World of Graphics/WOGRAPH.BIN/841.README.PLS

Text File | 1993-05-18 | 25KB | 512 lines

                *** ANSIPLUS VERSION 3.00 RELEASE NOTES ***
                             Shareware Package

Thank you for evaluating ANSIPLUS.  This file briefly describes ANSIPLUS, lists
the files included in the ANSIPLUS Shareware package, gives quick installation
instructions, and describes recent changes made to ANSIPLUS.


What is ANSIPLUS?
---- -- ---------

The ANSIPLUS console device driver integrates major console elements missing
from DOS and the personal computer BIOS into a single compact device driver that
can easily be controlled and personalized.  With ANSIPLUS installed:

 * User interaction with the DOS command shell and many applications will be
   significantly improved.

 * Screen output will be faster than with DOS's ANSI and non-ANSI drivers.

 * The user will have complete control over colors and VGA/EGA capabilities.

 * Users of Windows 3 will have access to ANSIPLUS features in all windowed
   and full screen DOS sessions.

 * The user will also benefit from all the other display and keyboard features
   provided by ANSIPLUS.


The ANSIPLUS enhanced DOS console device driver is tailored to take advantage of
VGA and EGA display capabilities:

 * It automatically adapts to VGA or EGA screen modes, both text and graphics,
   including extended modes with large numbers of lines and/or columns.  The
   driver also automatically compensates for older video controllers with very
   limited numbers of colors or shades (eg. CGA or monochrome boards).

 * In text and in 16-color VGA/EGA graphics display modes, the driver bypasses
   the BIOS and writes directly to the video RAM, so it can operate much faster
   than either the original DOS console driver or the DOS ANSI driver.

 * ANSIPLUS gives the user control over VGA/EGA palette registers and VGA DAC
   registers to select and maintain colors using the video controller's full
   capabilities.

 * Text character height can be selected in any VGA/EGA display mode, extending
   user control to the number of lines per display page.

 * Smooth scrolling is provided as an option (requires a faster computer, eg.
   80386 with 16-bit VGA).



The ANSIPLUS driver efficiently integrates several useful console functions that
in the past had to be provided by separate TSR programs or device drivers:

 * A screen saver monitors display, keyboard and mouse activity.

 * Scroll-back lets the user examine lines that have scrolled off the top of
   the screen.

 * Fast screen output can be frozen and released with the Scroll Lock key.

 * Keyboard buffer size is increased and configurable.

 * Undesired repeat keys are suppressed and several other key processing
   options are provided.

 * Keys can be added to the keyboard buffer under program control for later
   consumption by programs.

 * A timer-controlled beep tone generator allows user customizable tones.

Other ANSIPLUS features include:

 * Menu driven, mouse controllable utilities that give the user full control
   over selected colors, color palettes, border colors, video modes, text
   height, key reassignment, beep tone definition, driver table sizes, and all
   other configurable features.

 * Special loading options for XMS upper memory blocks or high memory area that
   can reduce low memory requirements to below 4K.

 * Highlighting of user-typed keys when they are displayed by DOS on the screen
   to give a clear visual separation of typed entries from computer output.

 * Support for all DOS ANSI.sys escape sequences, plus additional ANSI/VT-100
   escape sequences for clearing the screen, erasing lines, inserting and
   deleting lines, and inserting and deleting characters.

 * Free BBS updates.  Registered ANSIPLUS users can obtain free updates by
   installing future Shareware versions of ANSIPLUS over their registered
   copies.  The ANSIPLUS installation program will automatically register a
   Shareware copy when it is installed on a disk that boots a registered copy.

 * And much, much more.

See "Features Summary" in the ANSIPLUS documentation for more information about
ANSIPLUS features.


ANSIPLUS Packing List
-------- ------- ----

     File                Description
     ----                -----------

     ANSIPLUS.sys        ANSIPLUS console device driver
     ANSIPLUS.doc        ANSIPLUS Shareware documentation
     SETCOLOR.exe        Color control utility program
     SETAPLUS.exe        Driver features control utility program
     ANSICOM.exe         ANSI escape sequence editor
     NEWAPLUS.exe        ANSIPLUS bootup configuration program
     APLUSLIB.exe        Execution library for the utility programs
     SETCOLOR.sch        Color schemes file for SETCOLOR.exe
     CONSETUP.com        Sample escape sequence program
     PUSHVID.com         Save current video mode, video page and colors
     POPVID.com          Restore saved video mode, page and colors
     LOCKPAL.com         Lock the 16-color palette
     UNLOKPAL.com        Unlock the 16-color palette
     APLUS.pif           Sample Windows PIF file
     INSTALL.exe         Installation program
     INSTALL.inf         Installation control file
     REGISTER.pls        ANSIPLUS registration form
     README.pls          Release notes, this file


