Now available from Q/Media is Q/Media for Windows, a multimedia presentation program. Both the regular and professional versions integrate video, animation, audio, imaging, graphics, and text from Windows, DOS, and Macintosh applications to create presentations on PCs running Windows 3.1.
Q/Media for Windows supports Microsoft's Video for Windows digital video software; the professional version also supports Microsoft's Modular Windows. The MCI device driver lets you embed Q/Media Pro movies into other applications.
Using Q/Media for Windows, you can create presentations or add video, animation, and audio to presentations already created in other programs. With Q/Media Pro, developers can create interactive presentations and multimedia titles.
The key to Q/Media for Windows' ability to transparently integrate any file brought onto its screen, regardless of the program in which it was created, lies in Q/Media's proprietary media player engine, which seamlessly integrates all major file formats and even increases the imported file's playback performance.
The package also includes a timeline to synchronize objects, a slide sorter outliner to organize presentation flow, and over ten Mbytes of animation, digital video, wave audio, and MIDI and graphic images. Q/Media for Windows costs $99.00; Q/Media Pro sells for $495.00. Reader service no. 20.
Q/Media Software Corp. 312 E. 5th Avenue Vancouver, BC Canada V5T 1H4 604-879-1190
Lynx Real-Time Systems' LynxOS UNIX/POSIX-compatible operating system for real-time applications now offers an integrated DOS operating environment: VP/ix for LynxOS. Using this new option, you can operate in a real-time environment and still run non-real-time DOS and UNIX apps.
VP/ix lets single or multiple users run DOS and UNIX applications in a paged virtual-memory environment on a single system without additional hardware. Each session executes in its own virtual-address space.
You can initiate DOS commands from within the LynxOS environment and run DOS apps from the LynxOS prompt. The reverse is also possible: UNIX commands can be run from within DOS. VP/ix integrates DOS files into the UNIX file system, so there is no need for separate disk partitions; files are easily accessible. DOS and UNIX apps can directly share files, and peripherals from either operating environment can be used without additional device drivers.
The price for VP/ix for LynxOS is $695.00. Reader service no. 21.
Lynx Real-Time Systems 16780 Lark Avenue Los Gatos, CA 95030 408-354-7770
Version 2.0 of QuickStart for Windows NT, a DOS-hosted cross-development tool for NT targets, has been released by Phar Lap. QuickStart runs NT tools under DOS or in a Windows 3.1 DOS box, so Win32s applications can be created and run under Windows without the need to reboot.
With the new version of QuickStart, programmers can run NT tools in conjunction with DOS editors, utilities, source-control systems, and network software. To use QuickStart with Win32s, you use NT tools under DOS or Windows to write applications using a subset of the Win32 API calls; these apps then use Win32s to run on top of 16-bit Windows 3.1. You can use the latest versions of Microsoft's 32-bit Windows NT C/C++ compiler, linker, librarian, and resource compiler under DOS or Windows 3.1.
QuickStart is available free of charge for a limited time. Reader service no. 22.
Phar Lap Software Inc. 60 Aberdeen Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 617-661-1510
STV Software has introduced Menus & Macros, a common macro language that works across different applications. Menus & Macros consists of: Macro-Workbench, an integrated development environment for macros and applications; MacroManager, a database containing the commands of available Windows applications; the OnTop Scalable Kernel, a DLL containing all functions; ToolPaint, which allows you to paint and program dialog boxes and button windows; the MacroScript compiler, which compiles MacroScripts into optimized tokens executed by the OnTop kernel; and OnTop2, the runtime application for macros.
Contact STV for pricing. Reader service no. 23.
STV Software GmbH Rathausstrasse 15 A-1010 Vienna Austria +43-1-404-4141
OMTool for the PC is an interactive data-modeling tool that facilitates rapid, reliable development and is now available from the GE Advanced Concepts Center.
GE's object-modeling technique allows programmers point-and-click methods for creating, defining, and editing classes, attributes, relationships, and class hierarchies within an application model. OMTool also lets you drag model elements, maintain connectivity and logical structure, generate object-oriented codes, and diagram output for PostScript, Interleaf, and Framemaker. It allows you to create pop-up forms to guide users through options and also provides a debugging interface for run-time objects.
OMTool sells for $995.00. Reader service no. 24.
GE Advanced Concepts Center 640 Freedom Business Center P.O. Box 1561 King of Prussia, PA 19406 800-438-7246
Version 2.0 of Visual Basic has been released by Microsoft and is available in both a standard and a professional edition. The standard edition offers improved performance and greater capacity--huge arrays, unlimited string space, and over twice the previous code capacity are built in. New debugging tools include watch expressions, conditional break expressions, and a calls window. An ASCII representation is now available for all files. With the new properties window, you can set all the properties of a control or object from a single window or set the properties of several controls simultaneously. There is a new tool bar, color-coded syntax, better grid control, and MDI support, as well as support for international currency, time, and date formats.
In addition to all the aforementioned features, the professional edition also provides the following: two new MAPI controls, open database connectivity (ODBC) support, a new masked edit control, communications control, two new Windows for Pens controls, Windows 3.1 support, and a new control development kit.
