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- UniVBE 5.1
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- User's Guide
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- SciTech Software
- 5 Governors Lane, Suite D
- Chico, CA 95926 USA
-
- Orders only : : 800-4UNIVBE
- : 800-486-4823
- Main & Tech Support: : 916-894-8400
- FAX : 510-208-8026
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- Copyrights & Trademarks
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- O Copyright 1993-1995 SciTech Software. All Rights Reserved.
-
- The product names UniVBE and UniPower are trademarks of SciTech Software.
- All other trademarks used in this documentation are trademarks or
- registered trademarks of their respective holders.
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-
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- Memberships and Affiliations
-
- SciTech is an active participant of the following industry groups:
- ACCESS.bus Industry Group
- Computer Game Developers Association
- The GamePC Consortium
- The Video Electronics Standards Association
- The US Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star Computers Program.
-
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- UniVBE was written with Borland C++ and Borland Turbo Assembler, and this
- manual was produced using Microsoft Word for Windows.
-
- Developed in Australia. Produced and printed in the United States.
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- Software License Agreement
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-
- READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE
- USING OR DISTRIBUTING SCITECH SOFTWARE'S DOCUMENTATION, SOFTWARE AND
- ADDITIONAL MATERIALS (THE _PRODUCT_). THE PRODUCT IS COPYRIGHTED AND
- LICENSED (NOT SOLD) TO YOU AND BY USING OR DISTRIBUTING THE PRODUCT, YOU
- ARE ACCEPTING AND AGREEING TO THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT. IF YOU
- ARE NOT WILLING TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT, YOU
- SHOULD NOT USE OR DISTRIBUTE THIS PRODUCT. THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT
- REPRESENTS THE ENTIRE AGREEMENT CONCERNING THE PRODUCT BETWEEN YOU AND
- SCITECH SOFTWARE (REFERRED TO AS _LICENSOR_), AND IT SUPERSEDES ANY PRIOR
- PROPOSAL, REPRESENTATION, OR UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE PARTIES.
- 1. EVALUATION PERIOD. You may use a Shareware Copy of the Product for
- an evaluation period of up to 21 days, in order to determine whether the
- Product meets your needs before purchasing it. Once the evaluation period
- ends, you agree to either purchase a Registered Copy of the Product, or to
- stop using it. If you have ordered a Registered Copy of the Product from
- us, you may continue to use your Shareware Copy until your Registered Copy
- arrives.
- 2. USE OF THE PRODUCT. While you are evaluating the Product, you may
- use it on as many computers as are required to perform your evaluation.
- Your 21-day evaluation period begins when you first install the Product on
- one or more computers for evaluation purposes. Once the evaluation period
- is over and you purchase the Product, you may only use the product on one
- computer at a time. You may install the product on more than one of your
- computers as long as there is no possibility of the product being used at
- the same time on different computers. For multiple system licenses please
- contact SciTech software for special pricing. You must not (a) defeat, or
- try to defeat, messages in the Product which encourage users to register;
- (b) modify or prepare derivative works of the Product; (c) or reverse
- engineer, decompile or disassemble the Product
- 3. DISTRIBUTING SHAREWARE COPIES OF THE PRODUCT. You may make copies of
- your full, unregistered Shareware Copy of the Product to give to others,
- however you may not sell Shareware Copies of the Product for a profit
- (shareware distribution companies may charge their normal shipping and
- handling fees). Please also note that distribution of the Shareware
- Version of UniVBE may only be through the normal shareware distribution
- channels as a single package. You MAY NOT bundle shareware copies of
- UniVBE with your freeware, shareware or commercial products unless you
- obtain a special Shareware Distribution License from SciTech Software.
- Also, you may not: (a) distribute registered versions of the Product; (b)
- distribute updates of your product which may include the Product without
- using the latest version of the Product, available at ftp.scitechsoft.com;
- (c) ship incomplete versions of the Product; (d) defeat, or try to defeat,
- messages in the Product which encourage users to register their software
- or actively discourage user registration in any other way
- 4. COPYING REGISTERED COPIES OF THE PRODUCT. When you receive a
- Registered Copy of the Product you may make copies of the Product which
- are necessary for normal backup purposes only. You agree not to make any
- other copies of the software, the manual(s), or any part of them, or sell
- or give any copies or registration codes to others.
- 5. LEGAL DISCLAIMER. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED _AS IS_ WITHOUT WARRANTY
- OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
- THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
- ii
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- PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PRODUCT
- IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PRODUCT PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF
- ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
- IN NO EVENT WILL SCITECH SOFTWARE, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY HAVE
- DISTRIBUTED THE PRODUCT AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES,
- INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
- ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PRODUCT (INCLUDING BUT NOT
- LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES
- SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PRODUCT TO OPERATE
- WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN
- ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
- 6.GOVERNING LAW. This license Agreement shall be construed and governed in
- accordance with the laws of the State of California, USA.
- 7.Costs of Litigation. If any action is brought by either party to this
- License Agreement against the other party regarding the subject matter
- hereof, the prevailing party shall be entitled to recover, in addition to
- any other relief granted, reasonable attorney fees and expenses of
- litigation.
- 8.SEVERABLILITY. Should any term of this License Agreement be declared
- void or unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction, such
- declaration shall have no effect on the remaining terms hereof.
- 9.NO WAIVER. The failure of either party to enforce any rights granted
- hereunder or to take action against the other party in the event of any
- breach hereunder shall not be deemed a waiver by that party as to
- subsequent enforcement of rights or subsequent actions in the event of
- future breaches.
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- Contents
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- Copyrights & Trademarks..................................i
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- Memberships and Affiliations.............................i
-
- Software License Agreement...............................ii
-
- Section 1.:Introduction..................................1
- UniVBE - The Plug & Play Solution .....................1
- Benefits of UniVBE ....................................1
- Why You Should Replace Your Existing VBE Driver .......2
- What's New in this Version? ...........................3
- Hardware Requirements .................................3
- File Descriptions .....................................3
- Getting the Latest Full Version .......................4
-
- Section 2.:Installation & Setup..........................5
- Installing UniVBE for the First Time ..................5
- What Happens During Installation? .....................9
- Configuring Your Software to Use UniVBE ...............9
- Changing the Settings of UniVBE After Installation ....9
- Changing your Video Card After Installation ...........9
- Registering Your Software .............................10
- Why You Should Register Your Software ..............10
- Instant Registration by Credit Card ................10
- Registration by Mail or FAX ........................10
- Entering Your Registration Code ....................10
- What Happens If You Don't Register? ................10
- Upgrading from Previous Versions ......................11
- Uninstalling or Disabling UniVBE ......................11
- Automatic Uninstall with UNINSTAL.BAT ..............11
- Manual Unistall ....................................11
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- Section 3.:Supplemental Utility Programs.................12
- VBETest ...............................................12
- Interactive Visual Compliance Test .................12
- Quick/Full Compliance Tests ........................15
- Enable/Disable UniVBE ..............................15
- VBE/PM Power Management Tests ......................16
- Profile ...............................................17
- UniPower ..............................................19
- Is Your Monitor Compatible with DPMS? ..............19
- UniPower For Windows ...............................19
- UniPower For DOS ...................................19
- Problems with the Standby State ....................20
- UniCenter .............................................21
- Adjusting a video mode .............................22
- Adjusting the Sync Polarities ......................22
- Saving the settings for a mode .....................22
- Saving the settings permanently ....................22
-
- Section 4.: Advanced Configuration Options...............23
- v
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- UVCONFIG Menu Options .................................23
- Ignore old VBE BIOS ................................24
- Disable VBE 2.0 Extensions .........................24
- Disable Linear Framebuffer .........................24
- UVCONFIG Command Line Parameters ......................24
- UNIVBE Command Line Parameters ........................26
- Enabling/Disabling UniVBE ..........................26
- Modifying the UNIVBE.INI File .........................26
- Manually removing video modes ......................26
- Manually changing bytes per lines values ...........27
- Manually changing TrueColor pixel formats ..........27
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- Section 5.:Troubleshooting Guide.........................28
- Linear framebuffer modes hang my machine ..............28
- The 15/16/24/32 bit TrueColor modes look wierd ........28
- The 24/32 bit TrueColor modes have swapped colors .....28
- 386 Memory Managers ...................................29
- Common Questions and Answers ..........................29
- Technical Support .....................................31
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- Appendix A:Supported Hardware............................33
- Graphics Chips -- Standard Support ....................33
- Graphics Chips -- Linear Frame Buffer Support .........33
- DAC Chips .............................................34
- DAC Chips -- 320x and 360x 15/16 bit modes ............35
- Known Bugs and Problems ...............................36
- List of cards tested with UniVBE 5.1 ..................37
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- Appendix B:VBE Compatible Applications...................40
-
- Appendix C:Developer Information.........................41
- UniVBE Programming Information ........................41
- Video Modes Supported by UniVBE .......................41
- Hardware Limitations ...............................43
- Extended Text Modes ................................43
- Distribution Licensing Information ....................43
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- Appendix D:Glossary......................................44
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- Appendix E: VESA Software Standards Overview.............47
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- Appendix F:Order/Product Feedback Forms..................50
- Order/Registration Form ...............................50
- Product Feedback Form .................................52
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- Index....................................................53
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- vi
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- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
-
-
- Section 1.:
- Introduction
-
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- UniVBE - The Plug & Play Solution
-
- The Universal VESA BIOS Extension, _UniVBE_ extends the Video BIOS of just
- about any SuperVGA card, making it compatible with the Video Electronics
- Standards Association (VESA) Video BIOS Extensions (VBE). Many popular
- programs like The 7th Guest and Microsoft Flight Simulator 5 rely on a
- fully functioning VBE in order to obtain the highest performance possible.
- UniVBE gives you the latest VBE 2.0 standard so you can be sure these
- programs will not only work correctly, but will run as fast as possible on
- your system. Using UniVBE has many advantages:
-
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- Benefits of UniVBE
-
- . Plug & Play. UniVBE will automatically detect your graphics card and
- make your software work correctly in high resolution modes. You don't
- have to try and figure out what kind of chip you have and then try to
- locate your vendor for a possible software upgrade.
-
- . Compatibility. It will make your graphics compatible with the latest
- VESA standards. If you have bugs in your current firmware, it can fix
- them and make it so you can run your favorite graphics applications
- without errors.
-
- . Performance. It will generally increase the performance of existing
- software that uses the VESA standards. For software that uses VBE
- 2.0, you will get significant additional performance improvements.
-
- . Money and Energy Saving. UniVBE can save you money and help the
- environment at the same time. UniVBE fully supports the VESA VBE/PM
- and DPMS standards for Energy Star compliance, and comes with the
- UniPOWER_ power management screen savers. If you have an Energy Star
- compliant monitor, the UniPower DOS and Windows screen saver programs
- allow you to power down the monitor to use as little as 5 watts when
- not in use.
-
- . New Modes. UniVBE will automatically create new high performance
- modes on your graphics card that allows software, especially
- interactive games and digital video, to run faster and with better
- quality than before.
-
- . Diagnostics. UniVBE also includes the VBETest and Profile utilities
- which will fully test your card for compliance with VESA standards,
- as well as testing the performance of your graphics card.
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-
- 1
-
-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- Why You Should Replace Your Existing VBE Driver
-
- You may already have a vendor supplied VESA VBE TSR or built in VBE
- support and want to know if you still need UniVBE.
-
- The simple answer is yes. Your graphics card probably implements an older
- version of the VESA VBE interface (if any at all), or it is just plain
- buggy. For this reason, many of the latest games and graphics related
- programs that use the advanced features of the new VBE 1.2 and 2.0
- standards will probably not work with the TSR or BIOS that you currently
- have.
-
- UniVBE fully implements the VBE Core 2.0 standard, which supports the
- features listed in Appendix E. It is better than the one that may have
- come with your graphics card for several reasons:
-
- . Compatibility. We have developed the defacto test for VBE
- compliance, VBETest. Many VBE drivers cannot pass VBETest and thus
- will probably experience problems when trying to run real world
- software. UniVBE will make your graphics compatible with the latest
- VESA standards. If you have bugs in your current firmware, it can
- automatically fix them and make it so you can run your favorite
- graphics applications without errors.
-
- . VBE Core 2.0 Compatibility. Very few cards have implemented the new
- VBE 2.0 standard yet. VBE 2.0 has a high speed 32 bit protected mode
- interface. Many of the latest programs are being developed will
- support VBE 2.0's 32-bit protected mode interface giving you as much
- as 2-3 times the performance of VBE 1.2 programs.
-
- . Speed. The code in UniVBE generally runs much faster than the
- routines embedded in the ROM BIOS of most video cards. Not only that,
- but on many systems UniVBE is able to obtain the maximum performance
- from the video card.
-
- . Small Memory Footprint. When the UniVBE is resident in your computer,
- it requires around 8K bytes of high memory and is smaller than most
- vendor supplied TSR's which support only a single video card.
-
- . New Game and Digital Video Modes. UniVBE enables your existing
- graphics card to display new high performance modes that will be used
- by many upcoming high performance games and digital video
- applications.
-
- . Monitor Centering. Includes the UniCenter_ program for adjusting the
- supported video modes for optimum performance on your monitor.
- UniCenter allows you to adjust the centering and sizing for all video
- modes supported by UniVBE. It's great for getting those video modes
- to look just right on your monitor.
