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════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ VGAMOIRE v1.4b by Christopher Antos Copyright (C) 1990 by Christopher Antos September 1990 moi│re (mwär, môr) n. [Fr, watered silk < MOHAIR] a fabric, esp. silk, rayon, or acetate, having a watered, or wavy, pattern. _ _ moi│ré (mwär ra', mô-; môr'a) adj. [Fr, pp. of /moirer/, to water < /moire/: see prec.] having a watered, or wavy, pattern, as certain fabrics, stamps, or metal surfaces --n. 1 a watered pattern pressed into cloth, etc. with engraved rollers 2 MOIRE ─── From Webster's New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, Copyright (C) 1988 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Questions or Comments? Please write to: Christopher Antos 2115 Windsor Drive Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103-5652 Or send EMail to "Christopher_Antos@ub.cc.umich.edu" ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Please write and make suggestions, complaints, compliments, or even ask questions. Thank you! ─────── CONTENTS ─────────────────────────────────────────────── | Registering VGAMoire Release Notes Introduction Installation Using VGAMoire's Features Deinstallation Examples | Known Conflicts Special Notes for Microsoft Windows Technical and Miscellaneous Information ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── New information is denoted with vertical bars ("|") in the left margin. ═══════ REGISTERING VGAMOIRE ═══════════════════════════════════ This program is not free, nor is it in the Public Domain. It is a ShareWare program. This means that you can try it out for a reasonable length of time. If it useful to you, or you like it, you need to register it. To do this, print out the file REGISTER.TXT and follow the instructions within it. VGAMoire is a very high quality screen saver. If you can find a better one for a lower price, I'd like to know (seriously!). It has features the commercial competition can't even claim to match. I put a lot of time and energy into this product, and I believe anyone with a VGA graphics adapter cannot help but benefit from using VGAMoire. So, please fill out the registration form (in REGISTER.TXT) and register today! You will be notified of any future releases when they are made available. NOTE: Even if you use the source code but do not use the program itself, you should register the program as if you were using the program. I have no obligation to include source code. It is included with all my programs as a favor, in a gesture of good faith. Please do not abuse the fact that I include source code, or that I distribute my programs on an honor policy. The source code may be cannibalized freely, however if changes are made to the VGAMoire program, it MUST NOT RETAIN THE NAME "VGAMOIRE". If you have any changes that you wish to see incorporated into the official VGAMoire program, please send them to me at the above address. ═══════ RELEASE NOTES ══════════════════════════════════════════ | Version 1.4b features improved mouse state saving and restoring, | and now works even with programs making very sophisticated use | of the mouse driver (for instance, Norton Advanced Utilities | 5.0). | | The program now features better keyboard and mouse monitoring | while the screen saver is active. VGAMoire used to respond to | some "false alerts" which prevented it from popping up, even | when it was okay to. Also, it responds much more quickly when | the mouse is moved, and it will also return to the active | application if a mouse button is pressed (it used to only return | if the mouse were moved). | | The documentation for the previous versions accidentally omitted | the description of the [Vn] feature. My apologies. | | Version 1.4b has been slightly reworked to facilitate future | support for other video cards. I make no guarantees concerning | multiple video cards, but I will be looking into the | possibility. | | Also, the new 1.4b release features complete video state | restoration even without using EMS! This does require an | additional 1k or so of resident data space if only conventional | memory is used. VGAMoire will now save and restore the complete | video state at all times. However, if the [Fn] option is not | used, then it cannot restore RAM fonts--but it CAN restore ROM | fonts: if the 8x8, 8x14, or 8x16 ROM font was active, it will | be correctly restored; if a RAM font was active, the ROM font | that best matches its size will be loaded. | | VGAMoire 1.4b is now proud to support graphics mode screen | blanking! The moire design cannot be drawn, simply because it | would require an additional 256k of EMS (let's not even consider | using conventional memory) to save the graphics screen. | VGAMoire will blank the screen BUT STILL ALLOW THE PROGRAM TO | RUN IN THE BACKGROUND! The new [Bn] option