Puff 2.1 works with the following operating systems on machines in our research groups: Windows 95, 98, NT and 2000. Please keep in mind that it may not work as well on all machines depending upon the devices used in your machine. When using Windows 2000, you may have to use "start/run/cmd" to get a DOS command prompt needed for running Puff. In Windows NT, you can use " start/programs/MS DOS command prompt".
1-20-00 Notes on ATI website: the site listed below dated 9-19-97, at ATI is no longer available. The patch file, fnt8x14.com for NT4.0 for using PUFF with Windows NT, is located in zip file "files1.zip", which is contained in "setup345.zip" at : http://www.matrox.com/mga/drivers/previous/prv_bios.htm
9-25-98 Notes on Hardware Incompatibilities from N. Ishitobi.
12-10-97 Notes on running Puff on Windows NT.
9-19-97 Notes from Poan Sung and Jeff Liu When using the ATI Rage II+ video card, you will run into a problem when using the puff.exe program in Windows 95. The solution is as follows:
4-17-97 There are font problems with some of the new video cards. The fonts come out corrupted or in Greek text. For example, the Matrox Millenium video card has this problem. Apparently the ROM address space has been reassigned to new video BIOS extensions. The original 8x14 VGA font can be restored by using a TSR (Terminate Stay Resident program) before starting Puff. We do not know at this time if the TSR program will work with other video cards, however, the supplier of your video card should provide an equivalent utility either on the disks that come with the card or on their respective web pages.
Please note that Puff runs in the 480x640 mode.
One of our colleagues has an incompatible 3D-Rage video driver. He found a program similar to a TSR program at the ATI website that fixed most of the problems.
To preserve compatibility with MS-DOS programs, Windows95 allows the user to alter certain settings before launching the program. Older versions of Windows achieved this by the use of a PIF, or program information file. A PIF was required to run each DOS program. Windows95 condenses this feature into the shortcut links that are used to launch applications.
Your machine is connected to a printer by parallel port:
1. Create a file PUFF.BAT in the Puff directory with the following commands in it: VGA2LASR and PUFF
2. Change the MS-DOS properties for Puff (if there is no PUFF.PIF file yet, create one by right-clicking on PUFF.EXE and then "Properties")
To print Puff 2.1 on a Windows NT system connected to a network printer:
Method #1
Method #2
If you get to step #7 and can not proceed, try the following:
Method #3
This page was last updated Decemer 15, 1998
Puff 2.1 is based on Puff Version 2.0 adding some handy features to this program. Puff 2.1 enhancements fall into five distinct categories:
In the Ctrl-q function the previous plot will be drawn before the new plot. A mixed
After executing the plot (or the quick) function, the cursor should be moved to the desired parameter S11 or S22 in the plot window. After hitting the `=' key the equivalent series components RS, XS and the corresponding C or L value will be listed in the message box. Accordingly, the component values RP, XP, and the corresponding C or L value of the equivalent parallel circuit will be listed in the message box when the Smith chart has been toggled from impedance to admittance state.
All the symbols have been standardized for the input being on the wide end side and the output on the pointed side. See Table 1 for a description of the devices.
runtime error at .....
" have been removed. The malfunction of the cursor (fast flashing) as observed with some hardware configurations has been corrected. The `VGA2LASR.COM' print screen utility program has been patched to make it work correctly (solves problems with aborted printouts).
The software has been adjusted for different national keyboard layouts. Puff 2.1 should handle every possible keyboard layout correctly (i.e. as described in the manual). In particular, problems existed previously with the key combinations `Shift-1' through `Shift-4' in the Board window (F4).
Johannes Gerstlauer (jgerstlauer AT z.zgs.de)
Andreas Gerstlauer (andreas AT musoftware.de)