------------------------------------------------------------------- QuickColor 1.14 README November 29, 1996 ------------------------------------------------------------------- (c) Copyright EnTech Taiwan, 1996 HOW TO USE THIS DOCUMENT ======================== To view readme.txt on screen in Notepad, maximize the Notepad window. To print readme.txt, open it in Notepad or another word processor, and then on the File menu, click Print. CONTENTS ======== LICENSE AND REGISTRATION SUPPORT QUICKCOLOR FUNCTIONALITY UNDER WINDOWS NT 4.0 QUICKCOLOR FUNCTIONALITY UNDER WINDOWS 95 INSTALLING QUICKCOLOR NOTES ON SPECIFIC CHIPSETS UNDER WINDOWS 95 KNOWN LIMITATIONS RELEASE NOTES LICENSE AND REGISTRATION ======================== QuickColor is shareware. You must read and accept the terms detailed in the license.txt file before you can use QuickColor. An order form is provided in the file order.txt for the purpose of registering this software. QuickColor software consists of a single file - QCOLOR.EXE - and features a drag-and-drop interface, with hints. SUPPORT ======= QuickColor support is available from EnTech Taiwan via Internet e-mail addressed to entechtaiwan@msn.com. Program updates are made available through the Internet at http://www.entech.com.tw. Registration keys which have been issued apply to all subsequent releases of QuickColor. QUICKCOLOR FUNCTIONALITY UNDER WINDOWS NT 4.0 ============================================= QuickColor is designed primarily for use with Windows NT 4.0, and has been tested successfully with most of the drivers bundled by Microsoft with the new operating system, as well as a handful of drivers recently released by chiphouses. Since NT 4.0 supports refresh rate settings, and can change resolution and color depth on-the-fly, the main advantage of QuickColor is a more logical and convenient approach to exploiting these inherent features. Like Microsoft's Win95 QuickRes utility, QuickColor is implemented as a icon with a popup menu on the system tray. But instead of offering a menu listing all possible resolution and color depth options, QuickColor features a configuration dialog box, where you can define five "presets", which consist of resolution, color depth and refresh rate settings. The configuration dialog box is also, arguably, better organized than the native NT Display Properties sheet: at a certain color depth only some resolutions are supported, and at these color depths and resolutions only some refresh rates are supported. An optional floating toolbar is also available, which adds incremental enlargement and reduction of desktop size. Users familiar with EnTech's DXP or Visual Power Tools software for Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 will immediately recognize QuickColor as a natural extension into the world of NT 4.0. QUICKCOLOR FUNCTIONALITY UNDER WINDOWS 95 ========================================= QuickColor functionality under Windows 95 is identical to NT 4.0, *provided* your graphics card is implemented with a standard BIOS and you are using a generic driver provided by either the chiphouse or Microsoft. QuickColor has been successfully tested with the following types of graphics cards, using standard BIOS and driver releases from the chiphouse, as well as drivers written by Microsoft and included with the retail release of Windows 95 and DirectX 2.0: * 3Dlabs - Permedia * Alliance ProMotion - 3210/6410/6422/AT24 * Avance Logic - 2228/2301/2302 * Cirrus Logic - 542x/543x/544x/546x * S3/2d - 911/924/801/805/928/864/964/732/764/765/775/785/868/968 * S3/3d - 325/375/385/988 * Trident - 8900,9440,9660,9680 * Tseng Labs - ET4000/W32i/W32p/ET6000 Refer to the section on specific chipsets below for further information. Many first tier board manufacturers, like Diamond, Hercules, #9 and STB, design graphics cards based on one or more of the above chipsets, but make significant changes to the BIOS and drivers for the purpose of improving performance, offering higher refresh rates, and adding features like a virtual desktop or screen adjustment. While there is little reason for you to do so, these types of cards can be configured to use a standard chip driver (either from the chiphouse or Microsoft), and will likely work well with QuickColor. But under Windows 95, QuickColor is really intended for use with "budget" boards, that ship with standard BIOS and drivers from the chiphouse. ***************************************************************** IMPORTANT! - If your graphics card's chipset is not specifically listed, or you are unsure which chipset your system uses, proceed with caution. Although QuickColor cannot "damage" your system or Windows configuration, it can leave the Windows display driver in an unstable state, and should under no circumstances be used with drivers or other software that implement display enhancements such as a virtual desktop (e.g., Binar Graphics' AnyView). ***************************************************************** NB: Under Windows 95, if you receive an "Error starting program" message then you need to update the drivers for your graphics card. If you are unable to obtain new drivers from your graphics card or system vendor, try