PhotoViewer for Windows: Frequently Asked Questions

PhotoViewer Frequently Asked Questions

Here are PhotoViewer-related questions that are most likely to be asked...

What are the system requirements for using PhotoViewer PLUS on my computer?

Your computer should have at least a Pentium running at 133Mhz.

You need at least 64Meg of memory.

Your display should have at least 1024x768 resolution and High Color (16-bits)

PhotoViewer PLUS consumes very little hard disk storage itself, but your pictures and multimedia content can require a lot of storage space. Your hard disk must be as large as the amount of content you plan to use with PhotoViewer PLUS. In other words, you have to figure out the required disk size yourself.

Your operating system needs to be either Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT (updated to Service Pack 4).

For viewing multimedia content, you need the Windows Media Player installed on your system. Your computer may have an older version of the Media Player (or ActiveMovie), but it may not be adequate. If the following file exists on your computer:

\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSDXM.OCX
then you do have the correct version installed. Otherwise, you can go to this Microsoft web page and download the Windows Media Player free of charge:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer

Note: PhotoViewer will attempt to use older versions of Media Player, but the results cannot be guaranteed. This is especially the case for Windows 95 systems; very often the older multimedia drivers on these systems work badly. In that case, you need to get updates for every multimedia component possible, or you might want to seriously consider changing to Windows 98.

If you want to record your own sound clips to use in PhotoViewer PLUS, then you must have a sound card with a properly working microphone connected to it. Use the Sound Recorder (or similar tool) to make your recordings.

If you want to capture your own pictures, you need either a scanner or digital camera that is compatible with the TWAIN interface.

If you want to record your own video clips to use in PhotoViewer PLUS, then you must have either a suitable video capture card or a PC Camera that supports video. These products should include the software needed to record the video clips.

If you want to create your own MIDI songs to use in PhotoViewer PLUS, then you must have either some software for music composition, or a MIDI keyboard including a MIDI interface to your computer (plus software to capture the music from the keyboard).

If you want to create your own CDROM containing your Photo Collection Sets, you need to have a CD-R Writer. It must include the software for creating the CDROMs. PhotoViewer PLUS generates and collects all the content that is needed for a CDROM, but it does not actually create the CDROM. For that, you must use the software supplied with the CD-R Writer.

Which scanners and digital cameras will work directly with PhotoViewer PLUS?

PhotoViewer PLUS supports devices that are compatible with the TWAIN standard. TWAIN is an industry standard for acquiring images from scanners and digital cameras. When many devices support the TWAIN standard, that means they can all be accessed by one piece of TWAIN-compatible software.

As a result, any scanner or digital camera that is TWAIN-compatible ought to work with PhotoViewer PLUS.

In reality, some scanners or digital camera may not do a good job of complying with the TWAIN standard. Also, their driver programs may have limitations. As a result, they might not work with PhotoViewer PLUS. Technology for People cannot guarantee that every TWAIN-compatible device will work perfectly with PhotoViewer PLUS. However, the odds are good that they will.

How do I make a CDROM? I just have a regular CD drive...

You cannot make CDROMs with a regular CD drive, you need to have a CD-R Writer, and it must include software for creating CDROMs. Otherwise, you can only deploy into ZIP archives and self-installing programs.

How do I get the new version of Windows Media Player that PhotoViewer PLUS requires?

Go to this Microsoft web page and download the Windows Media Player free of charge:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer

I have some picture/sound/video/music files somewhere on my computer, but I don't know where. How do I find them and add them into PhotoViewer PLUS?

The easiest way is this:

Open the Find: All Files window (open the Start menu, choose Find, then choose Files or Folders...).
In the Named field, enter the kind of file you wish to search for (see the table below).
In the Look In field, choose My Computer (or any disk drive you wish to search).
Click the Find Now button.
As files are found, they will be added to the search list. You can drag any of these files and drop them into PhotoViewer PLUS.

When searching for files, you can enter any of these types:

`To find...`	`Search for any of these kinds of files...`
Pictures	.bmp .gif .jpg .pcx *.tif
Sound Clips	.wav .au
Video Clips	.avi .mpg
MIDI Songs	.mid .rmi

I want to capture a picture from a scanner or digital camera. How do I do this?

You can capture such an image if your scanner or digital camera is compatible with the TWAIN standard. If so, you can open the Insert menu, then open the Capture Image submenu, then choose From Scanner or Camera...

Next, the device driver for the scanner or digital camera will open a window where you can acquire the image. Every scanner and digital camera has a different acquisition window, so we cannot show you what it will look like. But it should be reasonably easy to use, and this is where you should acquire your desired image.

Use this window to acquire the image. The window should also include some sort of button for transferring the image back to PhotoViewer PLUS. Transfer the image, then close the image acquisition window.

I don't have any sound files to use in PhotoViewer PLUS, how can I get some?

You can do Internet searches to find collections of sound clips and download some of them.

You can also use the Sound Recorder (or other similar tools) to make your own, but you must have a sound card with a microphone connected to it.

I don't have any video files to use in PhotoViewer PLUS, how can I get some?

You can do Internet searches to find collections of sound clips and download some of them.

If your computer has a video capture card, you can also capture video clips of your own using the software provided with the card.

