* * * * Setup for DESQview using Dual Monitors * * * *
June 30, 1991 .... Mike Exner .... 1:129/136
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No guarantee that any of this will work on your system is
either implied or intended. It works in a limited fashion
here and "should" work if your system is comparable to mine.
Although it should work on just about any system that runs
under the DESQview environment. One last point.. I am not
affiliated with Quarterdeck in any way and this document is
for information purposes only. Use it at your own risk.


System Configuration used for these tests:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
80386-25 IBM Compatible Computer
4 meg of 80ns RAM
EC&T chip set
ESDI hard drive controller
160 meg ESDI Hard drive
Hercules Compatible Video Card and Mono Monitor
Paradise VGA Plus Video Card and VGA monitor
Dual Floppies .. 1.44 and 1.2 meg
QEMM does all shadowing .. All hardware shadowing disabled
MS-DOS 3.3 .. system boots under command.com
MS-DOS 5.0 .. on occasion for testing


What I load high in config.sys:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
device = qemm386.sys Ram Rom ma=8 ha=16 I=0000-0fff I=c800-cbff
I=f000-f5ff I=f700-f7ff I=fd00-fdff Frame=c800
device = loadhi.sys dmdrvr.bin
device = loadhi.sys ramdrive.sys 512 128 8 /a
device = loadhi.sys mouse.sys /Y
device = loadhi.sys x00.sys 2 dv e b,0,19200 t=1024 r=1024
device = loadhi.sys ncache-s.exe a: -a b: -a exp=512
buffers = 1
stacks = 0,0

What I load high in autoexec.bat:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
loadhi files = 30
loadhi buffers = 10


This setup gives me the ability to open 592k windows in
DESQview as well as using my fossil driver (X00.sys) in
multiple windows. Of course the I= line below the
QEMM386.SYS line is part of the above line and not a
separate line in config.sys. Ncache-s.sys is the small
version of Nortons Cache (v5.0) and the dmdrvr.bin is a hard
disk driver that allows me access to the ESDI hard disk..


Please note that the QEMM386.SYS line is for my computer and
probably will not work with yours.


Dual Monitor Setup ... Part I ...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In setting up DESQview (with the setup utility) I have the
video option set to "Monochrome" (selection #0) and the video
driver is set to none. Everything else should be setup
normally for your system.

In my autoexec.bat file I have the following which starts up
DESQview:

cls
mode mono
c:
cd\dv
xdv
mode co80

Note that DESQview will start up on the Monochrome monitor
and so any Graphics programs that you run on the VGA monitor
will *NOT* be affected if you switch windows (between the
VGA and Monochrome windows that is). There will not even be
any swapping of video data to disk (nice). The DESQview pop
up menu will appear on the monochrome monitor as well as any
windows that you start that have the initial mode set to
either 7 or blank. I have found that the system is much
more reliable if you leave the initial mode setting blank
for any windows that you want to start up on the monochrome
monitor. As for the VGA monitor you can set the initial
mode to any of the accepted settings in the DESQview manual.
I currently use Inital Mode 2 for this setup..


The Following Information is the "Change a Program" for my
BBS in DESQview.. It comes up on the Monochrome Monitor.
Note : Do not run a video fossil for the monochrome monitor
as the screen (in most cases) will not update...

Writes text directly to screen.......: [Y]
Displays graphics information........: [N]
Virtualize text/graphics (Y,N,T).....: [T]
Uses serial ports (Y,N,1,2)..........: [N]
Requires floppy diskette.............: [N]

System Memory (in K).................: 0
Maximum Program Memory Size (in K)...: 384
Script Buffer Size...................: 500
Maximum Expanded Memory Size (in K)..:
Text Pages...........................: 4 <== More Reliable
Graphics Pages.......................: 0
Initial Mode.........................:
Interrupts...........................: 00 to FF

Close on exit (Y,N,blank)............: [ ]
Uses its own colors..................: [Y]
Allow Close Window command...........: [Y]
Runs in background (Y,N,blank).......: [Y]
Uses math coprocessor................: [Y]
Keyboard conflict (0-F)..............: [0]
Share CPU when foreground............: [Y]
Share EGA when foreground/zoomed.....: [Y]
Can be swapped out (Y,N,blank).......: [N]
Protection level (0-3)...............: [0]


The following information is the "Change a Program" for my
4DOS window in DESQview. It comes up on the VGA monitor.