to obtain Microsoft's DirectX 2.0 run-time library, which includes updated drivers for a wide range of graphics cards. QuickColor has been successfully tested with almost all the updated drivers supplied by Microsoft with the DirectX 2.0 run-time library. A run-time DirectX library (without Microsoft display drivers) is listed and available at www.entech.com.tw. INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING QUICKCOLOR ===================================== To install QuickColor, you must have a PC running Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 95. These instructions assume that you have already successfully installed the very latest display drivers provided by your graphics card manufacturer or by Microsoft with DirectX 2.0 (for Windows 95). To install QuickColor software, carry out the following steps: 1. Right-click the file QColor.Inf, and then click Install. 2. Restart your computer. 3. Double-click the QuickColor icon on the system tray, or select Configure Presets... from the QuickColor popup menu or toolbar. 4. Select color depth, resolution and refresh rate combinations of your choice and drag-and-drop on Preset button to save setting, or on monitor image to preview setting. To remove QuickColor from your computer, select the Add/Remove option from the Control Panel, and select "QuickColor (remove only)" from the list. NOTES ON SPECIFIC CHIPSETS UNDER WINDOWS 95 =========================================== 3Dlabs Permedia - Ensure that the refresh rate property under the Permedia device configuration setting box is set to "maximum". The Permedia is easily programmable and supports a much wider range of refresh rates than the QuickColor defaults. Cirrus Logic - If QuickColor is unable to change the refresh rate and a Cirrus Monitor Refresh property sheet is available, ensure that the "Auto Detect Use DDC" option is checked. (This is especially important with the new Laguna/3D series of chipsets and drivers.) KNOWN LIMITATIONS ================= Refresh Rates under Windows 95 ------------------------------ Since QuickColor is designed to work with the widest possible array of graphics card, an extensive list of refresh rate options is provided by default. For example, although virtually all graphics cards support VESA standards of 60, 72 and 75Hz, some cards also support 85Hz (e.g., S3 and Cirrus Logic), while others support 90Hz (e.g., Tseng Labs). If you select a refresh rate which is not supported by your graphics card, the next highest available refresh rate will be activated. Note that in order for a refresh rate to be supported by QuickColor, it must be implemented in your graphics card's BIOS refresh table. Refresh rates available for your graphics card that rely on special CRTC register programming are unlikely to be supported by QuickColor, and may in fact interfere with the program. Beginning with QuickColor 1.10, you can also modify the list of supported refresh rates, by opening the qcolor.ini file in Notepad and editing the [Win95-Refresh] section. Monitor Limitations ------------------- In this release, QuickColor does not check to ensure that the resolutions and refresh rates available fall within the tolerable limits of your monitor. You do, however, always have the option of immediately cancelling a change in display settings by pressing the [Esc] key, if your monitor is unable to sync to the new settings. Beginning with QuickColor 1.10, changes to display settings which are not explicitly accepted are automatically cancelled after 10 seconds, as an added safety precaution. Font and Driver Changes ----------------------- Because QuickColor is designed for dynamic mode switching, combinations of display settings which require restarting Windows are always cancelled or ignored. For this reason, QuickColor does not support different font size settings, since changes to system font size always require restarting Windows. RELEASE NOTES ============= 1.14 - 29/11/96 Fixed About/Reg DlgBox scaling problem Added support for 1152x882 (Matrox) and 1152x870 (3Dlabs) 1.13 - 28/11/96 Sync'd QuickColor Win95 optimizations with VCP+ 4.0B10 Added refresh desktop option (primarily for Win95) Fixed media player link under NT 1.12 - 14/11/96 Sync'd QuickColor Win95 optimizations with VCP+ 4.0 1.11 - 13/11/96 Fixed preset bug 1.10 - 10/11/96 Added roll-up feature to toolbar Added timed cancellation to changes in display settings Added incremental enlargement/reduction of desktop size Added user-configurable refresh rate support for Win95 1.07 - 6/11/96 Fixed repititous enumeration of refresh rates under NT 1.06 - 14/10/96 Changed toolbar icons in an attempt to make them more intuitive 1.05 - 13/10/96 Added optional toolbar and easier registration facilities 1.04 - 03/10/96 Minor interface change to configuration box Added additional safety checks Maximum refresh rate set to 90Hz (for TLI etc.) Added link to media player to menu 1.03 - internal 1.02 - 01/10/96 Added additional warnings to the program and docs 1.01 - 30/09/96 Fixed ET6000 bug with RLE-encoded bitmaps Added check for sub-VGA resolutions (e.g., 320x200) under NT Added Win95 check for DirectDraw 1.00 - 23/09/96 Initial release