-
- . Power Management. Supports the new VBE/PM 1.0 standard for correctly
- signaling power management states (standby, suspend, off) to Energy
- Star (VESA DPMS) compliant video monitors.
-
- . Mode Control - UniVBE supports mapping out video modes that don't
- work on your particular display. This can eliminate the chance that
- you can damage your monitor.
-
- 2
-
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- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- What's New in this Version?
-
- If you are using UniVBE 5.0, here are some of the features that we have
- added in UniVBE 5.1:
-
- . Support for the new VBE 2.0 Core standard including linear frame
- buffer modes
- . Support for many additional graphics cards and chips
- . Creation of high performance game and digital video modes
- . Addition of a menu driven configuration program
- . Many other additional enhancements
-
-
- Hardware Requirements
-
- UniVBE will run on any 386 or higher based PC compatible running MS-DOS,
- Windows, or an OS/2 2.x DOS shell. Currently UniVBE supports all of the
- VGA cards listed in Appendix A and more are being added in each new
- revision of UniVBE.
-
-
- File Descriptions
-
- If you received the complete UniVBE/Pro Shareware, you should have the
- following files before you begin installation:
-
- FILE_ID.DIZ BBS Archive Description
- README.TXT Extended Archive Description
- ORDER.TXT Product ordering information
- INSTALL.EXE DOS Installation & Setup Program
- BIN.001 A zipped library of UniVBE utilities
- DOC.001 A zipped file containing the documentation
- DOS.001 A zipped library with UniCenter
- DOS.002 A zipped library with DOS DPMS utilities
- WIN.001 A zipped library with Windows screen saver
- UNZIP.EXE Unzip program used by INSTALL
-
- If any of these files are missing or corrupted, you should try and
- download a new version from the places listed in the following section.
-
- After installation, you will see the following files in the \UNIVBE51
- subdirectory:
-
- FILE_ID.DIZ BBS Archive Description
- README.TXT Extended Archive Description
- ORDER.TXT A printable mail/fax order form.
- UNICENTR.EXE Screen centering utility
- UNINSTAL.BAT Batch file to uninstall UniVBE
- UNIPOWER.EXE DPMS screen saver for DOS
- UNIVBE.DRV A driver for your graphics card
- UNIVBE.TXT Text version of this manual
- UNIVBE.RTF Rich Text Format version of this manual
- UNIVBE.EXE The main UNIVBE program
- UVCONFIG.EXE UNIVBE.DRV generation/configuration program
- VBETEST.EXE Program to test VESA VBE compliance
- PROFILE.EXE VBE Performance profiling program
- PROFILE.LOG Performance measurements for common cards
-
- 3
-
-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- The following files will appear in your Windows directory:
-
- UNIPOWER.SCR Windows Energy Star Screen Saver
- UNIPOWER.HLP Help for UniPower/Windows
- CTL3DV2.DLL File used by UniPower/Windows
-
-
-
- Getting the Latest Full Version
-
- The best places to download new versions of UniVBE are from the following
- locations:
-
- World Wide Web : http://www.scitechsoft.com
- Internet/FTP : ftp.scitechsoft.com
- Compuserve : GO VESA (file library 12)
- America Online : Keyword VESA
-
- You can also contact SciTech Software and order a disk to be sent via mail
- for a nominal fee.
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- 4
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- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
-
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- Section 2.:
- Installation & Setup
-
-
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-
-
- Installing UniVBE for the First Time
-
- Installing UniVBE on your system is a snap. Simply following these simple
- steps:
-
- 1. If you are running a pre-Windows 95 version of Windows, exit Windows
- and return to DOS. Installing UniVBE from within those versions of
- Windows could cause unpredictable results. If you encounter problems
- installing under Windows 95 or OS/2, try rebooting your machine to
- run real DOS and install it from there. Once you have UniVBE
- installed and configured you can then use it from any DOS box.
-
- 2. Insert the UniVBE distribution diskette into your floppy drive and
- type 'A:INSTALL' or 'B:INSTALL' (depending on which drive you
- inserted the diskette into), and then press the Enter key.
-
- The installation program will start, and the first thing you will be asked
- is if you have a DPMS compliant video monitor. If you dont, click 'No' and
- INSTALL will disable the Power Management options. You will then be
- presented with a screen describing the installation configuration similar
- to the following:
-
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- +-[_]------------------ UniVBE(tm)/Pro 5.1 Installation ------------------
- -----+
- | + Installation Directories ---------------------------------------------
- ---+ |
- | | Source C:\INSTALL
- | |
- | | Destination C:\UNIVBE51
- | |
- | | Windows C:\WIN95
- | |
- | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------
- ---+ |
- | Install Utilities Options
- |
- | [X] UniCENTER [X] Run UVConfig after install
- |
-
- 5
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- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- | [X] UniPOWER for Windows [X] Update AUTOEXEC.BAT
- |
- | [X] UniPOWER for DOS [X] Update Windows config
- |
- |
- |
- | Install _ Cancel _
- |
- | _________ ________
- |
- +-------------------------------------------------------------------------
- -----+
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- UniVBE(tm) - Copyright (C) 1995 SciTech Software. All Rights
- Reserved.
-
- 3. Verify the installation directories for installing UniVBE into, and
- change them if necessary. If you are installing the UniPower screen
- saver for Windows, verify that the Windows directory points to the
- place where you have installed Windows. By default INSTALL will
- attempt to find where Windows is located on the path.
-
- 4. INSTALL provides you a list of installation options. Select the
- options for the utilities that you wish to install. If you're not
- sure what to do, you should use the default options. If you deselect
- the 'Update AUTOEXEC.BAT' option, you will have to manually run
- UniVBE each time you need to use it (instead of it being
- automatically loaded when you boot your machine). If you deselect
- the 'Update Windows Config' option, you will have to go to the
- Windows Control Panel to setup the UniPower DPMS screen saver
- manually.
-
- 5. Click the 'INSTALL' button, and the installation program will begin
- the installation process.
-
- Follow the instructions on the screen, and eventually you will be asked to
- register your copy of UniVBE:
-
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- +-[_]------------------- Installing UniVBE(tm)/Pro 5.1 -------------------
- -----+
- |+ Progres+-[_]--------- Registering UniVBE(tm)/Pro 5.1 -------------+----
- ---+ |
- || Creatin| |
- | |
-
- 6
-
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- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- || copy C:| Please enter your name and Registration ID code. You |
- | |
- || unzippi| can purchase your Registration ID code with your |
- | |
- || unzippi| Visa/Mastercard by calling 1-800-4UNIVBE (USA & Canada |
- | |
- || unzippi| only), or by sending in the Shareware registration |
- | |
- || unzippi| form. |
- | |
- || unzippi| |
- | |
- || Updatin| Click 'Trial' to install UniVBE/Pro as shareware. |
- | |
- || Updatin| |
- | |
- || Registe| Full name of owner |
- | |
- || | Registration Id |
- | |
- || | |
- | |
- || | OK _ Trial _ |
- | |
- || | ________ ________ |
- | |
- || +----------------------------------------------------------+
- | |
- ||
- | |
- |+------------------------------------------------------------------------
- ---+ |
- +-------------------------------------------------------------------------
- -----+
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- UniVBE(tm) - Copyright (C) 1995 SciTech Software. All Rights
- Reserved.
-
- 6. Enter your full name and registration ID and hit the Enter key.
- Simply click the _Evaluate_ button to install UniVBE as an
- unregistered trial version.
-
- The next stage in the installation process it to configure UniVBE for use
- with your video card. This is done with the UVCONFIG program, which
- INSTALL automatically runs for you. When UVCONFIG runs, you will be
- greeted with a configuration screen as follows:
-
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- 7
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- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- +-[_]------------------ UniVBE(tm)/Pro 5.1 Configuration -----------------
- -----+
- | + Detected Video Configuration -----------------------------------------
- ---+ |
- | | SuperVGA ID ATI
- | |
- | | Chipset ID Mach64 88800-GX
- .. | |
- | | Video memory 2 Mb
- .. | |
- | | RAM dac ID SGS/Inmos STG1702 24 bit DAC
- .. | |
- | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------
- ---+ |
- | Options
- |
- | [ ] Ignore old VBE BIOS
- |
- | [ ] Disable VBE 2.0 extensions
- |
- | [ ] Disable Linear Framebuffer
- |
- |
- |
- | Ok _ Cancel _
- |
- | _________ ________
- |
- +-------------------------------------------------------------------------
- -----+
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- UniVBE(tm) - Copyright (C) 1995 SciTech Software. All Rights
- Reserved.
-
- 7. Verify that the installation matches your video card, and hit enter
- to accept the configuration. If you hit cancel at this stage, you
- will not have generated a valid UNIVBE.DRV file, and you will need to
- re-run UVCONFIG at a later date to create the driver file.
-
- When UVCONFIG is run for the first time, it runs through the list of
- available video modes to verify that they are working correctly and to
- automatically map out modes that are not available on your system. While
- this is underway, your video monitor will go blank and may emit mode
- switching noises and flicker somewhat, which is normal. Also note that
- this operation can take up to 30 seconds or so to complete, so be patient
- before you hit that reset button! UVCONFIG wont need to re-run this test
- unless you change some of the configuration options such as the amount of
- installed memory, chipset ID or RAMDAC.
-
- 8
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-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- That's it! When the installation is completed, you will be returned into
- the directory that you installed UniVBE into (by default C:\UNIVBE51). In
- order to install UniVBE you will need to reboot your machine before the
- changes will take effect.
-
-
- What Happens During Installation?
-
- When you install UniVBE it will perform several functions and make changes
- to a couple files on your hard disk. This section allows you to review
- those changes before you run the install program. If you do not want to
- perform one of these operations at installation time, you will be
- presented with check boxes to enable or disable the various options. If
- you use the defaults, the following things happen:
-
- 1. The UniVBE files are automatically uncompressed in the directory you
- specify.
- 2. The UniPower screen saver is copied to your Windows directory.
- 3. It will run the UVCONFIG utility so that you can verify the type of
- graphics card detected.
- 4. It will generate the approriate UNIVBE.DRV file for driving your
- video card.
- 5. Backups are made of your AUTOEXEC.BAT, SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI in case
- you decide to run the UNINSTAL.BAT utility later.
- 5. One or two lines are added to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to automatically
- runs UniVBE and UniPower when your system starts.
- 6. The Windows SYSTEM.INI file is modified to make UniPower your default
- screen saver in Windows
- 7. You will need to reboot the system for all changes to take effect.
-
-
- Configuring Your Software to Use UniVBE
-
- Once UniVBE is installed, you need to make sure that your application
- software is configured to use the VESA VBE standard. If your application
- has a option to change hardware settings you should change that setting to
- use _VESA_ or _VESA VBE_. UniVBE 5.1 works with any software that is
- compatible with any version of VESA VBE. The most common setting is VBE
- 1.2 -- this will work fine. If your software has a driver for VBE 2.0,
- you should definitely use that to take advantage of all the performance
- features of UniVBE.
-
-
- Changing the Settings of UniVBE After Installation
-
- If you need to change any of the settings of UniVBE, you can run the
- UVCONFIG.EXE program and this will allow you to change most of UniVBE's
- settings including the type of graphics card you have, installed RAM and
- other options. For more information on modifying your configuration, refer
- to the 'Advanced Configuration Options' section.
-
-
- Changing your Video Card After Installation
-
- When the time comes to replace the video card in your system with a new
- one, rest assured that UniVBE will probably work just as well with the new
- video cards as with your old one. However when you do so, you will need to
-
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- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- run the UVCONFIG program to reconfigure UniVBE for your new graphics card.
- If you used UniCenter, you will also want to re-center your video modes.
-
-
- Registering Your Software
-
- SciTech allows you to use UniVBE for 21 days before we ask that you
- register your software. If you have an unregistered shareware version of
- UniVBE, you have determined that it solves your problems and you would
- like to continue to use it, you should register it with SciTech Software.
-
- Why You Should Register Your Software
- By registering your shareware version of UniVBE, you will be supporting
- SciTech so that we can continue to offer new, innovative products that
- support your graphics card. Shareware is based on a _try before you buy_
- concept, but it is not free software. You are required to register your
- software if you continue to use it past the 21 day evaluation period. You
- also will get rid of the message reminding you to register!
-
- Instant Registration by Credit Card
- To register instantly by credit card, you can call our toll free number
- and we can give you a registration code over the phone. When you get your
- registration code, you can enter it in (see process below) and you will
- have a fully registered version.
-
- Registration by Mail or FAX
- To register by mail or fax, simply print out the file ORDER.TXT, or type
- _P_ when you get the opening registration reminder and one will be printed
- for you. If you mail in your registration, make sure to include a check or
- money order for the proper amount or include your credit card number. If
- you fax your order in, make sure you also include your credit card number.
-
- Entering Your Registration Code
- Once you get your registration code from SciTech Software, there are two
- ways to enter it and register your software.
-
- 1. Go to the directory where you installed UniVBE and run the
- REGISTER.EXE program or;
- 2. When first run UniVBE, and get the message to register, you can hit
- the _R_ key.
-
- You will be asked to enter your full name and hit [Enter]. After you enter
- your name, hit the [Enter] key and then you will be asked for your
- registration id. Enter the number that you received from SciTech, hit
- [ENTER] and you will be fully registered.