allows you to | configure VGAMoire to blank the screen and allow background | processing in text modes, too. | | There was a bug in the Expanded Memory routines, before, which | could cause the computer to crash if VGAMoire popped up while | another program was actively using data in Expanded Memory. | This bug has been found and eliminated. ═══════ INTRODUCTION ═══════════════════════════════════════════ You've probably seen a lot of other screen savers, and you're probably not very impressed. Many are boring and just blank out the screen--which can even be annoying, because sometimes it's hard to tell if the machine or the monitor are even on! Other screen savers may save the display in memory and draw a moving design until a key is pressed. I have yet to see any other screen saver that saves the FULL display configuration and restores it. Other popular screen savers have a number of tiny but very annoying flaws (eg, they might not save the cursor shape, maybe they don't hide the mouse pointer or save the mouse driver state, perhaps they can't use EMS, they may only save up to four video pages, they probably can't restore the screen properly unless it were in 25-line text mode, etc...) I decided it was time to write a real screen SAVE-er. Enter VGAMoire. The moire pattern design was inspired by Magic (for Microsoft Windows) and Moire (for the Macintosh), two other high-quality screen savers (actually, I don't use Macintoshes, so I can't vouch for Moire, but Magic is probably the best screen saver out for Windows). VGAMoire respects data transfer on the COM and LPT ports; can use EMS memory, if available; allows options to be changed while it is resident; can wait up to 30 minutes before popping up its design; can monitor the video interrupt and/or the mouse hardware (it can be configured not to, though) and restart its countdown when activity is detected (though of course direct video access cannot be detected); can be disabled and reenabled from the keyboard or from batch files; can be popped up manually; can run without becoming resident (intended to allow the user to test the different configuration options without having to deinstall VGAMoire between tests); recognizes that it has already been loaded and will not reload itself, even if it was loaded into high RAM via a utility such as 386Max or QEMM-386; allows certain attributes of the pattern to be modified by the user; respects disk I/O requests and restarts its countdown when a disk I/O request is detected. VGAMoire can mirror the design either horizontally, vertically, or both ways (or, of course, not at all). See the [Rn] option, below. VGAMoire can restart its countdown when mouse movement or mouse button activity is detected. In case you are using an old mouse driver and you are experiencing problems, you can try disabling this feature (see the [Mn] option, below). VGAMoire will never pop up when it would be harmful to the system to do so (Be careful, though--if you pop it up by pressing the hotkeys, VGAMoire will pop up even if a task such as disk access is going on. This could cause the system to crash. No permanent damage should occur, but I am not responsible for any that does). VGAMoire may, however, pop up while some print spoolers are sending data to the printer. This should not ever prove to be a problem (if it does, be sure to let me know!). The only real effect of this should be that the printing is suspended for as long as VGAMoire is drawing on the screen. Printing will resume after VGAMoire stops. See the section "Special Notes for Microsoft Windows," which contains important information pertaining to a conflict between | VGAMoire and Microsoft Windows. Other conflicts are described | in the "Known Conflicts" section. ═══════ INSTALLATION ═══════════════════════════════════════════ You can install VGAMoire from the DOS prompt, or from your | AUTOEXEC.BAT file. There are some programs which VGAMoire is | known to conflict with, but in most cases, there are simple ways | to get around such problems (see the section entitled "Known | Conflicts" for more information). The new 1.4b release supports | screen saving for both text mode and graphics mode (though in | graphics mode it can't draw a design). VGAMoire will not become resident unless you specify how many minutes it should wait before popping up. This allows you to try out different options without actually installing VGAMoire. VGAMoire also checks to see whether it has already been installed. If it has, it will display an error message and will not load a second copy into memory. This prevents you from accidentally wasting memory. To install VGAMoire (without specifying any options), type: VGAMOIRE W<n> where <n> is the number of minutes to count down before popping up. NOTE: VGAMoire should not be loaded above any application programs. That is to say, the