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CARD (C) 1993 Video Monitor Alignment Package Copyright Eric Rodda-Software Product of Australia. Eric Rodda-Software (C) INTRODUCTION The CARD (C) package has been developed to assist technical personel with the setting up of video monitors of all types i.e. for IBM compatible systems, running MSDOS or similar. The main drawcard in this package is the EGACARD which can be used to setup the majority of colour monitors in use today. (The VGACARD is only suitable for VGA systems, whereas the EGACARD will work on both VGA and EGA) The following pages will describe the main features of the programmes contained in the package. Eric Rodda-Software (C) 1 CONTENTS SUBJECT PAGE No. Contents 1 Programme Information 2 VGACOLOR (VGA DEMO) 3 VGACARD 4 EGACARD 5 CGACARD 6 CROSSHAT 7 DOTS 8 PURITY Screens 8 Utilities ... COLOR, MODEMONO 3 CLRKBUFF 9 WIPELEFT 10 WIPERITE 10 PICKESC 10,11 CURSA 12 PRESS 12 DELAY 13 CLR 14 Notes 14,15 Appendix 16 Stop press (ERSVMODE) 17 Eric Rodda-Software (C) 2 PROGRAMME INFORMATION This collection of programmes in the CARD Package is being distributed in Shareware form. This means that you can give (not sell) this version of the CARD Package to everyone. The only charges should be for the physical disk and for any disk copying costs! The idea of Shareware is to try before you buy. If you like the programme, and continue to use it, you should REGISTER at only a small cost. This then helps the author to develop additional programmes. The Shareware version of the Package is not limited in any way, and is not copy protected. The content of the distribution disk is not to be altered in any way. The author is not responsible for any damage occuring to software or hardware during the use of this programme. Special versions of any of the programmes contained in the CARD package may be requested of the author at a reasonable cost. Registration:- Single copy $25.00, Site License $60.00 (in AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS ONLY.) see register.doc Users who register CARD (C) will receive an extra set of DOS utility programmes, packaged with CARD (C). For further information on the CARD (C) package, or additional copies, please contact:- Eric Rodda-Software 34 Abbeville Tce Marion South Australia 5043 Eric Rodda-Software (C) 3 VGACOLOR This programme is purely a VGA demonstration of the colours available in Video Graphics Mode 19. ..................... Once the author's logo has finished disintergrating, the screen begins to fill with coloured blocks, each of which is one of the 256 colours available from one pallate of approximately 262,000 colours. This display is very useful to show actual processor activity as well as display! To exit this procedure and continue a keypress is required. The next screen produced shows the 256 colours in colour number order;i.e. the row on the top starting with black have numbers 0 through to 15 from left to right, etc. Press a key again to continue. The random blocks appear again until a key is pressed. The authors logo then repeats which finishes the programme. COLOR and MONOMODE ** If 'Control C' is used to interrupt this programme and you are possibly left with a question and no cursor, (because you are 'stuck' in a graphics mode) type 'Y' to the question then type COLOR to reset to a 80 column text mode. Now start all over again. MODEMONO is included to reset to mono text when stuck in HERCULES graphic mode. ** Not recommended. Eric Rodda-Software (C) 4 VGACARD This produces a full screen display in graphics video mode 18 suitable for VGA monitors only. DESCRIPTION The VGACARD presents:- 1) A border frame which is at the extremes of the screen area. This is used in aligning picture position: - shift (vertical & horizontal) - rotation (crt yoke adjustment) 2) Convergence dots distributed thoughout the screen area are for adjustment of static convergence; at the centre and corners with convergence ring magnets on the neck of the CRT, or strip magnets under the yoke for the corners. The dots are arranged in squares (+/- one pixel). 3) Bright lines with crosses at various positions as well as the frame are also used to view convergence errors. 4) Grids above the centre of the picture are for use in the adjustment of the focus (usually situated on the horizontal (line) output transformer). 5) Grey scale below centre (3 blocks) can be used to touch up brilliance and contrast controls, they should appear (from left to right) white, light grey and dark grey. The grey scale tracking can also be checked i.e. These blocks should appear as some shade between white and black with the contrast and brilliance controls at any position. If any colour appears, the CRT 'bias' and/or 'drive' controls will have to be adjusted (see the monitor Service Manual). 