Writes text directly to screen.......: [Y]
Displays graphics information........: [Y]
Virtualize text/graphics (Y,N,T).....: [Y]
Uses serial ports (Y,N,1,2)..........: [N]
Requires floppy diskette.............: [N]

System Memory (in K).................: 0
Maximum Program Memory Size (in K)...: 640
Script Buffer Size...................: 500
Maximum Expanded Memory Size (in K)..: 100
Text Pages...........................: 4
Graphics Pages.......................: 6
Initial Mode.........................: 2
Interrupts...........................: 00 to FF

Close on exit (Y,N,blank)............: [ ]
Uses its own colors..................: [Y]
Allow Close Window command...........: [Y]
Runs in background (Y,N,blank).......: [Y]
Uses math coprocessor................: [Y]
Keyboard conflict (0-F)..............: [0]
Share CPU when foreground............: [Y]
Share EGA when foreground/zoomed.....: [Y]
Can be swapped out (Y,N,blank).......: [N]
Protection level (0-3)...............: [0]


Current problems on my system..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The system used to lock up just by using the DESQview Key
until I increased the number of Graphics pages for any
window that was started on the VGA monitor (currently at 6).
This again only happened after I ran a graphics program. If
I stayed in the text mode in all windows and did not run any
graphics programs everything works perfectly. If however I
ran a graphics program the problems started. This happens
even if I exit the graphics program before starting to close
down or switch windows.

Every once in a while my VGA screen gets scrambled. I get
all kind of ASCII characters all over the VGA screen (in any
program). The only cure is to reboot the computer.

The utility that I use to reset my VGA monitor will *not*
work under this setup... Typing VGAPLUS VGA at the dos
prompt will lock up the entire computer.


Recommendations..............
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This way of using dual monitors would be great if it was a
bit more reliable. The ability to switch from the VGA
monitor to the Monochrome monitor without affecting the
Graphics program running in the VGA monitor is a great
advantage. Problems with colors, screen quality and screen
lines is eliminated with this setup.

I currently am using the above setup and am still working
on making it a more reliable setup. This is the second
revision of the document and since I first wrote it I have
managed to increase the overall reliability of the system.


Dual Monitor Setup ... Part II ...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Setup is similar to the above except that in the setup
procedure for DESQview you need to choose VGA as your
main monitor. Any window that you want to show up on the
monochrome monitor needs to be sent there by using the
Initial Mode switch in DESQview change a program window.
If you set this to 7 it will be sent to the monochrome
monitor. Remember to set Virtulize Text/Graphics to T and
Writes directly to screen to Y. If you do not have these
set this way you will not get screen updates on the
monochrome monitor. Again do not run a video fossil in any
window that runs on the monochrome monitor. The results can
be very unusual.

Any window you want to show up on the VGA monitor should
have the Initial Mode left blank. Everything else should be
the same as above for maximum reliability in your system.
Another advantage to this setup is that my VGAPLUS utility
will reset my VGA monitor. Many programs that I run set the
screen mode to their settings. Using the VGAPLUS utility
resets the VGA monitor to the proper settings. As I said
above this will not work with DESQview using the monochrome
monitor as the Main Monitor.

This method although much more reliable will not allow you
to switch to the monochrome monitor from a graphics program
without messing up the graphics program (DESQview swaps the
to disk when you switch windows so I designate a RamDisk as
the swapdisk for DESQview to speed it up). The DESQview pop
up menus will show up on the VGA monitor and as we all know
this also messes with the Graphics program running.

Final Thoughts .....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The choice is for you to make as to the setup you want or
need. Both setups work although one better than the other
and the advantages of one over the other depends on the type
of programs that you will be running...

I hope that this document helps you through any problems
that you may be having in setting up a dual monitor system
under the DESQview environment.

__Mike__ 1:129/136