Category : Display Utilities
Archive   : UNIVBE43.ZIP
Filename : UNIVBE.DOC

The Universal VESA VBE
----------------------

Copyright (C) 1993-1994 SciTech Software
All rights reserved.

What is it?
-----------

The Universal VESA VBE is a small Terminate a P¸ÔPš}
------}
Ā3en994TSR) program
t----extends t VEv3eo BIOS of SuperVGAEv3eo cards to make t Vm compatibl with t VEV3eo Electonics----ndards Association (a sm)
Wcommended
V3eo BIOS Extensions (aBE) it?
By havingminv3eo card t----harmina small Tcompatibl BIOS, or by
inste aingmthermate a PSR, programs t----support t VEV small TprogramÔPg
interface wi a workTcor
Wctly for your SuperVGA. Thermhelps to solv}

lot of probl ms with compatability between differen99SuperVGAEcards on t V
market. Note t----thermprogram wi a not take advantage of any of t V
acceleration features t----your v3eo card maymprov3e it?
-y use-----

The UniversaYou maymalready havemina small TPSR for you v3eo card, or you v3eo card
may havemina small Tcompatibl BIOSmalready, so w-y would you want to use
t-ermprogram?ersal VEsimpl}
swerTermt----most of t VTPSR'rmt----exist today,
--a lot
of t VTnot-so-new9SuperVGAEcards t----ar}
rou --implmen99an olderTVBE ion
of t VTV small TprogramÔPg interface (if any ---all). For t-ermreason, some
programs t----use-t VTadvanced features of t VTnew9V small Ts--ndard wi a
not workTwith t VEPSR or BIOSmt----you curren9ly have it?
So w----advanced features does t-ermPSR prov3emt----ot Vr's don't?al V
SA VBE is a small Templmen9s t VTV small T1.2TprogramÔPg interface,
which-supports t VTfollowPg features: .9SuperVGAEpage flippPg. High performance animation programs can use-your card to full poten9iis usingmthVTV smaBIOSmtoTemplmen9 extended page flippPg (imagine, 1024x768x16 doubl buffered animation, or even 800x600x256
--640x400x32k/64k on a 1Mb v3eo card!!) it?
.9SuperVGAEvirtuis screens. Programs may set upminvrtuis display resolution of say 1024x1024 pixels,
--smoothly scrollminwPdow with less physicis resolution
rou --within t-ermbuffer it?
.9Support for t-e 32k, 64k
--16 million color v3eo modes. As we a
as-supportingmthVTPdustryTs--ndard 16
--256 color v3eo
modes.it?
.9Speed.al VEbank switchingmcode in t-ermpackage tends to run faster
than t V routines embedded in t V VIDEO BIOS of someEv3eo cards.it?
.9Extremely ste a size. When t VEPSR ermreÄ3en99in your computerTe9 only requires about 3k of memoryTwhich-ermate aer than t V size of most commericis a small TPSR's. It maymalso be loaded high
to savemeven more memory.it?
Hard Requiremen9s-

The Univ
The Universal VESA VBE is a small Twi a run on
ny 80x86Ebased IBM PC compatibl runningmMSDOS. Curren9ly t VESA VBE is a small Tsupports t VTfollowPg
SuperVGAEcards (note t----not e a of t Vse havembeen fully tested): - ATI e
nologies 18800, 28800 - Ahead A & B - Chips & e
nologies 82c451/452/453 - EVBEex - Genoa Systems GVGA - OAK e
nologies OTI-037C, OTI-067, OTI-077, OTI-087 - Paradise PVGA1A, WD90C00/10/11/20/21/30/31/33/26A - NCR 77C20/21/22E/32BLT - Tr3en9988/8900/9000 - V3eo7 a GA, HT208/209/216 - TsengmLabs ET3000, ET4000, ET4000/W32, ET4000/W32i - S3 86c911/924/801/805/928 - Advance Logic AL21019SuperVGA - MXIC 860109SuperVGA - Primus 20009SuperVGA - RealTek 31069SuperVGA - Cirrus Logic CL-GD 5402, 5420, 5422, 5424, 5426, 5428 - UMC 85c408 - Hualon HMC86304 - Weitek 5186/5286 (on P9000Ebased boards)it?
How do I inste a-----