The documentation file, ANSIPLUS.doc, is a complete and up to date copy of the
ANSIPLUS Shareware manual, except for the section on ANSIPLUS Escape Sequences,
which are covered in detail only in the printed version.  The file is formatted
for 80 characters per line and 60 lines per page, and uses no special characters
or other printer control other than form feeds.



Quick Installation Instructions
----- ------------ ------------

Before installing ANSIPLUS, or any other new device driver, be sure you have a
bootable floppy disk as insurance against trouble getting your system to run
after the device driver is installed.

The ANSIPLUS package includes an installation and configuration program called
INSTALL.exe, which should properly handle most installations.  Context
sensitive help (via the F1 key) is provided for all entries.  The following
three examples illustrate using INSTALL to install ANSIPLUS:

 * If you received ANSIPLUS on a floppy disk and want to install it on your
   hard disk, use the following installation procedure:

    (1) Set the default directory to the hard disk (ie. get a C> prompt).
    (2) Insert the ANSIPLUS diskette in drive A: (or other floppy drive).
    (3) Enter the following command:

            A:INSTALL

 * If you received ANSIPLUS as a ZIP file, use the following procedure:

    (1) Create a temporary sub-directory  on the hard disk to contain the
        unzipped ANSIPLUS files. Move ANSIPLUS.zip to this directory and make
        it be the default directory. This directory must be different from the
        directory that will receive the installed ANSIPLUS files.
    (2) Unzip the files into the directory with the command:

            PKUNZIP ANSIPLUS

    (3) Then enter the command:

            INSTALL

 * To install ANSIPLUS on bootable disk B:, from hard disk directory C:\APLUS,
   enter the command:

            C:\APLUS\INSTALL B:

International users should be aware of the following:

 * If you are using the KEYB program to set up your keyboard, the following
   command MUST be executed after you load KEYB, otherwise most ANSIPLUS
   keyboard related features will not work:

            SETAPLUS LINK KEYEVENT

   The INSTALL program will automatically add this command to your AUTOEXEC.bat
   file if it finds a reference in it to KEYB.

 * If you are using the DISPLAY.sys device driver for code page switching, the
   ANSIPLUS device driver must be installed before DISPLAY.sys in your
   CONFIG.sys file.  The INSTALL program will also automatically handle this.

See "Installing ANSIPLUS" in the documentation for more information about
ANSIPLUS installation and configuration.


Recent ANSIPLUS Changes
------ -------- -------

 5/17/93 Version 3.00 released.

 5/11/93 The keyboard repeat rate can now optionally be controlled by the
         ANSIPLUS driver. Rates from 20 to 300 characters per second are
         accepted by both the SETAPLUS and NEWAPLUS utility programs. The
         feature requires an enhanced keyboard, and is disabled under Windows
         because timing is imprecise when Windows is running.

 5/08/93 ANSIPLUS can now load itself into high memory (HMA) under DOS versions
         before 5.0, or under DOS 5.0/6.0 whether DOS=HIGH is in CONFIG.sys or
         not. The HMA is now allocated by calling DOS, by XMS driver call, or
         by using the "VDISK.sys" method.

 5/03/93 Setting the text height by escape sequence or IOCTL call (eg., by MODE
         command) can now preserve the contents of the screen using XMS memory.
         This feature is automatically activated if preserving scroll-back data
         with XMS memory is enabled.

 4/23/93 The NEWAPLUS, SETAPLUS, SETCOLOR and ANSICOM utility programs all now
         support use of the mouse for menu and other selections.

 4/20/93 INSTALL/NEWAPLUS now recognizes MS-DOS 6.0 CONFIG.sys files that have
         menus and multiple configuration blocks. Installations require that the
         user select the configuration block to receive ANSIPLUS. Updates to
         reconfigure a driver will select from only those blocks that refer to
         ANSIPLUS. Several other maintenance changes were also made to NEWAPLUS.

