Category : Printer + Display Graphics
Archive   : GIFV412.ZIP
Filename : READ.ME

 
Output of file : READ.ME contained in archive : GIFV412.ZIP
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* Please read the GIFREED.DOC for complete instructions on GIF-REED. *
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******************* [ Important..... Please Read........] ******************
You should ALWAYS delete your:

GIFV.CFG, GIFV.CAT, GIFV.PRN

files before loading any New version of GIF-REED in case the formats
for the configuration files differs from your old one. Once in the
program, reset all the switches the way you want them. Then use
ALT-U to save out your NEW configurations. It's NOT that big of a
deal to do, so just do it to it! Otherwise your system may LOCK-UP
upon loading GIF-REED!
****************************************************************************

GIF-REED History of changes:


NEW this 4.12 version 2/17/93:
Fixed printing to HP LASER in "dither only" quality mode.
Fixed the WRITE G command in the script language!
Official release of Shareware version to CompuServe!

NEW this 4.11 version 2/15/93:
Fixed Runtime Error 200, after pressing P to print!

If your environment variable TEMP or TMP is set to an invalid directory
then GIF-REED will tell you as it starts to run.

Made ALT-G so that if a directory contained more than ONE type of
image file only ONE entry is made in the PATH list as *.? instead of
4 separate entries of *.GIF *.BMP *.PCX *.PIC. This saves on the PATH
list. You can now break out of an ALT-G operation by pressing the
ESCAPE key. Just in case you realize you didn't want to do it or if you
decide it would take too long to complete.

If you move or copy files into the SAME directory over and over, you
get a build up of the same entry in the PATH list. It's now changed so
that if it appears that a new entry in the PATH list would duplicate one
that is already there then the new entry is NOT added.

The drive choices that appear are scanned for only once. This way if you
have a SLOW drive (CD-ROM, etc...), you won't be slowed down each time
you switch to a new directory.

NEW this 4.10 version 2/12/93:
Added 24 pin support for EPSON LQ type printers and compatibles. Along
with the 24 pin support, you of course have more resolutions to pick
from.

Added default support for printers. For example: When you choose
HP Laser, the default settings become HALFTONE-B and 300x300. If you
choose EPSON FX, the default settings become DITHER ONLY and 240x72.
This is so that if you don't want the play around with the different
possible combinations of resolutions and quality options, the defaults
picked are pretty much the optimum settings for best looking output.
Of course after you have selected a printer, you can go back and change
the quality type and printer resolution!

NEW this 4.06 version 2/08/93:
Nothing, Just changed the version number.
New ShareWare release.
Sent to CompuServe and everywhere else!

NEW this 4.05 version 2/08/93:

Fixed keyboard bug. It was possible to press the 5 on the NUMERIC
key pad and lock the program up. It appeared that this was the only
keystroke that would lock the program up. It also would lock up
ONLY if the NUM-LOCK key light was OFF. This was a rare occurance
since the 5 on the numeric keypad does NOTHING if the num-lock light
is OFF. After fixing the bug, I could see how other wierd(non-standard)
keystroke entries could have locked it up. The lock up was a non-dest-
ructive lock-up. No data loss would have occured!!!!!!!!!!

Added new capability to print function:
You can now send the printer your very own customized printer
initialization codes. These codes will be sent to your printer
BEFORE any printing has started. This way you can control your
printer fully. Also we added the ability to send the printer
customized printer codes AFTER the image is printed. The way
you build the customized codes is easy. There are TWO files to
create:
1. GIFVINIT.PRN (Codes to send BEFORE print starts)
2. GIFVPOST.PRN (Codes to send AFTER image prints)

If either of these files exist in the GIF-REED directory at the
time of printing, they will be scanned for printer codes to send
to the printer. For example: If you wanted to send to the printer
an ESCAPE, then an uppercase A and then a return; You would put in
the GIFVINIT.PRN file the following:

27,"A",13

The 27 is the ASCII code for ESCAPE. The 13 is the ASCII code for
return(ENTER). The "A" will be sent to the printer directly. In
fact ANYTHING inside QUOTES will be sent to the printer WITHOUT
translation. So for example, you could send:

"This is a cool IMAGE!",13,13

This would send the title "This is a cool IMAGE!" (without the
quotes of course) to the printer! Then 2(two) line feeds will
be sent.

NOTE: This capability is NOT for most people. Only use it if you
need to and know what ASCII codes to send to the printer!!!!

NOTE: ANY line in the GIFVINIT.PRN or GIFVPOST.PRN files that
start with a ";"(semicolon) will be ignored. This is so that you
may put comments in these files without actually sending the
comments to your printer!

