menu does not pass parameters. This means that if a computer has a high-density drive then no low-density disks can be formatted using this menu command. The workaround for this is to execute the FORMAT utility in the DR DOS directory. ViewMAX will then ask for any parameters that need to be entered. Changing the date and time on the ViewMAX clock will update system date and time in the CMOS. This is a convenient way to update the clock without having to enter CMOS Setup. Users who have complex sub-directory structures (such as network drives) may wish to turn off the Tree. This is due to the fact that ViewMAX reads the entire directory file structure when it starts or returns from an application. Not displaying the Tree will cause ViewMAX to read only the current directory, not the entire drive structure. Under some configurations ViewMAX may want a user to insert a floppy disk everytime that ViewMAX loads. The user has Saved Preferences with a window open on a floppy drive. To stop this from happening simply Save Preferences when no window is open on a floppy drive. ADDITIONAL REFERENCES: DR DOS 6.0 USER GUIDE & Novell TID800075 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Any trademarks referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners. Consult your product manuals for complete trademark information. -----------------------------------------------------------------