 4/13/93 A TSR-capable version of the ANSIPLUS driver, ANSIPLUS.exe, is now
         supplied to registered users. This ANSIPLUS version may be loaded into
         memory from the DOS command line, from a batch file (AUTOEXEC.bat), or
         from CONFIG.sys with DEVICE=, DEVICEHIGH=, or INSTALL= commands.

 3/30/93 To provide additional user control over color schemes of 16-color
         programs that set their own palettes or border colors, such as DBASE
         III or EDIT.com, ANSIPLUS can now lock the color palette, preventing
         such programs from loading the PAL/DAC and border color registers by
         BIOS calls. This feature should only be used when all other means of
         control fail. It can be enabled or disabled by the new LOCKPAL.com
         and UNLOKPAL.com ANSIPLUS utilities in a batch file that executes the
         application to be controlled.

 3/19/93 ANSIPLUS can now preserve scroll-back data across video mode changes or
         when running graphics mode applications (including Windows) by saving
         the data in XMS memory.  DOS sessions under Windows 3.1 can use this
         feature as well if they can access XMS memory. The feature is enabled
         or disabled in the Scrolling section of SETAPLUS or NEWAPLUS.

 3/17/93 Scroll-back capacity has been tripled for typical applications to about
         500 lines by using compression techniques to store scroll-back data.


Recent ANSIPLUS Changes (continued)
------ -------- ------- -----------

 3/08/93 Version 2.07 released.

 3/05/93 Using its own configurable-size key buffers, ANSIPLUS now supports key
         stacking, which adds keys to the keyboard buffer for later consumption
         by programs. The feature is controlled by SETAPLUS command, ANSIPLUS
         escape sequence, or the 4DOS command shell KEYSTACK command. Users of
         4DOS 4.0+ now do not need to load KSTACK.com if ANSIPLUS is installed.

 2/28/93 Added more control over key reassignment: a new configurable feature
         can prevent changes to key reassignment definitions with the Esc [p
         ANSI control sequence.  The driver also now generates an ominous tone
         (like the theme from "Dragnet") when an attempt is made to redefine
         keys if redefinition of key reassignment is disabled.

 2/23/93 When the DISPLAY.sys driver is used with Windows 3.0 or 3.1, the colors
         and other variables of either ANSIPLUS or the DOS ANSI.sys driver are
         not localized to each virtual 8086. This appears to be because Windows
         only localizes the first CON driver it finds on the DOS device chain,
         and this will be the most recent CON device installed, which is
         DISPLAY.sys, not ANSIPLUS. Two system setup changes are required to
         circumvent the problem:

            (1) Enter the following command to change the name of the ANSIPLUS
                driver in memory from "CON" to "CONAPLUS":

                    SETAPLUS LOCALCON

                This command is automatically inserted into AUTOEXEC.bat by the
                ANSIPLUS INSTALL program when DISPLAY.sys is detected.

            (2) Add the following command to the [386Enh] section of the Windows
                SYSTEM.ini file:

                    LOCAL=CONAPLUS

                This causes Windows to localize the ANSIPLUS driver to each
                virtual 8086. The SYSTEM.ini file is not altered by the ANSIPLUS
                INSTALL program.

         These setup changes are totally unnecessary if you are not using the
         DISPLAY.sys driver.

 2/21/93 Apparently, some 256-color drivers for Windows assume that the OEM
         256-color palette has been loaded when the 256-color mode was selected,
         and never define the colors that Windows will use.  Some DOS 256-color
         applications also have the same problem.  When using such a Windows
         driver or DOS application, if the ANSIPLUS default colors are loaded on
         mode set, the wrong colors could be displayed.  Because of this,
         features have been added to the driver and utility programs to allow
         control over loading the ANSIPLUS colors in DOS and Windows 256-color
         modes.  By default, ANSIPLUS now will not load its colors when a
         256-color mode is selected under Windows.


Recent ANSIPLUS Changes (continued)
------ -------- ------- -----------

 2/15/93 Version 2.06 released.

 2/13/93 Minor changes to SETAPLUS: maintain color selection when shifting from
         256-color to 16-color video modes, and improve listing of Alt and Ctrl
         keys in SETAPLUS LISTKEYS option.

 2/10/93 Added a feature to use BIOS calls for text mode scrolling instead of
         directly moving data in the video display RAM. This may help in those
         unusual cases where other drivers or TSRs need to be informed when the
         screen is scrolled up.

 2/10/93 Changed the default status for the graphics mode pseudo-cursor to be
         disabled.  Also added a separate feature to control use of the pseudo-
         cursor when in 256-color graphics modes (also disabled as default).