NEW this 4.04 version 2/03/93:
Allow for 3072 files in the PRO and SYSOP version of GIF-REED!

Made program need MORE memory:
1. NON-REGISTERED 390K minimum 456K maximum
2. REGISTERED 334K minimum 400K maximum
3. PRO GIF-REED 390K minimum 614K maximum
4. SYSOP GIF-REED 390K minimum 614K maximum


Fixed minor bug when moving files. The files would move but sometimes
the screen wouldn't appear properly afterwords. It now displays properly
after doing file moves within GIF-REED.

NEW this 4.03 version 1/28/93:

Added support for making catalogs with a WHITE background. This is
good for people who print their catalogs and don't want to wast a
bunch of toner!

Now Supports HP Laser Jet and Epson Dot Matrix printers
Much better control over the printed output and the printed output
is FAR SUPERIOR to any other print program. If you think you have a
program that produces BETTER output than GIF-REED, call me and please
let me know which program it is!!!!!!!
Pro GIF-REED has complete printer control.
Registered GIF-REED can do everything but set margins
NON-REGISTERED GIF-REED can only print within a 4 inch square

NEW this 4.02 version 1/20/93:

Added ENTERTAINMENT mode. When viewing a picture just press ALT-E to
enter entertainment mode. In entertainment mode, you can select from
one of three games. You can pick SLIDEIT, JIGSAWIT or GUESSIT.

If you pick SlideIt Then your picture will become a puzzle. Its up
to you to move the squares around on the screen with the Up/Down/Left
and Right arrow keys to solve the puzzle. In order to MIX up the
pixture press the "J" key to jumble it up. If you want to see what the
original picture looked like, press the "V" key to view the original
image. If you want to see what order the squares belong in press the
"O" key to show the order of the squares. The squares are number from
1 to 16 starting with the top row as being 1 thru 4. In actuallity
since the upper left square is blanked out that square is considered
a -1 and NOT a 1. If you decide you are not smart enough to un scramble
the picture you can press "C" for cheat. This will unscramble the
picture. If you just want to cheat a little bit, press "S" to swap
two squares that are next to each other! When you are done with the
entertainment mode just press ESCAPE and you will be brought back into
the NORMAL viewing mode of your ORIGINAL picture.

NOTE: There are 3 levels of play.
1. Easy
2. Hard
3. Expert
The easy mode doesn't have the SWAP feature because it's so easy
you will not need to use it. The EXPERT mode also doesn't have
the SWAP feature because if you are an EXPERT you shouldn't have
to rely on cheating features to solve the puzzle.

If you pick JigSawIt, the picture is scambled much the same as the
SlideIt game. This game is a little easier in that all you have to do
is to use the arrow keys to pick a square then press return. Now the
square is selected. Now move the selection box to where you want the
selected square to go. Then press return again. Now the two squares
will be swapped with each other.

If you pick GuessIt, the picture is scambled much the same as the
JigSawIt game. This game is a little harder because the screen starts
out as being blank. Use the arrow keys to move the selection box, then
press return. The square will reveal the portion on the image that is
in the box. Now move the selection box to where you think the box
should go. Press return again. Now if you picked the correct spot the
image will remain displayed. If you guessed wrong, then the square
will be blanked out. Once you have all of the squares in their correct
spot then you will have won.

SCORING:
Everytime you use the View or Order functions, 50 points will be
deducted. Every second it takes you to solve the puzzle will
deduct 4 points. Everytime you use the Swap function, 100 points
will be deducted. If you are playing GuessIt and make a wrong
choice, 50 points will be deducted. Since your score starts at 5000,
it would be impossible to achive a score greater than 5000!

Updated the GIFVWIN.EXE program to offer better selections. Easier to
use.

More support for video 7 cards (1024x768 is now supported!)
Now works better with the S3 type of VGA Boards such as the Orchid 1280!
Now works with the EVEREX 678 & 673 cards

Fixed a little bug where you you couldn't specify a subdirectory with
a path that had a "." in it. For example: "F:\GIFS\MY.GIF" this would
result in GIF-REED thinking the path was actually a filename because of
the period. GIF-REED now properly recognizes the fact that this is a
directory if it truely is a directory.