-
- What Happens If You Don't Register?
- Your software will not _self-destruct_ or anything similar to that. If the
- 21 day evaluation period ends before you get a chance to register, your
- full version of UniVBE will become UniVBE/Lite, which will have the
- following feature disabled:
-
- . High-performance VBE 2.0 (only VBE 1.2 will be supported)
- . VESA DPMS signaling
- . VESA VBE/PM Interface
- . Windows and DOS screen savers
- . Screen centering
- . High speed game/digitial video modes
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-
- Most programs will continue to run, but they will run better if you
- register your software. If you decide to register after your 21 day
- evaluation period expires, all of these features will be automatically re-
- enabled.
-
-
- Upgrading from Previous Versions
-
- When you upgrade to UniVBE 5.1 from previous versions, you should install
- UniVBE 5.1 in a different directory. By default it will use the \UNIVBE51
- subdirectory. Make sure when your computer reboots that only version 5.1
- loads (this should happen automatically).
-
- In the price of our registration fee, SciTech allows you to upgrade to any
- minor revisions. For instance, if you have registered your version of
- UniVBE 5.1 and we release a 5.2 version, you can download that version and
- enter your registration code and you will be all set. When we release
- UniVBE 6.0 or its an equivalent major release, registered users will be
- entitled to significant discounts on new versions of UniVBE and other
- SciTech products.
-
-
- Uninstalling or Disabling UniVBE
-
- If you determine that UniVBE does not meet your needs, you can disable it
- by the using one of the following two procedures:
-
- Automatic Uninstall with UNINSTAL.BAT
- UniVBE comes with a utility called UNINSTAL.BAT. This utility should only
- be used shortly after you have installed UniVBE. It will copy back all of
- your original configuration files before you installed UniVBE.
-
- WARNING: All changes to your system configuration that you made from the
- time you installed UniVBE until you ran UNINSTAL.BAT will be lost. You
- should only use this option if you have not made any changes to your
- system configuration.
-
- Manual Unistall
- If some time has elapsed since you installed UniVBE and you wish to
- uninstall it, you can do it with the following procedures:
-
- 1. Edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and remove the line that contains
- UNIVBE.EXE and/or UNIPOWER.EXE.
-
- 2. If you installed the UniPower/Windows screen saver, you can go to the
- Windows Control Panel, select the Desktop icon and select a screen
- saver other than UniPower DPMS, or you can simply disable the screen
- saver option.
-
- 3. Finally, if you want to completely remove UniVBE from your system.
- You can erase all of the files in the \UNIVBE51 subdirectory or
- whatever you named the primary UniVBE subdirectory.
-
- Your system will now no longer load UniVBE.
-
-
-
- 11
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- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
-
-
- Section 3.:
- Supplemental Utility Programs
-
-
-
- UniVBE includes several useful utilities for testing, configuring and
- managing your graphics display. The description and the function of the
- utilities are described in this section.
-
-
- VBETest
-
- UniVBE is also installed with the VBETEST.EXE programs for testing the
- operation of UniVBE. This programs will allow you to fully test all the
- different video modes that UniVBE supports. The VBETest program is a
- stress test and conformance testing program to full test the VESA VBE
- implementation for compliance. You might want to test your current VBE
- BIOS or TSR vs. UniVBE by toggling the Enable/Disable UniVBE choice.
-
- When you run VBETest, you will be greeted with a set of main menu options
- as follows:
-
- VBETest - VESA VBE/Core 2.0 Compliance Test
- Release 5.1 (Mar 27 1995)
-
- Copyright (C) 1994-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.
-
- Currently running in 32 bit protected mode
-
- VBE OEM string: Universal VESA VBE 5.1
- VBE Version: 2.0
- Memory: 2048k
-
- Select test to perform:
-
- [0] - Interactive Visual Compliance Tests
- [1] - Quick Compliance Test
- [2] - Full Compliance Test (long)
- [3] - Enable/Disable UniVBE
- [4] - VBE/PM Power Management Tests
- [Q] - Quit
-
- Choice:
-
- This main menu will provide you with the Vendor OEM string for you VBE
- implementation (in this case UniVBE 5.1), version number and amount of
- video memory available to VBE applications (note that on some boards, not
- all video memory is available for VBE applications to use). Valid version
- numbers are 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 and 2.0. Some vendors have used version numbers
- other than these, which are incorrect and can cause confusion with
- application programs intending to use the VBE interface.
-
- Interactive Visual Compliance Test
- This option allows you to test a specific mode to see if it is compatible
- with the VBE standard. This is good if you know what mode a program may be
- having problems with and you want to go right to that mode. Once you
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- select this option, you will be presented with a menu requiring you to
- select the color depth that you wish to test:
-
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- VBETest - VESA VBE/Core 2.0 Compliance Test
- Release 5.1 (Mar 27 1995)
-
- Copyright (C) 1994-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.
-
- Interactive Visual Tests
-
- Extended CRTC addressing: Yes
- 8 bit wide DAC support: Yes
- Linear framebuffer support: Yes (located at 4032 Mb)
-
- Select color mode to test:
-
- [0] - 4 bits per pixel modes
- [1] - 8 bits per pixel modes
- [2] - 15 bits per pixel modes
- [3] - 16 bits per pixel modes
- [4] - 24 bits per pixel modes
- [5] - 32 bits per pixel modes
- [Q] - Quit
-
- Choice:
-
- This screen provides you with information about the capabilities of your
- video card and your VBE implementation. It tells you whether the following
- features are supported:
-
- . Extended CRT Addresssing; If your video card supports extended CRTC
- addressing (most video cards do) then software will be able to
- perform double buffering techniques to produce high quality smooth
- animation for games and other real-time and interactive applications.
-
- . 8 bit wide DAC; If your video card supports an 8 bit wide DAC, it
- means that the DAC provides 8 bits per primary (24 bits total)
- palette entries for generating color values in 256 color video modes.
- This means that applications can choose 256 colors out of a palette
- of 16.7 million where you can have 256 individual shades of Red,
- Green and Blue color channel information. The standard VGA DAC only
- provided 6 bits per primary (18 bits total) for a palette of 256,000
- colors.
-
- . Linear Framebuffer Support; If your video card supports a linear
- framebuffer, high performance 32 bit protected mode applications can
- use this to access the video cards memory without needing to perform
- slow bank switching operations. This allows 32 bit applications to
- run at absolute maximum speed.
-
- Also note that on new PCI bus systems, the linear framebuffer modes
- are often the only modes that provide the full PCI burst mode
- operation to the video card. In these cases the linear framebuffer
- modes can provide over 2 times the speed of the normal VBE banked
- framebuffer modes!
-
- Once you select the color depth that you wish to test (say 8 bits per
- pixel) you will be required to select the resolution of the video mode
- that you wish to test such as the following:
-
-
- 14
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- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- VBETest - VESA VBE/Core 2.0 Compliance Test
- Release 5.1 (Mar 27 1995)
-
- Copyright (C) 1994-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.
-
- Which video mode to test:
-
- [0] - 320 x 200 8 bit (16 page, Banked+Linear)
- [1] - 360 x 200 8 bit ( 8 page, Banked+Linear)
- [2] - 320 x 240 8 bit ( 8 page, Banked+Linear)
- [3] - 360 x 240 8 bit ( 8 page, Banked+Linear)
- [4] - 320 x 400 8 bit ( 8 page, Banked+Linear)
- [5] - 360 x 400 8 bit ( 5 page, Banked+Linear)
- [6] - 640 x 350 8 bit ( 8 page, Banked+Linear, NonVGA)
- [7] - 640 x 400 8 bit ( 8 page, Banked+Linear, NonVGA)
- [8] - 640 x 480 8 bit ( 6 page, Banked+Linear, NonVGA)
- [9] - 800 x 600 8 bit ( 4 page, Banked+Linear, NonVGA)
- [A] - 1024 x 768 8 bit ( 2 page, Banked+Linear, NonVGA)
- [B] - 1280 x 1024 8 bit ( 1 page, Banked+Linear, NonVGA)
- [Q] - Quit
-
- Choice:
-
- This menu shows you all video mode resolutions available, along with the
- number of physical display pages available (for double buffering and
- smooth animation techniques). It also provide information about whether
- the mode can support banked framebuffer access, linear framebuffer access
- or both. Note also that some modes are marked as 'NonVGA'. These modes are
- coming out on new video cards, and they are not fully VGA compatible.
- These modes may have problems with applications that are not designed to
- support VBE 2.0 video modes.
-
- Once you select a video mode, if you have the choice of either banked and
- linear framebuffer modes, you will be presented with one last menu to
- choose which one you wish to test. Hit a key at any time during the
- testing process to cut the tests short and move onto the next test.
-
-
- Quick/Full Compliance Tests
- These compliance tests will first run a suite of low level conformance
- tests to ensure that your BIOS conforms to the proper VBE specifications.
- Each time you run a compliance test, VBETest will generate a log file with
- the results of the test. That log file will be stored in a file called
- VBETEST.LOG and will saved in the same directory as VBETest. This log can
- be very helpful for SciTech or your hardware and software companies for
- tracking down problems.
-
- The Quick version of the test will simply test all the major features of
- the VBE Core 1.2 or 2.0 specifications. It will not test every mode, but
- it will test a representative sample of the modes so that you can quickly
- test if your graphics is VBE compatible. The full version is a
- comprehensive test that will run through every mode that your graphics
- card can display and see if it is working properly. The full version can
- take a considerable amount of time to run to completion.
-
- Enable/Disable UniVBE
- This options will allow you to temporarily disable UniVBE and re-enable it
- again from within VBETest. This will allow you to run the tests with and
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- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- without UniVBE active to see what sort of performance benefits and extra
- features UniVBE provides compared to your current VBE implementation.
-
- VBE/PM Power Management Tests
- This will allow you to test your video card and monitor for VBE/PM and
- DPMS compatibility. It will tell you what DPMS modes that the graphics
- card supports and allow you to try and set them as follows:
-
- VBETest - VESA VBE/Core 2.0 Compliance Test
- Release 5.1 (Mar 27 1995)
-
- Copyright (C) 1994-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.
-
- VBE/PM version 1.0 active. Supports the following states:
-
- STAND BY
- SUSPEND
- OFF
-
- Enter which mode (ESC to quit):
-
- [0] - ON
- [1] - Stand-By
- [2] - Suspend
- [3] - Off
- [Q] - Quit
-
- Which:
-
- Note that if you attempt to set a mode that is not supported by your video
- card, VBETest will simply do nothing. Remember that the display will be
- blanked when you are testing a power down mode, so remember to hit '0' to
- bring the display back to life again!!
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-
-
- Profile
-
- Profile is a performance profiling program that SciTech Software has
- developed for profiling the performance of different types of graphics
- operations. Profile is a 32 bit protected mode program so will use the VBE
- 2.0 32 bit extensions for maximum performance. Running Profile without any
- command line options will provide a usage message similar to the
- following:
-
- Profile - UniVBE Performance Profiling Program
- Release 5.1 (Feb 28 1995)
-
- Copyright (C) 1993-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.
-
- Options are:
- -t - Thrash the system memory cache during BitBlt's (32 bit
- only)
-
- Usage: profile [-t] <mode> [video card name [logfile]]
-
- Press a key for list of video modes.
-
- Available modes are (add 4000 for Linear Framebuffer version):
- 100 - 640 x 400 8 bits per pixel
- 101 - 640 x 480 8 bits per pixel
- etc...
-
- To run Profile, simply select the number for the video mode you wish to
- test and add it to the command line. So if you wanted to profile
- 640x480x8, you would enter:
-
- PROFILE 101
-
- To profile the linear framebuffer version you would add a 4 to the front
- of the mode number, or 4101 in this case. Profile will then display lists
- of the results after running the tests, as sample of which is as follows
- (using the linear framebuffer mode for maximum performance):
-
- Profiling results for mode 4101h, 640x480 256 color.
- Running in 32 bit protected mode with linear framebuffer
-
- 0.0862s for 1000 lines => 11603.89 lines/s
- 1.9568s for 300 clears => 153.31 clears/s, 44.91 Mb/s
- 1.4058s for 150 bitBlts => 106.70 bitBlt/s, 31.26 Mb/s
-
- Baseline values:
-
- REP STOSD in system memory: 30.87 Mb/s
- REP MOVSD in system memory: 24.43 Mb/s
-
- No cache thrashing.
-
- Note that Profile also times the memory clearing and copying operations in
- normal system memory as a performance comparison. Note that with the fast
- test card used above, the memory on the video card is actually faster than
-
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- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- the normal system memory which is common for high performance PCI and VLB
- video cards.
-
- SciTech Software has logged the performance profiling results for a
- significant number of PCI and VLB video cards, and the results are stored
- in the file PROFILE.LOG in the directory where you installed UniVBE into.
- You might want to have a look in this file to see how your video card
- stacks up against the best cards on the market.
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-
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- UniPower
-
- UniPOWER is a power management screen saver that will shut down any DPMS
- compliant video monitor via the VESA VBE/PM interface (provided by
- UniVBE/Pro). UniPOWER comes in two flavors, the UNIPOWER.EXE screen saver
- for DOS and the UNIPOWER.SCR screen saver for Windows. By default the
- installation program for UniVBE will install both UniPOWER for DOS and
- UniPOWER for Windows.