6) The colour blocks around the picture represent the 16 colours available in VGA mode 18. They are, anticlockwise from the top centre:- BLUE, GREEN, CYAN, RED, MAGENTA, BROWN, GREY, WHITE, YELLOW, BRIGHT MAGENTA, BRIGHT RED, BRIGHT CYAN, BRIGHT GREEN, and BRIGHT BLUE. Each colour block forms a square (+/- one pixel). * Please note, the BROWN block may not appear brown until the contrast and brilliance adjustments have been performed. Eric Rodda-Software (C) 5 EGACARD This produces a full screen display in graphics video mode 16 suitable for both EGA and VGA monitors. The ultimate computer Test Pattern DESCRIPTION The EGACARD presents:- 1) A border frame which is at the extremes of the screen area. This is used in aligning picture position: - shift (vertical & horizontal) - rotation (crt yoke adjustment) 2) Convergence dots distributed thoughout the screen area are for adjustment of static convergence; at the centre and corners with convergence ring magnets on the neck of the CRT, or strip magnets under the yoke for the corners. The dots are arranged in squares (+/- one pixel). 3) Bright lines with crosses at various positions as well as the frame are also used to view convergence errors. 4) Grids above the centre of the picture are for use in the adjustment of the focus (usually situated on the horizontal (line) output transformer). 5) Grey scale below centre (3 blocks) can be used to touch up brilliance and contrast controls, they should appear (from left to right) white, light grey and dark grey. The grey scale tracking can also be checked i.e. These blocks should appear as some shade between white and black with the contrast and brilliance controls at any position. If any colour appears, the CRT 'bias' and/or 'drive' controls will have to be adjusted (see the monitor Service Manual). 6) The colour blocks around the picture represent all colours available from the EGA system. They are, anticlockwise from the top centre:- BLUE, GREEN, CYAN, RED, MAGENTA, BROWN, GREY, WHITE, YELLOW, BRIGHT MAGENTA, BRIGHT RED, BRIGHT CYAN, BRIGHT GREEN, and BRIGHT BLUE. Each colour block forms a square (+/- one pixel). * Please note, the BROWN block may not appear brown until the contrast and brilliance adjustments have been performed. Eric Rodda-Software (C) 6 EGACARD continued 7) The circle is a quick method for evaluating picture linearity and adjusting picture height. Once the width has been set, (not always easily accessible) the horizontal diameter is measured and then the height adjusted, measuring the vertical diameter. At the DOS prompt, EGACARD /h will give a screen of HELP. _._._._._ CGACARD This produces a full screen display in graphics video mode 4 suitable for CGA, EGA and VGA monitors. DESCRIPTION Refer to the EGACARD description for most available features. The major difference between the EGACARD and the CGACARD other than the video mode, is the number of available colours. In the CGA graphics mode only four foreground colours are available at any one time. 'Colours' presented are WHITE, MAGENTA, CYAN and BLACK. (All are intensified, except BLACK) All primary colours are represented:- WHITE consists of:- RED, GREEN and BLUE. MAGENTA consists of:- RED and BLUE. CYAN consists of:- GREEN and BLUE. The CGACARD can be used to test the switching of EGA monitors to the CGA graphics mode 4 which causes the monitor to run at a much lower (horizontal) frequency, approximately 15KHz. Some monitor faults prevent this from happening. CGACARD /h at the DOS prompt will give a screen of HELP. Eric Rodda-Software (C) 7 CROSSHAT This crosshatch pattern has two main uses;- 1) For colour systems; convergence as mentioned in the EGACARD description. 2) For all systems; picture position and size adjustment and linearity. The boxes formed are squares (+/- one pixel). The total available screen area is utilised (+/- one pixel). The crosshatch pattern will default to a suitable video mode which matches the system configuration. The mode number is shown in the top left corner of the screen. (See Appendix A) For EGA and VGA, video mode 16 (640 x 350) has been selected. For CGA, video mode 4 (320 x 200). For Hercules (mono graphics), video mode 99 (720 x 348). The CROSSHAT programme is the first of our programmes to have available, command line arguments i.e. you can specify at the DOS prompt parameters after the programme name, to control the operation of it. EXAMPLES.... CROSSHAT 4 will setup a crosshatch pattern in videomode 4 (CGA mode). CROSSHAT 99 for crosshatch in Hercules mode. (Hercules compatible monitors only) CROSSHAT 18 for crosshatch pattern in VGA mode 18. The video mode number selected must be a valid graphics mode, see APPENDIX A for a list of video modes. CROSSHAT /h /h gives a screen of HELP information Eric Rodda-Software (C) 8 DOTS Similar to CROSSHAT, but diplays DOTS instead of lines. This is excellent for 'fine tuning' convergence. The control at the DOS prompt is the same as for CROSSHAT, including HELP. [see page 7] _._._._._ PURITY SCREENS There are four PURITY screens available:- WHITE, RED, BLUE, and GREEN. RED is often chosen by Technicians for the adjustment and then the others are used for checking. If, when these are displayed, they show a full screen of one pure colour, no purity adjustments are required. If patches of the wrong colours are present, the following must be performed until pure colour screens appear. a) Turn off the monitor for approximately one minute and turn on again. This makes use of the monitor's own degaussing coils around the front of the CRT. Success ? No ! then goto b). b) Use an external Degaussing Wand.