Made SYSOP version! This version supports the insertion of titles into
picture catalogs being created by GIF-REED. Sysop version also supports
the DIR files created & used by PCBOARD 14.5 & Up. It also supports the
creating of a TEXT file used by WildCat to import descriptions into the
WildCat directory listings. Use the following format:

C>GIFV path /C:catname /T:title /BBS:{PCBOARD,PCBOARDL,WILDCAT} /DIR:filename

The path indicates where the images are that are to be cataloged. The
catname is the name of the resulting catalog. The title is the name of
an image file that is to be used as a TITLE to your catalogs. The /BBS:
command indicates what type of BBS support you want. So far the BBS's
supported are PCBOARD and WILDCAT. The PCBOARDL is used if you want the
description file to contain a longer(detailed) description of the files
that are contained in the catalog files. The /DIR: command tells where
the resulting description file is to go! With this in mind you could to
the following command.

C>GIFV F:\GIFS /C:NEW /T:YOURS.GIF /BBS:PCBOARD /DIR:F:\PCB\NODE1\DIR99

This command would take all images in F:\GIFS and catalog them up. The
catalogs will be called NEW___00.GIF, NEW___01.GIF, NEW___02.GIF and so
on. They will be stored in the GIF-REED program directory. These
catalogs will also have your BRAND on it by placing a title at the TOP of
the catalogs. The image used to create the title is read from a file
called YOURS.GIF stored in the GIF-REED program directory. The
resulting catalogs will have complete filenames & descriptions stored
in PCBOARD format using the SHORT form in the file called
F:\PCB\NODE1\DIR99. If any entries are currently in the DIR99 file, they
will remain. This should facilitate the posting of NEW gifs via the
catalog method! This is a GIF's SYSOPS dream(hopefully)!

Made saving files & Rotate & Shrink & other operations that require
temp files MUCH faster! Even writing GIF, BMP, PCX and PIC files are
much faster!

Added Support for Gray Catalog images. Saves space! And MUCHO FasterO!

Added support to KEEP old GIF comments when re-saving a GIF file!
Fixed bug in DOS/BOSS (ALT-F2) key. When you got to the DOS prompt
the mouse was STILL operative! This was WRONG. It is now disabled!

As you are tagging (right button click) images from the catalog you
can NOW VIEW images from within the catalog by clicking on them
without worrying about losing the tagged files list.

Fixed small bug where if the image on the screen was smaller than 12
dots wide and you did an operation that would cause the screen to be
saved out, the screen wouldn't be restored properly. Most people would
have NEVER noticed this, but it's fixed now FYI.

Now works with OS/2 BMP files.
Fixed Writing of 256 color PCX files. Now other programs can properly
view them too!

NEW this 3.09c version 1/1/93:

NON-REGISTERED can't do >640x480 and 3 Rows!
No auto-cat feature either
REGISTERED can't do >800x600 and 5 Rows!


Added support to select & copy files from the catalog!
Use the Right Button to mark & Un-Mark files. Then when done marking,
just press ALT-C to copy the files to a destination drive!
When you MARK a file a THICK RED box will surround the image you are
marking. When you UN-MARK a picture the image will be surrounded by
a THICK BLUE box. This way you can tell if you had PREVIOUSLY marked
an image. When copying the files (ALT-C), any files that didn't copy
properly(DISK FULL, Etc...) will remain marked so that you can put in
a new floppy or whatever and then press ALT-C again. All files that
did copy properly will be UN-MARKED with the THICK GREEN box around the
image. Again this is so that you can tell what files you have already
copied so that you don't accidently waste time copying the SAME files.


Added support for BOX FILL-IN and BOX DRAWING to extend beyond the
current dimensions of the image. This in effect makes the image wider
or taller so that the BOX can fit in the image!

Added support for 24 Bit BMP files!(Thanks Bruce!)

Added command line control for Catalog Titles. For Example:

C>GIFV F:\GIFS /C:CARS__ /T:TITLE.BMP /T:T-

The /T:T{+,-} parameter determines where the title will go if you are
using a title for your catalogs! You can use either T+ or T- where T+
means put at the TOP and T- means put Title at the BOTTOM of the
catalog file!

NEW this 3.09b version 12/20/93:

Added support for MAC GIF files. Files ported to the IBM PC from the
Apple Macintosh world.

Added command line control for Catalogs! For example:

C>GIFV /C:CARS__

This would take whatever images are found in the current directory
and create a catalog of ALL images in the directory using a catalog
name of CARS__##.GIF

C>GIFV /C:BIRDS_

This would take whatever images are found in the current directory
and create a catalog of ALL images in the directory using a catalog
name of BIRDS_##.GIF

NOTE: All catalog files are saved in the GIF-REED program directory.
If you want to force the catalog(s) to be saved into some other area
of your system, you MUST specify a FULL Drive & Path to the catalog
directory. For example:

C>GIFV /C:D:\PICTURES\CAT___

This would save all catalog images into D:\PICTURES with a filename
of CAT___##.GIF

NOTE: If you want to catalog a directory that is NOT in the current
directory, you can specify a path on the command line. For example:

C>GIFV d:\pictures\*.gifs /C:MYGIFS

This would take all GIF files in the D:\PICTURES directory and create
catalog images of the name MYGIFS##.GIF and place the catalog images
in the GIF-REED program directory!

