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Requirements |
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Of course, DanceMaster Player is most useful on a laptop computer. It is convenient if the laptop has a line-in port, a line-out port, a volume control knob (MUCH more convenient than software-only volume control) and a 9-pin serial port. Operating system: Windows 95, 98, 2000, ME, XP or NT 4.0 or later. Screen: Bigger and brighter is better. The minimum resolution required is XGA (1024 x768 pixels). A 14 inch or larger Active Matrix screen is recommended. The laptop we used for the first few years has a 200MHz Pentium processor and 32Mb of RAM. That works, but is a bit slow. It is nice to have more horsepower (faster CPU, more RAM) than that. You would be hard pressed to find a computer that slow today, outside of a garage sale. The amount of disk space required will depend on the amount of compression you use on your sound files, and on the size of your record library. In practice, any reasonably new laptop will come with more than enough disk space for DanceMaster, thousands of dances, and lots of other stuff. Don't worry about it. You will need a word processor for entering your cue cards. Microsoft Word is recommended, but anything that can produce .RTF (Rich Text Format) files should do. DanceMaster Player can also display .DOC (Microsoft Word) files, and cue cards that have been scanned and stored as .BMP (Bitmap) files. The latter two formats have restrictions, though, and are not recommended. In fact, they are supported only as an aid to transitioning to DanceMaster. You will need a source of music in MP3 format. That usually means using your computer’s sound card and software to record your music, but you can also buy your music in MP3 format over the Internet from some round dance music stores. (See “Preparation: Recording the music”.) To use Remote Control, you'll need DanceMaster Player Advanced Edition, and you'll also need to buy the model HR12A Palm Pad remote control transmitter (http://www.x10.com/products/x10_hr12a.htm) and the model MR26A RF Receiver (http://www.x10.com/products/x10_mr26a.htm) from X10.com for about $50. If your laptop computer doesn't have a serial port, you'll need a USB to 9-pin serial adapter, or, beter yet, get the CM19A USB receiver for $50 (http://www.x10.com/products/x10_cm19a.htm) (More remote control details here.) At a dance, in addition to the computer, you will need your microphone, speaker(s) and an amplifier / mixer of some sort. The usual square / round dance turntables work fine, and there are smaller (more portable) amplifier / mixers available from Hilton, Radio Shack, and the sort of audio stores that musicians frequent. Even better, there are now "multimedia speaker systems" available from several leading manufacturers including Bose, Altec Lansing and Cambridge Soundworks. These speaker systems contain their own amplifiers, are quite compact, are made to plug into your PC, and can produce a LOT of sound (some of them are rated at over 120 watts). One of these, plus a small mixer and your laptop, makes a very portable rig for cueing. |