PC-Karaoke   Release 1.0  San Jose, USA 3/21/94
===============================================

Another software to add to the VISCII collection: PC-Karaoke 1.0

This program play and record Karaoke songs on your PC.
It also let you synchronize together:
    -Text: English, Vietnamese, French ...
    -Music: from MIDI, Wave or CD compact disc.
    -Pictures: bitmap images to add visual impact to the song.

Besides Karaoke sing-along, it can also be used as a
    -Slides show
    -Titling, movie subtitling
    -Teleprompter 
or, producing your own Karaoke video ...

You can use different fonts, font sizes, background, foreground
color. Online help is available in both Vietnamese and English.

Two titles are included in this release:

  vongphu:     Ho`n Vo.ng Phu 1 (Le^n DDu+o+`ng) cu?a Le^ Thu+o+ng
               MIDI song and pictures from Chinh Phu. Nga^m thi ta^.p.
               Included in the PC-Karaoke package.
 
  may:         Ma^y Lang Thang - Vietnamese lyrics
               MIDI song from Nha.c Ta^.p
               Color photography from Nguye^~n Tro.ng, Avallon, France
               Available separately as "may.zip"

Software required:
==================
    -Windows 3.1
    -VISCII fonts for Vietnamese songs: vnfont1, vnfont2
    -Winvnkey, or VietVu for data entry. Song lyrics can also be
     created from Unix (vietterm/vnterm,vi), DOS (vietdos,butviet), 
     or Windows Notepad.
    -vbrun300.dll (available on all archives)
 
Hardware required:
==================
    -386/486 PCs with VGA or SVGA
    -A Windows 3.1 compatible soundcard. Among them:
     ProAudioSpectrum, Soundman, Sound Blaster, GUS ...
     Without a soundcard, only song lyrics and pictures are shown.

Installation:
=============
First, create a temporary directory , for example C:\TEMP. Then unzip the
software in this directory. After unzipping, you should be able
to read this file. Then from Windows Program Manager, click on
File, then Run, then specify C:\TEMP\SETUP. This will run the
PC-Karaoke setup program, and it will install the software in your
desired directory, preferably C:\VIET\KARAOKE.

If the unzipped software in C:\TEMP does not include the file
"vbrun300.dl_", you'll need to get the file "vbrun300.dll" from most archives,
and copy it to \WINDOWS\SYSTEM . Because "vbrun300.dll" is a
common required library, many archives require software
packages not to include it to save space, therefore, the need
for getting it separately. 

The PC-Karaoke version on media.mit.edu should have everything,
including "vbrun300.dll".

To install other Karaoke songs, for example MAY.ZIP, create another
directory under \VIET\KARAOKE, for example, \VIET\KARAOKE\MAY. Then
copy MAY.ZIP to that directory, unzip it, delete the ZIP file to save
space, then use PC-Karaoke to play the file MAY.KAO.

Also included is a MIDI Mapper configuration file for the Pro Audio Spectrum
soundcard using OPL-3 driver. If your card sounds funny, you can try
this configuration. First, goto \WINDOWS\SYSTEM, copy your original
MIDIMAP.CFG to MIDIMAP.OLD. Then copy this PAS16.CFG to MIDIMAP.CFG. Note
that this only works with Pro Audio cards. 
 
Acknowledgement
===============
The MIDI songs were from ThiTap and NhacTap of The TriChlor Group,
with contribution from Nguyen Cao Nguyen, Pham Quang Vinh and Michael Do.
Also thanks to Hai Tuan Vu for help in acquiring the compiler software.

Vietnamese MIDI songs, especially Vietnamese children songs, are
greatly needed. If you can create these MIDI songs, please
contact us, together we can quickly build a library of
Vietnamese songs, and can help others teach and promote the use of
Vietnamese language and culture.

Enjoy,

Cuong Bui
3/21/94