NOTE: You MUST specify a catalog name!
NOTE: There is an OPTIONAL parameter for specifying a Title to the
catalog. This title file MUST be a .GIF file! The title(header) file
that you specify will be placed at the TOP of the Catalog (Sort of like
an advertisement). If you don't specify a Title file then NO title will
be placed at the TOP of the catalog file! The format for using the
Title file is like this:

C>GIFV F:\IMAGES\GIFS /C:MYGIFS /T:TITLE

in the case above, the directory of F:\IMAGES\GIFS will get cataloged
into a catalog by the name of MYGIFS##.GIF in the GIF-REED directory.
The catalogs produced will have a header on the TOP of them merged in
from the file called TITLE.GIF

NOTE: Making catalogs using the command line options will overwrite
any catalogs that exist by the SAME name. This is so that you can
re-run a catalog without having to delete the older catalog files first.
This is different than the MANUAL mode of making catalogs from the
files list menu. In manual mode, the older files are NOT overwritten.


CTRL-C Brings up the catalog menu. From this menu you can select two
customization features. (1) You can select the Catalog Images Size,
(2) You can select the size of the matrix. A 5x5 would be 5 by 5. This
is 5 columns by 5 rows. A 3x3 would look a lot like a TicTacToe board.
And a 8x8 would look similar to a checker board. Once you have selected
the customization features you can start the process by placing the
cursor on top of the 1st file you want to catalog. Then press CTRL-C
and then just press RETURN. The files produced are called CAT___##.GIF
where the "##" is a 2 digit number. The catalog files are placed in
the SAME directory as GIF-REED. You can select a SINGLE catalog
starting from the currently selected file or you can issue a COMPLETE
cataloging session. A complete cataloging session may take QUITE some
time to finish. I suggest you do this before going to BED or LUNCH!

NOTE: You should SAVE your cataloging configuration. You can do this
with the ALT-U command from the files list menu. This way you don't
have to set it up each time you run GIF-REED before you do cataloging.

NOTE: The larger the matrix (ie:8x8) the poorer the quality of the
final catalog file! It seems that 4x4, 5x5 and 6x6 seem to produce very
good results. 7x7 and 8x8 are still very good, but not AS good as a 5x5.
Play with the different sizes to suit your quality tastes.

NOTE: Once you start the cataloging process you can abort out by
pressing any key while the pictures are being collected up.

NOTE: Beware that since the new catalog files will NOT overwrite
existing catalog files, the number of the catalog produced may NOT be
what you expected. If you already have: CAT___00, CAT___01, CAT___03,
then the NEW catalog files produced will use the filenames of CAT___02,
CAT___04, CAT___05 and so on... The simplest approach is to just delete
the older catalog files when done with them.

NOTE: GIFV.CAT keeps the custom cataloging information.
The following are temporary files and can be deleted if found
on your hard disk in the GIF-REED directory!

GIFV.PAL is a temporary catalog palette file.
GIFV.DTH is a temporary catalog file.
GIFVCxxx.CAT is a temporary catalog file.
GIFV.TIT is a temporary Title file.

NOTE: Make sure you have at least 3 to 6 megs free in your TEMP area.
If you want to know exactly how much space will be needed, take
the size of your Catalog Image and multiply times 3. For example:
if your Catalog size is 800x600 then the BASE space needed would
be 800 x 600 x 3 = 1440000 bytes. Or about 1.5 megs. In addition
to this BASE amount, you will also need enough disk space to hold
the LARGEST image (times 3). For example if the largest image in
the Catalog was a 1024x768, then the additional overhead would be
1024 x 768 x 3 = 2359296 bytes. Or roughly 2.4 megs. This would
mean that you would need about 1.5 + 2.4 = 3.9 megs of FREE disk
space in your TEMP drive.

The MOST common catalog size is 800x600 and the most common image
size is 640x480. This would require 2361600 bytes or about 2.5 megs
of disk space!


