CamCollect - Readme File for Release 1.0 - 8th May 1998
=======================================================

CamCollect is a new 32-bit Windows 95/98 and NT 4.0 package designed to
download, display and save images from the many web cams appearing on the
internet.

While a normal web browser can be used to 'watch' maybe two or three web cam
sites, there's a high risk of missing 'interesting' pictures and saving
pictures for later viewing is painful since each must be individually file
named as it is being saved.

* CamCollect is designed to automatically monitor web cam sites,
downloading, enhancing, displaying and saving images from each site.

* CamCollect can monitor up to 100 pre-defined web cam sites that may be
defined by the user or importing in bulk

* Checks selected sites at pre-defined intervals, with up to four scheduling
periods during the day

* Tries to download only new images, but unchanged images are discarded
(saves web bandwidth and disk space)

* The latest pictures from up to 32 web sites are displayed on a tabbed
dialog with age and site local time

* CamCollect contacts up to eight web cam sites simultaneously (PC
processing power permitting) to maximise internet usage and stop dead or
slow sites effecting collections 

* Images may be automatically enhanced before being displayed, to increase
brightness, or adjust the gamma

* Displayed images are resized to fill the viewing window

* Images may be automatically captioned with site name and time, to ease
subsequent identification

* Images are automatically saved on disk, with file names based on the date
and time (fully customisable) or with sequential numbers

* A log window reports sites visited, pictures saved and errors

* A built-in image editor allows images to be viewed enlarged, cropped, have
text added, be colour corrected, filtered or enhanced, and be saved in
various image formats.

* Supports JEPG, BMP, PNG and TIFF images (no GIF for license reasons)

* A single button launches a web browser for the web cam site's home page

* Supports authentication for members only password protected sites

* Web cam site information can be imported from a text file to allow rapid
set-up, and saved to text files to share with others

* CamCollect is dial-up networking (RAS) aware, will open a connection if
required, indicates which connection is being used, and will ensure it is
closed down when the program is exited

CamCollect is shareware, developed by Magenta Systems Ltd, in England.
CamCollect may be evaluated for 30 days, but must be registered if usage is
to continue.  Until registered,  CamCollect is crippled so that all images
will be overlaid with nag text. Registration costs £15 (UKP) which is about
$25, and is done from the Registration option within CamCollect via email
with an encrypted credit card number or by printing a page to the faxed or
snail mailed. 

Installation
------------

CamCollect comprises merely a single program file CAMCOLL.EXE (about 1.2
Mbyte in size, with no extra DLLs or other run time supporting files.
Installation will therefore not effect any other Windows applications.  No
files will be installed in the Windows directory.  The only prerequisite is
Windows 95 (any version) or Windows NT 4.0, with TCP/IP networking and
Dial-Up Networking (Remote Access Services) installed, and a web browser to
check site details. CamCollect should work on Windows98, but has not yet
been tested.

CamCollect is distributed as a ZIP file which should first be unzipped into
a temporary folder.  If you do not already have it, the Winzip application
from http://www.winzip.com/ (or from most magazine cover CD-ROMs, Tucows
archives, etc) is strongly recommended. 

The program SETUP.EXE should then be run to install CamCollect.  About 2
Mbytes of disk space is required for the software and documentation.
However once running, CamCollect can easily use vast amounts of disk space
for all the web cam images that will be downloaded!  

Distribution
------------

CamCollect may be freely distributed via web pages, FTP sites, BBS and
conferencing systems or on CD-ROM in unaltered zip format, but no charge may
be made other than reasonable media or bandwidth cost.  Any notifications
must state that CamCollect is shareware with nags until registered with
Magenta Systems Ltd.  Please email Magenta Systems Ltd if you distribute
CamCollect in some way, so you can be notified of upgrades or other
important changes. 


Copyright Information
---------------------

CamCollect is copyright Magenta Systems Ltd, England, 1998.

Magenta Systems Ltd
9 Vincent Road
Croydon 
CR0 6ED
United Kingdom

Phone 0181-656 3636
International Phone +44 181 656 3636

Fax 0181-656 8127
International Fax +44 181 656 8127

Email: camcollect@magsys.co.uk
Web: http://www.magsys.co.uk/camcollect/