computer may have a heart attack if you load VGAMoire (or any resident utility, for that matter) from a DOS shell. VGAMoire chains itself into the timer interrupt (int 8h), the ROM BIOS keyboard driver (int 9h), the ROM BIOS video driver interrupt (int 10h), the ROM BIOS disk driver (int 13h), and the ROM BIOS parallel port printer driver (it does not need to chain itself into the ROM BIOS serial communications port driver, though). It also deallocates its environment block to conserve memory. | MEMORY USAGE | ──────────────────────────────────────────────── | | VGAMoire can use different kinds of memory in different ways. | When you install VGAMoire, it will take 3.1k of conventional | memory, where the main screen saver code resides. | | If EMS memory is NOT used (ie, if only conventional memory is | utilized), then VGAMoire will take an extra 1k (approximately) | to store the video state information. Another 0.5k or so is | taken to store the mouse state information. Each video page you | want to save takes another 4k. | | If, on the other hand, EMS memory is used, then VGAMoire takes | only 3.1k of conventional memory. Its data is stored in | Expanded Memory. Depending upon how you configure VGAMoire, it | may reserve as much as 112k of EMS memory for its use. 16k | accomodates up to 3 video pages, 32k accomodates up to 7 video | pages, 48k will accomodate 8 video pages. For every two blocks | of character generator RAM that are saved, add another 16k of | EMS memory; so to save 1 or 2 blocks, add 16k; for 7 or 8 add | 64k. So, to save 3 video pages and 1 font block, VGAMoire will | require 32k of Expanded Memory. | | If VGAMoire is installed using the [B2] option, it takes only | 3.1k of conventional memory, but VGAMoire must be deinstalled | and reinstalled if you later want VGAMoire to draw the moire | design (this mode saves memory at installation time but is not | as flexible as if VGAMoire is installed without using the [Bn] | option). So, if you want to install VGAMoire so it is able to | draw the moire design, but want it to start out just blanking | the screen, you will have to first install it with the [B1] | option and then send the [N] and [B2] options together. ═══════ USING VGAMOIRE'S FEATURES ══════════════════════════════ To see a list of the command line options that VGAMoire accepts, you can type: VGAMOIRE ? at the DOS prompt. The list will look like this: ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ VGAMoire 1.4b, by Christopher Antos, September 1990, (C)1990 │ │ │ │ Usage: VGAMOIRE [Bn] [Cn] [Dn] [E] [Fn] [Ln] [Mn] [N] │ │ [Pn] [Rn] [Sn] [U] [Vn] [Wn] [-] [+] │ │ │ │ Summary of options: * = invalid if used with [N] │ │ Bn blank: 1-graphics, 2-always Pn * save <n> video pages (1-8) │ │ Cn colors: 1-rainbow, 2-fire, Rn mirror: 1-none,2-H,3-V,4-H/V │ │ 3-frost, 4-pastel Sn color speed: (1-255) │ │ Dn delay: (1-255) U uninstall │ │ E * use EMS Vn video: 1-monitor, 2-ignore │ │ Fn * save <n> font blocks (1-8) Wn wait <n> minutes (1-30) │ │ Ln lines: (1-50) - turn off │ │ Mn mouse: 1-monitor, 2-ignore + turn on │ │ N send options to resident copy │ │ │ │ Press Ctrl-Alt-Shift to pop up screen saver. The screen saver may be │ │ disabled by pressing Ctrl-Alt-E and reenabled by pressing Ctrl-Alt-B. │ │ Use VGAMOIRE - N to turn off resident copy (or + N to turn back │ │ on). │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ When installing VGAMoire, you can specify any of these parameters to customize how VGAMoire behaves. Each will be discussed separately, along with some tips and tricks on combining certain options (any of the options may be used with any of the other options, except as noted). To use an option, specify it on the command line. Be sure to put a space between different options, and do NOT put a space between an option letter and the value you are setting it to. Correct: VGAMOIRE C1 M1 Wrong: VGAMOIRE C1M1 Wrong: VGAMOIRE C 1 M 1 ─── THE OPTIONS ──────────────────────────────────────────────── | [Bn] If VGAMoire times out while the display is in a graphics | mode, VGAMoire will just blank the screen and allow the | current application to continue processing. As soon as | any activity is detected, VGAMoire will restore the | screen. If you want VGAMoire to do this with text | screens, too, instead of drawing the moire design, you | can use this option. Example: | | VGAMOIRE B2 | | This tells VGAMoire to always blank the screen instead | of drawing the moire design. To allow VGAMoire to draw | the design again, use B1 instead of B2. | SPECIAL NOTE: If VGAMoire is installed with the B2 option, it will | only take the basic 3.1k of conventional memory. This | way, you can force it to be a real memory miser, in case | you are really low on memory or don't have EMS. It will | not allocate any memory --neither conventional nor EMS | (not even if the [E] option