SETREGPM 0.90
-------------

 1.  What it is
 2.  Requirements
 3.  Installation
 4.  Usage notes
 5.  Some notes about setregpm
 6.  Future plans
 7.  Contacting the author
 8.  Disclaimer
 9.  History


1.  WHAT IT IS
-------------
SETREGPM is a simple frontend utility that operates the SETREG.EXE program
provided by Vit Timchishin. If this doesn't tell you anything, then SETREGPM
is possibly not of any use for you. ;)

2.  REQUIREMENTS
----------------
Of course, you'll need both SETREG.EXE (to set mixer values) and DUMPREG.EXE
(to query current settings) provided by Vit Timchishins "VIA sound solution
problems solver" package.
At of the time of this wrtiting, the most recent package (that was used for
developing and testing) can be found at hobbes as "VIASP09C.ZIP". In addition,
these programs require IOPL32.DLL, which is also available through hobbes as
"IOPL32.ZIP". To summarize what you need:

 - SETREG.EXE
 - DUMPREG.EXE
 - IOPL32.DLL
 - SETREGPM.EXE

3.  INSTALLATION
---------------
Unzip the downloaded stuff and put the files mentioned above into one directory.
As for IOPL32.DLL, you're free to put it into "some other" directory, as long
as it is included in your config.sys LIBPATH setting.
There's no installer script, as you might have discovered. Maybe someday, if
more than 3 people are using SETREGPM and there still is a need for it, I'll do
an installer... <g> so if you want a desktop object you'll have to create it on
your own. Shouldn't be a too big problem...

4.  USAGE NOTES
---------------
Upon running SETREGPM, it'll scan its program directory for DUMPREG.EXE and
SETREG.EXE. If it can't find either of them, it'll scan the PATH. If one of the
two programs wasn't found, SETREGPM will display an according message and quit.

Otherwise, it'll run DUMPREG to query the current settings and adjust the
appropriate levels. As soon as you'll change ANY setting like channel volumes or
(un)muting a sound source, SETREGPM will do an appopriate call to SETREG.EXE.

On the upper side of SETREGPMs screen, you'll find buttons labelled "Master",
"CD", "Wave" and so on. This are "ACTIVATE" buttons of checkbox style:
If they are pressed (down), the according sound source is actove and will be
"mixed" to the output. If they are "up", the according sound source is MUTED.
The "MASTER" is the final output level (mixer output). If you want to have
immediate silence, simply MUTE the Master output.

Below the MUTE/Activate buttons, you'll find the level controls:
Bottom position means "silence", top position is "maximum volume". Some
registers (sound sources) support stereo sound, others only provide mono, thus
you'll find some sound sources having either TWO or ONE level controls.
Those sources with TWO (left/right) channels show an additional button below
their controls: It's labelled "L=R" and if you push it to lowered position, 
SETREGPM will make sure that RIGHT and LEFT channel will maintain the same level
once that either one of them was changed.

The rest is quite self-explanatory. There's a hint box on the lower left hand by
the way. On the lower right, there's a small status box that will show register
and value that was used to call Vit's SETREG.EXE in case of a change (if the
user changed a level setting or muted a sound source). 
In case you didn't expect it to happen: The EXIT button leaves the program. <g>

5.  Some notes about setregpm
-------------------------
Let me put it this way: This is "heavy" beta and "highly experimental" code. ;)
Got it? : I'm not to blame for anything that won't work or won't match your
expectations. Okay, now to be serious:
I started with sliders instead of scrolling bars, but I didn't manage to make
the !@*&$#% things keep well-sized and well-fit in different resolutions. Might
have been my lack of experience...
Anyway - this is why I decided to use scroll bars. They might not be THAT fancy,
but heck: At least they kept their size and style, dammit! Okay, I know, you
want your sliders back... phew... well, I might take a look after that someday,
as with the buttons that are not quite self-explanatory by their appearance.

You might be wondering about the "recording" settings. Well, there actually *is*
one register accessible via SETREG, which seems to be dedicated to select among
the sound sources whether they are used as "record source" or not. Unfortunately
as my whole work is based on Vit's explanation of the registers, I didn't
examine its purpose yet. 
The "BEEP" volume might not react as planned, as there seems to be a slightly
different "bit mapping" for the according resgisters value. I need to check this
in future.
By the way: This reminds me that I only tested the MASTER and WAVE sources.
Actually everything else should work too, but I was just too lazy to test and
eager to publish my little program. Shame on me. Could you drop me a not in case
that something doesn't seem to work (right) ?

6.  Future plans
-------------
As you might have noticed by taking a look at SETREGPM's menu bar, there is
already somthing planned. All future plans depend upon your feedback however.
If it turns out, that I'm the only one to use SETREGPM, development will be
stopped by now, as I can live with the current state it is in.

Due to the nature of the VIA sound chips under OS/2, there might not be many
folks who are using it and who (in fact) have a WORKING setup. It took me three
mainboards on eBay to find one, that was actually working with VIA's drivers for
OS/2 (I guess it was "68MU210B" ?). So I have no idea how many of you out there
are using Vit's programs. You already might have come up with a mixer app on
your own too, so... everything depends on your need: 
If there is, I'll go on - if not, I'll start doing something ele instead. ;)

Okay, here's for my future plans on SETREGPM:
- Loading/Saving current settings from/to a file to create different
  "quick-loadable" settings.
- Create a .CMD file from the current settings 
  (for use at system startup, just like what Vit wrote in his readme)
- Fancier interface (bitmap background, different buttons, sliders, etc.)
- Unveil the secret of the "record source" register. ;)

7.  Contacting the author
--------------------
That's quite simple:  warpcafe@yahoo.de
Feel free to send bug reports, ask questions about installation or usage or even
send in your wishlist. If you want to express your thankfulness, write to Vit
Timchishin instead of me, as *HE* is the guy who made VIA mixing available for
us OS/2 users and he's doing the actual work - not me.
(You'll find his email in the readme along with visap09c.zip - see above).

8.  DISCLAIMER
-------------
This is freeware. Use at your own risk.

9.  HISTORY
-----------
Yeah - I know it's ridiculuos, as there currently AIN'T any history, but maybe
there'll be in the future, so let's just start somewhere:

Date Y-M-D  ! Version  ! Comment
------------+----------+-------------------------------------------------------
2002-12-09  !   0.90   !  First public version ...maybe the LAST as well <g>.
------------+----------+-------------------------------------------------------
