Spectrum/24 for Windows VL driver notes

Driver software for the Spectrum/24 VL card for Windows 3.1.

All files located in this directory are compressed into a self extracting
archive using the PKZIP file compression software.  No software is required
to de-compress these files.  After your files have been downloaded, simply
use the following command to extract the files:

                SPECVL -D <destination>

                Example:    SPECVL -D A:

The example above will place the unziped files on to your A: drive.The "-d"
option will extract the original directory hierarchy on to the designated
drive.

Filename       Size      Date    Description of File Contents
============ ========  ========  ============================================

SPECVL.EXE 307569     07-01-94 | Spectrum/24 VL Disk Version 7/1/94
                               | This is the entire Spectrum/24 VL Windows 
                               | installation disk.

==============================================================================
Windows 95 Note

The Spectrum/24 VL board will not be updated beyond this driver version, 
nor will it be supported under Windows 95.  Windows 95 expects a
user-accessible base MMIO address, and since the Spectrum/24 VL board 
pre-dates these requirements by several years and offers no MMIO interface, 
it will not be possible to retrofit or upgrade it to run under Windows 95.
==============================================================================
A Windows NT 3.5 compatible driver for the Spectrum/24 VL card is 
also available.
==============================================================================
			  SuperMATCH Spectrum/24 VL

				 Release Notes

			         29 March 1994

These release notes contain the latest information about operating your 
new Spectrum/24 for Microsoft Windows graphics display card and software.


-------- Release Notes ---------


1.  Requirements

    The Spectrum/24 drivers require a 80386 based CPU or better, and are
    fully supported only in Windows 386 Enhanced mode.


2.  Unnamed floppy prompt

    If you attempt to install the Spectrum/24 software from your B: floppy,
    you will see the prompt "Please insert the .", due to a bug in the
    Windows SETUP program.  Type "B:\" (or the name of the disk drive 
    holding the Spectrum/24 install disk), then click OK.


3.  Third-party "shell" programs

    If you are using a third-party shell program, such as the Norton Desktop
    for Windows, and you experience problems while installing Spectrum/24
    software, refer to the detailed section later in this file.


4.  Applications with difficulties at 24 bits

    - The Windows Program Manager will cause errors if you attempt to add 
      applications to a large group.  See the detailed section later in 
      this file.

    - The Microsoft Visual C++ setup program attempts to create a large group
      and will issue two errors.  See the detailed section later in this file.

    - The "Aquatic Realm" and "Swan Lake" screen saver modules in After Dark
      2.0 display strange bitmaps on devices with 24 bits of color depth.
      Release 2.0a of After Dark solves this problem.  Contact Berkeley
      Systems Technical Support at 1-800-877-5535 for this upgrade.


==========================
-------- Details ---------
==========================

This file contains notes and information relating to the Windows driver
installation and usage which might not have made it into the release
documentation.


1. Restrictions
---------------
The Spectrum/24 drivers require an 80386 CPU or better, and are fully
supported only in Windows 3.1 386 Enhanced mode.  Our experience has shown
that the driver operates correctly in Windows Standard mode only if an 
extended memory manager (such as EMM386 or QEMM) is NOT used. Spectrum/24 
will not operate at all in Windows 3.0 Real mode, and neither should you.

Ordinarily, this does not present a problem.  Most 386 users use Enhanced 
mode.  However, when you perform an initial Windows installation, you must
select a VGA device as your initial graphics adapter when performing an 
initial Windows installation.  Then, once Windows has been installed, you 
may use the Spectrum/24 Setup utility to change to the Spectrum/24 adapter.


2. Windows 3.0
--------------
SuperMac does not support operation of the Spectrum/24 VL card and driver 
under Windows 3.0.


3. Installation Notes
---------------------

. Locating the frame buffer window

    Spectrum/24 VL needs a 16MB window in your memory space to access its 
    frame buffer.  The frame buffer can be located at any 16MB boundary in
    the address space.  The installation program will scan your address space 
    in an attempt to locate available locations.  In our experience, the
    install program rarely has trouble finding a free location; further,
    almost any address higher than your physical memory will work.
    
