Category : Miscellaneous Language Source Code
Archive   : FLG302A.ZIP
Filename : READ.ME

Ted Gruber Software Voice: (702) 735-1980
PO Box 13408 FAX: (702) 735-4603
Las Vegas, NV 89112 BBS: (702) 796-7134
CIS: 72000,1642

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Fastgraph
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Fastgraph is a versatile, high-performance programmer's graphics library for
DOS-based PC systems. It is powerful enough to satisfy the most demanding
graphics application, yet it is easy enough for even the novice graphics
programmer. Fastgraph includes more than 200 hand-optimized routines, from
pixel display to sophisticated animation tools. This collection of routines
provides a programmer with proven, powerful tools to take command of the PC
and PS/2 text and graphics video environment.

Fastgraph's major functional areas include:

* Video mode detection and initialization
* Support for 28 video modes, including SuperVGA, standard and extended VGA,
MCGA, EGA, Hercules, Tandy, CGA, and color and monochrome text
* SVGA support for 20 chipsets plus VESA in resolutions of 640x400x256,
640x480x256, 800x600x256, 1024x768x256, 800x600x16, and 1024x768x16
* SVGA chipset autodetection
* Colors, virtual colors, and palettes
* Graphics fundamentals, including points, solid and dashed lines,
polygons, circles, ellipses, solid and dithered rectangles, region
fill, and clipping
* Redefinable world space coordinate system
* A scalable stroked character font
* GIF and PCX display and creation routines
* Bit-mapped image support, including mode-specific and mode-independent
images, transparent pixels, clipped and reversed images, image retrieval,
pixel run maps, and masking maps
* Fast block transfer routines (BitBlt)
* Physical, virtual, and logical video page management
* Resizeable video pages for smooth, flicker-free panning
* Animation and special effects
* Keyboard, mouse, and joystick support
* Low-level keyboard handler, ideal for game development
* Sound effects and music, both synchronous and asynchronous
* Support for most popular C, Pascal, BASIC, and FORTRAN compilers
* Support for small, medium, and large memory models where appropriate
* Extensive tutorial-style user's guide and reference manual
* No royalties

Fastgraph is an ideal development tool for entertainment and educational
software, presentation graphics products, scientific and engineering
applications, CAD/CAM, animation, and any application that requires robust
graphics. With Fastgraph, it's possible to write programs that run in many
different video modes by changing only a few lines of code, resulting in fast
program development.

Originally developed for use in commercial video games, Fastgraph represents
the cutting edge in graphics technology for the IBM PC. It has been used in
commercial products such as Accolade's Test Drive III, Day of the Viper, Steel
Thunder, and Gunboat; ComputerEasy's Video Poker a la Carte; Compu-Teach's
Once Upon a Time series, Puppet Playhouse, and Destination Mars; and all our
shareware products.

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Fastgraph/Light
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Fastgraph/Light is the shareware version of Fastgraph. It includes all the
features of Fastgraph except the world space coordinate system, stroked
character font, and GIF file support. Unlike Fastgraph, Fastgraph/Light uses
an external video driver (FGDRIVER) that you load before running a program
developed with Fastgraph/Light, just as you load a mouse driver before you
run a program that uses a mouse. Fastgraph does not use the external video
driver but instead includes the necessary functions directly in your EXE or
COM file.

Any programs developed using Fastgraph/Light are 100% source code compatible
with Fastgraph. If you purchase Fastgraph after trying Fastgraph/Light, all
you need to do is re-link your programs. As with Fastgraph, we don't charge
royalties for using Fastgraph/Light. The registered version of FG/Light
includes a software license agreement that lets you distribute the external
video driver without charge as part of your applications.

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Terms of Fastgraph/Light Evaluation
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This is an EVALUATION VERSION of Fastgraph/Light and is distributed as
shareware. It is a full-functioned version with all features found in the
registered version of Fastgraph/Light. However, programs created with the
evaluation version will display an evaluation notice when run. In addition,
programs created with the evaluation version may not be sold, given away, or
distributed in any form.

The Fastgraph/Light evaluation version is provided so you can see firsthand
what Fastgraph can do in the context of your own applications. You may use
the evaluation version for 30 days, after which you must purchase Fastgraph
or Fastgraph/Light, or discontinue using the evaluation version.

The Fastgraph and Fastgraph/Light purchase price includes disks containing
the latest version of the product and a license agreement that entitles you
to use the product without royalties in any programs. Orders for Fastgraph
include professionally printed versions of the Fastgraph User's Guide and
Reference Manual (you can purchase Fastgraph/Light with or without printed
manuals). You'll also receive access to special conferences on our technical
support bulletin board. Please see "Ordering Information" at the end of this
file for complete registration information.

