        MIDAS Sound System v0.5.0, release notes
        ----------------------------------------

A Sahara Surfers production.

Copyright 1996 Petteri Kangaslampi and Jarno Paananen
(a.k.a. Alfred & Guru / S2)

This file is part of the MIDAS Sound System, and may only be used,
modified and distributed under the terms of the MIDAS Sound System
license, LICENSE.TXT. By continuing to use, modify or distribute this
file you indicate that you have read the license and understand and
accept it fully.



1. Introduction
---------------

Finally, after several delays and numerous bug-fix releases, it is
here: MIDAS Sound System v0.5.0 release. This release has been long in
the making, but we think it should be worth the wait - MIDAS is now
very stable and working reliably, all platforms are supported properly,
and everything has been tested as well.

As the version number shows, this is still not a completely finished
version of MIDAS, but we feel we are getting close fast. Feature-wise,
MIDAS is now almost complete for 1.0 release, but work still remains to
be done. In particular, the documentation is still lacking, the code
needs a clean-up, some portions need to be rewritten, and quite a bit
of the code needs to be checked for portability.

After we get this release out of the way, we'll concentrate mainly
in completing version 1.0 for release. Naturally bug fixes will be
available for 0.5, if necessary, and some smaller features may be
added, but otherwise we are going to leave this MIDAS version as is.
You should be able to expect version 1.0 at least before the end of
this year, possibly much earlier if everything goes as planned.

As always, feedback is very much appreciated. We are interested in
hearing both bug reports and success stories, and new feature
suggestions are always welcome as well. E-mail is preferred, check the
contact information at the end of this file.



2. Brief introduction to MIDAS
------------------------------

So what is MIDAS Sound System anyway?

In brief, MIDAS is a multichannel digital sound and music system,
capable of playing an unlimited number of channels of digital sound on
all supported platforms. It can play music modules, individual samples,
and digital audio streams, in any combination.

MIDAS supports the following module formats:
        - 4-channel Protracker modules plus 1-32-channel variants (.MOD)
        - 1-32 -channel Scream Tracker 3 modules (.S3M)
        - 2-32 -channel FastTracker 2 modules (.XM)

Under Win32 and Linux, MIDAS plays sound through the OS sound API, so
all cards that have drivers installed are supported. Under DOS, MIDAS
supports the following sound cards:
        - Creative Labs Sound Blaster series (1.0, 1.5, 2.0, Pro, 16)
        - Media Vision Pro Audio Spectrum series (regular, Plus, 16)
        - Windows Sound System and compatible sound cards
        - Gravis Ultrasound (regular, max, PnP)

This release of MIDAS can be used for free for free programs, and full
source code is included. Licenses for commercial purposes are also
available, contact us for details.



3. What's New?
--------------

Since the old 16-bit MIDAS 0.40a release, MIDAS has been rewritten
almost completely. A few hightlights of the changes include:
        - MIDAS now supports 32-bit environments. 16-bit support is
          removed.
        - MIDAS now plays FastTracker 2 (XM) modules
        - All individual Module Players are removed, a single Generic
          Module Player takes care of all module playback
        - MIDAS has been ported to Win32 and Linux
        - A new DLL API is available, with documentation

New features and fixes since Release Candidate 2 are:
        - Minor bug fixes in SB support and DMA functions
        - The timer interrupt handler now sets ES properly
        - Other minor bug fixes
        - Linux support is back

New features and fixes since Release Candidate 1:
        - There is now a DLL available for Win32 usage
        - A new MIDAS DLL API has been written, and this is usable from
          DOS as well. Check out the programmer's guide in "doc"
          directory for a complete description of the API. Yes, it is
          really documented!
        - Preliminary Delphi support is included, by using the DLL
        - Several important bugs have been fixed since RC1, Protracker
          and Scream Tracker 3 module playback should actually work
          now.
        - Many other bug fixes

The following list is for the changes from pre-release #4 to RC1:
        - Support for Windows NT/95 and Linux is now included
        - The mixer now supports 8- and 16-bit mono and stereo samples
        - Support for digital audio streams (not in DOS currently)
        - Several FastTracker 2 compatibility problems are fixed
        - Several crashes due to incorrect S3M files fixed
        - New timer code that should work under Win95 as well, make
          sure you read doc\timer.txt!
        - Support for GUS Plug and Play in native Interwave mode
        - DOS libraries are now compiled with Watcom C 10.6



4. Supported platforms
----------------------

MIDAS supports the following platforms and compilers:
        - 32-bit MS-DOS under DOS/4GW, with Watcom C/C++
        - Windows NT/95 with Watcom C/C++
        - Windows NT/95 with Visual C/C++
        - Windows NT/95 with Borland Delphi
        - Linux with GNU C/C++



5. Using MIDAS
--------------

Before trying to use MIDAS, make sure you read all documentation
available in the "doc" directory. Most of the documents are included in
three formats: LaTeX (*.tex), Postscript (*.ps) and HTML (separate
directories). Postscript is recommended for printing and HTML for
reading on the computer, if you do not have a HTML browser available
you can read the LaTeX source directly. Unfortunately the documentation
is still very incomplete, but the information there is should be very
useful.