-
- Is Your Monitor Compatible with DPMS?
- If you monitor has an _Energy Star_ logo, or was manufactured after
- January 1994, then is probably compatible with the VESA DPMS standard.
- When in a DPMS mode, a compatible monitor will usually give some
- indication, such as a green power light turning to amber or a message will
- appear on displays with LED status displays.
-
- UniPower For Windows
- The UNIPOWER.SCR program is a standard Windows screen saver, so you can
- use it just like you use all your normal Windows screen savers. By default
- the installation program will have installed and activated the UniPOWER
- for Windows screen saver. However you can change the way that UniPOWER for
- Window operates. First you need to open up the Windows Control Panel, and
- then hit the 'Setup' button for the installed screen saver (which should
- be 'UniPOWER DPMS'). This will bring up a dialog box allowing you to
- modify UniPOWER's configuration. Extensive online help is provide for
- UniPOWER for Windows (just click 'Help' in the Setup Dialog Box), so
- please consult the online documentation for more information.
-
- UniPower For DOS
- The UniPOWER.EXE screen saver for DOS is a small Terminate and Stay
- Resident (TSR) program that hooks into the mouse and keyboard interrupts,
- and monitors them for activity. If no activity is sensed for a period of
- time, UniPOWER will begin shutting the monitor down into the power
- management states. When UniPOWER.EXE is installed, when you start Windows
- it will de-activate itself allowing the UniPOWER.SCR Windows based screen
- saver to take over. When you exit Windows back to the DOS prompt,
- UniPOWER.EXE will re-activate itself. Note that UniPOWER.EXE will not be
- active in a Windows DOS shell, even if the DOS shell is run full screen.
-
- Command Line Options
- Running UNIPOWER.EXE with the -h command line option will provide you with
- a usage list similar to the following:
-
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- UniPOWER(tm)/Shareware - DOS DPMS Screen Saver Utility
- Release 5.1 (Mar 30 1995)
-
- Copyright (C) 1994-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.
-
- Usage: UniPOWER [-unsc] [STANDBY delay] <SUSPEND delay> <OFF delay>
-
- The delay values passed on the command line specify how long UniPOWER
- will
- wait until each of the specified states is enabled. Note that each
- delay is
- cumulative. That is the time to reach the OFF state is the total
- delay for
- the STANDBY, SUSPEND and OFF states. All delay times are specified in
- minutes.
-
- The STANDBY delay value is optional since many monitors do not
- support it.
- Leaving it out will cause that state to be skipped. Note also that
- you can
- set the off delay to -1 to disable this state as it can cause
- problems on
- older VGA cards.
-
- Options are:
- -u - Unload UniPOWER from memory
- -n - Disable screen saver and load only VBE/PM interface
- -s<x> - Force detection of SuperVGA (-s0 for list)
- -c<x> - Force detection of SuperVGA chipset (-c0 for list)
-
- By default UniPOWER.EXE will have been installed into your AUTOEXEC.BAT
- file with a SUSPEND delay of 5 minutes, and an OFF delay of 15 minutes,
- and the STANDBY state disabled.
-
- If you install UniPOWER before your mouse driver, it will automatically
- detect when the mouse driver installs itself and hook into the mouse
- driver interrupts after it is successfully installed.
-
-
- Problems with the Standby State
- When you installed UniPOWER, the Standby state was probably disabled. Many
- monitors do not support this particular state, and on some video card
- configurations, this state is impossible to signal correctly. You may
- notice that when the Standby state has been activated, the video monitor
- goes directly in the Off state, rather than the Standby state. If this
- happens then your video card was not able to correctly signal this state
- to the video monitor, and it should disabled.
-
- If you wish to activate the Standby state, be sure to test it for correct
- operation with your video monitor using the provide TEST button in the
- UniPOWER for Windows configuration dialog box. If the state is not working
- correctly, you will not damage your video card or your monitor, but the
- monitor will incorrectly detect this state as the Off state.
-
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-
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- UniCenter
-
- If you have installed the UniCenter utility program, it will have been
- placed into the directory where you also installed UniVBE/Pro. To use
- UniCenter, first change to the directory where UniVBE is installed (the
- following example assumes the default installation):
-
- CD \UNIVBE
-
- Then run the UniCenter program with the following command:
-
- UNICENTR
-
- You will then be presented with a menu to first allow you to select color
- depth of the mode you wish to center as follows:
-
- UniCENTER(tm) - Video Mode Centering Utility (Version 5.1)
-
- Copyright (C) 1993-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.
-
- Select modes to center:
-
- [0] - 4 bits per pixel modes
- [1] - 8 bits per pixel modes
- [2] - 15 bits per pixel modes
- [3] - 16 bits per pixel modes
- [4] - 24 bits per pixel modes
- [5] - 32 bits per pixel modes
- [Q] - Quit
-
- Choice:
-
- When you select the color depth you will be presented with a list of
- available video modes for that depth, such as the following:
-
- UniCENTER(tm) - Video Mode Centering Utility (Version 5.1)
-
- Copyright (C) 1993-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.
-
- Which video mode to center:
-
- [0] - 320 x 200 256 color
- [1] - 360 x 200 256 color
- [2] - 320 x 240 256 color
- [3] - 360 x 240 256 color
- [4] - 320 x 400 256 color
- [5] - 360 x 400 256 color
- [Q] - Quit
-
- Choice:
-
- UniVBE 5.1 now includes our exclusive reverse mode mapping technology,
- which allows us to also center the NonVBE modes provided by your video
- card. This means that UniCENTER will not only center your VBE modes, but
- it will also center the modes used by other NonVBE applications such as
-
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- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- Windows. Note however that this will not work for cards that have NonVGA
- video modes, such as the ATI Mach32/64 and Weitek P9000.
-
- Adjusting a video mode
- To adjust a video mode, simply follow the instructions on the screen and
- using the arrow keys to move and size the image. Centering a mode is
- usually just a matter of moving the image with the arrow keys, but you may
- want to experiment with adjusting the horizontal size of the image as
- well. Adjusting the horiztonal size will however change the vertical
- refresh rate for the video mode.
-
- Adjusting the Sync Polarities
- When you are adjusting a video mode, you can toggle the Horizontal and
- Vertical sync polarities with the 'h' and 'v' keys. The polarity of the
- sync lines were originally used by the video card to let the video monitor
- auto size the vertical dimensions of a video mode. For monitors without
- digital adjustments, this allows the monitor to recognise vertical sizes
- of 350, 400 or 480 lines in height.
-
- However adjusting the sync polarities is actually very useful for
- centering your modes on new monitors with built in digital sizing
- adjustments. These monitors usually store sizing information for video
- modes based on their horizontal and vertical timings and the sync
- polarities! Hence it is sometimes possible for certain video modes to be
- recognised by the monitor as the same mode, but the sizing for the two
- modes is different. In this case, if you toggle one of the sync polarities
- for the problem mode, you will then be able to adjust and stores its
- settings independantly from the original mode.
-
- Saving the settings for a mode
- When you are finished hit the [Enter] key - if you adjust the image too
- far and it goes out of sync, hit the [ESC] key and you will be dropped
- back to the previous menu and the settings will not be saved. If you wish
- to revert back to the original settings, simply hit [Esc] and the changes
- you made will be discarded.
-
- Saving the settings permanently
- When you have finished adjusting all your video modes, exit UniCenter and
- the adjustments will be saved into the UNIVBE.DRV file. Note that if you
- have UniVBE currently installed, the centering values are automatically
- updated in the installed version so you dont need to re-install UniVBE for
- the changes to take effect. Note that UniCENTER will run even without
- UniVBE installed. If UniVBE is not installed, it will automatically loaded
- the UNIVBE.DRV file from the disk. However in this case the centered modes
- will not be available until UniVBE is installed.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 22
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-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
-
-
- Section 4.:
- Advanced Configuration Options
-
-
-
- In most cases, you will not need to use the information contained in this
- section. It is meant for users that are experiencing problems or power
- users who would like more control over their display.
-
-
- UVCONFIG Menu Options
-
- UVCONFIG provides you with fine control over the way that the UNIVBE.DRV
- driver file is configured. When you run UVCONFIG, you are presented with a
- display similar to the folloowing:
-
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- +-[_]------------------ UniVBE(tm)/Pro 5.1 Configuration -----------------
- -----+
- | + Detected Video Configuration -----------------------------------------
- ---+ |
- | | SuperVGA ID ATI
- | |
- | | Chipset ID Mach64 88800-GX
- .. | |
- | | Video memory 2 Mb
- .. | |
- | | RAM dac ID SGS/Inmos STG1702 24 bit DAC
- .. | |
- | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------
- ---+ |
- | Options
- |
- | [ ] Ignore old VBE BIOS
- |
- | [ ] Disable VBE 2.0 extensions
- |
- | [ ] Disable Linear Framebuffer
- |
- |
- |
- | Ok _ Cancel _
- |
- | _________ ________
- |
- +-------------------------------------------------------------------------
- -----+
- 23
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- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- __________________________________________________________________________
- ______
- UniVBE(tm) - Copyright (C) 1995 SciTech Software. All Rights
- Reserved.
-
-
- Ignore old VBE BIOS
- This option is used to force UniVBE to ignore an underlying VBE BIOS if
- one is present. By default UniVBE will use pass through techniques to
- support functions provided by the underlying BIOS that UniVBE does not
- provide. In some severe cases the underlying BIOS is buggy and will cause
- UniVBE to behave incorrectly, so you will need to force UniVBE to ignore
- it.
-
- If you are experiencing problems with your video card, you might like to
- check this option to see if it will clear up the problems.
-
- Disable VBE 2.0 Extensions
- This option is used to force UniVBE to install as a VBE 1.2
- implementation, and to turn off all the VBE 2.0 extensions. If you have an
- application that is not working correctly with some of the 2.0 features of
- UniVBE, you might try reverting UniVBE back to VBE 1.2 to see if this will
- make the application work correctly. This option is also useful to see how
- much of a difference to performance VBE 2.0 can make to certain
- applications.
-
- Disable Linear Framebuffer
- This option is provided to disable the linear framebuffer support. Some
- older motherboards cannot correctly address physical memory locations high
- in extended memory where UniVBE locates the linear framebuffer, and hence
- the linear framebuffer memory map interfere with normal system memory
- locations. If VBETest or other VBE 2.0 applications hang when you attempt
- to use a linear framebuffer mode, this may be the case. Turning off this
- option will ensure that these application will not attempt to use the
- linear framebuffer modes.
-
-
- UVCONFIG Command Line Parameters
-
- UVCONFIG supports a number of different command line options. Running
- UVCONFIG.EXE with the -h command line option will provide you with a list
- similar to the following:
-
- UniVBE(tm)/Pro - Universal VESA BIOS Extension (VBE)
- Release 5.1 (Mar 30 1995)
-
- Copyright (C) 1993-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.
-
- Usage: UVCONFIG [-scmdlE]
-
- Options are:
- -s<x> - Force detection of SuperVGA family (-s0 for list)
- 24
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- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- -c<x> - Force detection of SuperVGA chipset (-c0 for list)
- -m<size> - Force memory size to 'size'
- -d<x> - Force DAC type (-d0 for list)
- -l<loc> - Enable linear framebuffer at 'loc' Mb (0 to disable)
- -f - Print full list of supported SuperVGA families and
- chipsets
- -E - Force emulation of SuperVGA 320x200/240/400x8 modes
-
- Most of the command line parameters for UVCONFIG are used to get complete
- lists of supported video cards (-F for instance prints out a complete
- list). Although you can force the detected id from the command line, you
- can change it just as easily from the menu options.
-
- The -L command line option can be used to change the location of the
- linear framebuffer. If the default location that UniVBE uses conflicts in
- some way, you might try changing it to a different location. The locations
- that are generally used are 14Mb, 32Mb, 64Mb, 78Mb, 2048Mb and 4032Mb.
- Normally UniVBE will get the location of the buffer from the video card,
- either by reading the cards configuration registers or by looking for the
- location of the active linear buffer, so changing this may simply cause
- the linear buffer to stop working, or worse hang your system. If you
- change this option, be prepared to hit the reset button!
-
- The -E command line option can be used to force emulation of SciTech low
- res SuperVGA Modes. This option should not be needed, but if you find that
- the low res SuperVGA modes do not work, you might try this command line
- option to see if the emulation techniques will work on your card. If this
- does work, please contact SciTech Software with information about your
- system so that we can do this automatically for your card in the next
- release.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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-
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-
-
-
-
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-
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-
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-
- 25
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- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- UNIVBE Command Line Parameters
-
- Running UNIVBE.EXE with the -h command line option will provide you with a
- list similar to the following:
-
- UniVBE(tm)/Shareware - Universal VESA BIOS Extension (VBE)
- Release 5.1 (Mar 30 1995)
-
- Copyright (C) 1993-95 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.
-
- Usage: UNIVBE [-ur] [[ON|OFF] [VBE20]]
-
- Options are:
- -u - Unload the Universal VESA VBE from memory
- -r - Remove support for Low Res video modes
-
-
- Enabling/Disabling UniVBE
- You can enable and disable UniVBE from the command line with the ON and
- OFF command line options. This will allow you to temporarily disable
- UniVBE from batch files if you need to run programs that dont work with
- UniVBE installed. You can also temporarily disable VBE 2.0 support with
- the 'OFF VBE20' command line option.