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Notice to Shareware Vendors
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Shareware vendors must obtain WRITTEN PERMISSION from Ted Gruber Software to
distribute the evaluation version of Fastgraph/Light. See the LICENSE.DOC
file for details. If you do not find a LICENSE.DOC file, contact Ted Gruber
Software.

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Installing Fastgraph/Light
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The Fastgraph/Light evaluation kit is distributed in two formats -- in ZIP
files or on the Fastgraph demo disk.

If you received the Fastgraph demo disk from Ted Gruber Software, it's very
easy to install Fastgraph/Light. Just make A:\FGLIGHT your current directory
(you can use any available diskette drive besides A:) and type INSTALL. From
this point, just follow the directions on the screen.

If you obtained Fastgraph/Light from a bulletin board, shareware distributor,
or other on-line service, it should include two ZIP files named FGL302A.ZIP
and FGL302B.ZIP or something similar. In addition, there should be one or
more of the optional ZIP files named FGL302C.ZIP through FGL302F.ZIP; these
files respectively contain the C, BASIC, Pascal, and FORTRAN versions of the
example programs in the Fastgraph User's Guide. To install FG/Light from the
ZIP files, create a directory (preferably called \FGTEMP) and extract the
contents of the ZIP files into that directory. After doing this, run the
INSTALL program (included in FGL302A.ZIP) to move the necessary files to their
required locations. You can delete the files in the temporary directory when
INSTALL completes.

In either case, the INSTALL program will ask you for the compilers and memory
models you wish to use. It also will ask for the name of the directories for
the Fastgraph utilities, include files, and libraries. For the utilities, we
suggest using the default name \FG. For the include files and libraries, we
recommend using the directories where the compiler you've chosen normally
searches for such files. INSTALL will automatically try to determine these
directories and propose them as defaults.

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On-line Manuals
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Fastgraph/Light includes on-line versions of the tutorial-style "Fastgraph
User's Guide" and the "Fastgraph Reference Manual". These two extensive
manuals explain Fastgraph and Fastgraph/Light in detail and are the definitive
references for learning and using the products. While they specifically
describe Fastgraph, everything in the manuals also applies to Fastgraph/Light
unless stated otherwise.

The User's Guide is a detailed tutorial about Fastgraph. The companion
Reference Manual gives descriptions of each Fastgraph routine in alphabetical
order. We recommend reading Chapter 1 of the User's Guide and the first
section of the Reference Manual before you try Fastgraph or Fastgraph/Light.

The User's Guide is split into separate files for each chapter, USER01.DOC to
USER17.DOC. There is also a file USERAPP.DOC containing the appendices and
index. The file REF.DOC contains the Reference Manual. The INSTALL program
places these files in the \FG directory. All these files are ASCII text
files, suitable for any 80-column (or wider) printer. Be forwarned that the
on-line versions of the User's Guide and Reference manual total nearly 600
pages!

The price of Fastgraph includes a professionally printed and bound copy of
the User's Guide and Reference Manual. You may purchase the printed manual
separately with Fastgraph/Light.

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Example Programs
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Fastgraph/Light contains files for all the example programs in the Fastgraph
User's Guide. The INSTALL program places these files in the \FG\EXAMPLES
directory.

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Distribution Files
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The Fastgraph/Light evaluation version on the Fastgraph demo disk contains the
following files:

READ.ME This file
WHATS.NEW Text file describing new features in Fastgraph 3.0
ORDER.FRM Product order form
INSTALL.EXE Fastgraph/Light installation program
FGLIGHT.ARJ Fastgraph/Light libraries and utilities (compressed)
FGLBP.ARJ Fastgraph/Light units for Borland Pascal 7 (compressed)
FGLTP.ARJ Fastgraph/Light units for Turbo Pascal 6 (compressed)
MANUALS.ARJ Fastgraph User's Guide and Reference Manual (compressed)
EXCOMMON.ARJ Files common to all example programs (compressed)
EXBAS.ARJ Example programs written in QuickBASIC (compressed)
EXC.ARJ Example programs written in C (compressed)
EXFOR.ARJ Example programs written in FORTRAN (compressed)
EXPAS.ARJ Example programs written in Turbo Pascal (compressed)
UNARJ.EXE Robert Jung's file decompression utility

If your Fastgraph/Light evaluation kit does not include all these files, you
may download a complete kit from our technical support BBS by calling (702)
796-7134. There is no charge (other than the phone call) for using the BBS.

