VMODE!
******

Last updated by Roedy Green on 96/10/25

Sets the video mode or displays what the current video mode is.
A replacement for the DOS MODE command.


Abstract
********

VMODE! sets/displays any video mode using words or numbers.
VMODE! is a replacement for the DOS MODE command.  Includes
MASM/OptASM source.  By Roedy Green of Canadian Mind Products.
Copyrighted but may be copied freely for Non-military use only.
Usage: VMODE! MONO,  VMODE! 6, or just plain VMODE! to display
the current video mode

Examples:
*********

VMODE! CO80
VMODE! CO40
VMODE! BW80
VMODE! BW40
VMODE! MONO
VMODE! 6

all set the video mode.

VMODE!
by itself just displays the current video mode.

You can use any mixture of upper and lower case. e.g.

Vmode! mono
VMODE! Mono
will both work

Standard video modes
********************

IBM VGA cards use the following modes.  Most other companies
follow IBM's lead, and then offer some extra modes.

mode    text    graphics        colours                 name

0       40x25                   16 out of 256k          BW40
1       40x25                   16 out of 256k          CO40
2       80x25                   16 out of 256k          BW80
3       80x25                   16 out of 256k          CO80
4               320x200         4 out of 256k
5               320x200         4 out of 256k
6               640x200         2 out of 256k
7       80x25                   monochrome              MONO

8..12 not used

13              320x200         16 out of 256k
14              640x200         16 out of 256k
15              640x350         monochrome
16              640x350         16 out of 256k
17              640x480         2 out of 256k
18              640x480         16 out of 256k
19              320x200         256 out of 256k

Headland Video Seven Proprietary Modes

64      60x43
65      132x25
66      132x43
67      60x60
68      100x60
69      132x28

70..95 not used

96              752x410         16 out of 256K
97              720x540         16 out of 256K
98              800x600         16 out of 256K
99              1024x178        2 out of 256K
100             1024x178        4 out of 256K
101             1024x178        16 out of 256K
102             640x400         256 out of 256K
103             640x480         256 out of 256K
104             640x540         256 out of 256K
105             640x600         256 out of 256K * not yet implemented

There are probably other modes beyond these that I do not yet have
documentation on.

GETTING THE LATEST VERSION
**************************

Look for the latest version at my Web site:
  http://oberon.ark.com/~roedy

Warning
*******

VMODE! is a willing slave that will do whatever you ask.  It will attempt
to put your screen into any video mode you request -- even if your screen
is incapable of supporting that video mode.  What happens when you do this?
It depends on your BIOS, video BIOS, and your hardware.  Here are some of the
things that can happen:

1. It ignores you and leaves you in the old video mode.

2. It puts you into an alternate video mode that it can handle.

3. Your machine freezes up.  Try reset or power off to thaw it.

Trouble Shooting
****************

Hexdadecimal
============

VMODE! 0D

will not work because VMODE! does not support hexadecimal.
Instead try:

VMODE! 13

Nothing Happens
===============

You run VMODE! MONO for example, and nothing happens.  VMODE!
displays nothing it all.  This is exactly the what is supposed
to happen.  VMODE! only displays messages when something goes
wrong.  However something did happen behind the scenes.  VMODE!
set the mode to MONO.  If you are already in MONO mode, things
will look just the same, except the screen will be cleared.  If
you go into an exotic mode, the differences from the one you
were in may not be immediately apparent.  Try typing a DIR
command to see how text shows.

Proprietary Video Modes
=======================

VMODE! checks specially for the Headland Video Seven line of
Super VGA cards and lets you access the proprietary video modes
accessed via the INT 10 extended functions.  At this time VMODE!
does not have special handling for any other brands simply
because I don't yet have documentation on how to do it.  Hint
hint...

Dual Screens
============

VMODE! may not work if you have two different video cards in
your machine.  Adventurous souls might experiment with the
source code, experimenting with the FudgeEquip routine to tune
it to your hardware.

Name
====

VMODE! is quite a "mouthful" to type.  You can simply rename the
program to something short like this:

RENAME VMODE!.COM V.COM

If you want to do it up brown, replace the string VMODE! with V
in all the source code and documentation.

You can simply make a copy have thus use either name:

COPY VMODE!.COM V.COM

DESQview
========

DESQview is very motherly and does not like you changing video modes or
playing with dual screens.  If you bat an eye she will put thing
back the way they were.  Do your experiments outside DESQview.


Acknowledgements
****************

The people on BIX with the following handles all helped with
beta testing:

alexw, ddunfield, ligo, blade_runner, agurski, tjeffries,
schneider, ntiedemann, tjeffries, hfishman, chartman, lsultan

Harvey Fishman convinced me to add full Video 7 support for the
proprietary modes.

Roedy Green
Canadian Mind Products
POB 707 Quathiaski Cove
Quadra Island BC Canada
V0P 1N0
(250) 285-2954
Internet Roedy@Bix.Com

-30-