 1/25/93 When the screen saver is enabled, the screen can now be blanked
         immediately by entering the Alt-Ctrl-Scroll Lock key combination.

 1/06/93 Bug fix: Improved handling of palette in 256-color modes, particularly
         when the OEM palette is being used.

 1/05/93 Bug fix: Automatic registration of Shareware version when installed
         over a Registered version did not always work.

12/02/92 Version 2.05 released.

11/29/92 Changes for international support and using DISPLAY.sys: INSTALL/
         NEWAPLUS now loads ANSIPLUS before DISPLAY.sys in CONFIG.sys because
         MODE CON CP SELECT command will not work correctly if ANSIPLUS is
         installed after DISPLAY.sys; and minor cosmetic changes to SETCOLOR and
         SETAPLUS screens when not using U.S. code page 437.

11/21/92 Revised INSTALL/NEWAPLUS to recognize reference to the KEYB TSR (for
         international keyboard users) in AUTOEXEC.bat.  The install process
         will then automatically add a SETAPLUS LINK KEYEVENT command to
         AUTOEXEC.bat following KEYB if this command was not already there.
         See the next item for further explanation.

11/19/92 Added the capability to relink ANSIPLUS interrupts after they have been
         stolen by TSR's such as MS-DOS KEYB.  The KEYB program grabs the key
         event interrupt (Int 09h), without passing calls through to whatever
         was installed before it (ie., to ANSIPLUS).  This has prevented most
         ANSIPLUS keyboard functions, such as scroll-back, scroll lock, etc.,
         from working correctly with international keyboards.  Now, to restore
         ANSIPLUS's access to the key event interrupt, the following command
         must be entered after KEYB has been loaded:

            SETAPLUS LINK KEYEVENT

         This command should be placed in AUTOEXEC.bat immediately after KEYB.


Recent ANSIPLUS Changes (continued)
------ -------- ------- -----------

11/19/92 The programs connected to any system interrupt, including those used by
         ANSIPLUS, can be identified using the new SETAPLUS command:

            SETAPLUS INTERRUPT <number> [<number> ...]

         where <number> is any hexadecimal interrupt number.  For example,
         SETAPLUS INTERRUPT 2F would list the programs connected to the
         Multiplex interrupt, number 2Fh.  This listing is not guaranteed to be
         correct in all cases, but has been remarkably accurate in our
         experience.

11/18/92 Two screen saver changes should blank the screen more appropriately:
         Relaxed the test for a fast timer tick a little to allow the screen to
         blank when running applications with extensive timer tick processing,
         but not to blank when running games that speed up the timer, such as
         Flight Simulator.  Also removed, except for XT-type machines, the
         requirement before blanking that the Int 09h vector point to the same
         place as when the last Int 09h key event was intercepted.

11/09/92 Changed SETCOLOR and SETAPLUS utilities to display menus using video
         page 0 instead of page 1 when not running on a VGA or EGA.  This should
         make the menus visible on Hercules-type boards that seem to have a
         problem accessing higher video pages.

11/09/92 Bug fix: Insert key caused lockup when screen was scrolled back.

10/21/92 Increase delay times for direct port access to video controller.

10/20/92 Bug fix: Generic IOCTL was never called by DOS because the driver
         header bit for it was not set.  Now MODE CON reports lines and columns,
         and MODE CON LINES={25, 43 or 50} works.  However, setting display
         columns to 40 or 80 with MODE is still not supported by ANSIPLUS, and
         the DOS 5.0 MODE program incorrectly reports 40 columns for any screen
         mode not having 80 columns (for example, 132).

 9/23/92 Version 2.04 released.

 9/22/92 When updating a driver file that has been changed from the default
         configuration, the INSTALL program now gives the user an option to
         copy the configuration of the updated driver into the newly installed
         driver.

 9/20/92 Obtaining updates for registered versions of ANSIPLUS is now greatly
         simplified: Effective with Version 2.04, when any Shareware copy of
         ANSIPLUS is installed on a disk containing a Registered copy of
         ANSIPLUS (2.04 or later), the INSTALL program will convert the new
         Shareware copy into a Registered copy with the same serial number and
         signon message as the Registered ANSIPLUS already on the disk.
         Registered users can thus benefit from future improvements to ANSIPLUS
         at no cost, if they have access to a BBS that maintains current
         Shareware versions of ANSIPLUS.

