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CD ROM Paradise Collection 4
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CD ROM Paradise Collection 4 1995 Nov.iso
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graphics
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svgadiag.zip
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svgadiag.txt
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1994-11-21
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5KB
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113 lines
SVGA Diagnostic Utility Ver 1.0
Written by Eric Jorgensen (1994)
*********** DO NOT RUN THIS PROGRAM UNDER WINDOWS ************
************* IT WILL PROBABLY CAUSE THE SYSTEM TO HANG *************
INTRODUCTION
I recently published my first shareware product called _Terrain Maker_,
an SVGA based utility for generating random landscapes. For the graphics,
I used an excellent library called SVGACC (by Stephen Balkum and Daniel Sill)
which, among other things, automatically configured itself to run on a wide
variety of video hardware, including VESA compitible video cards.
I discovered that many machines were able to run my software without
any problems, but I also foud that there is a significant population
of computers out there that had trouble with the graphics. Further
investigation revealed that while many of these claimed to be VESA SVGA
compatible, they failed to perform standard VESA functions properly.
I wanted to investigate the scope of this problem as well as put
pressure on video card manufactures to put more effort toward the DOS
end of the SVGA market, so I set out to write SVGADIAG.EXE, a self-
contained piece of software that extracts information about the
configuration, compatibility, and performance of a PC SVGA video
system. My intent is to have this information emailed back to me
so that I can compile it and publish it freely on the net to provide
valuable information to programmers and card buyers.
WHAT THIS PROGRAM DOES
This diagnostic utility basically gathers as much information
about your computer and video hardware as it can by checking the
VESA BIOS, running various graphics functions in a 640x480x256color
graphics mode, trying out other SVGA modes, and finally by asking
you questions about what you saw and what your system is like.
HOW TO USE THIS PROGRAM
First, you will need a 386 or better with an SVGA card (preferrably
VESA compatable). A Microsoft compatible mouse would be nice, too.
Simply type "SVGADIAG" at a prompt in the directory where this
program resides. It will create a text file that contains the
results of it's internal tests. It will also prompt you a few times
to verify that the graphics are behaving properly.
When the program is completed, you will need to edit the output
file called "SVGAOUT.TXT" and fill in information about your computer
system. (You can use a standard text editor like EDIT that comes with
MSDOS.) When you have saved your additions, please email the file to:
smeagol@rt66.com
I will compile all the results and publish them some time in early January.
Inn the meantime, though, you might want to read more of the output
file, because it contains interesting information about your system and
some numbers tat give a clue of how fast your graphics are. If you want
to compare, here are the numbers from my Diamond Stealth Pro VLB running
on a 486 DX2/66:
blkget: 3374.5 Kpxls/sec
blkput: 7352.7 Kpxls/sec
drwbox: 345.9 Kpxls/sec
drwfillbox: 6618.2 Kpxls/sec
drwline: 2785.5 Kpxls/sec
drwpoint: 156.5 Kpxls/sec
getpoint: 158.9 Kpxls/sec
WHAT IF THIS PROGRAM CRASHES ON MY COMPUTER?
Please send the output file to me anyway, since it may contain clues
as to why the program crashed. Plus this will help me identify video
cards that don't handle SVGA very well, whic is one of the goals of my
survey.
This program is fairly simple and has been beta tested on several
computers of varying configurations to make sure that no gross bugs exist.
In all likelyhood, if the graphics mess up, or if the program
crashes, your graphics drivers or video BIOS are to blame. This was
the case with my Diamond Stealth Pro. Fortunately, when I called
Diamond about it they gave me a free BIOS update and my problems went
away. I suggest that you try the same with your video card manufacturer.
Some particular problems I have seen that are graphics driver related:
- mouse leaves trails on the screen
- page flipping does not work
- verticle or horizontal bars of crud across the screen
THIS IS THE WORST BIT OF CODING I'VE EVER SEEN!
I COULD WRITE SOMETING WAY BETTER!
By all means, please contribute! Since this is version 1.0 of
this diagnostic/survey software, I expect to learn a lot in the process of
releasing it to the public. Any code, helpful hints or bug reports are
welcome. Please send them to smeagol@rt66.com
SPECIAL THANKS
To Daniel Sill for providing VESA interrupt information and
support for SVGACC.
To the Beta Testers: Augusto Roman, Neil Breeden, and Daniel Sill.
To YOU! for trying out my program.