-
- The -U command line option can be used to unload UniVBE from memory. Note
- that this option will only work if no other TSR's have been loaded after
- UniVBE in memory. If UniVBE cannot be unloaded, it will exit with an error
- message to that effect.
-
- The -R command line option can be used to map out support for the low res
- games modes if these modes are causing problems on your system.
-
-
- Modifying the UNIVBE.INI File
-
- For most installations, UniVBE will automatically determine the video
- modes that your card supports. However on some video configurations, some
- video modes that UniVBE provides may not be supported properly by your
- monitor, so the mode will be unsuable on your system. In ver rare
- instance, a mode may be set up with an incorrect bytes per line or
- TrueColor pixel format information. The UNIVBE.INI file is used to
- manually configure UniVBE in these situations.
-
- By default there is no UNIVBE.INI file in the directory. To use it, you
- will have to manually create the file, delete the original UNIVBE.DRV file
- and then re-run UVCONFIG to generate a new driver file with the
- appropriate overrides read from the UNIVBE.INI file.
-
-
- Manually removing video modes
- All manually removed video modes are listed under the section '[Remove]'
- in the UNIVBE.INI file. They are listed as the hexadecimal internal mode
- numbers used by the TSR (see the section 'Video Modes supported by UniVBE'
- below for more information). An example UNIVBE.INI file might be:
-
- [Remove]
- 10D
- 10E
- 26
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-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
-
-
- Manually changing bytes per lines values
- You can change the default bytes per line values for particular video
- modes in the '[BytesPerLine]' section in the UNIVBE.INI file. The mode
- number is listed first in hexadecimal (see the section 'Video Modes
- supported by UniVBE' below for more information) followed by the new bytes
- per line value in decimal. An example UNIVBE.INI file might be (setting
- 640x480x24 to 2048 bytes per line):
-
- [BytesPerLine]
- 112 2048
-
-
- Manually changing TrueColor pixel formats
- You can change the default TrueColor pixel formats for the 15, 16, 24 and
- 32 bits per pixel modes. The pixel format information is used by the VBE
- application to determine how to pack the pixel information so that the
- color information will be interpreted correctly by the video card. If the
- 24 or 32 bits per pixel modes have colors swapped, then you will need to
- changes these values. The values are listed in the '[PixelFormat]' section
- of the UNIVBE.INI file, and consist of values in the following format:
-
- <bits> <redSize> <redPos> <greenSize> <greenPos> <blueSize> <bluePos>
- <rsvdSize> <rsvdPos>
-
- An example UNIVBE.INI file might be:
-
- [PixelFormat]
- 24 8 0 8 8 8 16 0 0
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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-
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-
- 27
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-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
-
-
- Section 5.:
- Troubleshooting Guide
-
-
-
- If you are encountering problems with UniVBE, please carefully review this
- entire section and see if you can find the solution to your problem.
- Please also consult the 'Known Bugs and Problems' sections which may
- mention the problem you are having.
-
-
- Linear framebuffer modes hang my machine
-
- If when you attempt to use the linear framebuffer modes of UniVBE, and
- your application (or VBETest) hangs you machine, you most likely have a
- conflict with the location of the linear framebuffer and another device in
- your system. It is also possible with older motherboards that the
- motherboard cannot address the linear buffer where it is located, so you
- may need to move it lower down in memory.
-
- The first thing to try is changing the location of the linear framebuffer
- with the -L command line option of UVCONFIG. The most compatible location
- appears to be 32Mb, so you might try forcing it to 32Mb with UVCONFIG -
- L32. It this does not work, you can try other locations above the end of
- your normal system memory (if you have 16Mb RAM, dont attempt to enable
- the buffer below 16Mb!).
-
- If you still cannot get the linear buffer modes working, then disable the
- linear buffer with UVCONFIG so that no applications will attempt to use
- it.
-
-
- The 15/16/24/32 bit TrueColor modes look wierd
-
- This is caused by UVCONFIG possibly incorrectly identifying your RAMDAC
- configuration. First check to make sure that UVCONFIG really has detected
- the correct RAMDAC. If you dont know the part number of your RAMDAC, you
- can determine this by looking at your video card. The RAMDAC is generally
- the second or third biggest chip on the board, and you can check it
- against the list of parts the UniVBE supports to find the one that matches
- your system. Try forcing UniVBE to use the correct RAMDAC with UVCONFIG
- once you have determined what it is meant to be.
-
- If it still does not work, try forcing the RAMDAC to the 'Generic 24 bit
- TrueColor DAC', which will not allow UniVBE to directly program the
- RAMDAC. If this does correct the problem, please let SciTech Software know
- about your card and the problems you had so that we can try and rectify it
- in a future release. If you select this RAMDAC however, you will not be
- able to use the low res HiColor game modes.
-
-
- The 24/32 bit TrueColor modes have swapped colors
-
- This is caused by UniVBE incorrectly determining the pixel format used in
- the 24/32 bits per pixel modes. The most common situation is for cards
- that have a DAC that sets up the 24 bit modes in BGR format rather than
- 28
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-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- RGB format (UniVBE should normally automatically detect this). To fix
- this, you will need to create a UNIVBE.INI file and re-run UVCONFIG to
- change the pixel format (see the section 'Manually Chaning TrueColor Pixel
- Formats' for more information. If you need to change the 24 bit format to
- BGR rather than RGB, you would create a UNIVBE.INI file with the following
- information in it:
-
- [PixelFormat]
- 24 8 0 8 8 8 16 0 0
-
-
- 386 Memory Managers
-
- Sometimes a 386 memory manager can conflict with the correct operation of
- UniVBE for certain video card configurations. If you have a 386 Memory
- Manager installed such as EMM386, QEMM, QRAM or 386MAX and when attempting
- the install UniVBE the machine just hangs, or an application attempting to
- use UniVBE hangs you possibly have a memory manager conflict. Specifically
- if you have an ATI Mach32 or Mach64 based video card (Graphics Ultra Pro,
- Graphics Ultra Turbo) you will need to exclude the video BIOS region for
- correct operation, so proceed to step 2. To attempt to solve this, try the
- following steps (you might also like to refer to the documentation on your
- memory manager - QEMM for instance has a long section on troubleshooting
- such installation problems):
-
- 1. First do a clean boot (with no memory managers or TSR programs
- installed apart from HIMEM.SYS and MSDOS) and attempt to install
- UniVBE. In newer versions of DOS, you can do this by booting your
- system and holding down the [F5] key after you see the message
- _Loading MS-DOS .._. If UniVBE works in this configuration, then you
- have a conflict, and proceed to step 2. If UniVBE still does not
- work, then you possibly have a video card that is not fully supported
- by UniVBE - please contact SciTech Software and let us know so that
- we can attempt to rectify this in a future release.
-
- 2. Edit your CONFIG.SYS file and use the EXCLUDE option of your memory
- manager to exclude the entire video BIOS region, reboot your machine
- and attempt to install UniVBE once again. For EMM386 and QEMM the
- command to put on the command line is:
-
- X=C000-CFFF
-
- 3. If step 2 is successful, you can try to reduce the amount of memory
- excluded with the above option which will provide you with more high
- memory for TSR programs. To do this, lower the value in the second
- number from CFFF to a value such as C7FF and lower. C7FF will
- probably work with most configurations.
-
-
- Common Questions and Answers
-
- I just installed UniVBE, what does it do?
- See the introduction of the manual for all of the features of UniVBE. One
- of the nice things about UniVBE is that you just run it and it takes care
- of things from then on. Rest assured that even if you can't see exactly
- what it is doing, it has added many new software features to your system.
-
-
- 29
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-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- I have a PCI graphics card, do I still need a VESA VBE driver?
- This is a very common question. VESA VBE is a software standard from VESA,
- and should not be confused with VESA's popular VL-Bus. All graphics cards
- need the VESA VBE software interface regardless of whether they use the
- ISA, MicroChannel, VL or PCI busses. So the answer is that even though you
- have a PCI graphics card, you will still need a VESA VBE driver so the
- software can access the features of the card.
-
- How do I know if my monitor is DPMS compatible?
- The way to know for sure is to see look in your monitor's manual or to
- look for _Energy Star_ logos on your system or monitor. A good rule of
- thumb is that if you purchased your monitor after January 1994, it is most
- likely DPMS compatible. If you install UniPower, you can test to see if
- your monitor is compatible. It is nearly impossible to damage a monitor by
- sending DPMS signals to it, so it won't hurt to try. Go to the Windows
- Control Panel and select Desktop. Under screen savers select UniPower DPMS
- and push the SETUP button. You will be given an option to test each power
- management mode. Usually if the monitor is DPMS compatible, the screen
- will go blank and the _power on_ LED at the front of your display will
- turn to amber. If this happens, you know you have a DPMS monitor.
-
- What happens if I don't register UniVBE?
- If you don't register UniVBE, yet continue to use it, some of the
- performance features will shut off after 21 days. You computer will not
- _blow up_ and nothing will be erased. If you decide to register, all of
- the features will be turned back on, it will load faster and you will no
- longer get the message asking you to register your software.
-
- Will UniVBE work as a Windows driver?
- SciTech has released a technology called WinDirect that will allow games
- and high performance applications to use VBE to directly access the frame
- buffer under Windows. When those WinDirect applications appear, you will
- be able to use UniVBE to support those Windows applications. Currently the
- more typical Windows drivers do not support a VBE compatible interface.
- This is not impossible, but it is something that Microsoft has chosen not
- to do at this time. SciTech is working with application and system
- software developers to allow them to use the VESA VBE interface properly.
-
- How do I make my software recognize and use UniVBE?
- It order for your software to use the VBE interface, you have to make sure
- that it is configured properly. Usually there will be a setup utility with
- your application that will ask you about the kind of hardware that you
- have installed. You should select the _VESA_ or _VESA VBE_ option in your
- software so that it can access the features of UniVBE. Please refer to
- your application's manual if you are not sure how to do this.
-
- I have installed UniVBE and my application software still doesn't work
- properly.
- Make sure you have reconfigured your application to use _VESA_ or _VESA
- VBE_ instead of a setting specific to your graphics chip. One of the best
- ways to see if UniVBE or the application is at fault is to run the VBETest
- program. If it passes, most likely there is something wrong with your
- application.
-
- You don't support my graphics card in your program -- why not?
- With version 5.1 of UniVBE, we are supporting almost every graphics card
- currently on the market. For various reasons there are a few that we were
- not able to support in this version. We are still working to support all
- 30
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-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- of the cards on the market. The VESA standard does require a certain kind
- of graphics architecture so we will never be able to support such boards
- as the IBM 8514/A or boards based on the TMS340x chips.
-
- Should I load this in AUTOEXEC.BAT, or just when I need it?
- Some people are concerned about loading UniVBE in their AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
- They are afraid that UniVBE might conflict with something or use a lot of
- memory. You should think of UniVBE like you think of a mouse driver --
- they are both low level drivers that cause negligible impact to the
- system. Since UniVBE uses around 8K of RAM and can be loaded high, it
- doesn't use up many system resources in the process either. SciTech
- recommends installing UniVBE in your AUTOEXEC file so that VBE is
- available to all of your applications.
-
- What other products does SciTech make?
- SciTech's other products are currently focused on applications developers.
- We will be releasing other products such as UniVBE in the near future. Our
- developers tools include the free SuperVGA Kit with source code for
- writing programs compatible with VESA VBE. We also have a higher level
- graphics library call MGL. This library will transparently use the
- features of the hardware including VBE 2.0 and linear frame buffer
- support.
-
-
- Technical Support
-
- If you are experiencing problems running UniVBE, please do the following:
-
- 1. Read through the following sections of this manual to see if
- your problem has already been addressed:
-
- . List of Supported Card (is yours on the list?)
- . Troubleshooting
- . Common Questions and Answers
-
- 2. Try running VBETest to determine if there is a bug in UniVBE.
-
- . If VBETest Passes:
-
- Since VBETest is a very comprehensive test of the VBE
- interface, most likely there is a bug in the way that your
- program uses the VESA VBE standard. You should contact your
- software application vendor.
-
- . Otherwise, If VBETest Fails
-
- a.) Try checking the _Ignore Old BIOS_ parameter in the
- UVCONFIG.EXE and re-generate the UNIVBE.DRV file. This
- will allow UniVBE to ignore any bugs that may reside in
- your VGA BIOS.
- b.) Try running VBETest again and see if it passes this
- time. If it does, your problems should be solved, if not,
- please continue on:
-
- 3. Email or mail the file VBETEST.LOG to SciTech for further diagnosis
- at the address below:
-
- Internet: : support@scitechsoft.com
- 31
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- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- Phone : 916-894-8400
- FAX : 510-208-8026
-
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- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
-
-
- Appendix A:
- Supported Hardware
-
-
-
- Following are lists of the various hardware that UniVBE will work with.
- Please note that this list refers to the actual chips being used, not a
- board-level implementation. Thus you will not see any products from
- Hercules or Orchid on the list, but their products are supported because
- they use S3, Cirrus, Tseng, etc. chips.
-
- NOTE TO HARDWARE VENDORS: If your product is not on this list and you
- would like your product to be supported by SciTech Software and it's many
- OEM's, please send us technical specifications and sample boards and we
- can include support for your products in our future release. Call or email
- support@scitechsoft.com for more information.