After at least browsing through the documentation, you should check of
the examples in the "samples" directory. There are separate directories
for all supported platforms, and you should start with your targer
platform's examples. However, make sure you at least check the other
examples as well - the MIDAS API is, for the most part, identical in
all supported platforms, and the examples for other platforms might
provide you hints on using MIDAS. In addition, the DLL API is available
it all platforms, and the "samples/dll" example can be compiled in all
of them.

Some of the examples might require a bit tweaking, depending your
target system. In particular, you may need to edit a few lines at the
beginning of the Makefiles in the directories. However, the code itself
should compile cleanly on all supported platforms.

When you are ready to use MIDAS in your own programs, it is probably
useful to use one of the examples as a model. Remember that you are
allowed to use MIDAS for free programs as is, but for commercial usage
you will need to negotiate a license with us. In addition, your program
HAS to include proper credits for MIDAS, either in the program itself
or its documentation. This is even a requirement in the MIDAS license,
and if you fail to include the credits you are breaking it.



6. Contact Information
----------------------

Comments? Bug reports? Want to send us money? Contact us! E-mail is
naturally preferred, as it is usually both the fastest and the least
expensive way to contact us. Telephone works pretty unreliably, as we
are often out of its reach, and letters are just plain slow.

Note! Jarno is doing his military service, so contact Petteri if you
want a response in a reasonable time...


E-Mail:
        Petteri:        pekangas@sci.fi (preferred)
                        petteri.kangaslampi@research.nokia.com
                        k153997@cs.tut.fi (slow)

        Jarno:          jpaana@iki.fi
                        p153737@cs.tut.fi (slow)

Snail:
        Petteri:        Petteri Kangaslampi
                        Insinoorinkatu 60 A 49
                        FIN-33720 Tampere
                        Finland
                        Europe

        Jarno:          Jarno Paananen
                        Insinoorinkatu 60 A 31
                        FIN-33720 Tampere
                        Finland
                        Europe

Telephone:
        Petteri:        +358-3-3172204
                        NOTE! The are code has changed!

The latest version is always available at our WWW site:
"http://kalahari.ton.tut.fi/s2/midas.html". You can also find all MIDP
versions there plus all latest MIDAS related news.

In addition, there is a mailing list available. Send a mail to Petteri
and request that you are added. The list is mainly intended for
MIDAS-related announcements, but some discussion is possible as well.



7. Getting MIDAS
----------------

The best and fastest way to get MIDAS is the Internet. The latest MIDAS
versionis always at "http://kalahari.ton.tut.fi/s2/midas.html". In
addition, you can find there the latest MIDAS news, MIDP releases, and
general information.

In addition, MIDAS is available at the following fine BBSes:

        Edge Of Delight
                Node 1: +32-2-3755651   Boca 28.8K (V34/VFAST)
                Node 2: +32-2-3758923   ZyXEL 19.2K (V32terbo)
                Node 3: +32-2-3721089   ISDN 64K (X75)
                Chaos Managers: Cobra, aCceSs & Fredy

        The Underworld BBS
                Node 1: +41-22-9600621  USR Courier V.34+, ISDN Analog
                Node 2: +41-22-9600622  USR Courier V.34+, ISDN Analog
                Node 3: +41-22-9600623  ZyXEL Elite 2864I 64kb ISDN,
                                                ISDN Digital
                Sysop: Synoptic

        WarmBoot BBS
                Node 1: +55-194-261993
                Sysop: Warmbooter

        Apologies for any boards we forgot - email us with your current
        information and you are back on the list. I have to confess I
        haven't kept very good track on our distribution sites, and now
        deliberately left out everybody I haven't heard from in a year
        or so...


8. Acknowledgements
-------------------

There is no way we could have MIDAS what it is alone, and we feel we
really owe a big "thank you" to the following people:

        Otto Chrons: Thanks for the sound cards, programming
        information, plus optimization and debugging hints.

        Teemu Kalvas: Thanks for some serious beta-testing,
        optimization ideas (still unused, maybe some day), and just
        general helpfulness.

        Jarno Heikkinen: Thanks for your support and the GUS PnP
        support. Wonder if it actually works? :)

        Carlos Hasan: Thanks for all your XM playing information

        Francois Baligant: One of the most supportive people I know.
        I'm coming to Wired, watch out! :)

        And everybody who has sent us feedback on MIDAS - too numerous
        to mention, and all extremely important. Keep it coming!


Plus some traditional hillos to our friends in the scene and beyond:

        #cokers - you know who you are

        Kari-Pekka Koljonen
        Kraku
        Nemesis1

        The whole Virtual Visions team
        Everybody in Parallax
        Our friends in Prime

        All nice, intelligent and friendly people on #coders (there are
        some, right?)

        Byterapers
        CNCD
        Complex
        Paranoids
        Virtual Dreams


And finally, thanks to all our friends, both real and virtual - thank
you for being who you are, for doing what you do, the way you do.


[Apologies to anybody we left out - bad memories combined with hurry
don't make good lists. In addition, Jarno is in the army, and
everything he might have added is missing. -- Petteri]



9. Conclusion
-------------

Still reading this? Go write some code!

-- Petteri Kangaslampi, 14 Oct 1996