When viewing a catalog, you can click on a image (even if the picture
is NOT centered on the screen). You can move the catalog picture all
around your screen and you can still click on a picture and that
picture will load from the SOURCE image that MADE the catalog! When
done viewing this image pressing ESC, PG-UP, PG-DN or quick clicking
of the mouse will get you BACK to the catalog file! If you quick click
on a part of the catalog that is in between the images then you will
hear a BEEP and NO image will be brought up for display!

Fixed tiny bug where if you had MULTIPLE file paths loaded it was
possible that GIF-REED wouldn't properly determine the files X and Y
and COLOR on the files list. It also meant that when you deleted, re-
named or copied or moved files it could have thought that the file
didn't exist! This would NOT destroy any data but could make the user
think strange things were happening! This is now FIXED!

NEW this 3.08 version 12/16/92:

Improved printed order form.

Fixed mouse button operation of "Yes No". If you were in the Pixel
editing window and had edited some dots, then moved(panned) the image
the Question "You have made DOT changes" appears. This is proper, but
the program would think you wanted to KEEP the changes because your
left mouse button was held down because you were panning. Now, you MUST
lift off the mouse button, then click the mouse button to indicate that
your answer was YES!

Fixed yet another memory allocation bug in the ENLARGING MODE 2. This
would only happen if the WIDTH of the box that you marked HAPPENED to
be an even multiple of 16 minus 1 (such as 15, 31, 63).

Fixed another memory allocation bug in the PIXEL editor! If the size
of the image you are pixel editing than the SIZE of the pixel edit
window it would not work properly. It now works even if the width of
the image is 1 dot wide!

NEW this 3.07 version 12/15/92:
Fixed bug in mouse selection of picture file. If the files list is
larger than what will fit on a screen and you point to an invalid
area(blank entry) in the files list, the program would attempt
to load a file that doesn't exist. It's now fixed to just beep!

Changed version number scheme to X.0X instead of X.X! In otherwords
instead of version 3.7 it's 3.07.

NEW this 3.6 version 12/14/92:
Fixed bug in writing files. If the disk was full NO error message
was displayed. Now you will get a "Error Saving File!" message!

Fixed a RENAME bug where the file would NOT only be renamed but also
placed in the different directory! This would occur if the default
directory was different from the file you were renaming! NOW the
renamed files are NOT moved!

Fixed small bug in the mouse operation. In the file menu, if you were
to position the mouse just right(on top of a un-highlighted filename)
and then you were to move the cursor with the arrow keys to highlight
the filename. Then when you moved the mouse away from the filename
the OLD un-highlighted character underneath the mouse cursor was what
got restored. This now works properly.

NEW this 3.5 version 12/08/92:

Added mouse support for answering Yes No questions. Click the left
button for Yes and the Right button for NO. If you click the middle
button it's like pressing ESCAPE!

Added the "A" command while viewing a picture. This adjusts the colors
in the IMAGE so that it will be loaded with Windows and NOT have the
image distorted. See following comment about Windows! The "A" command
sorts the colors by usage in the picture. Then it takes the 16 least
used colors and replaces them with the closest color match it can find.
This way the TOP 16 colors in the color map are NOT used!

Added a NEW feature to the PRO GIF-REED which allows you to change a
color in the picture to any other color in the color map(256 choices).
This way you can force certain colors in the image and also get RID of
certain colors. By changing a color in the image you effectively are
removing the usage of the OLD color. If you get RID of at least 16
colors in any image, they can be properly displayed in Windows. Of
course you would have to sort the color map(S while viewing) first
before saving the BMP file out. This is because Windows grabs the top
16 out of the 256 colors of ALL images and makes them unusable. Just
press "C" while the mouse is on top of a color in the color map while
pixel editing the picture! "C" means change this color to a NEW color!

Added support to click on drive letters!

Fixed tiny bug where if you tried to write out many files(with the W
command while viewing) after a while, the program would bomb out because
of NOT enough file handles. This is now fixed!(Most people would have
never noticed it!)

Added support for *.?
Added ADJUST-FOR-WINDOWS to script language! (See above comment
about the "A" command!

You can use the *.? in the script language with the CHANGE-PATH
command!

Added support for *.?
This allows you to specify ALL pictures in a directory. In other-
words, you may have a bunch of BMP and GIF and PCX and PIC files
in a SINGLE directory. Instead of specifying MANY(4) directory
paths, you can now just use one. For example:

C:\PICTURES\*.?

This can now be used instead of:

C:\PICTURES\*.GIF
C:\PICTURES\*.BMP
C:\PICTURES\*.PIC
C:\PICTURES\*.PCX

This way you save on your usage of the paths list.