-
-
- Graphics Chips -- Standard Support
-
- . Acer Labs ALi CAT-32/64
- . Ark Logic ARK1000VL, ARK1000PV, ARK2000PV
- . Avance Logic AL2101/2201/2228/2301/2302/2364 SuperVGA
- . Ahead V5000A, V5000B
- . ATI Technologies 18800, 28800, Mach32, Mach64
- . Chips & Technologies 82c45x, 655xx, 643x0 WinGine
- . Cirrus Logic CL-GD62xx, 5402, 5422/4/6/8/9, 5430/4
- . Cirrus Logic LCD CL-GD64xx
- . Compaq IVGS/AVGA, QVision QV1024/1280
- . Diamond Viper P9000+W5186/OAK87 VLB and PCI
- . Everex Viewpoint, Viewpoint/NI, Viewpoint/TC
- . Genoa Systems GVGA
- . Hualon HMC86304/14
- . IIT AGX-010/11/14/15/16/17
- . Matrox MGA Atlas
- . MXIC 86000/86010 SuperVGA
- . NCR 77C20/21/22E/32BLT
- . OAK Technologies OTI-037C/057/067/077/087
- . Paradise/Western Digital PVGA1A, WD90C1x/2x/3x
- . Primus 2000 SuperVGA
- . RealTek RTG3103/3105/3106 SuperVGA
- . S3 86c911/924/801/805/928/864/964/866/868/968/Trio32/Trio64
- . Sierra Semiconductor Falcon/64
- . Trident 88/8900/9x00/8900CL/8900D/9200CXr/9400CXi/9420DGi/9440AGi
- . Tseng Labs ET3000, ET4000, ET4000/W32/W32i/W32p
- . UMC 85c408/18
- . Video7 VEGA, HT208/209/216
- . Weitek 5086/5186/5286, P9100
-
-
- Graphics Chips -- Linear Frame Buffer Support
-
- . Acer Labs ALi CAT-64
- . ARK Logic ARK1000/2000
- . ATI Mach32
- . ATI Mach64
- 33
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- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- . Avance Logic ALG2302+
- . Chips & Tech 65530+, 64300+
- . Cirrus Logic 5426+
- . Compaq QVision 1024/1280
- . S3 86c805+
- . Sierra Falcon/64
- . Trident 8900CL+
- . Tseng Labs ET4000W32i+
- . Paradise/Western Digital WD90C1x+
-
-
- DAC Chips
-
- . Normal 8 bit DAC
- . Sierra SC11481/6/8 15 bit DAC
- . Sierra SC11482/3/4 15 bit DAC
- . Sierra SC11485/7/9 16 bit DAC
- . Music MU9c4870 16 bit DAC
- . ATI68830 16 bit DAC
- . Generic 24 bit DAC
- . Music MU9C1880 (SS2410) 24 bit DAC
- . AT&T ATT 20c490 24 bit DAC
- . AT&T ATT 20c491 24 bit DAC
- . AT&T ATT 20c492/3,WinBond 82c490 24 bit DAC
- . AT&T ATT 21c498 24 bit DAC
- . Acumos ADAC1 24 bit DAC
- . Sierra SC15020 24 bit DAC
- . Sierra SC15021 24 bit DAC
- . Sierra SC15025 24 bit DAC
- . Sierra SC15026 24 bit DAC
- . Sierra Falcon/64 Internal 24 bit DAC
- . Cirrus Logic 24 bit DAC
- . Music MU9c4910 24 bit DAC
- . SGS/Inmos STG1700 24 bit DAC
- . SGS/Inmos STG1702 24 bit DAC
- . SGS/Inmos STG1703 24 bit DAC
- . ICS GENDAC 24 bit DAC
- . S3 86c716 (SDAC) 24 bit DAC
- . S3 Trio Internal 24 bit DAC
- . Trident TDK8001 or Internal 24 bit DAC
- . Avance Logic ALG1201 24 bit DAC
- . Avance Logic ALG1301 24 bit DAC
- . UMC UM70c188 24 bit DAC
- . Chrontel CH8398 24 bit DAC
- . BrookTree Bt481 24 bit DAC
- . BrookTree Bt482 24 bit DAC
- . BrookTree Bt484 24 bit DAC
- . BrookTree Bt485 24 bit DAC
- . BrookTree Bt477 24 bit DAC
- . AT&T ATT 20c504 24 bit DAC
- . AT&T ATT 20c505 24 bit DAC
- . TI TVP3020 24 bit DAC
- . TI TVP3025 24 bit DAC
- . TLC34075,ATI68875,Bt885 24 bit DAC
- . TLC34076 24 bit DAC
- . ATI68860,ATI68880 24 bit DAC
- . C&T 643xx Internal 24 bit DAC
-
- 34
-
-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- DAC Chips -- 320x and 360x 15/16 bit modes
-
- The following is a list of RAMDAC's that currently support the new SciTech
- low resolution 320x200/240/400 and 360x200/240/400 line 15 and 16 bits per
- pixel video modes. We are currently working on supporting many more
- RAMDAC's in the next release of UniVBE.
-
- . Sierra SC1148x DAC
- . Music MU9C1880 (SS2410) 24 bit DAC
- . AT&T ATT 20c490/1/2/3 24 bit DAC
- . Acumos ADAC1 24 bit DAC
- . Sierra SC1502x 24 bit DAC
- . Sierra Falcon/64 Internal 24 bit DAC
- . Cirrus Logic 24 bit DAC
- . Music MU9c4910 24 bit DAC
- . SGS/Inmos STG170x 24 bit DAC
- . ICS GENDAC 24 bit DAC
- . Trident TDK8001 or Internal 24 bit DAC
- . Avance Logic ALG1201/1301 24 bit DAC
- . Chrontel CH8398 24 bit DAC
- . C&T 643xx Internal 24 bit DAC
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 35
-
-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- Known Bugs and Problems
-
- This file documents known problems with the Universal VESA VBE. SciTech
- Software have done their best to try to fix all known problems, but some
- still persist and may well be limitations in the particular video
- controller hardware and may not be fixable.
-
- Generic Problems:
-
- Virtual scrolling tests:
-
- Many chips have hardware problems that cause the extended CRTC
- scrolling functions to display erronous information when scrolled to
- certain locations when a wide virtual buffer is enabled.
-
- Because the virtual scrolling tests in SVTEST are done without
- retrace enabled, horiztonal and virtual scrolling can cause
- intermittant interferance causing the display to 'jump' from location
- to location.This is normal.
-
- 320x200/240/400 8/15/16 bit SuperVGA video modes:
-
- Because these modes are emulated using 640x480x256, on some chips if
- you have the refresh for 640x480x256 set to a very high value, these
- modes can get squished small vertically on non Multi-Scanning
- monitors.
-
- Chipset Specific Problems:
-
- S3 chipsets
-
- On the newer S3 Vision 864/964 and above chips, the CRT controller
- causes massive interferences if displaying from the first Mb and
- writing to the second. This occurs in VBETEST, in the virtual
- scrolling tests while drawing the test image.
-
- On the S3 86c805revP chip (Goldstar component) the 320x200/240/400
- lines mode do not work so have been mapped out. We are searching for
- a solution at the moment.
-
- On the S3 86c805 (all revs) the 320x200/240/400 line modes do not
- work with the linear buffer enabled, so the linear buffer is disabled
- for these modes.
-
- Cirrus Logic 64xx chipsets
-
- The CL-GD64xx LCD controller chipsets cannot currently display past
- 256k in 16 color modes.
-
- Western Digital WD90C33 chipsets
-
- 320x200/240/400 line 8 bit modes are not supported on this chip. We
- are searching for a method that works (the other WD chips work,
- except this one).
-
- On cards with 2Mb, the linear framebuffer mode can only access the
- first 1Mb of video memory. Hence it is disabled for this chip in 2Mb
-
- 36
-
-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- configurations. If you wish to use the linear buffer, force UVCONFIG
- to use only the first 1Mb of video memory.
-
- Tseng Labs chipsets
-
- ET3000 chips cannot display past 256Kb in 16 color video modes.
-
- ET4000AX and ET4000/W32 chips do not support the linear framebuffer
- (a hardware problem prevents it from working). The ET4000/W32iRevA
- and above chips do however.
-
- ET4000/W32pRevA&B chips do not support a linear framebuffer past 1Mb
- (hardware problem). Hence on this chip, the linear buffer is disabled
- if you have 2Mb video memory. To enable the linear buffer, force
- UVCONFIG to configure the card with only 1Mb video memory.
-
- Weitek P9000 chipsets
-
- All P9000 chipsets do not support extended CRTC addressing and hence
- cannot support double buffering as it is usually performed by VBE
- 1.2/2.0 applications. This is a hardware problem, and cannot be
- solved (this includes the Diamond Viper). All P9000's boards (execpt
- the Diamond Viper) do not have bank switching registers, so only the
- W5x86 support chips can be used for SuperVGA support, resulting in a
- lack of video memory and resolutions.
-
- Weitek P9100 chipsets
-
- All P9100 chipsets have built in Weitek 5286 SuperVGA support and can
- address 1Mb of shared video memory between the native P9000 core and
- the SVGA. However only 256 color modes are currently supported from
- DOS, and for some reason the extended page flipping code does not
- work properly.
-
- ARK Logic ARK1000/2000PV
-
- Currently UniVBE cannot display past 256k in the 16 color modes, so
- paging causes problems in these modes.
-
- Acer Labs AliCAT-64
-
- Currently UniVBE cannot display past 256k in the 16 color modes, so
- paging causes problems in these modes.
