Technical information

Reviewer’s Guide Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51 6
If you are using Windows NT 3.51 with Delrina WinFax Lite, do not use the generic modem initialization. Instead,
choose the modem initialization that is specifically for your modem when given the choice during setup. Only install
the fax software when you are logged on with administrator privileges.
If you are using Windows NT 3.51 with Delrina WinFax PRO 4.0, make sure to use the modem setup that matches
the modem you intend to use. Do not use the generic modem initialization. Also, some applications will take longer
than usual to print to the fax driver. Only install the print driver when you are logged on with administrator
privileges.
Improved Video Support
Microsoft has improved Windows NT Workstation’s video support in the 3.51 release. In conjunction with Matrox,
a completely new MGA display driver is included that has complete 3D DDI support for 3D Gouraud shading,
double buffering and Z-buffering. A new Tseng Labs W32/W32i/W32p driver is also included, which is accelerated
at 256, 64K, and 16.7M color modes. The 3.5 driver was unaccelerated, and supported only 4bpp and 8bpp modes.
Examples of cards using this chip are the Diamond Stealth 32 and Hercules Dynamite boards.
With Windows NT Workstation 3.51 complete Weitek P9100 support is added, and the Weitek P9000 driver has
been rewritten for improved performance. Examples of cards using these chips are the Diamond Viper Pro and
Diamond Viper boards. Also included is a new accelerated Compaq QVision driver for improved performance.
A new Cirrus Logic driver has been added which is accelerated at 256 and 64K color modes on Cirrus 54xx chips,
such as the 5428 and 5434. Examples of cards using the 5434 are the Diamond Speedstar 64 and the Orchid Kelvin
boards. We added support for the new 868, 968, 732, and 764 S3 chips. Examples of cards using these chips are the
Diamond Stealth Video boards.
Also included is enabled full 3D Device Driver Interface (3D DDI) support. The 3D DDI is Microsoft's solution for
enabling 3D acceleration in hardware and software. OpenGL support in Windows NT Workstation will
automatically take advantage of 3D DDI accelerations when running with drivers that support the 3D DDI and with
3D DDI-aware applications. The 3D DDI may also be used to improve CAD application performance dramatically.
The Windows NT-based Tseng W32p, S3, and Matrox MGA drivers support fast vector drawing for all cards in all
modes.
The video cards we see our customers using with Windows NT Workstation are itemized below. We recommend
using any of these cards for your internal testing with resolutions of 256 colors or above. Also, considering the
current market tendencies, we recommend testing at resolutions with more colors.
* Any Matrox MGA or QVision 2000 board, preferably a 4 MB Impression Plus or Ultima Plus
* Any S3 board, preferably a 4MB #9 GXE 64 Pro or #9 GXE
* A Diamond P9100 board, preferably the 4MB Viper Pro
File Compression on NTFS Partitions
File compression on NTFS partitions brings mainstream file compression technology to NTFS, the Windows NT
native file system. Common text-oriented application files show approximately 50% reduction in size while
executables are approximately 40% smaller than their original size depending on system configuration.
Files can be compressed and uncompressed on NTFS partitions in three different ways using File Manager:
1. You can select the file(s) and then select Compress or Uncompress from the File menu.
2. You can select or deselect the Compressed check box in the Attributes box of the Properties dialog box.
Compression is an attribute that can be set just as the Read Only, System, Archive, Hidden, and System
attributes can be set. You can also select the Properties option to view the compressed size and compression
ratio of a selected file.
3. You can compress and uncompress selected files by selecting the compress or uncompress toolbar buttons.
However, these buttons are not in the toolbar by default. To customize your File Manager Toolbar, select the
drop down menu O
ptions, then select Customize Toolbar. The left side of the resulting dialog box lists
Available Buttons. Scroll down the Av
ailable buttons to the File -compress or File - uncompress buttons,