 9/19/92 Bug fix: Prevent bright key echo when the next output byte equals the
         scan code of a function or other special key just entered.


Recent ANSIPLUS Changes (continued)
------ -------- ------- -----------

 9/17/92 Revised installation program (NEWAPLUS.exe) to be more tolerant of and
         informative about missing or unreadable files during installation.
         Versions of ANSIPLUS on some BBS's seem to be missing files (usually
         SETCOLOR.sch, which is a minor supporting file), and this has prevented
         potential users from evaluating ANSIPLUS.

 9/04/92 When Scroll-Lock is used to freeze the screen during rapid output, and
         then the screen is released by Page-Down, Tab, Down arrow, or a shift
         key until the next input prompt is made by the computer, the driver can
         now recognize the input request and will automatically release the
         scroll freeze condition after a key is typed.

 9/04/92 Under Windows and OS/2, the driver now yields the CPU for the remainder
         of a time slice whenever it is in a tight key input/testing loop.

 9/03/92 Under Windows, whenever the scroll-back storage area is initialized, a
         RAM search is now made to see if the video RAM is a full 32k.  If less
         is available, the scroll-back storage is reduced accordingly, and
         smooth scrolling, which uses the top of the 32k video RAM, is disabled.
         This should work around problems with 256-color Windows drivers that do
         not provide a full 32k of text mode video RAM in certain situations.

 9/02/92 Under Windows, in a virtual 8086 DOS session running in a window,
         scroll-back appeared to be inoperative because Windows 3.1 failed to
         update the windowed screen as it was scrolled backward or forward. If
         the same DOS session was run full screen, scroll back would perform
         correctly.  The driver is now able to cause the windowed screen to be
         updated in most cases (such as when DOS keyboard input is requested),
         so scroll-back should work in a window most of the time.  However, it
         is still not always possible to scroll the screen backward in a window
         while it has been frozen by Scroll-Lock during rapid screen output.

 8/31/92 Version 2.03 released.

 8/22/92 Bug fix: made VGA screen saver less likely to interfere with running
         programs by disabling interrupts while the screen is being blanked or
         unblanked and by restoring the sequencer index after the operation.

 8/22/92 Bug fix: push/pop mismatch in VESA set mode processing.  Symptom was
         inability to start Windows.

 8/22/92 Now use Int 15h keyboard intercept rather than direct port access to
         get key scan codes for repeated-key detection and other key processing.

 8/21/92 Version 2.02 released.

 8/14/92 Added mouse reset to Windows exit processing.  Windows 3.1 leaves some
         mice (for example, Logitech C7) in an undefined state at termination,
         so the mouse could not unblank the screen until the next DOS mouse-
         using program had been executed.

 8/12/92 Bug fix: still intermittent trouble with keyboard under Windows 3.1.
         Made all of Int 09h handler uninterruptible.


Recent ANSIPLUS Changes (continued)
------ -------- ------- -----------

 7/22/92 Version 2.01 released.

 7/21/92 Extended repeated key suppression to the Scroll Lock key.  Now, when
         Scroll Lock is held down for a long time, the scroll lock or smooth
         scroll toggles will not change repeatedly.

 7/17/92 Bug fix: 16-color to monochrome text attribute adjustments for EGA
         monochrome now show low intensity as well as high intensity for both
         foreground and background. VGA, CGA, MDA and color EGA are unaffected.

 7/16/92 Minor changes to INSTALL/NEWAPLUS target drive and file path selection.

 7/16/92 Minor changes to scroll freeze when smooth scrolling is active.

 7/16/92 Bug fix: Scroll back storage is reorganized whenever a previously
         unused display page is selected.  In several display modes, including
         25x80 text, a bug caused the scroll-back data to be scrambled when
         reorganization was required.

 7/15/92 Bug fix: On certain PC/XT compatible computers, all keystrokes were
         erroneously recognized as repeat keys, causing all digit keys to be
         ignored.  Repeated key suppression is now disabled on XT's.

 7/15/92 Bug fix: Repeated keys entered to QuickBasic programs such as DOS 5.0
         EDIT.com caused pointer errors when keys were transferred between BIOS
         and extended key buffers.  Symptom was strange jumps in cursor position
         or "phantom" keystrokes while holding down an arrow key.  Fixed by
         making the key shuffling subroutine uninterruptible.

 6/09/92 Version 2.00 released.