FAQ's (a.k.a. Q&A)
General (Software)
Q. How can I get an evaluation version of Digital Formation
software products?
A. All our products are made available for free download on the web. Go to the download
page to select the product to be downloaded. All our products go into an automatic
evaluation mode once installed. Alternatively, you may contact us to receive a free CD
with all our products.
Q. How do I upgrade to the newest version of a Digital Formation
product?
A. Only clients on an active maintenance agreement may receive the newest version.
Contact Digital Formation for more information.
Q. Where do I get the latest software tutorials for a Digital Formation
product?
A. Just
send
your request by email. Be sure to specify which product you
are interested in, and, if you know, which features your are interested
in evaluating.
Q. Is Digital Formation software Year 2000 (Y2K) compliant?
A. Yes. Our software does not store any information based on dates. Additionally, the
few places where dates are used have been verified to be Y2K compliant. One of our clients
has gone as far as to set up a mock network with advanced dates for testing. There have
been no problems reported in conjunction with any Digital Formation
product,
including passing from December 31, 1999 into the year 2000, and passing through February
29, 2000.
If any problems are uncovered that would prevent our users from continuing to work with
our product due to a Y2K problem in our software, we will work diligently to fix the
problem, and all our clients will be provided with an update to correct the situation.
Installation
Q. Are there any special considerations I need to make before I install
to Windows 95 or Window 98?
A. No. The software will install and operate normally under Windows
95/98, unless you
are running under a Novell network (see below).
Q. Are their any special considerations I need to make before I install on a Novell
Network?
A. Yes. Under Novell, an NLM must be installed, and the server rebooted. See the
Getting
Started booklet for complete instructions.
Q. Are their any special considerations I need to make before I install to Windows
NT/2000/Me/XP?
A. Yes. Under these Windows platforms, a special security driver must be installed. To install
correctly, you must have Administrator privileges. See the Getting Started
booklet
for complete instructions.
Q. Are there any precautions I should make after obtaining an authorization code for
purchased software?
A. Yes - if you have any defragmentation software installed. In particular, Norton
SpeedDisk can kill an authorization under Windows 95 only. Once you have received your
authorization code, you should carefully read the help topics on Security
to make
sure you do not accidentally lose your license.
Q. I just received and entered my authorization code for newly purchased software.
Should I hold on to the site code and authorization codes?
A. No. They will not do you any good. The site code and corresponding authorization
code are good only one time, and only on the computer which generated the site code. Once
the authorization code has been entered and accepted, the pair of codes are useless.
Q. How do I install a new version of the software if I already have the product
installed?
A. You may safely install a new version on top of an old version without losing your
authorization code. Just run the installation program for the new version. When prompted
for the location to install the software, just select the same folder as you previous
installation.
Moving the Software
Q. I need to move the software to a different drive on my system, or to
a different machine, what do I do?
A. Start by installing the software on the new machine. You may then transfer the
license from the old machine to the new machine. Read the on-line help under
Security for
details.
Q. I need to transfer a license from a Windows 95 machine to a Windows NT machine, can
this be done?
A. Yes. The license may be freely transferred between the different operating systems
(the reverse direction is also valid). For the NT machine, a special security driver must
be installed. Read the on-line help under Security for details.
Features
Q. What printers are supported by the software?
A. Any Windows supported device may be used. Our software generates plot through
Windows, and therefore Windows takes care of any device issues through the driver. If
either Microsoft or the manufacturer supplies a driver for a device, then we can print to
it.
There may however be specific issues for generating the proper output. For example, some
devices which do support continuous paper cannot generate continuous output due to a poor
driver. If you have questions on a particular device, contact Digital Formation
for
information on whether we have done testing, or know of any clients that have.
Q. How can I take plots from Digital Formation products and bring them into
other products such as Microsoft PowerPoint, or perhaps different platforms?
A. All our products offer a special print option for exporting a plot as an image.
There are various options available, and the best will depend totally on your destination.
If you are taking the image into another application, check the documentation for that
package to determine the formats supported. For other platforms, choose a format that is
supported there (such as TIF for Unix or MacPaint for Macintosh).
Q. How can I provide a plot image to my colleagues who do not have your product?
A. All our premier products offer an Enhanced Metafile (EMF) output option. Use this
option to create a compact plot image. We offers a quick and simple viewer for this format
(contact
Digital
Formation for details). Your colleagues can download this product for free from our web
site. This will allow them to view the image. If they will need to print this image, they
will need to register the product for a nominal fee.
Q. What image formats are supported by Digital Formation products?
A. The following table describes the image formats currently supported for each
product:
| Format (common extension) |
LESA |
RIS-View |
RIS-Info |
| |
Import |
Export |
Import |
Export |
Import |
Export |
| Windows Metafile (WMF) |
ü
|
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
|
| Enhanced Metafile (EMF) |
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| Windows & OS/2 bitmaps (BMP) |
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| Windows Icon (ICO) |
|
|
|
|
ü
|
|
| Windows Cursor (CUR) |
|
|
|
|
ü
|
|
| Animation (AVI) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| Windows FAX (AWD) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| CALS Raster (CAL) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| LEAD (CMP) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| IBM IOCA (ICA) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| GEM Image (IMG) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| JPEG (JPG) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| MacPaint (MAC) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| Macintosh Picture (PCT) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| Microsoft Paint (MSP) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| Kodak Photo CD (PCD) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| ZSoft PCX (PCX) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| Portable Network Graphics (PNG) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| Adobe PhotoShop 3.0 PSD (PSD) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| PostScript Raster (EPS) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| SUN Raster (RAS) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| Truvision TARGA (TGA) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| TIF (TIF) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| WinFax - (FXS) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
| WordPerfect (WPG) |
|
ü
|
|
ü
|
ü
|
ü
|
|