    Because of the nature of the VL bus, however, the installation program 
    is not always able to locate a free spot, and will occasionally diagnose 
    as "free" a location which has some other device.  The following 
    suggestions will assist you in installing the device.

    There are relatively few devices which live in the very high address
    space.  In general, you can choose almost any location above your 
    physical RAM.  F000 0000 through FF00 0000 are good choices.  If these
    are unsuccessful, try in this order, 7F00 0000, then 3F00 0000, then

. Unnamed floppy prompt

    Because of a bug in the Windows SETUP utility, if you are installing 
    Spectrum/24 from your B: floppy, you might be prompted with the 
    particularly unfriendly message "Please insert the ." If you receive 
    this prompt, type in "B:\", or the path to the floppy disk drive 
    holding the Spectrum/24 install disk if you are using a different 
    drive.

. Third-party "Shell" Programs

    The Spectrum/24 installation and setup program communicates with the 
    Windows Program Manager to install the Spectrum/24 group and program 
    icons.  Some third-party shells, such as Norton's Desktop for Windows,
    do not fully comply with the Program Manager DDE interface, and will
    produce a system error during the Spectrum/24 installation.

    To work around this problem, either change the SHELL line in your
    SYSTEM.INI file to read "SHELL=PROGMAN.EXE" and restart Windows, or
    launch PROGMAN.EXE from your preferred shell.  Then, restart the 
    Spectrum/24 installation.


4. Applications with difficulty at 24 bits per pixel
----------------------------------------------------

Some applications have difficulty operating on a true-color device with 24
bits per pixel.  Here are some of the applications which are known to have
difficulty.

. Program Manager

    All of the bitmaps for all of the icons within a Program Manager group
    must fit within a single 64K segment.  Because of this, at 24 bits per
    pixel a single group can hold at most 19 icons.  Attempting to add the
    20th icon to a group results in a message box indicating "Insufficient
    Memory to complete the operation."  The only solution to this is to 
    split the group into two smaller groups.

. Microsoft Visual C++

    As one of the last steps in its setup process, Microsoft Visual C++
    creates a program group with 22 icons.  Because of the Program Manager 
    limitation described above, the addition of last two icons will generate 
    errors.  Microsoft is aware of this problem and will be issuing a 
    corrective update.

    In the interim, one solution is to create another group by hand
    called "Visual C++ Doc", then move (using drag-and-drop) all the 
    documentation related icons to this new group.  Then you may add the two 
    icons which fail: MFCNOTES.HLP and MFCSAMP.HLP, both in the MSVC\HELP 

. Berkeley Systems After Dark 2.0

    The "Aquatic Realm" and "Swan Lake" screen saver modules in After Dark 
    2.0 display very strange bitmaps on devices with 24 bits of color 
    depth.  Release 2.0a of After Dark solves this problem.  Contact 
    Berkeley Systems Technical Support at 1-800-877-5535 for this upgrade.


5.  Usage of I/O Ports
----------------------

In some cases, in can be useful to know exactly which I/O ports are required
by your peripheral devices.  This can be especially useful for isolating
unusual conflicts.

The Spectrum/24 VL card uses 22 I/O ports.  These ports are not remappable.  
The ports are:

	01D0 01D1
	05D0 05D1
	09D0 09D1
	0DD0 0DD1
	11D0 11D1
	41D0 41D1
	51D0 51D1
	81D0 81D1
	91D0 91D1
	C1D0 C1D1
	D1D0 D1D1

Spectrum/24 VL requires no IRQs nor DMA lines.

Technical Support

For technical support for this product, you may call Radius Technical Support 
at: 1-408-541-5700.

For priority access to technical support for assistance with this product, 
please call Radius Technical Support at: 1-900-555-6275, or 1-800-573-6275.

Also virtually all of the information about this product, including
compatibility and common questions and answers can be found, free of charge,
on our technical faxback system at (800) 332-9225.
