[Please open this file in Write or Wordpad and, if necessary, select a constant width font and reformat it to wrap the lines correctly.] ************************************************************************ Oxford Computer Group OCG96 A Christmas Screen Saver for 1996 ************************************************************************ Christmas greetings from Oxford Computer Group. To follow last year's "Christmas Card" and the previous year's Advent Calendar, we have written a new Christmassy screen saver. The previous savers are also still available, either from our web site (www.ocx.com), Compuserve & Cix (search for XMAS95.EXE), or by request from us (although only until we exhaust the few remaining disks from last year, and the version of the 1995 Christmas Card Saver on the web site may be updated with a more recent build with improved size and efficiency). Also available from the web site is the NSPCC "Happy Kids" screen saver, which we wrote to help with Microsoft's promotion of the NSPCC campaign earlier this year. This readme accompanies the first release of the files, V1.0.0.9, 8th December 1996. This readme is written to accompany both the disk-based and "download-based" distribution of the files. On the disk there are two files, this readme file (README.TXT) and the archive file OCG96.EXE. For the benefit of people who download it, the archive file also contains this readme file. Virus Warning ============= As usual we have used standard virus checking programs to confirm that the screen saver files are free of viruses. Especially if you do not receive the screen saver files directly from ourselves, please use your own virus checking programs to verify this fact for yourselves. If you were aware of the rumour spread by some Scrooge last year about the Advent screen saver, you will hopefully be unsurprised and pleased to hear that it was completely groundless, although it did cause some people unnecessary worry. Please contact us (at info@ocx.com) if you have any queries, or become aware of any continuing rumours. File List (archive file contents) ================================= OCG96.SCR Christmas Screen Saver, new for 1996. No other files are required to run it. Note that approximately 3.5MB disk space is required for OCG96.SCR. README.TXT This file. Quick install ------------- Extract OCG96.SCR from OCG96.EXE by running the command "A:OCG96 OCG96.SCR" (this assumes that your OCG96.EXE program is on a floppy disk in drive A:). You will need to run the command from an MS-DOS command prompt (this can be the Windows MS-DOS window)). The file OCG96.SCR will be created in the current directory. Either make the Windows directory the current directory before running the command (normally the default if you run MS-DOS from Windows), or move the file to the Windows directory afterwards, then select it as for any other screen saver. ======================================================= Screen Saver Description ======================== OCG 96 is apparently the graphical overview of the proposed solution to Father Christmas's requirements for a network, e-mail and present management system! Disclaimer ---------- The screen saver is intended as a bit of Christmas fun. Oxford Computer Group makes no direct or implied suggestion as to the suitability of these files for any purpose. Oxford Computer Group Ltd accepts no liability for any loss or damages resulting from the use of these files. If you are not happy with these conditions, do not load the files. System Requirements ------------------- OCG96.SCR uses quite a lot of system resources - we couldn’t do it any other way. If you do not have sufficient free memory (3MB or more), the screen saver will be unable to load all its graphics resources and a dialog box will eventually be displayed. The speed of your disk (or network) will determine the length of the short pause that occurs when the animations are first loaded from disk. On slower machines (e.g. 386s and slow 486s), and those with insufficient physical memory, the animations will not run smoothly. The OCG96 screen saver works best in SVGA 256 colour mode (it also works at higher colour depths, but correspondingly more memory and CPU power will be needed for no gain in display quality). This version will also run on 16 colour displays, but CONSIDERABLE CPU time is used by the somewhat inefficient colour dithering algorithms, and the finished results may not be satisfactory. As a reference, the clock pendulum is designed to take 1 second to travel from one side to the other, (though the pendulum can pause noticeably when large animations are loaded from a slow file system). The OCG96 saver is designed to work at both 800x600 and 640x480 resolutions (some peripheral animations are missing at the lower resolution). At higher resolutions you will see black space around the edges. The saver are supplied as a 16-bit program tested for Windows, Windows 95 and Windows NT. True Saver Mode --------------- The saver has a "true screen saver mode". This can be enabled on the config dialog. Except under Windows NT, you can return to the "ordinary saver" from the "true saver" by moving the mouse. A keyboard press is required to cancel the screen saver on other operating systems. Passwords --------- When running under Windows 95, it is possible to kill the screen saver from the task list. Thus the inbuilt password protection is not reliable. When running under Windows NT, the password may be set, and is then required to exit "Test" mode, but is not meaningful during ordinary operation. You can still use the Windows NT Security dialog to Lock the workstation. [As this is a 16 bit application, Windows 95 and NT do not offer you the option of using the "system" password protection.] Note that passwords set for screen savers could be circumvented by someone who has access to your computer. The OCG96 password is not common to other screen savers (contrary to the norm). 