NEW this 3.4b version 12/05/92:
Added support for Subdirectory changes through the menu. You can now
click on or press RETURN on a subdirectory and you will be shown the
new subdirectories list of files. The 1st file path of the 6-20 file
paths available will change to reflect the NEW directory that you
choose. You can see this for yourself by pressing ALT-F after changing
to a different subdirectory. The subdirectories are indicated by a
name inside of "[]". For example "[ GIFS ]" would indicate that
you could switch to a directory called GIFS.

NOTE: If you have specified more that one(1) file path then each time
you press return to load up a different subdirectory, you will STILL
see the files from the 2nd, 3rd and so on paths in ADDITION to the
files in the new path you have just chosen.
NEW this 3.4 version 12/03/92:
Support for .PIC files

Added mouse support to start SLIDE show. Just click on the word "GO:"
on the bottom right hand side of the screen!

Allow writing GIFS with comments added to it! (GIF 89a)

Fixed typos!
Allow sorting by DATE/TIME.

Much faster sorting!(Noticed when file list grows past 512 items). It's
now about 50 times faster! It sorts 2000 files in less than a second!

Loads files from the file list faster!(Instantaneously) It reads in the
file directory list and displays it to you immediately. Then in the
background, it reads in the file info that gets displayed on the screen
such as X and Y resolution of the picture, the file score & category.
If you tell GIF-REED that you want to do a REPORT(F8) or you want to
sort on something other than filename, size, date or path then whatever
file information hadn't been read in by that time will be read in at
that moment in time. This would be the only time you would have to wait
for the file info to be read in. NOTE: Once it's read in you won't have
to wait anymore for sorting or printing reports (of course!).

Made program need less memory:
1. NON-REGISTERED 344K minimum 408K maximum
2. REGISTERED 292K minimum 356K maximum
3. PRO GIF-REED 348K minimum 508K maximum

If you have less than the specified above, the program will STILL load
and do things, but if you do an operation that needed more memory then
the program will abort out of the process.

NEW this 3.3 version 12/01/92:
Skipped version because of beta testers!
Fixed bug in AUTOMATIC Video Detection Setup(stupid error because of
the EGA support I added earlier!) It now works properly!(Sorry!)
NEW this 3.2 version 11/30/92:
Uploaded to CompuServe!
Made it so that if an image has TOO large of a width (X resolution)
then it won't load! This prevents lock ups when loading images that
are outside the limits of the program!

You can now use *.* for global image searches instead *.GIF etc...
For example:
GIFV D:\PICTURES\*.*
This would load EVERYfile from the PICTURES directory. If you have
.EXE and .COM files they will be skipped. In fact any file that can
NOT be determined will be skipped!


Made 3 different versions:
1. NON-REGISTERED version (Free)
256 files
350K Required to run!
2. REGISTERED version ($25)
* No annoying screens
* Partial(limited) script language
* Print images to HP compatible printer.
* Saving current default settings to a configuration file.
* XMS can be used as the Picture Buffer for faster operations.
* Personalized Slide shows via limited script language!
* Allows more than 40 entries in the File Description DataBase
* DOS/BOSS key to temporarally shell to DOS at ANY TIME!
* You can MIRROR, FLIP or ROTATE the images on your screen.
* Up to 512 files!
* Up to 2048 dot(pixel)width on files
* Up to 1024 dot(pixel)width for SCREEN resolution
* Up to 6 Directory Paths!
* Requires 320K memory to run at full capacity!
3. PRO version ($49.95)
* Pixel Editing (Image editing!)
* Full Script language (extra commands)
1. System
2. GOSUB
3. ECHO
4. FILE-COPY
5. FILE-MOVE
6. FILE-RENAME
7. FILE-DELETE
8. SORT-COLORS
9. EGA-MODE
10. VGA-MODE
11. EGA-COLOR-ADJUST
12. KEEP-SCREEN-SIZE
13. WRITE
14. PRINT
* Box & Lines
* Fill BLOCKs out of the image with a selected color
* Up to 2048 files!
* Up to 8192 width on files
* Up to 2048 dot(pixel)width for SCREEN resolution
* Up to 20 Directory Paths!
* Requires 490K memory to run at full capacity!

Added script commands:
EGA-MODE
VGA-MODE
EGA-COLOR-ADJUST
KEEP-SCREEN-SIZE

Added system variables
IMAGE_COLORS
FILE_NAME
V_#

Improved script commands:
SET
ECHO

If you try to run a script file with a command in it that your are
NOT registered to use, then the program will pop up a message.

Renamed CREDITS.DOC to MONEY.DOC

Added GIFV.SLT and GIFV.SLU to package!

