# FILE: VMS22.TXT # ========= # # Last update: Thursday, October 13, 1994. @ 22:35:18. # # -------------------------------------------------------------------------- VMS will set any video mode. It was developed as an adapter independent facility for switching video modes. You pass it a hex video mode value on the command line and it sets the mode to that value. After setting the mode it displays the current mode along with the number of rows and columns on the screen. You can suppress this report with the -s switch. You can get this report with the -r switch. The -v switch is used with mode 3 to get the 80x43(EGA)/80x50(VGA) modes (i.e. VMS 3 -v). VMS automatically detects ATI cards and chipsets and can report various info about the card, including all supported modes, by using the -d switch. When an ATI card is detected a call is made to verify the passed mode as a supported mode. Although there is some error trapping it doesn't prevent you from trying to set a mode that your card does not support which can sometimes hang your machine. Usually this is detected and the video mode is reset to mode 3, 80x25. Most recently I have added support for setting VESA modes. VMS can detect a VESA BIOS extension. Using the -m switch will display a report of all supported VESA modes. Typing the program name by itself will display a screen similar to the following: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Video Mode Switcher v2.2 Copyright (C) 1993-1994 Steve Phillips. Usage: VMS [options] where mode is a valid hex mode for your video card. VMS -h or -? for help Options: -r displays a report on the present video mode -s suppresses video mode report -v used with mode 3 to get 80x43(EGA)/80x50(VGA) mode -d displays card details (ATI only at present) -m displays supported VESA modes ATI card detected. VESA BIOS extension version 1.2. The current video mode is 3. The current number of columns is 80. The current number of rows is 25. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have an ATI card you can use the -d switch to get card details. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Video Mode Switcher v2.2 Copyright (C) 1993-1994 Steve Phillips. VESA BIOS extension version 1.2. The current video mode is 3. The current number of columns is 80. The current number of rows is 25. ATI card present. ATI chipset detected. ATI chipset 68800. Mouse port on board. Programmable clock chip on board. BIOS supports 70Hz non-interlaced refresh. Card uses 45Mhz memory clock. Card uses paged ROM. Card has 8514/A hardware on board. Card has 1024K or more RAM on board. Video modes supported: 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 0D 0E 0F 10 11 12 13 21 22 23 27 33 37 53 54 55 5B 61 62 63 64 6A -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Using the -m switch will give you a report of all supported VESA modes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Video Mode Switcher v2.2 Copyright (C) 1993-1994 Steve Phillips. VESA BIOS extension version 1.2. 2048 kilobytes of memory on board. Supported modes: Mode Type Resolution Colours ==== ==== ========== ======= 0108: text 80x60 N/A 0109: text 132x25 N/A 010A: text 132x43 N/A 0100: graphics 640x400 256 006A: unknown unknown N/A 0102: graphics 800x600 16 0101: graphics 640x480 256 0103: graphics 800x600 256 0104: graphics 1024x768 16 0105: graphics 1024x768 256 0110: graphics 640x480 32,768 0111: graphics 640x480 65,536 0112: graphics 640x380 16,777,216 0113: graphics 800x600 32,768 0114: graphics 800x600 65,536 0115: graphics 800x600 16,777,216 0116: graphics 1024x768 32,768 0117: graphics 1024x768 65,536 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This program is free to use unaltered. The source code is available for a small donation of $25 to help continue development of this and other programs I am working on. If you have any questions, suggestions, corrections or additions please write me at the following address: Steve Phillips 31 Patola Priv. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1T 2W9 Or send E-Mail via one of the following services: CompuServe 71742,521 Internet 71742.521@compuserve.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------