FOR WHITE PINE'S CU-SEEME

INTRODUCTION

CU-SeeMe is becoming ever more popular as the price of cameras and associated hardware continue to fall. However, due to the large variety of system configurations and available hardware and peripherals, a significant portion of the population is having some difficulty in fully utilizing the software and experiencing frustrating problems as a result. This document will endeavor to assist the user in resolving these problems.

While a lot of the information presented here is patently obvious to some of the more experienced computer users, I feel some of it will be useful to even the more knowledgeable power user. Constructive comments are welcome and if anyone has information to add that will make this an even more comprehensive help page, please forward it to me and I shall incorporate it with appropriate credit.

SYSTEM OPTIMIZATION

One of most overlooked solutions to frequent system problems is hard drive optimization. Windows 95 has built-in utility services that help keep your hard drive running in top shape. These utilities should be run periodically to help insure both the longetivity of your hard drive and the integrity of your files. (If you can swing it, purchase Norton Utilities for Win95 - good investment)

The first of these is SCANDISK, a service that checks file integrity, directory integrity and the file allocation table (among other things).

The second is DISK DEFRAGMENTER, (or DEFRAG as it used to be known). This utility sorts all the directories and files and puts them back in a logical sequence. Without going into a lot of detail why things become scattered, lets just simply say it is an inherent design flaw at the hardware level.

Running these utilities sequentially will go a long way to improving performance. However, there are some tricks I am going to point out that make them perform even better.

Let's run SCANDISK first.

First step before performing any utility is to close all open programs. That means close EVERYTHING on your task bar (you can leave the volume control open if you want). After you have closed all open programs click on the start button, then on programs, then accessories, then system tools and finally on scandisk. At this point you should have a window on your desktop that looks like the one pictured below. Make sure the boxes are checked as they are in the image (ie. "Automatically fix errors" and "standard"). Now click on the "ADVANCED" button on the lower right of the pop-up window. You should see a pop-up screen like that in the second picture.

Make sure all the boxes are checked on your screen as they are checked here.

At this point you click the "OK" box. Then when the screen returns you to the box pictured above click on "Start".

After the program has finished running, close the application.

If all your files and directories are in good shape there should be no problems. If, however, SCANDISK does find some problems, follow the on-screen prompts until the problems are resolved.

Next thing is to optimize the hard drive. But first some thoughts on the "VIRTUAL MEMORY" or Swap File (as it used to be called).

Windows has always used what is known as a "Swap File" as virtual memory. This is nothing more than a temporary storage space the operating system uses when it is either multi-tasking or loading large programs that require more memory than is readily available. This is one of the places where "PAGE FAULT" errors occur. Windows "PAGES" data that is stored in memory to the swap file for temporary storage until that information is needed again.

CU-SeeMe uses the "Swap File" extensively to store incoming video data, the rest of the program is stored in RAM. One of the reasons for frequent crashes is a "PAGE FAULT ERROR" that shuts CU-SeeMe down. Why does this occur?

Windows version 3.X used a permenent swap file of a given size. This area of the hard drive was marked by the operating system and nothing else was allowed to write to it except system paging. However, Windows 95 does not allocate a specific area of the hard drive for swap file and instead is constantly dynamically assigning space. What happens over a period of time is the swap file becomes fragmented and is located in sections throughout the hard drive. When this occurs, as a specific area is used up, Windows will sometimes try to write to a block that is adjacent to the current area of the hard drive. (This also occurs in Ram, but we shall address that issue later on in this document). If this area is being used by other files (programs, data, etc.), you will get an error that will frequently crash the program as two files cannot occupy the same space.

What we are going to do next is not only defragment the files and programs on your hard drive, we are also going to optimize the "Swap File" (aka VIRTUAL MEMORY) so that it is one contiguous area on the hard drive.

Before proceeding, make sure you have at least 100 MegaBytes of free space on your hard drive. If you have less than this amount of free space, delete unnecessary files or programs until you do.

Now here is where the going gets tricky and a deviation from the normal defragmentation process begins.