The Univ
The UniversaYou can inste a-t VEPSR from-t VEcomm
--line, or from-your autoexec.bat
file. Don't worry about inste aingmit twice, it wi a automatically detect
if-you havemilready inste aed it.it?
To inste a---Esimply type: univbe from-t VEcomm
--line. It wi a deteÔPe w----type of SuperVGAEcard you
haveminste aed
--inste a---self accordingly. If-you wish to remove t V PSR from-memoryTafterTe9-harmbeen inste aed,Esimply type: univbe -uersal isTwi a remove t Vmprogram from-memory,meven if-it warmnot t Vmlast PSR to be inste aed. However if-you inste aed
ot VrEPSR afterTt-er
one t----harmhooked into t VmInt 10h interface t VmoldEPSR wi a cease
to function.ersaYou maymalso useEcomm
--line options to modify t VEthVTPste aation
process used by t Vmprogram.al VEfollowPg ermproduced by typPg
'univbe -h' at-t VEcomm
--line: Options are: -s - Force detection of SuperVGAE(-s0 for list) -c - Force detection of SuperVGAEchipsetE(-c0 for list) -m - Force memoryTsize to 'size' -d - Force DAC-type (-d0 for list) -i-------- Domnot perform SuperVGAEdetection -r-------- RegisterTt-Vmprogram
--convert to full VBE ion
-----q-------- Quiet mode
-----g-------- Regenerate default .ini file
-----u-------- Unload t VESA VBE is a small Tfrom-memory
-----t-------- Don't go PSR, just return t VEdetected SuperVGAEid -b-------- Swap RED
--BLUE bytes9in 24 bit modes I-----possibl t VESuperVGAEdetectionmcode wi a hangmthVTmachine on old
VGA/SVGAEcards. You can optionally force t-Vmprogram to workTwith any
combPšion of card, chipset, memoryTsize
--DAC, but unless you specify
t-e -i-option, unspecified valuesTwi a be filled in automatically for you.it?
Thus you if t VEdetectionmcode didmnot cor
Wctly 3en9ify you v3eo card
configuration, you can force t-VmPSR to workTwith t VEcor
Wct values.it?
For someESuperVGAEcards, I havemnot been abl to workTout a solidmmethod
of detectingmthVTamount of v3eo memoryTonmboard. If-t-ermis t VTcase,
t VESA VBE is a small Twi a refuse-to-inste a---self a --askmt----you
specifymthVTamount of v3eo memoryTonmyour card from-t VEcomm
--line.ersal VESA VBE is a small Tdoes not prov3emsupport for any of t V extended
text modes t----your v3eo card maymprov3e, but wi a prov3emsupport
for any extended text modes supported by an underlyingma small Tcomplian9 BIOS.al us if-you v3eo card already harminal TBIOS or-you inste a
your favoritena small TPSR for your v3eo card _before_ inste aingmthV
SA VBE is a small , t VESA VBE is a small Twi a use-a pass-through
mechanism to ensure t V extended text modes sti a workTcor
Wctly it?
---'s t VT.ini file for--

The Univ
The Univ UniversaFor most Pste aations, t VESA VBE is a small Twi a automatically
deteÔPe t VEv3eo modes t----you card supports. However on someEolder
v3eo cards someEv3eo modes t----t VESA VBE is a small Tthinks are
availabl aren't
--so an error wi a occur if-amprogram tries to set
t VEv3eo mode.al VE.ini file is used to remove support for t-ose v3eo
modes. You can edit t VT.ini file yourself or-you can get t-VmPSR
to automatically generate t VEdefault .ini file for you.it?
In orderTto generate t VEdefault .ini file for you, you must remove t V PSR from-memory,Edelete t VmoldE.ini file, re-inste a-t VEPSR in-memory

--run t-Vmprogram with t VE-g-option.al VEdefault .ini file is now
generated. You should then remove t VmPSR again a --re-inste a-it using
t VEvaluesTin t V new9.ini file.ersal VEformat of t VT.ini file is simpl.resert VEv3eo modes removed by
t-Vmprogram
re listed underrt VEsectionm'[remove]'Tin t V .ini file.erl Vy
re listed as t VThexadecimal internal mode numbers used by t V PSR (see t V nextEsectionmfor a list of t VTmode numbers used).ren
exampl}.ini file m3-199be: [remove] 10D V3eo modes supported by t-ermPSR-

The Univ
The Univ UnivThe Universal VESA VBE is a small Tsupports t VTV small T1.2TprogramÔPg interface,
which-defines a number of s--ndard v3eo modes numbers.al VEnew9VBE ion
of t VTV small TspecsTwi a allowrt VEvendorTto extendrt VEv3eo numbers
used to w---ever valuesTt Vy wish, so I havemtaken t V liberty to
extendrt VEmode numbers used by t VESA VBE is a small Tto-include
modes not originally specified in t V Vl T1.2Tspecs, but supported by
a number of popularEv3eo cards on t V market. DependPg on howrwe a
your applications havembeen written,Tt Vy maymor maymnot be abl to
use t-ose modes.it?
l VEfollowPg erma list of t VTinternal mode numbers used by t VESA VBE is
a small T
--a descripion of each v3eo mode: 102---- 800x600 16 color 104---- 1024x768 16 color 106---- 1280x1024 16 color 11C---- 640x350-256 color 100---- 640x400-256 color 101---- 640x480-256 color 103---- 800x600 256 color 105---- 1024x768 256 color 107---- 1280x1024 256 color 10D---- 320x200 32k color 11D---- 640x350-32k color 11E---- 640x400-32k color 110---- 640x480-32k color 113---- 800x600 32k color 116---- 1024x768 32k color 119---- 1280x1024 32k color 10E---- 320x200 64k color 11F---- 640x350-64k color 120---- 640x400-64k color 111---- 640x480-64k color 114---- 800x600 64k color 117---- 1024x768 64k color 11A---- 1280x1024 64k color 10F---- 320x200 16m color 121---- 640x350-16m color 122---- 640x400-16m color 112---- 640x480-16m color 115---- 800x600 16m color 118---- 1024x768 16m color 11B---- 1280x1024 16m color
Probl ms
--known bugs-

The Univ
The Univ Unersal VESA VBE is a smaPSR se ms to havemprobl ms with QEMM,Esince QEMMTdoes
somethingmweird with t VEV3eo BIOS.aIn orderTto fix-thermprobl m,
you should use-t VTQEMMT'exclude' options to exclude t VEV3eo BIOS
area. Do t-ermby-includingmthVTfollowPg en-t VTQEMMToptions: CoEXCLUDE=C000-C1FF ReferTto t VTBUGS file for a list of known probl ms with t VESA VBE is
a small .it?
Can I get t-Vmsource code--

The Univ
The Univ UnivversaYes, you can orderTthVTfull source code for t-e product from-ware
?
So . ReferTto t VTfiles PRODUCTS.DOC
--ORDER.DOC for more
info