PicSaver
Version 3.0
by Michael Jennings
Copyright  1997, 1998, 1999
All Rights Reserved

Web Page: http://falcon.jmu.edu/~jenninms/
E-Mail: jenninms@jmu.edu



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                                     Release Notes

 1. Features
 2. System Requirements
 3. Installation Instructions
 4. Uninstallation Instructions
 5. Frequently Asked Questions
 6. Known Bugs
 7. Credits
 8. Version History
 9. End-User License
10. Distribution License

1. Features:

   * Supports Bitmap (*.bmp), JPEG (*.jpg), TIFF (*.tif), and GIF (*.gif) files,
     including animated GIF files.
   * Can handle an unlimited number of picture files from an unlimited number of
     directories, including network directories.
   * Directories can quickly and easily be activated or deactivated, making it easy to
     switch between different desktop themes.
   * Displays pictures either bouncing around the screen, centered on the screen, in
     collage form, in random positions on the screen, or scrolling from left to right.
   * The display time for each picture can be set for as little as 1 second or as much
     as 10 minutes.
   * Additional display options including picture size, display order, background
     color, and picture caption.
   * No installtion required - simply download and run.
   * Password protected.

2. System Requirements:

   * 486 PC, or above.
   * Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT.
   * 8 MB RAM
   * 1 MB video capable of 16K colors
   * 1 MB hard disk space

3. Installation Instructions:

  1. Download picsaver.zip, taking note of where on your computer you saved the file.
  2. Uncompress picsaver.zip using WinZip or some other similar compression utility.
     If you are not sure how to do this, refer to WinZip's accompanying documentation.
  3. Verify that the uncompressed zip file contains the two files PicSaver.scr and
     Readme.txt. Be sure to look over the Readme file thoroughly.
  4. Copy the file PicSaver.scr to your computer's System folder. This will typically
     be something similar to C:\Windows\System.
  5. Select and configure PicSaver from the Control Panel, as you would any other
     screen saver.

4. Uninstallation Instructions:

To completely remove PicSaver from your system, simply delete the file PicSaver.scr
from the System folder where you placed it during installation, as well as the file
PicSaver.ini from the Windows folder. PicSaver makes no entries in your computer's
registry.

5. Frequently Asked Questions:

Q.     Do you plan on making a Windows 3.x version of PicSaver available in the
       future?
A.     No. Modifying PicSaver to make it Windows 3.x compatible would, basically, be
       more trouble than it's worth.

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Q.     I would like to distribute PicSaver with a collection of my pictures. Is this
       possible? What do I have to do?
A.     Yes, it is very possible. But please read the Distribution License first.

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Q.     Some of my pictures are being displayed with the colors all messed up, even
       though they look fine when they are viewed with other programs. What's the
       deal?
A.     PicSaver works best when your system color setting is 16 bits or greater. If
       you are experiencing this problem, you can correct it by increasing your color
       setting to at least 16 bits from the Control Panel.

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Q.
       I think I found a bug in PicSaver. What should I do?
A.     First, check out the Known Bugs section of this document. If you don't see your
       particular bug listed, you can e-mail me about it. Be sure to include a
       description of your computer, your PicSaver settings, and a brief description
       of the problem. I will record your bug report and try to correct it for the
       next release.

6. Known Bugs:

   * In bouncing display mode, medium to large sized pictures will cause PicSaver to
     stop loading additional pictures.

7. Credits:

Without the help of many people, PicSaver would not exist today. Particularly I would
like to thank the following:

   * Meik Weber for his informative freeware example screen saver. You can take a look
     at it here.
   * Anders Melander for his excellent TGIFImage component for Delphi, which allows
     PicSaver to display GIF files. Please take a moment to visit his web page.
   * Fabrizio Di Vittorio for his ImageEn Delphi component component, which is used by
     PicSaver to load TIFF files. His web page can be found here.
   * Brad Stowers for his handy TBrowseDirectoryDlg component, which is what you see
     when you choose to add a directory. Take a look at his web page, too.
   * Everybody on the Delphi newsgroups who took the time to respond to my stupid
     questions. Next time your browsing usenet, take a look at
     comp.lang.pascal.delphi.misc.
   * Most importantly, YOU - the users of PicSaver, for all of your helpful and
     encouraging e-mails!

8. Version History:

   * 11 January, 1999, PicSaver Version 3.0:
        o Added support for TIFF files.
        o Added ability to select network directories.
        o Added Display Order option.
        o Added Caption option
        o Removed support for DIB, JIF, RLE, PCX, TGA files to make it more stable for
          BMP, JPG, GIF, and TIF files.

   * 15 June, 1998, PicSaver Version 2.1:
        o Fixed password checking error on Windows NT.

   * 15 May, 1998, PicSaver Version 2.0:
        o Allowed the selection of multiple directories.
        o Allowed changing of the background color.
        o Much less prone to crashing (page faults, fatal exceptions, etc).
        o Reduced minimum display time to 1 second.
        o Preview pictures by double-clicking them in the Add dialog box.
        o Added Collage display style.
        o Display order made truly random with no repeats.

   * 21 May, 1997, PicSaver Version 1.1:
        o Supported all GIF files.
        o Displayed 256 color bitmaps correctly.
        o Made Random option function more randomly.
        o Improved sizing and stretching of images.
        o Reduced minimum display time from 30 seconds to 5 seconds.

   * 15 May, 1997, PicSaver Version 1.0:
        o Supported JPG, JIF, BMP, DIB, RLE, TGA, PCX, and most GIF files.
        o Options for display style, size, order and time.
        o Worked on all Windows 95 machines and some Windows NT.
        o Much faster and smoother image loading.
        o Would not show some 16 color GIF files.
        o Displayed 256 color bitmaps poorly when in 256 color mode.

   * 4 April, 1997, JPEG Screen Saver Version 1.0:
        o Initial release.
        o Supported only JPG files.
        o Only user-set options were directory and display time.
        o Only worked on computers in which the system folder was C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\.
        o Slow, jumpy, filckering image loading.

9. End-User License:

PicSaver is freeware. This means that it can be downloaded and used by anyone
(individuals, companies, government agencies, etc) free of charge for as long as they
wish. Furthermore, PicSaver is provided to you as is without warranty of any kind,
either expressed or implied. I can not and do not guarantee that PicSaver will work on
your particular computer, nor will I be liable for any damage it causes to your
system.

10. Distribution License:

I think it's great that people are distributing my screen saver with their picture
collections and desktop themes. This is fine with me, provided that the two files
PicSaver.scr and Readme.txt are included without modification of any kind. It is also
fine with me if you wish to charge your users for a package that includes PicSaver, as
long as you make them aware of these three things:

  1. The money they are paying is for the pictures only and not for PicSaver,
  2. PicSaver can be downloaded and used, free of charge, from my web page which is
     located at http://falcon.jmu.edu/~jenninms/ , and
  3. I (MJ) am not responsible for the content of any pictures distributed with
     PicSaver.

Finally, if you are going to distribute PicSaver, I would like, although I don't
require, that you drop me an e-mail and let me know - thanks!

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Copyright  1997-1999 Michael Jennings
All Rights Reserved
