This is Version 1.2 of PCMFRONT 05/08/93. DOC 05/23/93
PCMFRONT is some kind of a frontend for Bart Crane's TPCM.EXE.

 What you are reading now is the "documentation" of the -final- version of PCMFRONT.EXE. Final? Yes,final! No more improvements? No more! But... aren't there are a lot of known bugs and many o' wishes?! Yes there are, but... there is no source code that can be found on a harddisk whose FATs have been destroyed by a foreign operating system. Oops! Al says...save early, save often!
 Yes folks, that's the story so far. I'm lucky to announce the very final version of this frontend and hope that it will fulfill all of your needs. 
 There are major changes since V1.1 which was the first version with mouse support. PCMFRONT now features a full GUI and you are no longer forced to use your keyboard for changing any of the options. In fact, even if you liked the easy-to-use interface of the earlier versions you won't have a chance! There is NO key defined, except for the hidden combination of an unknown number of keys to be pressed to pop up WindowsNT in a window with Bill G. telling dirty jokes! 
 PCMFRONT strongly depends on some other programs that HAVE to reside in the same directory. These are: TPCM.EXE, PCM.COM, PAS.EXE, TPCM.SCR, TPCM2.SCR and TPCM3.SCR. If one of the above mentioned programs is missing PCMFRONT will not work properly. Instead of working it will try to format any disk within a radius of about 10 meters while playing Magnetic Fields.  O.K.,  stop whining, it won't happen!
 Included in this package are three even more uglier *.scr files which are meant to replace the original ones. You don't have to if you don't want it - you know? I tried hard to figure out how to get a good looking background and so you will surely be happy if I'm telling you how to get your own?! First get GWS or a similar program (PSP) to convert different graphics formats. Second find a suitable picture. Third change the picture's size to 320x200 and the number of colours to 256 (8-Bit). Next save the picture in an uncompressed 8-Bit TARGA (TGA) format. The size of the file should be 64000+xxxx bytes. Edit the file. This means: Delete all information preceding the raw data. Normally I use the PC-Tools Editor and delete the first xxxx bytes until the filesize is exactly 64000 bytes. At last you have to rename your file to one of the above mentioned *.scr-names. Don't try to use other numbers like TPCM4 or TPCM1, I already tried it, it's wasted time. (In fact I was working on an improvement to use any file name, but...) That's it, now you have made yourself an even uglier background!
 New is also the info button. You specify a filename and the program tells you what length it has got, which kind of compression or not is used and all the other most valuable information you may ever need. Like many other features this option is very crude, but... 
 Even more crude (the same as before) is the file requester. I apologize for my lack of programming knowledge but I swear I would have had it changed until V3.0!! This leads to a point where keyboard-freaks will happily dance around their table. I REALLY couldn't find a particularly easy way to tell the program which files I'd like to record or hear and which directory should be used. Even speech recognition was slower than typing on a keyboard! (In fact- this program is a memory hog and the implementation of SAA type file requesters would have made it even greedier. By the way: I had some minor problems understanding the programming of menus and boxes in MSBasic, so you surely would have had to wait until V3.0.) Yep, you can enter as long filenames as you wish and they will be displayed no matter how long they are. You surely will notice what I mean.
 Another new option is Colour Cycling. It is limited to a factor up to 20. Don't think about it. 20 means slow, 1 means fast, 0 means none.
 Recording Time is now in Seconds! But sometimes I've got the feeling that it is not much more than a rough guess (try 88Khz recording).
 But now for the instructions for beginners: 
 The first time PCMFRONT is started it will notice the lack of a *.CFG file and use default values. Adjust all buttons to your special needs and save the configuration. Next time you start the program it will use your values. Users of earlier versions should delete the *.CFG file because they aren't compatible with the one of V1.2.
 Most of the buttons are self explanatory, but there are some hidden features. The manual rate adjusting has got three possible speeds. Right mouse button for slowest speed, Left mouse button for medium speed and both/middle mouse button(s) for lightspeed. If the sampling rate raises above 44 kHz the recording mode will automagically be set to MONO. When you select a compression technique recording mode is set to 16-Bit and vice versa if choosing 8-Bit-->no compression. 
 Some options are of a different colour when activated (light red). If one of these options is activated there will be a new button called CARE!. Please read the comments and be careful when using these options. 
 There is not much more to be said about the program. I hope that you like it even if it is far away from perfect. There will be no further improvements. Take it as it is. In case that you like it why not sending a postcard or mailing an e? 
Mail goes to: Reinhard Wolf, Troppauerstr.8, W-6300 Gieen
	      (after 07/01/93 35396 Gieen)
e-Mail to:    U5703@Org.Chemie.Uni-Giessen.dbp.de  aka
	      Reinhard.Wolf@Org.Chemie.Uni-Giessen.dbp.de