Some low-cost digital cameras include the ability to record video. One such camera is the Intel© PC Camera Pro Pack. Though the video quality may not be as good as what a video capture card provides, it is still quite good, and often at a lower cost.

I don't have any music files to use in PhotoViewer PLUS, how can I get some?

You can do Internet searches to find collections of MIDI song files and download some of them.

You can also use music composing software to create your own MIDI song files. Also, if you have a MIDI-equipped keyboard instrument, a MIDI interface on your computer, and supporting software, then you can directly record what you play on the keyboard into a MIDI song file.

When deploying, why does PhotoViewer PLUS insist on deleting all the files that were in the folder?

When a Photo Collection Set is being deployed, all the required files must be collected into some folder. That folder is chosen by you when you start the deploy operation. In order to assure a reliable deployment, the folder you choose must be completely empty before any files are copied over. If it is not empty, PhotoViewer PLUS prompts you to either delete the files in the folder or abort the deployment.

If you instruct PhotoViewer PLUS to delete the old files, they will not actually be removed, they will be moved to the Recycle Bin.

There is one case where PhotoViewer PLUS will refuse to delete the files: if none of the files can be clearly identified as part of a previous Photo Collection Set. PhotoViewer PLUS will remove old files if they are part of a previous Photo Collection Set, since you are probably deploying an improved replacement. But if the files are unknown to PhotoViewer PLUS, they will not be removed (as a precaution against data loss), the deployment will be aborted.

When I deploy my Photo Collection Set, should I include the PhotoViewer software or not?

It depends on who you send it to. If the recipients already have PhotoViewer, then you do not need to include it. But if they do not have PhotoViewer, then they cannot view your Photo Collection Set at all. They either need to receive PhotoViewer included as part of your Photo Collection Set, or else they will have to obtain PhotoViewer themselves (by downloading it from the Technology for People web site):

http://www.t4p.com/pv.htm

When I deploy my Photo Collection Set, the ZIP file (or self-installing program file) is huge! Why must it be so big?

If you included the PhotoViewer software in the deployment, it will make the resulting ZIP file (or self-installing program) quite a bit larger. This is because PhotoViewer is a fairly large program.

The programming environment of Microsoft Windows© makes it hard to produce software programs that are both compact and full-featured at the same time. Robust programs require a lot of internal framework. Some programs are made smaller by requiring them to also include extra library files (known as DLLs), so there is no savings in program size anyway.

Excluding the PhotoViewer program when you deploy will make the final product smaller, but those who receive your ZIP file (or self-installing program) will need to have PhotoViewer already installed or else they cannot view your Photo Collection Set.

How do I decide whether to deploy with a ZIP file, self-installing program, or CDROM?

ZIP files are a good choice if the people who receive your files already have PhotoViewer. You can make a very small ZIP file by excluding PhotoViewer when you deploy, and the recipients can use PhotoViewer to easily import the ZIP file.

ZIP files are also a good choice to send to people who are more computer-savvy, since they know many ways to use ZIP files.

Self-installing programs are better for less-experienced computer users, since they simply have to run the program, and then PhotoViewer and the Photo Collection Set are easily installed.

CDROMs are well suited for Photo Collection Sets that are extremely large, since a CDROM can hold a whopping 640 megabytes. CDROMs are also good for Photo Collection Sets that are precious in content, even if they are small.

Why do I get a Deployment Failed message?

This can result from many possible causes. Debuggable versions of PhotoViewer PLUS generate a log file whose name matches the file name of your Photo Collection Set, with the sufffix .log at the end of the file name. Clues to what went wrong might be found in this log file. It can be sent to Technology for People for analysis, along with details about what you were doing at the time.

My scanner or digital camera does not seem to work directly with PhotoViewer PLUS. Can I still get pictures from it somehow?

Your device might not be TWAIN-compatible, or it's compatibility may be less than perfect. However, you can still capture pictures and use them in PhotoViewer PLUS.

You should use the software that was included with your scanner or digital camera to create images, then save the images into files. Then, PhotoViewer PLUS can load those files with the Insert Photo... command. Also, you can drag the files from the Windows Explorer and drop them into PhotoViewer PLUS.

Why can't I play multimedia items? I get a message saying I have no Media Player, and I know that I do have one.

Your computer may have an older version of the Media Player (or ActiveMovie), but it may not be adequate. If the following file exists on your computer:

\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSDXM.OCX
then you do have the correct version installed. Otherwise, you can go to the Microsoft web site and download the Windows Media Player free of charge:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer

PhotoViewer will attempt to use older versions of Media Player, but the results cannot be guaranteed. This is especially the case for Windows 95 systems; very often the older multimedia drivers on these systems work badly. In that case, you need to get updates for every multimedia component possible, or you might want to seriously consider changing to Windows 98.

PhotoViewer tells me I need to have more than 256 colors on my display, then quits. What should I do now?

PhotoViewer (both versions) requires at least High Color (16-bit) to display its images. 256 colors (8-bit) are not enough.

Your video card may already support High Color (or True Color, which is even better). If so, you simply need to open the Control Panel, double click on Display, choose the Settings tab, and then change the Colors setting to either High Color or True Color.

If your video card only supports 256 colors, then you will need a new and better video card before you can use PhotoViewer.

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