The compact disc "Legumes of Northern Eurasia", besides the main software, contains a demonstration version of the program Virtual Herbarium.

It includes images of type (or representative) herbarium specimens of 14 species from the Fabaceae family, kept in the Herbarium of the Komarov Botanical Institute (LE).

Authors of the demonstration version (June 1998):

• (C) D.E.Voronin (programming, designer of the interface), S.A.Jezniakowsky (consultation on programming, preparation of images), I.Stepanov (consultation on programming),
• (C) Yu.R.Roskov (idea, main designer of the system, preparation of data). Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St.Petersburg).

List of species included in the version of the program on the CD:

• Amoria bordzilowskyi (Grossh.)Roskov
• Amoria pallescens (Schreb.)C.Presl
• Onobrychis dielsii (Sirj.)Vassilcz.
• Lupinaster popovii Roskov
• Thermopsis dahurica Czefr.
• Trifolium bithynicum Boiss.
• Trifolium borysthenicum Gruner
• Trifolium litwinowii Iljin
• Trifolium seravschanicum Ovcz. ex Bobrov
• Trifolium spryginii Belyaeva & Sipliv.
• Trigonella korshinskyi Grossh.
• Vicia caucasica Ekutim.
• Vicia incisa M.Bieb.
• Vicia larissae Prima

To work with the program VH.EXE, you will need more powerful system resources than those specified on the cover of the disc for the program LEGUMES.EXE:

• IBM PC compatible;
• CPU Intel Pentium 90MHz to 233 MHz;
• Not less than 24 Mb extended memory (XMS);
• SVGA videocard compatible with VESA 1.2 in 800x600x16 bit mode with 1Mb or more video RAM;
• 21 Mb hard disc space free C:;
• CD-ROM drive 4x speed or high;
• Mouse compatible point device;
• DOS 6.xx operating system,
• Loaded drivers of mouse, CD-ROM and XMS.

We call users' attention to the fact that the program VH.EXE is designed for operation under MS-DOS 6.xx. Successful operation of the program in DOS sessions of Windows 95/98 is only possible if it has no conflict with a Windows videodriver.

The program Virtual Herbarium runs directly from the CD without preliminary installation. To start the program, enter the directory VH on the CD and run the program VH.EXE.

When started, the program will test the hardware and display a message about its results. If results of the testing do not meet those reqiured, the program will abort the start-up and display a diagnostic message.

After the program starts, a logo screen will be displayed for a short time, followed by the main screen of the system.

Buttons with additional options for the program are located in the top part of the screen:

• About (Information about the program);
• Find (Selecting specimens from a list);
• Exit (Exit from the program).

Scaled down images of herbarium specimens are located in the central part of the screen. The screen can only contain four specimens simultaneously. To access the rest of the specimens, use the screen buttons with left and right arrows and a slider, located in the bottom part of the screen.

To go to a window containing information on a herbarium specimen, click on its image. After this, in the left part of the window you will see a label citation, which can be scrolled up and down by clicking screen buttons to the right of the label; the image of the herbarium specimen chosen will be located in the right part.

To go to a window containing a maximum scale herbarium specimen, click on its image in the right part of the window or on the icon of a lens in the top left corner of the window.

To move a herbarium sheet in this window, press the left mouse button and drag it. Pressing the right mouse button allows a dynamic ruler to be used for measuring fragments of a plant. To exit the window, click the screen button in the top right corner of the screen.

Operation of VH.EXE under Windows NT operating system is, most probably, impossible, because this OS blocks extended VESA video modes.

On some videocards (e.g. Trident 8900, or Diamond Stealth 64 2000 Series), unreadable messages of a graphics file uncompressor are often displayed during the loading of a maximum scale herbarium sheet. This feature does not disturb the normal operation of the system and should not give cause for anxiety. In some cases, this effect can be avoided by sending the standard output of the program VH.EXE to the NUL device (when running the program, use the commmand VH.EXE > NUL).

If the program fails during the loading of a maximum scale image of the specimen, it is likely that your system does not have enough extended memory (XMS) or free hard disc space. To avoid this, first check how much free space is available. The program only works if there is at least 21 Mb of free space. (Also check, whether there are temporary VH files in the root directory of the drive C:, they would be named 1.DAT. If you find such files, delete them). We also advise trying to run the program in a DOS session of Windows 95/98. This allows it to be used even on computers with 8 Mb RAM.