32 Bit Versions --------------- If we produce a 32-bit version of the OCG96 screen saver, it will be made available from our web site (see below). Installation ============ There is no ordinary install program. File Extraction --------------- The files (the screen saver and this readme) are supplied in the form of a self-extracting PKZIP compressed archive (OCG96.EXE). From an MS-DOS type prompt just run this executable to create the files it contains (either do this in your Windows directory, or in a temporary and/or empty directory so that you will be able to delete the files afterwards). The decompressed screen saver (OCG96.SCR) should be placed in your Windows directory (c:\Windows, c:\WINNT, c:\WIN95 etc.) or in the system sub-directory of this directory. The MS-DOS prompt can be the Windows MS-DOS window (usually accessed from an icon in the "Main" Window, or from the Programs list in Windows 95). If you start MS-DOS from Windows, the default directory will usually be the Windows directory so the following command will extract just the OCG96.SCR file and place in in that directory, it assumes that the OCG96.EXE file is on a floppy disk in drive A: a:ocg96 ocg96.scr The following example commands show a method of directly placing both the files supplied in the archive into the directory "\WINDOWS" on drive "C:", it assumes that the OCG96.EXE file is on a floppy disk in drive A: a:ocg96 c:\windows If any files already exist, you will be asked if you want to overwrite them. The archive file is not required after you have extracted the files that you need from it. But you may wish to keep it to pass on to your friends. Selecting the Screen Saver -------------------------- Once the file is in place, the screen saver can be activated from the control panel (desktop for Windows and Windows NT or display properties dialog for Windows 95). For OCG96.SCR Look for either the name "XMAS96 OCG" (Windows 3.1x), "XMAS96 OCG (16-bit)" (Windows NT), or just "Ocg96" (Windows 95). Copyright and Copying ===================== The copyright to all the programs, graphics and text is owned and retained by Oxford Computer Group Ltd. You are encouraged to redistribute the original files (preferably as the complete set), but may not do so for commercial gain (except for standard bulletin board type access charges). About Oxford Computer Group Ltd =============================== Tel: +44 (0)1865 512675 Tel: +44 (0)171 6387676 (London City) Tel: +44 (0)121 7797512 (Birmingham) Tel: +44 (0)171 7067186 (London West) Fax: +44 (0)1865 310407 E-mail: info@ocx.com Web: www.ocx.com Snail Mail: Oxford Computer Group Ltd Wolsey Hall 66 Banbury Road OXFORD OX2 6PR UK Oxford Computer Group Ltd has two divisions, Oxford Computer Applications Ltd and Oxford Computer Training Ltd. Oxford Computer Group is a Microsoft Solution Provider and a Lotus Business partner. The group probably has the world's highest concentrations of Microsoft Certified System Engineers (24) and Microsoft Certified Solution Developers (27). Oxford Computer Applications Ltd offers a bespoke programming service specialising in SQL, Access, Visual Basic, Visual C++ and C (amongst others). The company services range from a full management of design and implementation of a large client-server to a day's help with an Access database; from 1 million to £500. Oxford Computer Training Ltd is a Microsoft ATEC & ATC and an authorised trainer for Lotus, Superbase and WST. Although based in the UK, we provide training services throughout Europe and the world. We have already trained in Austria, Australia, Dubai, France, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the USA (with the exception of a very small number of locations, the "routing network" seen in the screen saver is "based" on our lecturers' travels!). OCT is the twice and only winner of Microsoft's ATC of the year award. We provide training at both the application and systems level and are well known for our technical rigour and training skills. OCT's online presence is Online College Oxford (OLCO). OLCO provides quality online training geared towards Microsoft Certified Professional exam success, with courses aimed at support personnel and consultants who need Microsoft systems training, but who are too valuable to be spared from their desks. OLCO's classes include students from Australia, Russia, the USA and Japan. For more information, visit http://olco.ocx.com. We have also authored a number of books (the most recent are available from Hodder Headline). Could we do one for you? ------------------------ We are able to produce bespoke screen savers for clients. Costs depend on exact requirements. You may like to start by completing the questionnaire on our web site. Competition ----------- It is quite fun to see how far this program gets during its short Christmas life. Mail us a Christmas card (e-mail or post) and we will ask Santa to deliver a bottle of champagne (or alternative for the younger entrants) to the sender who has either the most amusing/interesting location or otherwise writes/draws the best response. On the other hand, you can always send us a bottle (well wrapped) if you think we have enlivened your day. Known Problems -------------- 1) If you leave the screen saver running continuously for two nights, or more, it will only advance by one day. Simply restart it. 2) Some (not all) users of Windows NT4 will find that selecting Install after Right-Clicking ocg96.scr will result in an Exception in rundll. Simply use the Control Panel / Display dialog to Install it. We don't know why. 3) Some users may notice a dark-grey box associated with the true-saver mode, we did not have time to fix this. Problem Reporting ----------------- It is possible, but hopefully unlikely, that you will encounter some other problem with the screen saver. Installation is very simple and unlikely to cause any problems, please first consult with your colleagues if you have any difficulties with it. The most likely problem you will encounter will be a consequence of having insufficient memory, or (for Windows 3 users) insufficient resources; you will see a dialog advising you that a graphics operation could not be completed. If this happens, you may find that you can work around the problem by closing down other applications (this both releases memory and, for Windows 3 users, GDI resources), enlarging the swap space, or freeing up disk space if this is limiting the amount of virtual memory available. If something else unexpected happens while the screen saver is running, please assemble the following information before you contact us. 1) The version information line in the About Box (accessed from the setup dialogue). This includes some system information. 2) The processor type / amount of main memory / graphics board type / amount of graphics memory / free disk space. 3) Other useful details might include answers to the following: Does the problem always occur (and is thus reproducible), or is it intermittent; Does the problem occur on a colleague's similar machine; Does a particular change to your system setup make the problem go away; Has the problem been occurring always, or has it suddenly started? [Please also check that the copy of the screen saver you have installed is not corrupt.] We will endeavour to list any problems and / or solutions etc on our Web pages. History ------- File dates & times 08Nov95 00:09 1st release. V1.0.0.9, 3,327,872 bytes We will post any further updates to the Web site if there is both a need and the time. PS - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all at OCG Ltd