If you are installing to Windows 2000 or Windows XP

PDMSB now includes a SandS Software designed file manager, meaning that the need for Btrieve has been eliminated.

A few words about DVD

While hardware decoding may work, there are two disadvantages. Many decoding cards are not Microsoft compatible and their outputs to TVs are separate from the video card. This separate output means that you can't play both videos and DVDs directly to your TV. 

I'm using "MGI SoftDVD MAX" with excellent results. You can check my machine capabilities below. MGI Software has a couple of packages available for $19.95 and $29.95, very reasonable indeed. I'm using the $19.95 package as it was the only one available at the time. I downloaded mine and was able to to check it out before paying. They can be reached at www.dvdmax.com.

Software

The Personal Digital Multimedia ScrapBook system has been compiled using Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0, Professional Edition on a machine running Windows 2000 with Windows Internet Explorer 5.5 and DirectX 9.0 installed. This is the easiest way to incorporate as much of the latest Microsoft technology as possible. I'm talking about the ability to play the latest videos including DVD and the latest audios including MP3. Internet Explorer provides the basis for the PDMSB Browser as well as the PDMSB Help System.

Running with Windows 95 is probably out of the question, since most of the Microsoft APIs used by PDMSB were developed after Windows 95 was released. 

Running with Windows 98, without Internet Explorer 5.0/5.5 may be possible, but I haven't checked it out. Obviously, you will lose the PDMSB Browser and access to all help files. Should you decide to try installing under these conditions, I would appreciate a support message about your experiences.

I am checking for the need of DirectX runtime files.

Hardware

As far as hardware is concerned, let me say this -- I've test run a 400mhz Pentium with 64MB of RAM, 32 bit color on a 1024 x 768 monitor. If you are serious about multimedia, you may have a comparable machine. If not, here's the limitations you will face. Most functions will run OK on a 200mhz machine, it just takes slightly longer to do some tasks. I have done some testing on a 120mhz machine and that is about the lower limit for any video. Audio works OK, but bitmap (photo) loading is somewhat slow.

Additional Thoughts

While all of the screens can be sized to 640 x 480, most have been designed for  1024 x 768 to furnish more information. The 640 format is nice on a 1024 monitor when a help window is present.