We'd like to personally thank Robert Jung for his liberal licensing agreement
covering the use of his UNARJ utility. UNARJ and its companion product, ARJ,
are excellent products that we highly recommend.

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Fastgraph/Fonts
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Fastgraph/Fonts lets you easily add bit-mapped character support to Fastgraph
applications. The product includes 40 font files in several point sizes. A
program can load up to 32 fonts simultaneously. Font files shipped with
Fastgraph/Fonts may be distributed without royalties in your applications.

The Fastgraph/Fonts manual includes a detailed description of the font file
format, so you can create your own font files. PCX templates and a MAKEFONT
utility are included to assist in font file creation.

Fastgraph/Fonts requires any version of Fastgraph or Fastgraph/Light.

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Fastgraph/Image
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Fastgraph/Image is a Fastgraph add-on product that provides functions and
utilities for managing libraries containing images and other files. While
the product was designed to manage and display GIF, PCX, PPR, and SPR images
stored in a library file, Fastgraph/Image can be used with any type of file,
including bit maps, text files, and Fastgraph/Fonts font files.

Functions are provided for opening a library, displaying an image file from
a library, retrieving a file from a library, and closing a library. The
product also includes a library management utility that lets you add, delete,
extract, and replace files in a library.

If an application uses several image files, Fastgraph/Image is especially
valuable because it lets you distribute these images in a single file. This
provides added security because users can't take your image files and use
them for other purposes (at least not easily). Another benefit is that
combining many images in a single file uses less disk space than distributing
separate files for each image.

Fastgraph/Fonts requires any version of Fastgraph.

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Ordering Information
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The Fastgraph family of products represents a high-performance, comprehensive
development system for graphics programmers. For more information about any
of our products, please call, write, or FAX. You can download evaluation
versions and product demos from our technical support BBS at (702) 796-7134.

We accept Visa, MasterCard, and COD (extra charge for COD orders). Purchase
orders are welcome from most companies, schools, and government agencies.
After December 31, 1993, please call first for current version and pricing
information.

Source code and site licenses are available for all products. Please call,
write, or FAX for details.

For your convenience, the order form below appears by itself in the ORDER.FRM
file.

Order from: Voice: (702) 735-1980
Ted Gruber Software FAX: (702) 735-4603
PO Box 13408 BBS: (702) 796-7134
Las Vegas, NV 89112 CIS: 72000,1642

Name: _____________________________________________________________________

Company: _____________________________________________________________________

Address: _____________________________________________________________________

City: _____________________________________ State: ________ Zip: ________

Country: _____________________________________ Phone: _______________________

+=====+=========================================+=======+============+=======+
| | | Price | Shipping | |
| Qty | Product Description | Each | Code Cost | Total |
+=====+=========================================+=======+=====+======+=======+
| | Fastgraph graphics library | $199 | 1 | | |
+-----+-----------------------------------------+-------+-----+------+-------+
| | Fastgraph/Light with on-line manual | $49 | 2 | | |
+-----+-----------------------------------------+-------+-----+------+-------+
| | Fastgraph/Light with printed manual | $79 | 1 | | |
+-----+-----------------------------------------+-------+-----+------+-------+
| | Fastgraph/Fonts bit-mapped font support | $49 | 2 | | |
| | (requires Fastgraph or Fastgraph/Light) | | | | |
+-----+-----------------------------------------+-------+-----+------+-------+
| | Fastgraph/Image image management library| $49 | 2 | | |
| | (requires Fastgraph) | | | | |
+-----+-----------------------------------------+-------+-----+------+-------+
| | FG/Fonts and FG/Image bundle | $88 | 2 | | |
+-----+-----------------------------------------+-------+-----+------+-------+
| | Graphics Power Pack | $279 | 1 | | |
| | Fastgraph, FG/Fonts, and FG/Image | | | | |
+=====+=========================================+=======+=====+======+=======+
Subtotal | |
********************************* +=======+
* * Nevada residents add sales tax | |
* Shipping charges per product: * +=======+
* * COD orders (U.S. only) add $5 | |
* Code 1 Code 2 * +=======+
* ---------- ---------- * Total | |
* U.S. $5 U.S. $3 * +=======+
* Canada $7 Canada $3 * Specify disk format:
* Other call Other $6 *
* * [ ] 3.5-inch [ ] 5.25-inch
*********************************
Method of payment:

[ ] payment enclosed
[ ] Visa or MasterCard
[ ] COD
[ ] purchase order # _________________
For credit card orders only:

Card number: ____________________________________ Expiration date: __________

Signature: _________________________________________________________________