> Beginning in the 1980s, encyclopedia content became available in a
> compact disc (CD) format. The first such encyclopedia was produced
> by Grolier in 1985. Compton's Multimedia Encyclopedia was released
> in CD format in 1989 and integrates sound, pictures, animation, and
> text in what is termed multimedia CD-ROM. In 1993 the Microsoft
> Corporation released Encarta, a multimedia encyclopedia on CD-ROM.
>  ? Excerpt: Encarta 98 ?American Encyclopedias

This copy of the Deluxe Encarta 98 Encyclopedia came from a Microsoft
Office 98 Gold, software bundle.

 * DL #1: Encarta 98 Deluxe Disk 1, Toast HFS image in a ".zip"
   archive

 * DL #2: Encarta 98 Deluxe Disk 2, Toast HFS image in a ".zip"
   archive

 * DL #3: Research Organizer, Toast HFS image in a ".zip" archive

 * DL #4: Microsoft Encarta Deluxe monthly updates from August 1997
   to December 1998 in a ".sit" archive

Note: If extracting .zip archives under classic Mac OS, use
[MacZip][1] for best results.

Compatibility
Architecture: 68k PPC

 * Minimum System Requirements:
   * A Power Macintosh or a Macintosh with a 25Mhz, 68030 or faster processor (includes Macintosh IIci, LCIII, Performa 450 and later models)
   * System 7.1 or later
   * 16 MB of RAM running system 7.5 or later. 8 MB of RAM running System 7.1
   * 43 MB of available hard disk space
   * 8 MB of available hard disk space for Microsoft Encarta Research Organizer
   * Research Organizer requires an additional 3MB of RAM while the encyclopedia is running
   * A double-speed or faster CD-ROM drive <\-- if images are burned to CD media
   * A monitor supporting 256-colors at a 640x480 or higher resolution

The included "Encarta 98 Read Me" doc also mentions the following,
regarding RAM requirement;

> Encarta Encyclopedia needs at least 5 MB of RAM to operate; however,
> the multimedia components run better if more memory is available. On
> systems with the minimum recommended 8 MB of RAM, certain
> encyclopedia features are not be available. For optimum performance,
> use Encarta Encyclopedia on a system with at least 16 MB of RAM.

  [1]: http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/maczip-106