General Usage of MediaMan
General Usage of MediaMan
How much computing power and memory is needed by MediaMan?
MediaMan behaves as a database application with fancy user interface rendering. In order to provide faster response to user operations, MediaMan consumes a part of the memory available to cache the collection file to avoid constant access to hard drives.
In order for the cache to work efficiently, you'll need at least 256MB RAM to manage 2000 items. 512MB for 5000 items, and 1GB for 10000 items. If you are not planning on using the virtual-shelf rendering feature. You can handle twices as more items as the above suggestion. The program performance may suffer if you failed to comply with the above suggestion.
The virtual-shelf rendering involves advanced picture rescaling and compositing. This process consumes a lot CPU power. You need an 2GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor to get decent performance if you are handling thousands of items. MediaMan is already optimized for MMX and SSE (if available) features.
Why does virtual-shelf appear to be jagged, with a pink outline, may disappear upon selecting?
In order for the virtual-shelf rendering to be visually pleasant. You need to use Windows XP or above, with your desktop color depth set to 32bit or higher. Windows 2000 or earlier versions isn't capable of rendering it smoothly. This behavior and requirement is by design, and will not be changed.
Why isn't my webcam working?
The webcam barcode feature is still experimental. It involves picture pattern recognition technologies. It requires a decent amount of CPU power and high quality images produced by your webcam. Please review the following guidelines for the answer to your problem.
MediaMan crashed when I launched the webcam barcode scanner
This issue is known to happen in some computer configurations. The cause is still uncertain and is being investigated. In general, you are advised to upgrade your video driver, webcam driver, and your operating system. If it's not solved, you are advised not to use this feature.
It didn't crash, but it just won't read any barcodes
This means that the picture quality of your webcam isn't enough for barcode scanning. Although it might appear to be fine. Some old webcams produces distorted images and the focus is set to close. Some webcams aren't able to sustain reflection glare or low light environment. You are advised to read the webcam configuration guide in the user manual, and make sure that you have a bright environment, and without glares.
The program looks/runs weird on Windows 2000
If you are running MediaMan on Windows 2000. It won't look like the screenshot provided in the screenshot. This is because MediaMan used some new features introduced in Windows XP to build up its functionalities. The virtual shelf rendering, list pane sorting, etc behaves differently on Windows 2000 and XP. This behavior is by design and cannot be changed. To enjoy full functionalities of MediaMan, please upgrade your operating system to Windows XP or above.
I'm upgrading from an older version, other than installation, do I need to take any extra steps?
In general, no. The installer automatically detects the current location of the older version and overwrites the previous installation. There's no need to uninstall it first. MediaMan is compatible with the collection file produced by the older versions.
However, there has been reports that MediaMan might not be closed completely right after shutdown. So if you experience weird crashes upon upgrade installations, please reboot your computer and do an overwrite install again.
MediaMan 2.0 is not compatible with the configuration file nor price tracker data produced by earlier versions. Which means that you will lose all your preferences and price tracker data. After you upgraded to version 2.0, simply re-open your collection file and everything will be fine.
If you were downgrading from a newer version, please note that there's no guarantee that the older version will read the collection file or the configuration file produced by the newer version.
MediaMan 2.2.1 will not be able to read the collection file produced by 2.30 or above.
MediaMan 1.6 will not be able to read the collection file produced by 2.0 through 2.2.1.
MediaMan just crashed on my computer, what should I do?
MediaMan has extra crash-prevention mechanisms built-in. Usually, when an unexpected fatal error occurs, you'll see the following window.
Hopefully, it'll say that a "dump" file is being generated. In order for the developer to know, trace and fix the problem. You are strongly advised to send this file to us via the user community.
* The "dump" file contains the information of the "crash point". It doesn't contain any kind of personal information or hardware information about/on your computer.
I have an idea about a new feature in MediaMan, can I tell you about it?
Ideas of new features and/or improvements on the current features are always welcomed. You can post a a thread at the user community to reach the developer.
So why did you start charging for this program?
Start charging the program since 2.30 is not really my choice (MediaMan is freeware before version 2.30). You can tell from the version number that it's not a plan.
The program went a long way ever since its first release (version 0.8) on March, 2004. The original plan is to start charging in its 1.0 release on August, 2004. However, I've been receiving enormous feedbacks from early adopters saying how they felt good about the program, and how they wanted the program to be. Therefore, I found MediaMan 1.0 might not be good enough to charge people.
The plan was delayed. And I gave out version 1.0 through 1.6 for free. Then version 2.0 was planned to be commercial, and was scheduled to announce at the end of 2004.
During the development of 2.0, I found out that it was possible to run a business model where providing a commercial version together with a freeware version, which attracts people's attentions obviously. So again, I changed the plan and give out 2.0 for free, hoping to attract more users. And I've been developing the commercial version correspondingly for half a year. Under this model, I claimed that the freeware version will always be free in the original FAQ.
Eventually, I discovered that the freeware version is in fact too powerful which made it very difficult to sell the commercial version (according to a small personal survey done during July, 2005). In early August, 2005, finally, I decided to go commercial without offering a companion freeware version.
The donation was unable to cover the hosting cost. The cost of maintaining the program is fairly high. I've used up my savings. I'm facing the choice of shutting down the development or start charging. I'm sorry that it has to turn out this way. And I hope you could still support me and this program. Thank you.
Important infomation regarding version 2.30
There has been some important changes made to version 2.30 you needed to know before upgrading.
Aside from the new feature introduced, version 2.30 has removed two features since 2.2.1. One is the collection update wizard, the other is the price tracking feature. The collection update wizard caused more problems than the benefits it gave. It's replaced by the batch edit dialog where you'll be able to do a batch update in an intuitive way. There's no replacement for the price tracker, I'm sorry.
Version 2.30 introduced a new collection file format. Which means that the file saved by 2.30 cannot be opened by 2.2.1 or earlier versions. The new format features quick opening and internal caching mechanisms. The parsing process is a lot faster, which improves overall program performance.
The new custom field mechanism no longer remembers the fields and values you entered. However, it allows you to setup any number of custom fields with field names and values in any length. With the batch editing dialog, you'll be able to update the custom fields for a series of items or do copying and pasting among items.
The exported web pages look weird on FireFox and/or other browsers
This issue is currently known as a browser render bug in these browsers. To solve this problem, please open css\export-style.css in your notepad. Find the line that wrote:
border: 1px solid #b9dded; (the 13th line)
remove this line, and save. No border will be shown in the exported web pages. This is only a temporary fix.