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GIF32 Version 1.00 (15/02/1993)
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(c) 1993 Joel Armengaud
All rights reserved




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Introduction
************

This package is a 32bit GIF viewer, for OS/2 2.x. The user
interface is a Presentation Manager program, but the viewer itself is
a full-screen program, using the Base Video Handler services
(BHVxxx.DLL). It supports all SVGA adapters correctly detected by the
OS/2 SVGA.EXE program. On other adapters, only the 320x200x256 mode
will be available.

Files in this package:

gif32.exe
giffs.exe
readme.txt


I am distributing this program as FREEWARE. However I will
greatly appreciate any donation.


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Author:
*******

Joel Armengaud

E-Mail: [email protected] (Probably not valid after 1993/05/31)
[email protected] (Does not always work!)
[email protected] (Checked infrequently)

Mail: Joel Armengaud
Le Grand Lot
13720 Belcodene
FRANCE




**********
Disclaimer
**********

BY INSTALLING THIS PROGRAM ON YOUR SYSTEM YOU INDICATE YOUR
AGREEMENT TO THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE
TO THEM YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE THIS PROGRAM.
THIS PROGRAM AND DOCUMENTATION ARE DISTRIBUTED AS IS. JOEL
ARMENGAUD (THE AUTHOR) MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESSED OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THIS SOFTWARE AND
DOCUMENTATION. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES,
INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS, OR ANY OTHER INCIDENTAL OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR THE INABILITY TO
USE THIS PROGRAM, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY.




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Installation
************

Quite easy! Just put the 2 .EXE files in the same directory, not
necessarily in your PATH. The program to launch is GIF32.EXE.



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Using GIF32
***********

When you start GIF32.EXE, a PM window will show all *.GIF files
found in the current directory. One GIF file per line. If you want to
see a GIF file, double-click on the filename, or put the cursor on the
line and press Enter.
The file will be decompressed by another thread into main memory.
When completed, this memory bitmap will be sent to the full-screen
viewer, GIFFS.EXE (which is automatically started by GIF32.EXE). The
full-screen session is then put into the foreground.

Keystrokes available in the full-screen session:

F9/F10 Decrease/Increase video resolution.

Except for the 320x200x256 mode, available resolutions are read
from the \os2\svgadata.pmi file, created by SVGA.EXE. Please be sure
that SVGA support is installed on your system (refer to the OS/2
documentation). Note that only 256-color modes will be used to display
pictures, even for 16-color GIF files. When you first select a
picture, the full-screen viewer will choose the lowest resolution
large enough to display the whole picture.

ESC Return to the PM interface.

Arrows To scroll the picture if resolution and
PageUp/PageDown image size do not match.
Home/End

F11/F12 Display previous/next GIF file, without having to
switch to the PM interface.

About the PM interface:

In the main PM window, each line is associated to a GIF file. A
'*' in the first column indicates that the GIF file has already been
decompressed into memory. A red '*' means that it is currently being
decompressed.
GIF32 uses a multi-thread design, to save you time by reading and
decompressing the file ahead of time. By default, it always tries to
have 2 GIF files decompressed, the current one and the next one. This
look-ahead value can be modified using the "Look-ahead.." choice of
the "Options" menu. Before increasing the value, be aware that picture
buffers consume system memory. For instance 8 800x600x256 GIF files
will use as far as 3750Kb of main memory!
The "Loop" option will allow you, when selected, to consider the
list of GIF files as a circular list, when moving with F11/F12 in the
full-screen session.
By default the main client window will use system colors for
listboxes. Due to a bug in some early OS/2 versions, background and
foreground text colors may both be black! Should this happen, de-
select the "System colors" choice in the "Options" menu.
To change the current directory, choose the "Open..." menu, and
select a new GIF file in another directory. Warning! Due to a bug in
the WinFileDlg API, each time you change the current directory, memory
will be allocated and only released when you close GIF32. This bug is
in 2.0, 2.0+ServicePack and 2.1beta 6.479. I hope I have reported it
soon enough to have it fixed in the 2.1 GA version. Meanwhile, avoid
using "Open..." too often without closing GIF32.


Note: depending of the version of OS/2 you are using (2.0,
2.0+ServicePack, 2.1,...) you may have problems with the library
containing the low level screen routines (BVHSVGA.DLL), if you leave
the full-screen session using Ctrl-Esc or Alt-Esc. To avoid this,
always leave the full-screen session using the ESCape key. When you do
so, GIFFS.EXE will go back to text mode before leaving the session.
Besides, it will save memory, since BVHSVGA.DLL will not have to
allocate a full video buffer to save the picture.



End of README.TXT file.