JAMMIN ver 1.01 Copyright (c) 1993 Accelerated Light & Graphics This program is shareware, please feel free to copy this software and pass it along to others. Any donations of $5.00 or more will be greatly appreciated. This document will serve 3 functions, a readme.txt file, a Help file, and a manual. The following 9 files should be included: 1. README .TXT This file. 2. SETUPKIT.DLL Runtime for the setup program. 3. VBRUN200.DLL Visual Basic RUNtime Library. 4. SETUP .EXE Setup program. 5. JAMMIN1 .EX_ This is the executable program. 6. MCI .VB_ Multimedia Control Interface. 7. MCICDA .DR_ CD Audio device driver. 8. THREED .VB_ 3D Visual Basic eXtension. 9. CDPLAYER.EX_ A CD Player. NOTE: JAMMIN originally had a lot more features than you see here. Version 2 will be the full release with all the feature-rich options that makes you drooool. So enjoy this preview and please donate/register. This program was written for several reasons: 1. Visual Basic for Windows Ver 2.00 made it easy. 2. I was sick and tired of not being able to find a CD Player that acted like a real CD Player. 3. I've always been curious as to how well the Shareware concept worked. Thats also why the donation/registration fee is only five dollars. Donations: I'm asking for a small donation/registration fee to encourage users to do just that, donate/register. However, if you feel JAMMIN is worth more than five dollars, then by all means "Don't delay, mail your check TODAY!" Remember, I'm putting JAMMIN on the market VIA Shareware to see if the concept is viable. You, the user, will determine if Accelerated Light & Graphics will continue to write software for shareware. Operation: The workings of JAMMIN are quite simple. Remember, it works like a real CD Player. Power: None of the controls work without power with the exception of the About Button and the Power Light which will be explained later in this text. Once the power has been activated the program responds by lighting up its display panels, and highlighting the buttons that can be used. Note: All times are in minutes:seconds format. Display: JAMMIN has four displays: 1) TRACK: In READY mode, displays the total number of tracks available on the current CD. In PLAY mode, displays the current track that's being played. 2) LENGTH: In READY mode, displays the total time for the current CD. In PLAY mode, displays how long the current track will play. This display is static and only changes when the track changes. 3) TIME: In READY mode, displays 0:00. In PLAY mode, displays the current time or how long the current track as been playing. This display is updated twice every second. 4) STATUS: Indicates the current mode of JAMMIN. Modes are:READY, PLAY, NEXT, PREV, BACK, STEP, PAUSE, STOP and EJECT. 5) POWER LIGHT: The power light, located beneath the power button, is on when its black and off when its white. The buttons and the display panels are both sitting on a slightly raised panel. Double clicking the power light will change these panels from raised to inset. CD BUTTONS: (There are no keyboard equivalents) PREV: Moves the head to the Previous track. NEXT: Moves the head to the Next track. PLAY: Plays the CD from the current track. PAUSE: Pauses the CD until Pause is clicked again. BACK: Moves the head back about 10 seconds. STEP: Moves the head forward about 10 seconds. STOP: Stops playback of the current CD. EJECT: Ejects the current CD from the drive. Some of these buttons may not work on your CD ROM Drive. For example, some CD ROM Drives don't have the ability to eject a CD. In this case the EJECT button will still be enabled, but nothing should happen when clicked. I say should, since I don't know what will happen. All the CD ROM drives I have tested this on have the capability to eject. History of JAMMIN: THE ULTIMATE MUSIC BOX Ver 1.00, JAMMIN Version 1.00 was conceived when I purchased an old 8088 machine that was being sold on close-out as a multimedia machine (Yeah, right). At the time Sony's CD ROM drive was selling for $600.00 plus. This CD ROM was $500.00 and it came with an 8088 machine, keyboard, 512K VGA Card, and a 40 meg IDE Hard Drive which sounds like a tank without a muffler. Naturally, I ripped out the CD ROM Drive and shoved it in my 386 machine. I bought a pair of speakers and began searching for a CD Player to play back my audio CD's. Well I found quite a few, but none of which I liked very much. Further- more, I wanted more, at least (and I don't know why) a CD Player that acted like a real CD Player that you purchase at your local Wal-Mart, Sears, or any other retail outlet. By this, I mean the interface should look like the one on your stereo. There should be no slider bars. It had to have a power button, and so on. The only thing that I didn't put in JAMMIN is a digital readout that looks like either an LED or LCD. That feature I have reserved for Version 2.00. JAMMIN Version History: 1.00 Release date: March 1993 - The program works, however I didn't include all the support files that where needed to get the program running. I didnt know which files where needed. I know have a fool proof way of checking for support files. 