Create Interactive DOS-Based Multimedia Applications in a Few Easy Steps

About NeoBook (screen shot)
Fact Sheet
Press Clippings
Resources for NeoBook Users
NeoBook for Windows

About NeoBook

If you need to quickly and easily produce impressive communications, promotional or support materials then NeoBook opens up fresh electronic possibilities for making your message stand out from the crowd.

Use NeoBook to create high quality, royalty-free publications and applications that run under MS-DOS or as DOS apps under Windows and OS/2. Easily integrate text, images, interactive controls, color and other graphical elements to create stunning productions. NeoBook is currently being used to produce e-zines distributed on the net, interactive educational materials, CD-ROM interfaces, multimedia e-books, reference works, electronic brochures and entertainment titles, to mention but a few. NeoBook is very powerful, yet very easy to learn and use.

Fact Sheet

NeoBook® for DOS

Price:

Basic edition: $45*
Professional edition: $89.95*
A Windows version is also available.
Site and Network licenses are also available.
We also offer discounts for qualified educational institutions.

* Price does not include shipping and handling.

Summary:

NeoBook and NeoBook Professional allow the easy creation of interactive, computer-based multimedia publications for distribution via diskette, CD, network, Internet ftp, etc. Pages and other elements of the electronic publication are arranged on the screen, then compiled into a self-contained DOS EXE file which may be distributed royalty-free.

Uses:

Interactive educational materials
Newsletters
Reports
Sales tracts and catalogs
Electronic Magazines
Illustrated, interactive books
Presentations/Lecture aids
Multimedia texts
Interactive kiosk-type displays

Supported File Types:

ASCII text files (supported by most word processors and text editors, BMP and PCX image files (2, 8, 16 and 24 bit resolutions), and GFT (GEM format screen) fonts. Professional version plays VOC audio files (for Sound Blaster compatible cards), SNG format music files (may be edited using a text editor for playback on the internal PC speaker), and FLI/FLC animation files.

Features:

• Supported Video Modes: Hercules (720x348x2), EGA (640x350x16)m VGA (320x200x256, 640x480x2, 640x 480x16), SuperVGA* (640x480x256, 800x600x16, 800x600x 256, and 1024x 768x256), Hi-Color (32,000 and 64,000 colors), 24-bit True Color (16 million colors).
  
  * SuperVGA, Hi-Color and 24-bit resolutions require a specific type of video card with sufficient video memory installed. See “Supported Video Cards,” below.
  
  
• Drag and drop command and page turning buttons. Button text, font, color and pattern may be defined. Buttons may be invisible.
• Commands include pop-up text, jump to page, comic book-style speech balloons, exit, alert/help message, pop up image, print text, return to page, and buzzer.
• Favorite word processor, sound editor, animation editor and/or paint program may be called directly from within NeoBook to edit text, images, audio and animation clips.
• Titles, captions, rule lines, and other graphic elements may be easily placed anywhere in the publication. Choice of style, fonts, color and pattern.
• Drag and drop frames to contain images and text files. Options include use of horizontal/vertical scroll bars for larger images or text.
• Master page allows setting up common commands and elements across all or multiple pages.
• Compiler assembles your publication into a single executable (EXE) program, which you may distribute to others. No runtime royalties.
• Automatic return to the initial page/screen when not being used.
• Jump to a specified page on open.
• Readers may use mouse, keyboard, or both.
• Presentations may be created and run even on older systems.

NeoBook Professional Also Includes:

• Plays FLI/FLC format animations internally.
• Support for narration or music on Sound Blaster or compatibly equipped systems. Also can play music/sound effects through the standard PC internal speaker.
• Fade out between pages option.
• Launch other DOS commands from buttons within the presentation.

System Requirements:

• IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/1, PS/2, 286, 386, 486, Pentium™-based, or 100% compatible computer. A 386 or a faster system is highly recommended, but not required.
• VGA, SuperVGA, Hercules monochrome, or compatible graphics card and monitor. (See “Supported Video Cards” below.)
• 640K minimum RAM.
• A hard disk.
• PC or MS-DOS version 3.1 (or higher), or DR-DOS.
• Microsoft Mouse, Logitech, or compatible mouse or pointing device.
• Sound Blaster, or compatible audio card (optional).