Also available from Microsoft is Macro Assembler 6.1 Improvements to this version include: instruction timings, which facilitate fine tuning of execution times; a wider selection of high-level directives; Windows programming documentation; improved compatibility with MASM 5.1 code; the capability to target Windows, DOS, and Windows NT; and improvements to the Programmer's Workbench and the Codeview debugger.
Visual Basic 2.0 retails for $199.00; the professional edition costs $495.00. Upgrades to the professional edition are $199.00 and $99.00, respectively, MASM 6.1 sells for $199.00; upgrades are $99.00. Reader service no. 25.
Microsoft Corp. One Microsoft Place Redmond, WA 98052-6399 206-882-8080
ESS has added ES488X and ES488Y to the AudioDrive family of speech- and sound-integrated circuits. These ICs are all microprocessor-based, custom VLSI chips for PC audio that provide direct interface to the PC bus, and direct connection to line-in, microphone, and external speakers.
Like its predecessor, the ES488Y can record, compress, store, and play back voice, sound, and music without employing external ICs. In addition, it provides a direct interface with FM synthesis chips, allowing users to play MIDI and synthesized music for multimedia audio implementation.
Also included in the ES488X is a direct interface with additional external memory.
OEM-quantity prices are under $12.00 per unit for the ES488Y and under $16.00 for the ES488X. Reader service no. 26.
ESS Technology Inc. 2493 Industrial Parkway West Hayward, CA 94545 510-783-3100
SIGNAL++ is a signal-processing library from Sigsoft for simulating, testing, and generating signal-processing algorithms using C++. It provides discrete time-signal and noise simulations, digital signal processing, digital and analog filter designs, time-domain correlations, filtering, and fast Fourier transforms. SIGNAL++ also offers a library interface for user programs which can be developed using most C++ compilers.
The library is composed of three main classes: DSP, simulation, and filter design. The first group includes correlations, transforms, windowing, and filtering; simulation includes signal simulation and noise simulation; and filter design includes analog filter design and digital filter design.
Libraries are available for several memory models, including DOS extenders: source code is available as well. Prices for SIGNAL++ start at $99.00. Reader service no. 27.
Sigsoft 15865 Lofty Trail Drive San Diego, CA 92127 619-673-0745
Protoview is shipping ProtoGen Pascal in conjunction with Borland. ProtoGen is an interface-design and code-generation tool for Borland Pascal with Objects that lets you create Windows applications by visually creating the user interface. ProtoGen writes the Pascal Windows code, which allows you to add application-specific code to the framework.
Important features include: the interactive menu and application designers; a live test mode for animating the application interface; a regeneration facility that preserves all the code added to the framework, even if the interface changes, international character support in code generation and interface design; and generation of transfer buffers for moving data between application and screen. ProtoGen takes advantage of many of Borland Pascal 7.0's new object-oriented features, as well as Borland's custom control DLLS.
ProtoGen Pascal sells for $49.95. Reader service no. 28.
ProtoView Development Co. 353 Georges Road Dayton, NJ 08810 908-329-8588
A multimedia whitepaper that details the requirements for integrating multimedia is available from IBM. The paper, entitled "Multimedia Distributed Computing: IBM's Directions for Multimedia Distributed Systems," is being released to enable the delivery of all forms of information through natural media throughout a distributed enterprise.
To receive a copy of the paper, call 800-426-9402. Reader service no. 29.
IBM Corp. 1133 Westchester Avenue White Plains, NY 10604 800-426-9402
Orion now supports 80C196 16-bit microcontrollers in its 8800-line of real-time emulators. The 80C196KD and 80C196KR emulators can operate at speeds of over 20 MHz, which the 8800 emulator/analyzer handles with full-speed, zero-wait-state support.
The 8800 has several features that contribute to its usefulness in 80C196 applications. The first is Clip-On emulation, an option that lets you clip on to soldered-in CPUs and debug and analyze SMD-based targets. It also offers start/stop triggering of trace storage on specific events, a plus for interrupt-driven applications. The system comes standard with symbolic debugging and high-level language support and can access all 80C196 special function registers, including A/Ds, timers, and ports.
The list price is $8800.00. Reader service no. 30.
Orion Instruments Inc. 180 Independence Drive Menlo Park, CA 94025 415-327-8800
Multi Soft is shipping two new communications libraries: CL/W, for communication between Windows development tools and mainframe programs; and CL/VB, a version of CL/W that has been integrated with Visual Basic.
Both libraries are based on a Windows DLL that lets you call PC/mainframe communications functions that support two different modes of client/server communications. The first mode, "front-ending," allows use of any Windows development tool to create a graphical interface that runs "in front of" an existing mainframe program; the second, "program-to-program communications," allows you to write a Windows program that interactively calls a partner application on the mainframe using a message-passing mechanism for exchanging data and application-specific codes.
CL/W also provides functions for embedding file verification and software-distribution services in your application, ensuring that the proper versions of the executable files, database files, and tables are loaded for your application. CL/W can be called from any development tool that lets you call a DLL.
CL/VB includes all the functions found in CL/W plus dialog-driven utilities to support the screen-capture and conversion process.
The package including CL/W and CL/VB costs between $50.00 and $100.00 for a runtime license, depending on quantity, and $1500.00 for a development license. Reader service no. 31.
Multi Soft Inc. 123 Franklin Corner Road Lawrenceville, NJ 08648 609-896-4100
Copyright © 1993, Dr. Dobb's Journal