(With the monitor on) This should be switched on a few inches from the CRT. The screen is then scanned in a circular fashion then in ever decreasing circles as the wand is re- moved well away from the monitor before switching off. Keep well away from other monitors and magnetic sensitive material eg. disks !! * Note:- While the degaussing wand is in use the screen is filled with colour patterns due to the immense magnetic field produced. This is normal and very pretty ! Success ? No ! then goto c). c) Internal purity adjustment will now have to be performed. This should only be done by QUALIFIED PERSONNEL because it involves physical adjustment of purity magnets and/or repositioning of the CRT yoke deflection coils. This will also have an effect on the convergence. Eric Rodda-Software (C) 9 UTILITIES The utilities presented were written specifically for the CARD (C) package. You can write your own batch files with specific tests for your own needs. e.g. Mode swiching test combined with purity check. CHECK.BAT echo off break = on :start clr 9 echo MONITOR CHECKS echo a) Switching between EGA and CGA graphics modes. echo b) Purity screens. White, green, red and blue. echo Press control-C or control-Break to exit echo while programme is running. press crosshat 16 crosshat 4 purityw press purityg press purityr press purityb press goto start This batch file uses two of the utilities CLR and PRESS. These will explained on the following pages. _._._._._ CLRKBUFF This utility will clear the computer's keyboard buffer of any stored 'keys'. Using CLRKBUFF prevents the unintended clearing of or stepping through important screen displays due to accidental extra keystrokes. eg. auto key repeat. CLRKBUFF is used in the CARD.BAT for exactly this purpose. The major programmes in this package have this feature inbuilt. For help at the DOS prompt use CLRKBUFF /h. Eric Rodda-Software (C) 10 UTILITIES continued WIPELEFT and WIPERITE These two utilities are used to clear the screen in a dfferent way to usual. WIPELEFT will erase the screen from right to left and (you guessed it!) WIPERITE erases it from left to right. WIPELEFT and WIPERITE can be used anywhere the DOS 'CLS' is used. _._._._._ PICKESC PICKESC is used in the process of making menu selection from within a batch file using errorlevel checking, set from the position of a character in a string, the string is a command line argument of PICKESC. Note:- Type PICKESC /? on the command-line for more help. Pressing ESC key gives errorlevel 0. eg. With a very simple screen menu, such as this, produced from say, a text file: MENU.TXT ... ____________________________________________________________ MY MENU SELECTION --------------------------- A) CGA DOTS Pattern B) EGA DOTS Pattern C) VGA DOTS Pattern D) Return to DOS Press a letter A -- D for your choice ____________________________________________________________ Please turn the page for the programme to run this menu .... Eric Rodda-Software (C) 11 UTILITIES continued PICKESC continued The batch file might go something like this:- MENU.BAT echo off :start clr 5 type menu.txt cursa 0 pickesc DCBA if errorlevel 4 goto cgadots if errorlevel 3 goto egadots if errorlevel 2 goto vgadots if errorlevel 1 goto dos goto dos :cgadots dots 4 goto start :egadots dots 16 goto start :vgadots dots 18 goto start :dos cursa 1 prompt = $p $g clr echo Type MENU to return to the selection menu. ................ Notes: The above example uses programmes and utilities from the CARD (C) package:- CURSA cursor control DOTS convergence dots display PICKESC menu control and CLR clear screen (with row selection) All other funtions are DOS related [ see DOS manual ] As you can see very simple menu systems can be created and the CARD.BAT which runs the card package can be examined to find out more about the use of this function. For more help type PICKESC at the DOS prompt. Eric Rodda-Software (C) 12 UTILITIES continued CURSA This utilities controls the DOS cursor. CURSA will turn the cursor off with:- CURSA 0 and turn it back on again with:- CURSA 1 Using CURSA 0 near the beginning of batch files prevents the appearance of it until CURSA 1 brings it back, or another DOS function does so. This function is designed for use in batch files and may not perform correctly from the DOS prompt. For help .. type CURSA at the DOS prompt. _._._._._ PRESS PRESS is an alternative to the DOS PAUSE command for use in display sequences in batch files. Running PRESS places the words,:- "Press any key to continue.." in the centre of the bottom line of the