-
-
-
- List of cards tested with UniVBE 5.1
-
- Thoroughly tested by SciTech Software:
-
- . Generic S3 ISA 1Mb (S3 86c911, Sierra SC11483 HiColor DAC)
- . Actix GE32+ VLB 1Mb (S3 86c805revA/B, ATT 20c490 TrueColor DAC)
- . Jayton VL-41 VLB 1Mb (S3 86c805revP, Chrontel CH8391 TrueColor DAC)
- . Number Nine GXE64 VLB 2MB (S3 Vision 864, ATT 21c498 TrueColor DAC)
- . Number Nine GXE64Pro PCI 2MB (S3 Vision 964, TI TVP3025 TrueColor
- DAC)
- . Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM 2Mb VLB (S3 Vision 864, ICS GENDAC TrueColor
- DAC)
- 37
-
-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- . Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM 2Mb PCI (S3 Trio764, built in TrueColor DAC)
- . NCR 77C32BLT VLB 2Mb (ATT 20c490 TrueColor DAC)
- . Cirrus Logic 5420 ISA 1Mb
- . Cirrus Logic 5422 ISA 1Mb (Built in TrueColor DAC)
- . Cirrus Logic 5424 ISA 1Mb (Built in TrueColor DAC)
- . Cirrus Logic 5426 VLB 1Mb (Built in TrueColor DAC)
- . Cirrus Logic 5428 VLB 2Mb (Built in TrueColor DAC)
- . Cirrus Logic 5429 VLB 2Mb (Built in TrueColor DAC)
- . Cirrus Logic 5430 VLB 2Mb (Built in TrueColor DAC)
- . Cirrus Logic 5434 VLB 4Mb (Built in TrueColor DAC)
- . Cirrus Logic 5434 PCI 2Mb (Built in TrueColor DAC)
- . Cirrus Logic 6440 LCD 1Mb (Clone Laptop)
- . Orchid Kelvin VLB 2Mb (Cirrus Logic 5434 Built in TrueColor DAC)
- . Genoa GVGA 6400 ISA 512Kb
- . Ahead V5000B ISA 512Kb
- . Primus P2000 ISA 1Mb (ATT 20c491 TrueColor DAC)
- . Hualon HMC86314 ISA 512Kb
- . UMC UM86c418 ISA 512Kb (Sierra SC11483 HiColor DAC)
- . Tseng Labs ET3000 ISA 512k
- . Orchid Pro Designer II ISA 1Mb (Tseng Labs ET4000)
- . Everex Viewpoint VRAM ISA 1Mb (Ev623 + Tseng ET4000AX)
- . MegaEva/2 ISA 1Mb (ET4000 Sierra SC11486 HiColor DAC)
- . MegaEva/32i/VL VLB 2Mb (ET4000/W32i, Winbond 82c490 TrueColor DAC)
- . Tseng Labs VGA/32 PCI 2Mb (ET4000/W32p Rev C, STG1703 TrueColor DAC)
- . Diamond Stealth 32 2Mb VLB (ET4000/W32pRevA, SGS STG1702 TrueColor
- DAC)
- . Video 7 VRAM ISA 512Kb (HT208)
- . Headland VRAM 2 ISA 1Mb (HT209/D)
- . Headland Win.VGA ISA 1Mb (HT216/F)
- . ATI VGA Wonder ISA 512k (18800)
- . ATI VGA Wonder ISA 512k (28800-5)
- . ATI Graphics Ultra Pro VLB 2Mb (Mach32 68800-6, ATI68875 TrueColor
- DAC)
- . ATI Graphics Ultra Pro PCI 2Mb (Mach32 68800-6, ATI68875 TrueColor
- DAC)
- . ATI Graphics Pro Turbo VLB 4Mb (Mach64 88800-GX, ATI68860 TrueColor
- DAC)
- . ATI Graphics Xpression PCI 2Mb (Mach64 88800-GX, STG1702 TrueColor
- DAC)
- . Trident 8900CL ISA 1Mb
- . Trident 9000A ISA 512Kb
- . Trident 9000B ISA 512Kb
- . Trident 9400CXi VLB 1Mb (Built in TrueColor DAC)
- . Oak OTI-037C 512Kb
- . Oak OTI-067 512Kb
- . Oak OTI-077 512Kb/1Mb
- . RealTek RTVGA 3106 ISA 1M
- . Paradise VGA Plus Card ISA 256k (8 bit PVGA1A)
- . Paradise ISA 256k (16 bit PVGA1A)
- . Paradise Windows Accelerator ISA 1Mb (WD90C31 Sierra SC11483 HiColor
- DAC)
- . Cardex C33 VLB 2Mb (WD90C33 ATT 20c490 TrueColor DAC)
- . Western Digital in Toshiba T4440C Laptop 512k (WD90C30)
- . Dolch PIT Viper ISA 512k (C&T 65535)
- . Spider 256 Cache VLB 1Mb/2Mb (C&T 64300, Internal 24 bit DAC)
- . Boca Vortex ISA 1Mb (IIT AGX-014, SC15025 TrueColor DAC)
- . Spider Black Widow Plus PCI 1Mb (IIT AGX-016, SC15021 TrueColor DAC)
- . Sierra Falcon/64 PCI 2Mb (SC15064, built in TrueColor DAC)
- 38
-
-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- . ARK Logic PCI 1Mb (ARK1000PV, UMC9591L (20c490 comp) TrueColor DAC)
- . ALi CAT-64 PCI 2Mb (ALi M3145, STG1702 TrueColor DAC)
- . Avance Logic ALG2228 VLB 1Mb (ALG1201 TrueColor DAC)
- . Avance Logic ALG2301 PCI 2Mb (ALG1201 TrueColor DAC)
- . Avance Logic ALG2302 PCI 2Mb (ALG1301 TrueColor DAC)
- . GXA-9000 VLB 2Mb (Weitek P9000+5086, Bt486 TrueColor DAC)
- . Diamond Viper VLB 2Mb (Weitek P9000+W5186, Bt485 TrueColor DAC)
- . Diamond Viper VLB 2Mb (Weitek P9000+Oak87, Bt485 TrueColor DAC)
- . Diamond Viper PCI 2Mb (Weitek P9000+Oak87, Bt485 TrueColor DAC)
- . Diamond Viper SE 2Mb PCI (Weitek P9100, IBM RGB525 TrueColor DAC)
- . Diamond Viper Pro Video 2Mb PCI (Weitek P9100, IBM RGB525 TrueColor
- DAC)
- . Compaq QVision/1280 ISA 2Mb (QVision 1280, Bt485 TrueColor DAC)
- . Media Vision Pro Graphics 1024 - uses Cirrus Logic SuperVGA modes
- . Media Vision Pro Graphics 1280 - uses only Standard VGA modes
- . Matrox MGA Ultima Plus 4Mb VLB (MGA Atlas, TVP3020 RAMDAC)
-
- Reported to work from UniVBE users:
-
- . Actix GE32+ ISA 1Mb (S3 86c801, ATT 20c490 TrueColor DAC)
- . UMC 85c408 512k with HiColor DAC
- . HMC 86304 256k, 512k
- . Trident 9000i 512k with HiColor DAC
- . Trident 8900C 1Mb
- . Trident 8900B 1Mb
- . Trident 9000B 512k
- . MXIC 86000 512k
- . Avance Logic ALG2101 1Mb with HiColor DAC
- . Oak OTI-077 1Mb
- . Oak OTI-087 1Mb with HiColor DAC
- . Oak OTI-067 256k
- . Western Digital WD90c31 1Mb with TrueColor DAC (AT&T 20c492)
- . Western Digital WD90c33 1Mb with TrueColor DAC (Sierra SC15025)
- . NCR 77C22E 4Mb
- . Tseng Labs ET4000AX 1Mb with TrueColor DAC (SS24)
- . Tseng Labs ET4000/W32 1Mb with TrueColor DAC (AT&T 20c490)
- . Tseng Labs ET4000/W32i 2Mb with TrueColor DAC (Sierra SC15025)
- . Tseng Labs ET4000/W32i 1Mb with TrueColor DAC (Sierra SC15025)
- . Tseng Labs ET3000AX 512k
- . Primus P2000 2Mb with TrueColor DAC (AT&T 20c492)
- . Acumos AVGA2 512k (actually a Cirrus 5421 equivalent chipset)
- . Cirrus Logic 5420 512k with HiColor DAC
- . ATI Graphics Ultra Pro 2Mb with TrueColor DAC (TI34075)
- . Weitek 5186 256k (on a P9000 board)
- . Western Digital WD90c24 1Mb with HiColor DAC
- . Western Digital in Toshiba T6600 Laptop 512k (WD90C26A)
- . RealTek RTG3105 512k
- . Trident 9000B 512k
- . Cirrus Logic 5426 2Mb
- . Chips & Technologies 82c450 in Macintosh Quadra 800 with DOS card.
- . STB WINDX ISA 1Mb (S3 86c911)
- . Diamond Stealth VRAM ISA 1Mb (S3 86c924)
- . Diamond Stealth 24 VLB 1Mb (S3 86c805 TrueColor DAC)
-
-
-
-
-
- 39
-
-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
-
-
- Appendix B:
- VBE Compatible Applications
-
-
-
- The following is a vastly incomplete list of products that use VBE
- standards. We are trying to create a complete listing of VBE 2.0
- applications so if you know of applications that support VBE that are not
- on this list, please email the information to support@scitechsoft.com and
- will include them on future updates.
-
-
- Vendor Application
-
- Access Software Links/386
- Under a Killing Moon
-
-
-
- AutoDesk AutoCAD Release 12
- AutoShade
- Animator
- Animator Pro
-
-
- Compton's Newmedia Songs from Bear
- Country
-
- Dyned Dynamic
- English/Japanese/etc.
-
- Electronic Arts NHL Hockey 95
-
- Interplay The Sim City Series
-
- Legend Deathgate
- Entertainment
-
- Maxis The SimCity CD ROM
-
- Novell The WordPerfect
- Series
-
- Strategic
- Simulations, Inc.
-
- Time Warner Rise of the Robots
- Interactive
-
- Trilobyte The Seventh Guest
- The Eleventh Hour
-
-
-
-
-
- 40
-
-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
-
-
- Appendix C:
- Developer Information
-
-
-
-
-
- UniVBE Programming Information
-
- For information about how to program to the UniVBE and the VESA VBE
- standards in general, we suggest the following references:
-
- . SuperVGA Kit
- . SciTech MGL Graphics Library
- . VESA VBE Spec (available directly from VESA at 408-435-0333)
-
-
- Video Modes Supported by UniVBE
-
- VBE 2.0 allows vendors to extend the video numbers to whatever values they
- wish, so we have taken the liberty to extend the mode numbers used by the
- UniVBE to include modes supported by a number of popular video cards on
- the market as well as some new modes that we have created. Depending on
- how well your applications have been written, they may or may not be able
- to use those modes.
-
- If you are a developer wishing to take advantage of these modes, please
- consult the SuperVGA Kit (available from SciTech Software) for more
- information and programming examples. When you are using VBE, it is best
- to query the type of mode you want first (i.e. 800x600/256 color), find
- out the mode number, then use that mode number as a tag to set the mode.
- The video modes supported in UniVBE along with internal modes numbers used
- by UniVBE are as follows:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 41
-
-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
-
- List of UniVBE Mode Numbers
- Color Resoluti Mode Colors Resoluti Mode
- s on on
- 16 640x350 150 65,536 320x200 10E
- 16 640x400 151 65,536 320x240 132
- 16 640x480 152 65,536 320x400 133
- 16 800x600 102 65,536 360x200 134
- 16 1024x768 104 65,536 360x240 135
- 16 1280x102 106 65,536 360x400 136
- 4
- 16 1600x120 123 65,536 640x350 11F
- 0
- 256 320x200 153 65,536 640x400 120
- 256 320x240 154 65,536 640x480 111
- 256 320x400 155 65,536 800x600 114
- 256 360x200 156 65,536 1024x768 117
- 256 360x240 157 65,536 1280x102 11A
- 4
- 256 360x400 158 65,536 1600x120 126
- 0
- 256 640x350 11C 16M 320x200 10F
- 256 640x400 100 16M 320x240 137
- 256 640x480 101 16M 320x400 138
- 256 800x600 103 16M 640x350 121
- 256 1024x768 105 16M 640x400 122
- 256 1280x102 107 16M 640x480 112
- 4
- 256 1600x120 124 16M 800x600 115
- 0
- 32,76 320x200 10D 16M 1024x768 118
- 8
- 32,76 320x240 12D 16M 1280x102 11B
- 8 4
- 32,76 320x400 12E 16M 1600x120 127
- 8 0
- 32,76 360x200 12F 16M+A 640x350 142
- 8 *
- 32,76 360x240 130 16M+A 640x400 143
- 8 *
- 32,76 360x400 131 16M+A 640x480 128
- 8 *
- 32,76 640x350 11D 16M+A 800x600 129
- 8 *
- 32,76 640x400 11E 16M+A 1024x768 12A
- 8 *
- 32,76 640x480 110 16M+A 1280x102 12B
- 8 * 4
- 32,76 800x600 113 16M+A 1600x120 12B
- 8 * 0
- 32,76 1024x768 116
- 8
- 32,76 1280x102 119
- 8 4
- 32,76 1600x120 125
- 8 0
- * 32 Bits Per Pixel
-
- 42
-
-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- UniVBE also fully supports the 32 BPP video modes popular on the latest
- video cards. These modes usually run much faster than the equivalent 24
- bit modes, but take up considerably more memory (you need at least 2Mb to
- run 640x480x32bit).
-
-
- Hardware Limitations
- Note however that even though UniVBE may support a particular video mode,
- this mode will only be _valid_ if there is enough video memory installed,
- and if the underlying video hardware can support it. UniVBE fully supports
- the 640x350, 640x400 and 640x480 modes with 256/32k and 64k colors on all
- video cards that have enough video memory, using proprietary emulation
- techniques if the underlying video BIOS does not directly support it.
-
-
- Extended Text Modes
- UniVBE does not provide support for any of the extended text modes that
- your video card may provide, but will provide support for any extended
- text modes supported by an underlying VESA VBE compliant BIOS or TSR. Thus
- if your video card already has a VBE compliant BIOS or you install your
- vendor supplied VESA VBE TSR for your video card before installing UniVBE,
- an automatic pass-through mechanism will be used to ensure the extended
- text modes still work correctly.
-
-
- Distribution Licensing Information
-
- If you are the author of a freeware, shareware or commercial application
- and wish to distribute a Shareware or Licensed copy of the Universal VESA
- VBE with your package, you must purchase a Software License Agreement from
- SciTech Software. The following conditions must also be met:
-
- Please contact SciTech Software directly for Software Licensing
- information
- and pricing:
-
- Licensing Department
- SciTech Software USA
- 5 Governors Lane, Suite D
- Chico, CA 95926
- USA
-
- Phone : (916) 894-8400
- Fax : (510) 208 8026
- Email : sales@scitechsoft.com
-
- See the Software License Agreement at the beginning of this manual for
- further Shareware Distribution information
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 43
-
-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
-
-
- Appendix D:
- Glossary
-
-
-
- Bank Switching - Due to limitations of the PC architecture, application
- software can only access the graphics memory in 64K banks. When the
- software needs to change the image on the display, it must switch to the
- bank of memory on the video card that contains the image that it wants
- to change. Each graphic chip implements bank switching in a different
- way, so VESA created the VBE Core standard to provide a common way to do
- bank switching. Newer graphics chips fix this problem by implementing a
- _linear frame buffer_ mode (see definition below).
-
- BIOS - Basic Input Output System. This is the low level code that makes
- the graphics card start up and operates correctly. It is normally stored
- in a Read Only Memory chip on the graphics board and it can be upgraded
- or supplemented to provide additional functionality with a program like
- UniVBE.
-
- BPP - Bits Per Pixel. It signifies how many colors can be displayed in a
- particular video mode. 8BPP=256 colors, 15BPP=32,768 colors;
- 16BPP=64,5536 colors; 24BPP=16.7 million colors.
-
- Color Depth - This refers to how many colors are being displayed. The
- higher the color depth, the greater number of colors. The more colors,
- the more memory is required on the graphics card. Generally, the higher
- the color depth, the more realistic the image displayed.
-
- DAC - Digital to Analog Converter. This is the chip that converts the
- digital signals in the graphics chip to the analog signals that a
- standard super VGA monitor requires. The DAC chip also generates all of
- the colors for a graphics chip. Generally, the better the DAC, the more
- colors you get.
-
- Double Buffering - This is a programming technique that uses the fact that
- most graphics cards have more memory on them then is actually used to
- display an image. This extra, or _off screen_ memory can be used to
- begin generating the next image that the user will instantanly see the
- next frame. This way the user does not have to watch each frame get
- rendered by the computer. This technique is used extensively in computer
- games to produce flicker free animation.
-
- DPMS - The VESA Display Power Management Signaling standard is the method
- that a graphics controller signals to the display to power down. These
- signals are generated differently on each graphics controller so VESA
- also created a standard software interface (VBE/PM) so that screen
- savers and operating systems wouldn't have to know about each graphics
- chip just to set the mode.