In order to optimize the "Swap File" we must first disable virtual memory. Click first on the "START" button then on "SETTINGS", then "CONTROL PANEL", then "SYSTEM". (Alternately you could RIGHT click on the "MY COMPUTER" icon on your desktop, then click the "PROPERTIES" button.) In either event the pop-up window below should be on your screen. Next click on the "PERFORMANCE" tab at the top then on the 'VIRTUAL MEMORY" tab in the lower right hand corner. (See image four).

NOTE:

Disabling virtual memory is a two-step process. First you must uncheck the "LET WINDOWS MANAGE MY VIRTUAL MEMORY SETTINGS" , then either click on 'LET ME SPECIFY..." or click directly on the "DISABLE VIRTUAL MEMORY". In either event you MUST have the disable virtual memory box checked before proceeding further.

At this point click on the OK button and follow the screen prompts. The system will ask you to restart so the changes can take effect. Click OK and allow your computer to restart.

NOTE: If you system loads a lot of different software at startup you may experience a series of error messages saying there is not enough memory to open this program, please close programs and try again. Ignore these messages and just click the OK button through each until you have finally reached the desktop.

Once Windows 95 has fully loaded make sure any open programs in your task bar have been closed. Now click on the START, PROGRAMS, ACCESSORIES, SYSTEM TOOLS and finally DISK DEFRAGMENTER buttons sequentially. Follow the on-screen prompts and allow the utility to run until complete. If you haven't done this before or not in a long time, you can expect this process to take anywhere from 5 minutes to thirty minutes depended on how large a hard drive you have.

Once the utility is finished close the window then repeat the above described process to get back to the virtual memory. At this time click on the "LET WINDOWS MANAGE..." button and follow the on-screen prompts to restart your computer.

At this point you have now finished optimizing your hard drive, your files system AND your "Swap File". Once you restart your computer you should already see a perceptible performance increase.

NOTE:

One of the biggest hogs of system resources is the large number of what I call JUNK programs that VAR's (Value Added Resalers) put on proprietary machines like Packard Bell, Hewlett Packard and AST to name a few. Every program that is minimized on your task bar is taking up system resources whether it is being used or not. When I go on CU-SeeMe I close almost everything I have open, even ICQ if I see the net is bogged down. If your system resources drop below 77% free, the videos will come in very slowly and sometimes not even at all. I try to have 90% or more system resources free before I even dial-up to the net when I plan on going on CUSeeMe. This is a good practice to follow.

TIP: To check the amount of available system resources, right click on the "MY COMPUTER" icon on your desktop, then on the "PROPERTIES" button then on the "PERFORMANCE" tab as seen above in image2.

The above system optimization procedures will eliminate the majority of CU crash issues as well as overall system performance lags. However, there are still a couple of more issues that have to be dealt with at the hardware level. These problems usually arise from a system resource conflict between capture cards and some high-end video cards. The following information is undocumented and some would even say I am full of it, but I have proven the validity of what I am about to demonstrate countless numbers of times.

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HARDWARE RESOURCE CONFLICTS THAT

WINDOWS 95 WON'T DETECT

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As I said earlier, Windows 95 will sometimes "PAGE" into occupied spaces in RAM. This is a common occurrence with high-end video cards that use a number of memory address blocks for I/O. Capture cards do the same thing. What I have discovered is in many instances, the address blocks being used by the video card and the capture card are frequently contiguous. Like the issue with the fragmented swap file, Windows will sometimes page a few bytes of data into the next memory block. Since this area is already occupied the result is a "Fatal Exception Error" (usually referencing Kernel 32 and a stream of memory addresses). Here is how to fix it.

Go to the CONTROL PANEL and click on DEVICE MANAGER. Double click on the SOUND,VIDEO,ETC heading. Then double click on your capture device (in this case STB PCI tuner card). Then click on the RESOURCES tab.

Uncheck the "USE AUTOMATIC SETTINGS" box. Then click on the MEMORY RANGE. Now click on 'CHANGE SETTING. You should get a pop-up box like the one below. DO NOT TRY TO CHANGE THE INTERRUPT SETTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Click on the tiny arrow keys (up or down, doesn't matter) until you find an address range that is free from any conflicting devices for several address ranges both up and down. (In this case address ranges from EEF0E000 through EEF15000 are all free from ANY devices. That is what you want. In other words, you have created a little memory hole between your devices. The ideal situation is to do this as close as you can to the original address so that you don't make too big a memory hole and deprive your system from needed memory allocation blocks.

