Shareware and other software useful for the Aero

Graphic-Software
• The Quick Picture Viewer
• display
• Compu-Show
• Compu-Show for Windows
Hard disk-related Software
• HDOFF
• c't hard disk Benchmark
• Waste95
other Software
• Microsoft Speaker Driver WAV
• Microsoft Speaker Driver MIDI
• Wintach Windows-Benchmark
• Microsoft's powertoys

Quick Picture Viewer

• current Version: V1.7e
• supported Operating Systems: Dos, Windows, Windows95,...
• source file: qpv17e.zip
• configuration for the Aero:
  QPV.CFG
  QPV.INI
• supported file-formats: GIF,JPG,....
• supported video-modes: 320x200x256, 640x480x16-greyscale
• comments:
  the fastest viewer for pictures, great preview-option, should be able to support 320x400x256 and 360x480x256 mode. Therefor the Video-mode-numbers must be added to QPV.CFG:

          # These are the standard VGA modes
          320  200   16     40 $0d 0
          640  480   16     80 $12 0
          320  200  256    320 $13 0
          # 320  400  256
          # 360  480  256
        

  Does anyone know the missing numbers????(320/360 $00-$ff 0 will not work!)
  The line

  640  480  256    640 $2e 0

  will cause a chaotic picture on something like 640x480 monochrome-mode...
• screenshot: QPV_SS1.GIF (16.4kB)

display

• current Version: V1.89
• supported Operating Systems: Dos, Windows, Windows95, ...
• source files: disp189a.zip disp189b.zip
• configuration for the Aero: Leave it as it is or put "set go32=driver c:\disp\driver\et4000.grn" into AUTOEXEC.BAT
• supported file-formats: GIF,JPG,FLI,FLC,MPEG,AVI,IFF,....
• comments:
  uses external screen-driver-files, maybe this is the point to write a 640x480x256 screen driver for the aero.
  In the display-faq it is written:

        Q11: How can I make a new video driver ?
        A: Look at the DRVSRC directory. Find a source file that is close to your
           video card. Use text editor to edit the source file. Follow the commands
           in makefile to make a new video driver.
           All video drivers are borrowed from DJGPP and GRX.
           You can get the whole DJGPP and GRX package from :
             omnigate.clarkson.edu: /pub/msdos/djgpp
             or simtel20 mirros sites.
           You must understand assembly language. I suggest that you use et4000.asm
           as a template.
      

  Is there anyone out there who feels able to do this????

Compu-Show

• current Version: V9.04a
• supported Operating Systems: Dos, Windows, Windows95, ...
• source file: cshow904.zip
• supported file-formats: GIF, JPG, BMP, TIF, PCX, ...
• supported video-modes: 320x400x256, 360x480x256, (?)
• comments:
  not very fast and not that comfortable, but it does a very good dithering and uses 360x480x256 and 320x400x256 with standard-configuration

Compu-Show for Windows

• current Version: V1.03
• supported Operating Systems: Windows, Windows95, ...
• source file: cshoww13.zip
• supported file-formats:?
• supported video-modes: 640x480x16 Windows-Screen
• comments:
  not very fast, tries to do its best to dither to 16 colors, does not work any longer if you do not register after 30 days.

Karl-Heinz Wietzke's hard disk off - tool

• current Version: -
• supported Operating Systems: Dos, Win3.x, Win 95, ...
• source file: hdoff.zip
• comments:
  Karl-Heinz Wietzke wrote this tool for the Aero. It does nothing else but turning off the hard disk immediatly.

c't hard disk benchmark

• current Version: 3.00a
• supported Operating Systems: Dos (and nothing else!)
• source file: cthdben.zip
• comments:
  Please use this program to find out your hard disk's performance for Christian Rausch's "Aero hard disk upgrade list" at Philip Wilk's Aero-Homepage.

Waste 95

• current Version: V2.5
• source file: waste95a.zip
• configuration for the Aero:
  -
• description:
  This program tests how much hard disk-space is wasted due to its current kind of partition
• supported Operating Systems: Windows95, Windows NT
• comments: for those who want to squeeze out the last bit of their hard disk

Microsoft Speaker-driver for WAV-files

• current Version: very old, no longer updated
• source file: speak.exe
• configuration for the Aero:
  Speed: 267, Volume: 1.00, Limit: e.g.10, enable interrupts: not checked (this works with my Aero, but yours might need a different configuration)
• description:
  driver for the built in PC-speaker to play WAV files
• supported file-formats: only WAV in connection with Microsofts audio-player, nothing else.
• supported Operating Systems: Windows, Windows95, ...
• comments:
  The computer is blocked when WAV-Files are played, maybe this driver could be improved if it was 32bit. A similar driver is the Midi-driver that can be installed togehter with the WAV-driver.

Microsoft Speaker-driver for Midi

• current Version: very old, no longer updated
• source file: midextdr.exe
• configuration for the Aero:
  -
• description:
  driver for the built in PC-speaker to play MIDI files
• supported file-formats: only MIDI in connection with Microsofts media-player, nothing else.
• supported Operating Systems: Windows, Windows95, ...
• comments:
  Only one channel of the MIDI-Sound is played. A similar driver is the WAV-driver that can be installed togehter with the MIDI-driver.

Wintach Windows-Benchmark

• current Version: 1.2
• supported Operating Systems:Windows
• source file: ?
• description: Windows-orientated benchmark-program
• comments:
  The results are more depending on the performance of grafik-devices than processor-speed. Thats what really counts on window-orientated OSes.

Microsoft's powertoys

• current Version: ?
• supported Operating Systems:Windows 95, Windows NT
• source file: ?
• description: useful utilities for Windows 95
• comments: I recommend to use tweak-ui, because you can switch off win95's window-animation etc.