Added # of color on the file status line in the file list menu next to
the files X & Y resolution!

Allow mouse clicking on the "VGA:" or "EGA:" title on the resolution
modes line.

If you ran out of TEMP space on your TEMP drive then instead of getting
an error message "Error saving picture" and then EXITING the picture,
NOW the program issues the error message and CONTINUES with the
viewing of the program. The error NOW indicates that you CAN'T restore
to the PREVIOUS picture if the change you make to the picture (trim)
is NOT to your liking!

Screen display is now faster when moving pictures around on the screen!

Fixed temp space full bug. If you ran out of temp space, the temp file
created wouldn't be erased. It is now erased because the file wasn't
complete anyhow!

Fixed EMS bug where if you RAN out of EMS memory or EMS handles the
program would(could) do strange things(lock up!).

Fixed bug in GIF files that didn't have a global color map(rare case!)!
It now works properly.

EMS memory support is now better. Instead of allocating multiple 64K
blocks to load a picture, we now adjust the size of the current EMS
block. This way you won't run out of EMS handles on large images!

NEW this 3.1 version 11/15/92:

Added EGA support of 320x200 16 colors, 640x200 16 colors, 640x350
16 colors and 640x480 16 colors. The EGA support is NOT as fast as
the 256 color (VGA) support. It's just here so that if all you have
is EGA you can still make use of the program to do things with your
image files (even if it's just using the script language to process
you files.)

Fixed tiny bug where if you were adding text to a picture it was possi-
ble that once you started to move the text where you wanted it the text
would just dissappear as though you had pressed ESCAPE to abort the
text placement!

Fixed tiny bug in BOX making routine where if the picture was located
so the left edge of the picture was near the middle of the screen and
as you were drawing the box made the left edge of the BOX cross over
the left edge of the picture the BOX would leave REMNENTS behind on
the picture (nothing was hurt though).

Added ability to abort loading BMP Files as well as GIF files by
pressing the left or right mouse button or pressing PgUp or PgDn or
ESCape!

Added PCX file format for Reading and Writing(Very FAST)!

The "WRITE P" script command is now activated to write PCX files!

ALT-G now searches your drives for PCX files TOO!

Added BOX making capability! Just mark a box (like you would do to
do a trim) then press "B". Then pick a color, then pick a thickness
then wala, the box is now in the image!

Added LINE drawing capability. Just mark a very narrow box(1 dot tall)
and then finish like the BOX procedure above and then poof a line!

Added the ability to see if a color in the color map isn't currently
being used in the picture. It shows the color BOX with a little black
box inside of it with a white dot in the very middle of it.

You can now sort the color map WITHOUT adjusting the image itself!

You can now order the colors in the color map to your own liking! (Just
go into edit mode {E while viewing} and move the mouse on top of a
color in the color map that you want to move. Press DELete. Now move
the mouse on top a the color where you want to old color to appear and
press INSert!)

Fixed little stuff!

Updated DOCS.

NEW this 3.0 version 11/13/92:
Made program faster in general (when operating in graphics mode!)

Added SORT-COLORS to the script language so that you may re-write
all of your images with a sorted color map with the most used colors
at the front of the color map. This is great for images begin displayed
in Windows because Windows GRABS the TOP 4-16 colors in every images
color map for display purposes. This produces FUNNY looking pictures
if the picture used a lot of a particular color that Windows took and
changed to its own liking!

You can press "S" while viewing a picture to sort the color-map!

Full blown pixel editing and color editing.

You can now mark a block and fill it in with ANY color available in
the color map of the image!

Fixed tiny bug where if your box that you are marking started on the
TOP line or the LEFT edge of the screen you wouldn't see the entire
box being drawn on the screen!
Made some routines faster!

Fixed tiny bug where it was possible the files would not appear in
sorted order(rare!)
Updated DOCS!
NEW this 2.9 version 11/10/92:
Added pixel rudiments of editing capability!
NEW this 2.8B version 11/05/92:
Updated DOCS with new script commands!

******************************************************************************

S H A R E W A R E - C O N C E P T
===================================

GIF-REED is copyrighted software. However, you are encouraged to copy and
share the NON-REGISTERED version with anybody with the following in mind:

The NON-REGISTEREED version of GIF-REED may be copied freely and
given to others, as long as NO charge or renumeration of ANY sort
is required. If must be copied in its entirety with NO alterations
to the programs or DOC files. It may be distributed by modem, as
long as all files in the package are ZIPPED(or some equivalent)
into one file.
GIF-REED is NOT "FREE" software. If you use it past 30 days, you are required
to pay for it by registering it. Of course you can register it earlier.


