20 Dec
2007
20 Dec
'07
2:09 a.m.
Dave Dunfield wrote:
The big problem with a graphical version would be the
"blinking" attribute - Do any graphics modes support blinking in
hardware?
No. But I definitely see your point about double-wide characters being
a problem in text mode, and agree that the only elegant solution would
be rasterizing in graphics mode.
So what I did was to use VGA's capability of
having two fonts (512
possible characters on screen at once), and generate a second font
with underlines.
It warms my heart to see that feature of VGA used properly. I think I
can count the number of programs that use both VGA font banks on less
then ten fingers.
I've also provided FIND132 which helps locate a
132 column video mode
for your adapter. I'm still researching VESA - as Jim said, perhaps I
can directly determine a suitable mode from the information returned
by the VESA BIOS.
Feel free to contact me off-list for some sample code. The basic idea I
use is to use Int 10/AX=4F01h to loop through all 256(*) available modes
and check the results for the resolution or attributes (ie. text or
graphics) that I'm specifically looking for. There might be a more
elegant way than calling Int 10/AX=4F01h times, but it works well and is
fast enough that I never looked for a more "elegant" way.
(*)there are a total of 512 modes you can query, but the 0xxh are
non-VESA and so you don't need to check them, only the 1xxh modes).
If there are any more suggestions or feedback, please
keep it coming.
I think this project is excellent and a kick-ass way to use spare old
hardware lying around (which is more likely to have a working 25-pin
serial port than any modern machine). I love this project.
--
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org) http://www.oldskool.org/
Help our electronic games project: http://www.mobygames.com/
Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/
A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/