1.00 Release date: May 1993 - Included all support files. 1.01 Release date: October 1993 - Added a setup program that copies support files to the \windows\system directories and the JAMMIN files to the directory of your choice. (Registered users will receive a free upgrade to version 1.01.) Two very important files, both of which come with Windows and are on disk #4 (1.44 disks) of the Microsoft Windows 3.1 distribution set. MCICDA .DRV Windows CD-ROM driver, included with windows. Windows does not load this on your system. This file needs to be in the \windows\system directory. Insert disk #4 of the Microsoft Windows 3.1 distribution set in drive A: and double click on the CONTROL PANEL icon then double click on the DRIVERS icon. Then click on the ADD button. A dialog box will appear with a list of available drivers. Select [MCI]CD AUDIO and click on the OK button. Windows will let you know if you already have the driver installed on your system. If this driver is not on your system, then windows will load it for you. MMSYSTEM.DLL Multimedia System library, Windows does load this file onto your system and it is not included on the JAMMIN disk. However If this file is not on your system JAMMIN will not run. Some people may remove certain files to regain disk space. CDPLAYER.EXE Plays a CD in the background. The cost of updating the JAMMIN display once every second can take it's toll on even the fastest system. For those times when you dont care about status information, run CDPLAYER. Executing the CDPLAYER application starts the CD Player playing, this is the only feedback you'll hear, and you won't see a window. -( HINT )- Once you exit windows your CD Player should continue to run even if your at the DOS prompt. A few Guidelines: 1) You must have a CD in the drive before you double-click on the CD Player icon. 2) Once playback has begun, the only way to stop it is to run JAMMIN and click on the stop button. Or let it run it's course. SETUP .EXE Installs the JAMMIN program on your system and creates a Program Group. SETUPKIT.DLL A file used by the setup program. WARNING: Setup needs VBRUN200.DLL, SETUPKIT.DLL, and SETUP.EXE to run. If you have the JAMMIN version without VBRUN200.DLL, you can't run SETUP or JAMMIN unless you have or obtain a copy of VBRUN200.DLL. NOTE: The fastest way to setup JAMMIN is to copy all files on the distribution disk into a temporary directory on your hard drive and run the setup program from there. This procedure will cut the setup time to less than 1/3 of setting up from a floppy. (If you have the disk space, this works for larger applications such as Microsoft Excel.) Dont forget to delete the temporary directory when setup is done. SUPER VGA Users: Problems have been reported using the larger fonts on some super VGA cards while using the super VGA mode. If your using JAMMIN in super VGA mode and the captions beneath the buttons dont line up, try a differant font and/or a lower resolution. DONATIONS/REGISTRATION: If you would like to donate to THE CAUSE of this product please send a check or money order drawn on a U.S. bank and payable in U.S. funds to: Accelerated Light & Graphics CompuServe A.J. Thompson User ID: 70402,412 JAMMIN Ver 1.01 P.O. Box 2015 Colorado Springs, CO 80901 All suggestions and comments may also be sent to the above address. Qwirks (other than the misspelling of quirks): The only quirk that I've found is that with a CD in the drive while the drive is not playing, if the NEXT or PREV track buttons are clicked, on some discs it will advance to the next track, on other discs (for some reason) it will not advance. I don't know what is causing this, but I do hope to have it fixed by the version 2.00. Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated. JAMMIN: CD ROM GHETTO BLASTER VERSION 2.00 o A filing system to catalog your CD's and allow the CD Player to display the current song and title during playback. o Auto recognition - I.E. When a CD is inserted it will automatically pull up the Author/Title song list. o Shuffle, Continuous, and Repeat Playback. o Time remaining display. o Total time for programmed playback. o And lots more if I can squeeze it all in. There are also other products on the drawing board: o An Image database management system. o A windows Beeper utility. -[ EOF ]-