is used)-- for a save | buffer, and it will not be able to draw the moire design | at all unless it is deinstalled and reinstalled without | the B2 option. [Cn] VGAMoire has several different color sets it can use. VGAMoire reprograms the VGA's color registers to produce non-standard colors, thus giving truer, better, and more colors than otherwise possible. Example: VGAMOIRE C3 This would tell VGAMoire to use "frosty" colors to draw the moire pattern. Below is a list of possible color sets: C1 - Rainbow C3 - Frost C2 - Fire C4 - Pastel [Dn] VGAMoire is a very fast program because it uses highly optimized assembly language routines (the whole program is written in assembly language) to directly access the VGA hardware, instead of using ROM BIOS function calls to do the job. On most computers that have VGA cards (except maybe some slow ATs or XTs), you will want to slow down the design. You can specify a delay value in the range of 1 (fast) to 255 (very slow). Example: VGAMOIRE D35 On 16MHz PS/2 Model 70's, a good delay value to use is usually about 35 or 40, but of course it depends on your taste. [E] If you have EMS memory, you can tell VGAMoire to make good use of it. Normally, VGAMoire takes at least 8.6k of conventional memory, plus an extra 4k for every extra video page it saves, adding as much as 28k to the basic 8.6k model (which saves only one video page). If you choose to use your EMS memory, though, VGAMoire uses only 3.1k of conventional memory, and uses EMS memory to save the video pages and mouse state. VGAMoire is compatible with EMS 3.1 and higher (it even names its EMS handle under EMS 4.0 and higher). EMS memory is allocated in 16k blocks. VGAMoire allocates one block to save up to 3 video pages, or two blocks to save up to 7 video pages, or three blocks to save 8 video pages. Example: VGAMOIRE E Note that the [E] option cannot be used with the [N] option (which will be explained later). It can, however be used in conjunction with the [Fn] option, which is explained next. Also note that VGAMoire reserves the total amount of EMS that it will use AT THE TIME IT IS INSTALLED. To stop using EMS or to change the number of video pages it saves, you must deinstall VGAMoire and then reinstall it. [Fn] This option tells VGAMoire to save and restore the VGA character generator RAM and the complete video state. You can specify how many font blocks to save and restore (from 1 to 8). If you need this feature at all, saving just one font block will generally be enough. It is only valid when used with the [E] option, so you can't use it if you don't have EMS memory. Example: VGAMOIRE F1 Using this feature allows VGAMoire to correctly save and restore even such non-standard video modes as 60-line displays or 33-line displays. Otherwise, VGAMoire can save all the information except the current character fonts and the screen size (changing the screen size requires loading an alternate font, so the two are really inseparable). Note that when you use this feature, VGAMoire uses an added 16k of EMS per every two character generator RAM blocks you save. So, if you want to save all 8 video pages and all the character generator RAM, you will need at least 112k of free EMS memory. You can save up to 8 of the character generator RAM blocks, but you should rarely, if ever, need to save more than one. [Ln] You can make the moire pattern have up to 50 lines in it. The default is 25 lines. Example: VGAMOIRE L40 This would make VGAMoire generate a 40 line moire pattern. You must tell VGAMoire to use at least one line (any less wouldn't really make much sense, now would it?). [Mn] If you are experiencing trouble and either do not have a mouse, or have an old mouse driver, try using this feature before giving up. This determines whether or not VGAMoire monitor the mouse hardware for activity (by default, VGAMoire will constantly monitor the mouse for any activity and restart the countdown if it detects any). Example: VGAMOIRE M2 This tells VGAMoire to ignore any mouse activity (VGAMoire simply doesn't bother to monitor the mouse at all). To tell VGAMoire to resume monitoring the mouse, you can use M1 instead of M2. [Pn] The VGA card has 8 video text pages, although DOS and most of the IBM programs only use page 0 (some programs draw screens on other pages and then transfer them to page 0 to make it seem as though they are drawing the display at lightning speeds. You can use the [Pn] option to indicate how many video pages you wish to save. VGAMoire saves however many pages you tell it to, starting with page zero (the pages are numbered 0 through 7). If you use the 50-line mode ever, you should probably save at least 2 pages. Example: VGAMOIRE P2 This tells VGAMoire to save 2 video pages when it switches to graphics mode to draw the moire pattern. This option cannot be used with the [N] option. To change