-
- Energy Star Computers Program - This is an effort organized in 1993, by
- the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to encourage manufacturers
- to create more energy conscious office products. VESA worked closely
- with the EPA in creating the DPMS and VBE/PM standards so that computers
- and displays could be the Energy Star requirements in a standard way.
- Most, if not all, DPMS monitors are Energy Star compliant. To meet the
- 44
-
-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- Energy Star guidelines a computer or display must use no more than 30
- watts of electricity when idle.
-
- Frame Buffer - This is the memory where a computer image is stored. This
- memory is usually located on the graphics card and is completely
- separate from the computer system's main memory. When you are looking at
- an image displayed on a computer screen, you are actually viewing the
- image stored in the frame buffer.
-
- Linear Frame Buffer - This is a high performance replacement for bank
- switching whereby all of the graphics memory can be accessed in one
- contiguous block of memory. In order to use linear frame buffer mode, a
- graphics chip must support it, must be running VBE 2.0 or other
- specialized driver and must be running in protected mode. This is
- because the computer will map the graphics memory into the system memory
- address space. In order to do this, it must have access to more than the
- 640K that it would get in _real mode_.
-
- Paging - Another term for _bank switching_ (see above definition).
-
- Pixels - A pixel is an individual dot of light that the graphics card can
- turn on or off or change the color of. A monitor can display many
- thousands of pixels. The more pixels, the more defined a computer image
- becomes. Generally, as the number of pixels displayed increased, the
- performance of the computer reduces, thus many computer games run in
- lower resolutions with a higher (more realistic) color depth.
-
- Protected Mode - Normally a PC can access 640K of RAM. By going into
- protected mode, software has full access to all of the memory in a
- computer system. The problem with protected mode is that when running in
- protected mode, the software no longer has access to some of the
- computers resources. This is why VBE 2.0 was created; software can jump
- down to _real mode_ get the information from VBE and switch back to
- protected mode. Before VBE 2.0, an application had to do that each time
- that it wanted to access the graphics card. With VBE 2.0, it only has to
- do it at initialisation time, so VBE 2.0 is much faster then earlier
- versions of VBE.
-
- Real Mode - This is the opposite of protected mode. In this mode of
- operation, a software application can only access 640K of RAM. If an
- application runs in real mode, it can only access the graphics card
- using bank switching. In order to access VBE, an application must be in
- real mode, therefore protected mode applications will switch to real
- mode, access VBE, then switch back to protected mode to continue
- executing. With VBE 2.0, this only has to happen at initisalisation
- time.
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- Resolution - This refers to the number of pixels that are displayed on the
- screen. For instance, 1024x768 means that 1024 pixels are display across
- and 768 pixels are displayed down for a total of 786,432 pixels.
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- ROM - Read Only Memory. This is a chip where the BIOS is stored on a
- graphics card.
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- SVGA - Super VGA. The original IBM Video Graphics Array, or VGA card had
- limited ability to display graphics. Quickly, other manufactures
- enhanced the original design of IBM's VGA, while still maintaining
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- compatibility with IBM's original VGA card. These enhanced cards have
- come to be known collectively as _Super VGA_ cards.
-
- Thunk - This is when an application changes from protected mode back to
- real mode. Thunking will slow down an application considerably. By
- minimizing thunking, VBE 2.0 will dramatically increase the performance
- of a graphics application.
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- TSR - Terminate and Stay Resident program. This is a program that runs,
- loads itself into memory and then allows the user to run other programs.
- TSR have gotten a bad name because many early applications tried to be
- TSRs and they conflicted with many other applications. Low level drivers
- like UniVBE or mouse drivers are also TSRs. Since they operate at a very
- low level, they seldom if ever conflict with applications (as a matter
- of fact applications run better with these TSRs!)
-
- VBE - VESA BIOS Extension. This is an extension of the BIOS defined in the
- original IBM VGA card. VESA added new functionality to the BIOS to
- provide software developers access to new features that have been added
- to SVGA cards. There are several VBE module that address new features
- that have been added over the years.
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- VBE/PM - VESA BIOS Extension/Power Management - This is a module of VBE
- that allows applications to issue standard calls to a SVGA card to power
- down the monitor. VBE/PM allows operating system and application vendors
- a standard interface to control the monitor. Without VBE/PM a screen
- saver would be required to write special software for every graphic card
- on the market.
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- VESA - The Video Electronics Standards Association is an organization that
- was formed in 1989 to standardise graphics and display hardware and
- device interfaces. It has over 200 member companies from the display,
- graphics chip, graphics board, system and software companies. They can
- be reached at: Video Electronics Standards Association, 2150 North First
- Street, Suite 440, San Jose, CA 95131. (408) 435-0333, (408) 435-8225
- FAX
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- Appendix E:
- VESA Software Standards Overview
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- In order for you to better understand the features that UniVBE gives you,
- it is helpful to provide a brief overview of the various VESA standards
- that are relevant to UniVBE. Since all of the software interface
- specifications are built into the BIOS of the graphics card, they are all
- modules of the VESA BIOS Extension (VBE) standard.
-
- VESA BIOS Extensions (VBE Core) 2.0 - This standard provides the primary
- functionality of the VESA BIOS Extensions. It allows applications to find
- out the capabilities of the graphics card and the ability to set the
- display modes that it finds. VBE 2.0 adds some new features above the
- prior VBE 1.2 standard including linear frame buffer access and protected
- mode banking. With VBE 2.0, many new graphics boards will be able to be
- supported in their relatively high performance modes. Some of the VBE Core
- 2.0 features include:
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- . Linear Frame Buffer Access. This allows the frame buffer to be
- accessed directly in protected mode as one large area of memory
- instead of in individual chunks.
- . Protected Mode Banking. This allows access to the frame buffer from
- protected mode with out _thunking_ down to real mode, thus slowing
- the computer down.
- . SuperVGA double buffering. Allows high performance animation to
- provide for smooth animation for computer games and other high
- performance graphics programs.
- . SuperVGA virtual screens. Programs may set up a huge virtual display
- resolutions, and smoothly scroll a window with less physical
- resolution around within this buffer.
- . High Color Modes. Support for the 32,000, 64,000 and 16.7 million
- color video modes. As well as supporting the industry standard 16 and
- 256 color video modes for resolutions from 320x200 right up to
- 1600x1200.
-
- VESA Display Power Management (DPMS) 1.0 - DPMS is a hardware standard
- that allows graphics card cards to communicate with DPMS compliant
- monitors via a special signaling system that can be used with existing
- graphics controllers and monitor cables. This signaling system allows the
- video card to tell the monitor to go into a number of different power
- management or power saving states, which effectively allow the monitor to
- turn itself off when it is not in use. The primary benefit of this is
- dramatically decreased (up to 90%!) power consumption when your computer
- is sitting idle, thus saving both energy and money.
-
- There are four power management states. Each of the different states
- provides a tradeoff between power consumption and recovery time (the time
- it take before you can see the picture again!). The following table
- outlines the currently defined power management states, and how they
- relate to each other. Also included are some ballpark figures for power
- consumption and recovery times, but you should consult the documentation
- that comes with your video monitor for more accurate figures:
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- VESA DPMS Monitor Modes
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- State Power Recovery Notes
- Time
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- On 100% N/A Normal use
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- Standb < 80% ~1 sec Minimal power reduction
- y (optional)
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- Suspen < 30 ~4 secs Substantial power reduction
- d watts
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- Off < 5 ~8-20 secs Lowest level or power - non
- watts operational
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- VESA BIOS Extensions/Power Management (VBE/PM) 1.0 - Once VESA created the
- DPMS standard for the electronic signal between the graphics card and the
- display, they realized that since DPMS is enabled differently on each
- graphics card, they needed to have a standard interface so that software
- and operating systems could control the signaling. They created VBE/Power
- Management for this purpose. The way it works is that a screen saver or
- operating system (such as Windows 95) makes a VBE/PM call to the graphics
- card. When the graphics card receives a VBE/PM function call, it then
- generates the DPMS signals to the monitor. This way, the application never
- has to know exactly how the graphics card generates those signals, it just
- make the VBE/PM calls and lets the graphics card handle it. Since VBE/PM
- is a relatively new standard, many older graphics cards do not support it.
- UniVBE automatically provides support for VBE/PM on all supported graphics
- cards.
-
- Other VESA Software Standards and Proposals
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- VBE/Display Data Channel (VBE/DDC) 1.0 - This is the software interface to
- the _plug and play_ monitor interface standard. It allows a graphics
- controller to determine what kind of display is connected so that it can
- configure itself correctly -- all without any intervention from the user.
-
- VBE/Audio Interface (VBE/AI) - This is a VESA software standard for audio,
- similar to VBE Core that allows software to control audio hardware without
- having to write special drivers for every card on the market. Since it
- insulates the software vendor from worrying about interrupts, it is
- crucial for compatibly with the forthcoming plug and play compatible
- systems. These new systems will be able to switch interrupts on the fly
- and will cause software with hard coded interrupts to fail. The pending
- VBE/AI 2.0 standard will support protected mode access to the audio
- hardware.
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- VBE/Accelerator Functions (VBE/AF) - This is a proposal within the VESA
- Software Standards Committee to standardize common acceleration functions
- available on most hardware today. Some of the functions that are being
- considered for the standard are access to hardware cursors, Bit Block
- Transfers (BIT BLT), off screen sprites, hardware panning, drawing and
- other functions. This proposal has the potential to dramatically increase
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- the baseline performance of games, operating systems and other
- applications.
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- VBE/Graphics Configuration (VBE/GC) - This proposal will allow
- applications, utility software and operating systems a standardized way to
- set numerous parameters of a graphics controller to optimize it with the
- display. One of the purposes of the specification will be to allow the
- user to change the refresh rates generated by the graphics card to better
- match the installed display and user preferences.
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- Appendix F:
- Order/Product Feedback Forms
-
-
-
-
-
- Order/Registration Form
-
- SciTech Software ___/___/___
- 5 Governors Lane, Suite D MM/DD /YY
- Chico, CA 95926 USA
- Toll free/Phone/Fax: 800-4UNIVBE/916-894-8400/510-208-8026
-
- PLEASE PRINT OR TYPE CLEARLY!
-
- Name:
- __________________________________________________________________
-
- Company:
- _______________________________________________________________
-
- Address:
- _______________________________________________________________
-
- __________________________________Zip/Postal
- Code______________
-
- ______________________________________ Country
- ________________
-
- Phone: ___________________________________ Fax:
- _______________________
-
- Email:
- _________________________________________________________________
-
- Register product(s) to: [ ] Company [ ] Individual
-
- Pay By: [ ] Check (USA only) [ ] Money Order [ ] Credit Card
-
- Credit Card Orders: MasterCard / Visa / American Express(circle one):
-
- Card Number ___________________________________ Expires ___/___
-
- Exact name on card (print) ____________________________________
-
- SHIPPING CHARGES: If a disk & manual are ordered from outside of the
- USA, the shipping charge is US$8 and will be delivered via airmail.
- For orders within the USA, the shipping charge is US$4. Orders without
- disk & manual will receive a receipt and registration code via airmail
- for no additional shipping charge.
-
- Price List Cost Qty Price
- ------------------ ------------------ ----- --- ------
- Upgrade from UniVBE/Pro 4.x (registered) US$16* ___ $ ______
- 50
-
-
- UniVBE 5.1 Users Guide
- UniVBE/Pro 5.x US$28* ___ $ ______
- Manual + Disk [ ] 3.5" [ ] 5.25" US$10 ___ $ ______
-
- *Includes all 5.x upgrades (available online)
-
- Subtotal: $ ______
- CA residents add 7.25% sales tax: $ ______
- Shipping Charges (See above for amount!): $ ______
-
- Total Enclosed: $ ______
-
- I have read and agree to abide by the enclosed license agreement and I
- agree to be bound by my credit card agreement.
-
- (Signature required)
- ________________________________________________
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- Product Feedback Form
-
-
- By taking a moment or two to fill out this form, you will enable us to
- serve you better in the future:
-
-
- 1. Where did find our program (please list forum/library or location
- downloaded)?
- [ ] America Online __________________
-
- [ ] Compuserve ____________________
-
- [ ] Internet ______________________
-
- [ ] BBS ____________________
-
- [ ] Other (Please specify) ___________________
-
-
- 2. Which version of our software did you receive?
-
-
- 3. What type of board/chip do you have? __________________
-
- 4. What feature(s) do you like the best about our software?
-
-
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- 5. Which applications that you are using UniVBE with?
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- 6. Do you have any comments or suggestions for future versions?
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- Index
-
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- 386 Memory Managers, 25
- Bank Switching, 40
- BIOS, 1, 2, 11, 20, 25, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43
- Command Line Parameters, 21, 22
- DAC, 30, 40
- DPMS, 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 40, 42, 43
- Frame Buffer, 40
- Installation, 5, 7, 8
- Licensing, 39
- Registering, 8
- Technical Support, 27
- Troubleshooting, 24
- UniCenter, 2, 18, 19
- UniPower, i, 7, 10, 16
- UNIVBE.INI, 19, 22
- VBE/AF, 43
- VBE/AI, 43
- VBE/DDC, 43
- VBE/GC, 43
- VBETest, 11, 27
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