Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!uwvax!dogie.macc.wisc.edu!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!lll-winken!uunet!tektronix!tekcrl!tekgvs!toma
From: toma@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Tom Almy)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk
Subject: Re: request
Message-ID: <5166@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM>
Date: 16 May 89 15:30:12 GMT
References: <4317@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>
Reply-To: toma@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Tom Almy)
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton,  OR.
Lines: 40

In article <4317@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> wee@iris.ucdavis.edu (Chris Wee) writes:
>What is the largest (physical and virtual) screen that Smalltalk/V286
>can support?  I have browsed the DisplayScreen class methods and I
>guess that I can hack it to use a non-IBM-standard display mode that
>may be supported by a video card - e.g.  800x600 or 1024x768.

>Has anyone successfully done this?  And with a Logitech hirez mouse?

Well I have unsuccessfully done it.  Getting the display to run 800x600
was not difficult, but I could never get my mouse (Logitech) to work --
it would not go beyond the original 640x480 VGA screen limits even when
I sent the mouse the limits commands.  It seems like there is something
inside Smalltalk/V286 that is causing the problem.

(Note that I have been successful getting many other programs to work
800x600, even with the mouse.  That is why I feel the problem is within
Smalltalk/V286.

If anyone can prove me wrong, I would appreciate it, as I hate to waste
resolution.

SOAP BOX Time:  Every vendor of "enhanced" EGA and VGA cards uses a 
different mode number, making each card non-standard.  Then each card
vendor supplies software drivers for popular software packages (woe be it
if you use unpopular software!).  It is very easy to write programs that
can use *any* of these enhanced cards, providing that a means is provided
for telling what mode number is necessary, and what the resulting resolution
is.  I do this for all my software, and I sure would like to see software
vendors do the same.  The technique I use is to have an environment variable:
SET HIRES=axreg,bxreg,cardentry,xpixels,ypixels
where axreg and bxreg are the values placed in the respective registers to
issue the INT 10H Set Video Mode, cardentry is used to specify the display
card entry point when certain braindamaged MouseSystems mouse drivers are used,
and xpixels and ypixels is the resulting screen size.

It works like a charm -- and no drivers are necessary!

Tom Almy
toma@tekgvs.labs.tek.com
Standard Disclaimers Apply