SoftwareFPU(TM) 3.07 Release Notes

John Neil & Associates
http://www.jna.com/
sfpu@jna.com

Thanks for using SoftwareFPU! Here are some things that you should be aware of when installing and using SoftwareFPU:

Installation

To install SoftwareFPU, simply drag the SoftwareFPU control panel into your Control Panels folder and restart.

The accompanying SoftwareFPU documentation is provided in Adobe Acrobat format. If you do not have the Adobe Acrobat Reader you can download it for free from the Adobe Systems web site at http://www.jna.com/.

Compatibility Information

SoftwareFPU is much slower than a hardware FPU. If the performance of one or more of your 68K FPU applications is unacceptably slow, and you have a Power Macintosh, you should consider upgrading to PowerFPU, John Neil & Associates new high-performance FPU emulator for the Power Macintosh. See the "About PowerFPU" document for more information about this product.

If you have problems running older FPU applications with SoftwareFPU and are running System 7.5.5 or earlier, try turning off "Modern Memory Manager" in the Memory control panel.

The following software packages require special settings on your Macintosh or have known incompatibilities with SoftwareFPU:

AutoCAD 12 (AutoDesk) - AutoCAD requires "Modern Memory Manager" in the Memory control panel to be turned off to work properly with System 7.1.2 and later.

DebuggerINIT (Apple Computer) - This PowerPC debugging extension disables SoftwareFPU at startup. To use SoftwareFPU with this extension installed, open the SoftwareFPU control panel and click the "On" button to re-enable SoftwareFPU.

Full Impact 2.0s (Ashton-Tate) - This application is incompatible with recent versions of the system software. SoftwareFPU cannot eliminate the "co-processor not installed" system error that occurs when launching Full Impact.

MachTen (Tenon Intersystems) - MachTen provides its own FPU emulation which interferes with SoftwareFPU. To use SoftwareFPU with this extension installed, open the SoftwareFPU control panel and click the "On" button to re-enable SoftwareFPU.

Mathematica (Wolfram Research) - Some versions require "Modern Memory Manager" in the Memory control panel to be turned off to work properly with System 7.1.2 and later.

MathLibFast (Apple Computer) - SoftwareFPU may not be compatible with development versions of this improved Apple PowerPC numerics library.

MPEGAud 1.0 (George Warner) - MPEGAud 1.0 contains a bug that causes it to display the error message "Sorry, FPU required for this program" at startup even when SoftwareFPU is installed. This should be fixed in MPEGAud 1.0.1.

Norton CrashGuard (Symantec) - This product is not compatible with SoftwareFPU and having both extensions installed at the same time will result in a crash at system startup. To avoid this problem, disable or remove Norton CrashGuard.

PSpice (MicroSim) - PSpice may generate incorrect results when used with SoftwareFPU on 68LC040 Macintoshes affected by the 68LC040 CPU chip bug (see the "68LC040 Owners MUST READ" document).

StatView 4.1 (Abacus Concepts) - A StatView bug causes the PowerPC-native version of this application to display an erroneous warning message at startup when SoftwareFPU is installed. This warning can be ignored.

Licensing

SoftwareFPU is free for non-commercial use. SoftwareFPU may not be sold or bundled with products that are sold without a license from John Neil & Associates. For information on commercial licensing, please contact us at the above address.

Change History

Changes from Version 3.06 to 3.07:

o) Fixed a bug that caused a crash on pre OS 8.5 machines with VM disabled.

Changes from Version 3.05 to 3.06:

o Fixed a crash that occured when changing the FPU accuracy in the control panel on OS 8.5 with VM disabled.

Changes from Version 3.04 to 3.05:

o Fixed a bug that caused a crash at startup on OS 8.5 if virtual memory was disabled.
o Fixed a bug that caused a crash at shutdown or restart on OS 8.5.
o Fixed an incompatibility with the Epson Stylus Color 800 print driver that caused a hang.
o Removed startup balloon.

Changes from Version 3.03 to 3.04:

o Fixed bug that switched accuracy setting to 80-bits if control panel was opened on a 68K machine with a PowerPC upgrade card running in 68K mode.
o Fixed FASIN(-1), FASIN(1), FACOS(-1) bugs.

Changes from Version 3.02 to 3.03:

o Fixed incompatibilities with DeltaGraph Pro & True BASIC.
o Fixed a bug in the 68K FPU emulator that caused error messages in MATLAB.
o Added a new PowerPC startup icon to make it clear what version of the FPU emulator is loaded.
o Improved the accuracy of hyperbolic functions.
o Documentation now in Common Ground format.

Changes from Version 3.01 to 3.02:

o Corrected fax number in registration form (arrrggghhh!).

Changes from Version 3.0 to Version 3.01:

o Fixed a bug that prevented MacRLab from working properly.
o Changed to improved icon (thanks to J.B. Wilson, age 13).
o Added new payment options to registration form.
o Updated manual.

Changes from Version 2.45 to Version 3.0:

o You can now enable and disable SoftwareFPU without restarting if it was installed at system startup.
o The control panel now has balloon help.
o Fixed a bug that prevented Systat from working properly.
o Added native PowerPC emulator (registered users only).
o Added 64/80-bit accuracy option (registered users only).
o Added option to turn off the startup "thank you" balloon (registered users only).

Original file name: Read Me - converted on Friday, 12 May 2000, 16:44