Use this procedure only if you are still having crashes after you have done all the other things listed in this document.

SOME OTHER VIDEO CARD/CUSEEME CONSIDERATIONS

FIRST. Don't delete the cu executable file you downloaded from White Pine as you will undoubtedly have to reinstall the software at least once in the lifetime of use.

SECOND. Make sure you have the latest video drivers and DirectX drivers for your particular brand and model of video card installed on your computer. Older drivers can create problems, especially with any of the ver 3.X CuSeeMe.

THIRD. If you do change video cards, or drivers or even Direct X you will probably have to reinstall CuSeeMe again. Failing to do so will result in erratic behavior of the software which will lead you to think something else is wrong with your computer. Don't delete the old version when you do, just reinstall over it (that way you don't lose your phone book nor do you create any undue problems in the Windows registry).

FOURTH. If you have an old capture card or video card, consider either upgrading it to a newer version or see if any newer drivers are available for it.

FINALLY. If you were running any video intensive applications, games, mpeg or quicktime movies before you logged onto the net, do a cold start of your computer to flush all vestiges of video output from your memory and the swap file. Failing to do this will result in low system resources and poor video performance.

CUSEEME PROGRAM CONFIGURATIONS

It has been said thousands of time before but always bears repeating. The following settings are recommended for optimal performance on almost ALL reflectors. If you can, make them your default settings and you won't get into trouble with either the reflector monitors or the people who are there and get pissy for one person trying to hog all the bandwidth.

1. Set your minimum transmission and receive rates to 2, no more.

2. Set your video codec to White Pine Mjpeg or Cornel Grey. (White Pine mjpeg works even with black and white cameras on later versions of CU).

3. Make sure your quality settings are no higher than 20 (15 is better but 20 is considered the maximum.) If you are doing a Direct Connection you can raise your quality and your rates but do it only for that particular conference, not as a default setting.

4. Most reflectors request that you limit your maximum transmission to 15 and your maximum receive to 28. If you are using a modem for dial-up, any higher settings will only result in increased packet loss. If you have cable modem, ISDN, or other high-speed connection, refrain from raising your rates. Most reflector software is set to limit the amount of transmission anyway and the others will just get angry at your hogging of bandwidth (whether real or not, it is still perceived as such, so don't be an ass..)

5. DON'T USE AUDIO! It hogs bandwidth and pisses people off. Disable it.

6. Make sure your connection to your local ISP is the best you can get. When you connect at less than 26,400, the video gets slow (both transmit and receive). At 19,200 it is almost impossible to get anything worth watching. <G> You may have to dial up a number of times before you get the desired connection but it is well worth the hassle.

7. Remember, the reflectors that allow large numbers of participants will get progressively slower as more people join the conference. Be patient and open fewer vids.

8. Always wait until the participant list has fully loaded before opening any vids. Then just open one at a time and wait until you are getting data from it before opening any more. If the vids all freeze, close all of them, wait a few seconds then open just one at a time again to refresh the video stream.

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SOME FINAL NOTES

Whereas 16 MB of Ram is adequate for CU, add another 16 for better performance. You can never have too much memory.

If you have a crappy ISP, consider changing to one that is more reliable and has a better connection to the Internet.

No matter how optimized your system is, if you have been on a large number of reflectors or been on the Internet for a long period of time, you will eventually run low on system resources. If you see the program starting to run slow, check your resources and consider doing a cold boot.

Some ISP's and even some modems experience what is known as fall-back. This is when the connection from your modem to your ISP is ragged or becomes poor. In many instances, the connection will not resume the optimal speed as the line clears up. Consequently, though you may have connected at 28.8 you may in fact be running data at 19.2. Hang-up and redial. The best way to determine this is to click on start, then run, then type in the word "ping" on the run line and the ip address of your local ISP. If you see numbers in excess of 200 you have a terrible connection. Hang-up and redial.

Comments? Send them to Hoople <hoople_ny@hotmail.com>