Supported Video Cards:

NeoBook should run on any computer system equipped with a 100% compatible EGA, VGA, Hercules monochrome or SVGA graphics card. To operate in SuperVGA 256 color, 32,000 Hi-Color, 64,000 Hi-Color or 16-million True Color modes; you must have an SVGA video card capable of displaying that mode, equipped with sufficient video memory, and using one of the following (or a 100% compatible) chipsets which supports the desired resolution:

VESA standard*
ATI
Cirrus Logic
Compaq Q-Vision
Paradise/Western Digital
S3
Trident
Tseng ET3000/ET4000
Weitek
Video Seven
XGA

Note: Some newer video cards have been designed primarily for operation with Microsoft Windows and provide little support for DOS-based software like NeoBook. Some of these newer video cards may not allow NeoBook to run in higher resolutions. If you're having trouble using NeoPaint for DOS with your video card, we suggest that you try NeoPaint for Windows.

* NeoBook has the ability to use VESA compatible video cards. Some older video cards which claim VESA compatibility substitute very slow software TSR drivers (in place of internal VESA compatibility) to force the card to mimic VESA.

For more information contact:

NeoSoft Corp.
Post Office Box 5667
Bend, Oregon 97708-5667

Orders: (541) 389-5489
Questions: (541) 389-5489
Fax: (541) 388-8221 (We do not accept unsolicited fax advertisements)
E-Mail: sales@neosoftware.com
Web Site: http://www.neosoftware.com

Online Orders

Visit our Dealer page for a list of authorized international distributors.

Press Clippings

Here's what the press are saying about
NeoBook for DOS:

PCM Magazine:

"NeoBook Pro/s button filled graphical interface lets you put together publications having - of all things - a button-filled graphical interface! It's so easy to use, you can knock out a test 'book' in executable (.EXE) format, ready to distribute, in less than an hour - and that includes skimming the docs!"

Writer's Digest:

"NeoBook is a very effective way to combine pictures and text into attractive screens. It's easy to use; you create your electronic screens/pages by placing text and images in a similar way to using a paint program. It's very graphical - you point and click with buttons and a mouse as you do in Windows or on a Mac. An easy route into multimedia, this program creates professional, full-color publications small enough to fit on a floppy."

CD-ROM Multimedia:

"NeoBook is a full-featured multimedia authoring system which produces disk-based interactive documents such as newsletters, books, electronic catalogs and educational materials ... It lets you easily create multi-page documents with images, text blocks, wallpaper backgrounds and hot-spot buttons."

PC Graphics & Video:

"A well-designed program that brings inexpensive but very functional electronic publishing to consumers, with professional-level capabilities and options at a utility price."

Computer User:

"An affordable yet versatile multimedia authoring tool. NeoBook Professional is suitable for producing presentations onscreen or on CD-ROM or floppy disk. Because the presentation in its final form is a standalone EXE file, you could even post the presentation on a Web site or use it on a kiosk."

CD Information Center:

"This one's fun to use. In fact, I would have been finished writing this review earlier, save for the fact that I was so busy playing with it. I'd say NeoBook was an excellent introduction for newbies to multimedia - but I just found a CD-ROM magazine in U.K. that uses it for its menu, so it's quite adequate to get a reasonably professional job done."

NeoBook Professional for DOS has also received the highest awards for "Best Multimedia/Presentation" application categories from Ziff-Davis/PC Magazine's shareware awards and from the SIA Foundation.

Resources for NeoBook Users

These third party resources are good places to learn about NeoBook and to share ideas and information with other NeoBook users. If you know of a web site or other items that might be of specific interest to NeoBook users, please e-mail and let us know. Maybe we'll add it to the list below.

iGui - Pre-Built Components for your NeoBook Publications

NeoBook DOS Authors: Decrease design time in half and create professional publications through simple cut-and-paste with iGui!...iGui is an assembly of graphical user interface components designed to expand the native NeoBook DOS or NeoBook DOS Pro interface.

Everything you would expect to find in a high-quality Windows program (from Windows 3.1 - Windows 95) is found in iGui... custom menus, drop-down menus, custom dialog boxes, property sheets, help windows, directory and file boxes, tooltips, multiple document interfaces, progress bars, and more! Visit the web site below for more information:

http://www.neobasic.biz

Use Windows True Type Fonts in NeoBook

A shareware utility that converts most Windows True Type fonts to GFT format for use with NeoBook and NeoPaint for DOS is available for download from this site.

Download Now
(249 KB)

Version:
2.1i

Requires:
DOS 3.1+

Download
Size:
625 KB
(Basic)
677 KB
(Pro)

Download

Purchase

NeoBook Professional for DOS has received the highest awards for "Best Multimedia Presentation" application categories from both Ziff-Davis/PC Magazine and the SIA Foundation.