the number of video pages that are saved, you must deinstall VGAMoire and then reinstall it. NOTE: if you use the NNANSI.SYS display driver (or certain other "improved ANSI display drivers"), you should be aware that it can scroll the screen at a very high speed by modifying the starting location of the screen display buffer. If you use this feature of your display driver, you should either tell VGAMoire to save all 8 video pages or tell your display driver to scroll text the "old-fashioned way". NOTE: if you use a program that allows more than 25 lines on the screen, you should save at least two video pages, and if you use a program which allows more than 50 lines, you need to save at least 3 video pages. [Rn] This controls how VGAMoire mirrors the pattern. By default, VGAMoire doesn't mirror it at all. You can instruct the program to mirror the design horizontally, vertically, or both horizontally and vertically together. Example: VGAMOIRE M3 This would cause VGAMoire to mirror the pattern vertically (top-to-bottom). Use [M1] to not mirror at all, [M2] to mirror horizontally, [M3] to mirror vertically, or [M4] to mirror both horizontally and vertically together. [Sn] By default, VGAMoire changes colors each time it draws a new line. If you're using a large number of lines, or if the colors are changing more quickly than you'd like, you can make them change slower. Example: VGAMOIRE S3 This would make VGAMoire change colors after every third line. You can use any number in the range 1 to 255. If you were using only 5 lines, and you wanted it to look like the pattern were slowly glowing, you might use a value of 10 or 12 with the [Sn] option. [U] This lets you deinstall VGAMoire. Please see the section "Deinstallation" for more information. | [Vn] Some programs which use the video BIOS to write to the | screen may confuse VGAMoire into never timing out. If | this happens, you can try this option to force VGAMoire | to ignore video activity. Example: | | VGAMOIRE V2 | | This tells VGAMoire to ignore any video activity. To | make VGAMoire resume watching for video activity, use V1 | instead of V2. [Wn] As I demonstrated in the "Installation" section, you can specify a number of minutes to count down (Wait) before popping up the moire pattern. VGAMoire can count down anywhere from 1 to 30 minutes. Example: VGAMOIRE W4 This instructs the screen saver to count down four minutes before taking over and drawing the moire pattern. Remember: if you do not specify a number of minutes to count down (it must be a valid value to be recognized), VGAMoire will not become resident but will display its pattern until you press a key or move the mouse. [N] Once VGAMoire is resident, there are a few options you can no longer change: namely, the [E], [Fn], and [Pn] options. To change these, you must deinstall and then reinstall VGAMoire (these options affect how VGAMoire allocates memory, and because VGAMoire only allocates and reserves memory when it is installed, they cannot be used later). However, the other options may be changed even once VGAMoire is resident. To change them, just use the [N] option somewhere on the command line. Example: VGAMOIRE W2 N D30 This changes the number of minutes that VGAMoire counts down before popping up to 2 minutes, and changes the delay value to 30. No other options are changed. [-] VGAMoire can be disabled from the keyboard by typing Ctrl-Alt-E, and it can also be disabled from DOS with the [-] option. This allows batch files to turn off VGAMoire and then later turn it back on. Example: VGAMOIRE - N This turns the RESIDENT COPY of VGAMoire off (because the [N] option is used along with the [-] option). You can also INSTALL VGAMoire as "off". Example: VGAMOIRE - W4 This would install VGAMoire and set the countdown at four minutes, but would not turn off VGAMoire as it was installed. For VGAMoire to be able to pop up, it would have to be turned on, which we will discuss next. [+] To turn VGAMoire back on, you can either type Ctrl-Alt-B or you can reenable it from DOS. Example: VGAMOIRE + N This turns the RESIDENT COPY of VGAMoire on (because the [N] option is used with the [+] option). Using the [+] makes no sense unless the [N] option is used also, because VGAMoire defaults to being "on". You don't need to do anything to install VGAMoire as "on". ═══════ DEINSTALLATION ═════════════════════════════════════════ VGAMoire can deinstall itself and give both conventional and EMS memory it was using back to DOS. Example: VGAMOIRE U The [U] option, just like any of the other options, can be used from the DOS prompt or from in a batch file. If another program has taken over the interrupt vectors that VGAMoire captured, then VGAMoire will tell you and ask if you really want to deinstall it. You can press 'N', 'Y', or ESC. If you hit 'N' or ESC, VGAMoire will print a message saying that