********** Reasons To Register Today **********

When you received this copy of GIF-REED, no monies were paid to us. In order
for us to keep working on this product to make it better with more features,
we request that you register the program by paying for it. The registration
charge is very nominal $25 (The cost of ONE evenings entertainment!). If you
wish to order PRO GIF-REED the cost is $49.95 (The cost of ONE deluxe evenings
entertainment!). If you are a SYSOP and want the SYSOP GIF-REED then the cost
is $89.95. Please read the GIFREED.DOC file for information about the 3
versions.

******************************************************************************

GIFREED Version x.x

(C)opyright 1992, Software Matters INC.

(317) 253-8088
Contact: Davie Lee Reed
Software Matters INC.
6352 N. Guilford Ave.
Indpls, IN 46220


Any question or comments please call me at 1-800-25-FLASH and ask for:
Davie Lee Reed.

P.S. Thanks you trying this new program out and possibly helping me improve it.

P.P.S I have decided to leave in debug code which makes the program about 60K
bigger than it normally would be and it also makes it run SLOWER.
I have done this to ease in debugging the program. If an error occurs in
the program the debug code will spit out some important information such
as the program location and what type of error. If a RUNTIME error occurs
please report it to me A.S.A.P. along with the location and error code!

Gif REED is a GIF viewer for up to 256K colors only.

Currently the only automatically supported super vga boards supported are:

Orchid Pro Designer IIS board
Paradise VGA
ATI XL
Trident
Trident-New
Cardinal
Orchid Farhenheit 1280
ATI/Wonder
Video7
Video7B
VESA

There are a bunch more that are supported through direct hardware control,
but you have to set the GIFREED environment variable to indicate what board
you have. If the GIFREED variable is set to a board that is not hardware
directly supported by this program then the BIOS mode will be used for that
board. The BIOS mode is MUCH slower that hardware direct.

GifREED automatically looks for a VESA driver. This driver makes VGA graphics
handling a lot more compatible. If a VESA driver is found, it will be used,
even if your hardware is directly supported from the list above! If you find
that your VESA driver is BUGGY or doesn't seem to work, then try setting:

GIFREED=NOVESA

This forces GifREED to NOT look at the VESA driver. Also if you want to
force support for one of the following, you can set GIFREED to one of
the following:

TRI-OLD
TRIDENT
STB
STB4000
EVEREX
EVEREX678
AHEAD
ATI/WONDER
ATI/PRISM
CHIPTECH
DEFINICON
GENOA-A
GENOA-B
HEADLAND
ZYMOS
IMTEC
LOGIX
MAXXON
NORTHGATGE
OAK
ORCHF1280
ORCH-1
S3
TS3000
TS4000
TS4000HI
VIDEO7FAST
VIDEO7VRAM
VIDEO7
WD90C

Some of the above allow for direct hardware control with his program. The
others of course will default to using the BIOS, which is slow!

NOTE: TRIDENT Users;
If resolutions of 800x600 or higher seem to give you a checkered or
plaid type of display, try using the SET GIFREED command and pick
SET GIFREED=TRI-OLD and then SET GIFREED=TRIDENT and see which setting
gives you the desired results!


If you have a VESA driver for your VGA board, then GIF REED should work
perfectly fine with it. If your board is NOT listed above and you do NOT
have a VESA driver for it, call the VGA manufacturer and request the VESA
driver for it. MOST Manufacturers provide a VESA driver nowadays. By support-
ing VESA a very broad base of VGA boards may now use this program.

If order to run GIF REED, just type the following:

C>GIFV path1 path2 path3 path4 path5

For example:
C>GIFV F:\GIFS\GOOD\*.GIF F:\GIFS\BAD\*.GIF
C>GIFV F:\GIFS\GOOD\*.*
C>GIFV F:\GIFS\GOOD\*.?

Once in the program you can press F1 for help on using the program. Once you
are actually viewing a picture, you can press F1 to see help on how to
manipulate the picture.





  3 Responses to “Category : Printer + Display Graphics
Archive   : GIFV412.ZIP
Filename : READ.ME

  1. Very nice! Thank you for this wonderful archive. I wonder why I found it only now. Long live the BBS file archives!

  2. This is so awesome! 😀 I’d be cool if you could download an entire archive of this at once, though.

  3. But one thing that puzzles me is the “mtswslnkmcjklsdlsbdmMICROSOFT” string. There is an article about it here. It is definitely worth a read: http://www.os2museum.com/wp/mtswslnk/