display (line 25), and replaces whatever was displayed in this position. A key press is then required to continue to the next step (in a batch file). Using:- PRESS off will operate as usual, but with the display at the bottom turned off. Help is available at the DOS prompt by typing:- PRESS /h /h Eric Rodda-Software (C) 13 UTILITIES continued DELAY When a time delay is required in a batch file use DELAY. Usage:- DELAY time where 'time' is the actual delay required in seconds. Execution of the batch file will stop for the time specified, then continue with the next command. Screen displays can be presented to the viewer for a 'time' one after the other without the viewer pressing any keys. e.g. COLOVIEW.BAT echo off cls cursa 0 purityr delay 5 purityg delay 5 purityb delay 5 purityw delay 5 cursa 1 clr This batch file will show the purity screen displays, each for five seconds, then return to DOS. For more help at the DOS prompt type DELAY. Eric Rodda-Software (C) 14 UTILITIES continued CLR CLR is another alternative to the DOS CLS command. CLR will clear the screen as usual, but place the cursor at random row (line) on the screen, or at a specific line. Usage:- CLR for random row selection, or CLR n for a specific row, where 'n' is a line number from 1 to 25. or CLR /h for a screen of help. _._._._._ NOTES 1/ For systems without graphic capability, a utility has been supplied, to allow the ajustment of picture position, width and height. This utility is accessed at the DOS prompt. For mono (text only) e.g. mode 7 use MONOGRID. This will reproduce a program called TEXTGRID which shows two squares at the top of the picture. These are as close as one can get to actual squares in text mode. Also the corners marked * are the extremes of the display area, so that the picture position can be adjusted. Usage :- enter MONOGRID at the DOS prompt after choosing Q (quit) from the CARD(C) menu if necessary. For laptops where the Main Menu does not show all of the writing or the result is blotchy use:- LAPTOP instead of CARD at the DOS prompt. Please note that when testing laptops the PURITY test can be used to test that all 'pixels' are working. Eric Rodda-Software (C) 15 NOTES - continued (for your notes) Eric Rodda-Software (C) 16 APPENDIX A STANDARD VIDEO MODES Video Mode Card type Resolution Displays x y 0 CGA 40 x 25 Black & White Text 1 CGA 40 x 25 Colour Text 2 CGA 80 x 25 Black & White Text 3 CGA 80 x 25 Colour Text 4 CGA 320 x 200 4-Colour Graphics 5 CGA 320 x 200 4-Colour Graphics (colour off) 6 CGA 640 x 200 Black & White Graphics 7 Monochrome 80 x 25 Black & White Text 8 PC jr. 160 x 200 16-Colour graphics 9 PC jr. 320 x 200 16-Colour Graphics 10 PC jr. 640 x 200 4-Colour Graphics 13 EGA 320 x 200 16-Colour Graphics 14 EGA 640 x 200 16-Colour Graphics 15 EGA 640 x 350 Black & White Graphics 16 EGA 640 x 350 4/16 Colour Graphics 17 VGA 640 x 480 2-Colour Graphics 18 VGA 640 x 480 16-Colour Graphics 19 VGA 320 x 200 256-Colour Graphics 99 Hercules 720 x 348 Black & White Graphics Notes:- Video Modes 8, 9, and 10 are for the (now mainly obselete), IBM PC Jr. Computer. Resolution is shown in pixels in the 'x' horizontal and 'y' vertical directions for graphics modes, and columns and rows respectively in text modes. Mode 16 will show either 4 or 16 colours, depending on the memory supplied on the Display Card. VGA will usually reproduce all VGA, EGA, and CGA Modes and sometimes Hercules and mono modes. EGA will usually reproduce all EGA and CGA modes but not Hercules. Dual Scan cards will reproduce CGA, Monochrome and Hercules. Mono cards (MDPA) will only produce monochrome text. Eric Rodda-Software (C) 17 ** ERSVMODE.EXE is a Video Mode Testing Programme. Use in conjunction with STANDARD VIDEO MODES Appendix A (P16). This programme is contains a help section which explains the abbreviations used for the different modes and monitors. (The amount of video memory displayed is that found by DOS and any memory more than 256Kb will not be shown.) ** This programme may not run on some DOS'S below DOS 3.1. Run this program from the main menu (by firstly typing CARD ) or from the DOS prompt:- ERSVMODE The Video Mode Programme was compiled using Quick C while the other utilities were compiled using Power C. --------------------------------------------------------- LZEXE All utilities written in Power C have been 'treated' by Lzexe programme, which has saved a tremendous amount of space on the disk. Lzexe compresses the programmes into a position were on execution the program is self extracting. Also the programme is to some extent, self protected against viruses, in that on execution a CRC check is per- formed, and if a discrepency is found the programme will not run and an error message will be displayed. --------------------------------------------------------- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. Quick C Copyright of Microsoft Corporation. Power C Copyright of Mix Software Inc. Lzexe Copyright of Fabrice BELLARD (Freeware)