CAMAG CATS under Windows Setup Guidelines

CATS under Windows 95 and 98

CATS 3.1x and 4.0x are designed for running under the DOS operating system. They can thus be used under Windows 95 and 98 provided the CPU speed is not higher than about 400-500MHz. Please note that CATS does not properly support the communication to the Scanner under a NT type OS.

Use the CATS installation program as described in the CATS manual. The following instruction covers the procedure for setting up CATS4 under Windows 95. The settings for CATS3 are mostly identical except for file and path names. The Windows dialogs may be slightly changed in Windows 98 but the general procedure is identical.

Defaults for CATS4 are: path C:\CAMAG\SCANNER3 and files CATS4.EXE, CATS4.ICO and CATS4.PIF.
Defaults for CATS3 are: path C:\CAMAG\CATS3 and files TLC2.EXE, TLC2.ICO and TLC2.PIF.

Procedure
A PIF file containing the proper settings is shipped with the CATS installation disks starting from CATS 4.04 and 3.18. To use the default settings:

Make sure the file CATS4.PIF is in the CATS directory; the installation program will put it there automatically. The Windows Explorer displays PIF files without extension but with the Type "Shortcut to MS-DOS".
Make sure there is no old CATS4.PIF file in any one of the directories WINDOWS, WINDOWS\SYSTEM or WINDOWS\PIF.
Now you can either create a new program folder CAMAG Software in the start menu and drag the file CATS4.PIF into it or open the Windows Explorer and drag the file CATS4.PIF onto the screen.

Remember that CATS is still a DOS based program and does not accept long file names nor a path name longer than 72 characters.

Properties
If you by some reason are unable to use the default settings or want to make sure they are properly set, proceed as follows:

Start the Windows Explorer and mark the file CATS4.EXE in the directory (C:\CAMAG\)SCANNER3 (with CATS3 the directory name is CATS3 and the file name TLC2.EXE).
Click the right mouse key to open the popup menu and select the function Properties (fig. 1). The dialog Properties appears.

Fig. 1 The Windows 95 Explorer with the popup menu

Select the Program tab and make sure all entries correspond to those in fig. 2.

The path to the file CATS4.ICO is correct if the icon is displayed on the top left of program page. If this is not the case click the command button Change icon and enter the proper path in the new dialog.

Fig. 2 The Program page of the Properties dialog

Click the Advanced command to open the Advanced Program settings page. Make sure

the check box "Suggest MS-DOS" is active
the check box "Prevent MS-DOS-based programs from detecting Windows" is inactive
and the proper path to the PIF file is displayed.

Fig. 3 The Advanced Program settings page of the Properties dialog

The mouse is only activated in CATS3 if the mouse driver is correctly installed by the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and the Command Line of the Program properties contains the /M switch (fig. 4).

Fig. 4 The settings with CATS 3.1x

Open the Memory page and make sure all entries correspond to those in fig. 5.

Fig. 5 The Memory page of the Properties dialog

Open the Screen page and make sure all entries correspond to those in fig. 6.

Fig. 6 The Screen page of the Properties dialog

Open the Misc. page and make sure all entries correspond to those in fig. 7.

The Mixc. page of the Properties dialog
Fig. 7 The Misc. page of the Properties dialog

Click OK if the properties correspond to your system defaults.

Windows 3.1 or 3.11

Defaults for CATS4 are: path C:\CAMAG\SCANNER3 and files CATS4.EXE, CATS4.ICO and CATS4.PIF.
Defaults for CATS3 are: path C:\CAMAG\CATS3 and files TLC2.EXE, TLC2.ICO and TLC2.PIF.

Procedure
A PIF file containing the proper settings is shipped with the CATS installation disks starting from CATS 4.04 and 3.18. The following procedure creates a program manager group CAMAG Software:

Select the function FILE-New; the dialog New Program Object opens. Click the option Program group and click OK.
Enter CAMAG Software in the field Description and click OK.
Again select FILE-New and then Program, click OK. The dialog Program properties appears.
Enter CATS 4.04 in the field Description; the Command line has to be C:\CAMAG\SCANNER3\CATS4.PIF (the file created above) and the Startup directory is C:\CAMAG\SCANNER3.
In order to display the correct icon make sure to assign it via the command button Change Icon. Use the Browse command to detect the file C:\CAMAG\SCANNER3\CATS4.ICO.
Confirm these settings with OK.
Now you can start CATS with a double click on the CATS icon .

The path to the Program is defined in the PIF file! You have to enter the correct path manually if you do not use the default path.

If you by some reason are unable to use the default settings or want to make sure they are properly set, proceed as follows:

Start the PIF Editor which is usually in the Main group of the Program Manager.
Enter the parameters according to fig. 8.

Fig. 8 The program window of the PIF Editor with the settings for CATS4

For CATS3 enter the following values in the corresponding lines:

Fig. 9 The parameters to be used for CATS 3.1x with mouse

Click Advanced to open the second page of the PIF settings and enter the parameters according to fig. 10.

Fig. 10 The dialog for the Advanced settings

Close the Advanced dialog and save the PIF file in the CATS directory.
Close the PIF Editor.

System configuration

Whenever working in a Windows environment it has to be considered that Windows works with a higher overhead than DOS. Any program running in a Windows environment becomes slower and the service of the RS232 interface becomes more critical. If the computer is used in a network this will add to the current overhead. When using CATS in a Windows environment, make sure that

the RS232 interface port to be used is equipped with a 16550 FIFO chip. CATS detects this chip and displays a F in the DATA-Configuration dialog at the corresponding port address
the computer is equipped with at least a 486DX2/66MHz CPU (better Pentium 90MHz)
and no other currently active program is configured to use the same COM port(s) as CATS.

The best way the check the amount of memory available to CATS is to open the HELP-About CATS window and see how much memory CATS has detected.

Fig. 11 The HELP-About CATS window

The value displayed after DOS (to 640) should be at least 150KBytes (fig. 11 shows 185KBytes). It may happen that the CATS program does not find enough memory in some situations, e.g. for opening a data array, if this value is lower than 150KBytes.

The value displayed after XMS (extended) should be at least 1024KBytes. It may happen that the CATS program does not find enough memory is some situation, e.g. for opening the spectrum library window, if this value is lower than 1024KBytes.

These memory limits apply for CATS running under DOS too.

Windows settings

Windows 3.1 and 3.11 do not detect the 16550 FIFO chip of the RS232 interface properly. Add the following lines to the [386enh] section of the SYSTEM.INI file (Windows directory) in order to enable CATS to detect and use the FIFO chip:

[386enh]

COMxBuffer=0

COMxFIFO=1

Use NOTEPAD.EXE to edit the INI file and add the necessary two lines. Replace the x with the corresponding COM port number (1 for COM1 and 2 for COM2).

Remember to restart Windows after implementing the change in the INI file.