Hello listeners. I've been on a never ending crusade to understand why JFW
doesn't work with various programs (Audio Catalyst, Audio Grabber, Black
widow etc.). Think I've come up with the problem.
It seems that JFW forces many applications to use the MSAA protocol. Some
applications simply crash due to this fact. The thought behind my finds.
I like many other JFW users had a problem using JFW 3.x with Audio
Catalyst. Through word of mouth it was said... that Windows-Eyes doesn't
have this problem. So for kicks, I downloaded the latest build of
Windows-Eyes (V3.1 demo) and installed it. The installation was similar to
that of JFW (Speech guide through sound card). I then re-booted the system
as instructed. Once my system was re-booted, I ran the Windows-Eyes
program. Explored some of its many menu choices in the main application
window. I noticed one in particular under options "MSAA application
(Off)). Said to myself, hmmmm.... I wonder. I then pro ceded to install
the Audio Grabber v1.5 program.
Audio Grabber worked flawlessly with Windows-Eyes. Just for another
experiment, I removed the Windows-Eyes program from memory. Didn't remove
Audio Grabber. Kept it loaded, but minimized to the tasks bar.
Then I loaded good old JFW 3.3.025. No problem, JFw loaded without a
hitch. Then I pro ceded to maximize the Audio Grabber program. Again, no
problem. JFW worked with the program as if it was Windows-Eyes. Was able
to use all components of the program without any conflicts.
Now for the kicker. I then closed the Audio Grabber program, while JFw was
still loaded in memory. Then I tried to re-load it. You guessed it, the
program crashed with the same "GDI" error message. Even after closing both
JFW and Audio Grabber, then re-loading them, the conflict still existed.
So I tried to load Windows-Eyes, after unloading both programs. Of course
Windows-Eyes didn't work either (It seem to conflict with Windows98
itself). did the only thing I could think of next, and re-booted the
system. Once my system re-booted, once again followed the initial
procedures for getting the Audio Grabber program to work with JFW.
1. Loaded Windows-Eyes into memory.
2. Loaded Audio Grabber into memory.
3. Unloaded Windows-Eyes from memory.
4. Minimized the Audio Grabber program to the tasks bar.
5. Loaded JFW into memory.
Again, JFW worked with the program quite well.
The above is a lot to go through just to use one program, but just wanted
to learn more on the "GDI" Mystery. I must mention; After loading JFw
after Windows-Eyes, my system seemed to run sluggishly. Had problems
loading Eudora Pro (Needed to first unload JFW, before loading it). So
overall, not sure if this program is worth the trade off for many of you.
I'm sure JFW causes conflicts with many other programs due to it's use of
the MSAA format. Maybe HJ can have an option in the "Configurations
manager" that will allow you to turn off MSAA usage independently to a
particular application. Hopefully, someone notices this post, and will
make a note of it for a future patch.
I guess you all can tell, I had a long night. Know the only thing left for
me is bed (I'm tired as heck...). If someone can shed some light on the
above premise, I'll be surely glad to converse with them.
-
Visit the jfw ml web page: http://jfw.cjb.net
