Multimedia really doesn't mean anything special. In the 1960s, it meant looking at slides that resembled moving ink spots while listening to Ravi Shankar and standing in an inch of jello on the floor. Don't forget the incense. Today, the term multimedia usually refers to images from CD-ROM played on a computer with speakers for sound support. I don't know if this is an improvement or not.
CD ROM Readers
CD ROMs are capable of amazing effects because of their capacity for data storage. Large hard disks are expensive and only a limited number can be added to each computer . In contrast, a CD ROM reader can read 600 or more MBs of sound, images, text, and/or programs on a cheap plastic disk. Each CD holds more, costs less (much less, consider the price of music CDs at Cutler's music store), and you can therefore have a nearly unlimited supply of information with only a few CD Disk swaps. One shortcoming of the CD ROM is that the media is generally read-only. You buy a CD ROM with data already written on it, just as you buy a pre-recorded music CD, or pre-written encyclopedia or dictionary. The CD ROM reader that you install is to READ these CDs, not modify them.
Read Only?
However, recently several companies have begun to make recording CD-ROM devices. Each writable CD costs about $20, but the Writer costs $3000 or so. This is ideal for a Yale Department to archive a year of financial transactions, or research results and reports and grant proposals and graphs and photographs and, and, and. There are companies in the area that would produce such a CD for you. You provide the data and they produce the CD. The magic of the CD ROM is that it can hold all different types of stuff, such as images and sounds and executable code (programs). Your computer will need hardware to deal with the various types of information once it is read off the disk - speakers/sound card for sound, a videocard and monitor for images and a computer chip to run the programs.
Running Programs?
Typically, the CD ROM comes with an install program to setup a search engine so that the computer can efficiently find information in that morass of 600 MB of data. The CD will also contain a program that will provide the graphic interface we crave - buttons to click so that users can easily access the sights and sounds. Some CD ROMs can be used by either Macs or Windows/DOS computers. They contain two different programs - one for the Mac and one for Windows/DOS. The Mac sees the Mac program and Windows sees the Windows program and both find the same data that can be read by either.
Hardware Considerations
If you have an IBM compatible computer, you should have a 80386 processor (although a 486 is better ), with at least 4MB RAM. The hard disk size is not terribly important, because the images and sounds are stored on the CD. Most DOS/Windows computers can accept internal CD ROM that attach to the IDE controller. Most sound cards (necessary for even rudimentary sound production) will have a place to attach the CD ROM. Faster information transfer will occur if you have a SCSI CD ROM. Again, external speakers attached to the sound card, completes the setup. Although some CD programs run at the DOS level, more are Windows based, and typically either would benefit greatly from a mouse. Nearly any modern Macintosh with a color monitor can be used for a multimedia setup. Many Macintoshes can accept an internal CD, or else an external CD can be attached to the SCSI port. For more than minimal sound, external speakers are nice - all current desktop Macs have a speaker plug on the computer for each external speakers. Add a color monitor and you're ready.
Richard Beck MCSC Support Specialist