it is still installed. If you choose to deinstall it anyway, VGAMoire will try to deinstall itself. This may result in a system crash, depending on what is loaded above VGAMoire. You can allow VGAMoire to deinstall itself cleanly by deinstalling whatever is in memory above it first. If the system does crash, just reboot (or turn the computer off). Note that the system may not crash immediately. ═══════ EXAMPLES ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ Here are some examples for installing VGAMoire: VGAMOIRE W4 P8 E F8 D40 S3 C1 L50 R4 This tells VGAMoire to become resident and count down four minutes before popping up. It will save all eight video pages in EMS memory, and will also save all eight character generator RAM blocks. The delay to slow down the moire pattern is set to 40 (the delay value is not an absolute measure of time, but rather is relative to CPU speed). VGAMoire will change color every three lines, use rainbow colors, and will draw a moire pattern consisting of 50 lines. Finally, it will mirror both horizontally and vertically. This could be called the "full featured" installation, because it makes use of each of the special VGAMoire options. It also uses the least conventional memory (3.1k) and the most EMS memory (112k). A less impressive configuration might be this: VGAMOIRE W4 P2 S3 C1 L20 D50 This would again count down four minutes, but only save two video pages. It would not use EMS memory, so it would take a total of about 12.6k of conventional memory. It would change color every third line, use rainbow colors, and only draw 20 lines in the moire pattern. It would use a delay value of 50 (again, the delay is arbitrarily relative to the CPU speed and follows a roughly linear graph of speed decrease as the delay value increases). Following is a sample batch file to disable VGAMoire before executing an application and then reenable it when the application returns to DOS: APP1.BAT ────────────────────────────────────────────── @ECHO OFF \TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N - CD\GAMES FUNGAME \TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N + As stated previously, some programs may trick VGAMoire into never timing out (never finishing its countdown). Following is a sample batch file that may solve the problem with programs like these: APP2.BAT ────────────────────────────────────────────── @ECHO OFF \TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N V2 CD\APPS APPLCATN \TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N V1 | Following is a sample batch file to make VGAMoire just blank the | screen (instead of drawing the moire design) and allow the | program to continue operating in the background (the screen will | come back if any activity is detected--mouse, keyboard, disk, | serial communications, certain kinds of video activity, or | parallel communications). The batch file then executes an | application. When the application is done, VGAMoire is reset so | that it will draw the moire design again: | | APPBLANK.BAT | ────────────────────────────────────────────── | @ECHO OFF | \TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N B2 | CD\APPS | APPLCATN | \TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N B1 | ═══════ KNOWN CONFLICTS ════════════════════════════════════════ | | | ─── MICE ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── | | VGAMoire is only mouse-sensitive with Microsoft-compatible mice; | it cannot recognize Mouse Systems mice unless they are in | Microsoft emulation mode (Logitech and most other popular mice | should work fine--if the mouse has a Microsoft emulation mode, | make sure you are using it, though). | | It is possible (though not tested) that VGAMoire may not work | with serial mice. | | | ─── MICROSOFT WORD ───────────────────────────────────────────── | | VGAMoire does not work with Microsoft Word in graphics mode, but | it does work with text mode. You can force VGAMoire to work | with Word in graphics mode by using the [V2] option. Also see | the "APP2.BAT" sample batch file in the "Examples" section. | | | ─── MULTITASKING SYSTEMS ─────────────────────────────────────── | (such as DESQview and TopView) | | VGAMoire may not work with multi-tasking products such as | DESQview or TopView. It may even cause some to crash. If this | occurs, try using the [Bn] option to make VGAMoire just blank | the screen, instead of drawing its moire design (see the | "APPBLANK.BAT" sample batch file in the "Examples" section). If | this still doesn't solve the problem, then you will have to turn | VGAMoire off before starting the multitasker. You can turn it | back on when you exit from the multitasker (see the "APP1.BAT" | sample batch file in the "Examples" section). | | | ─── PRINT SPOOLERS ───────────────────────────────────────────── | (or some programs taking a long to print) | | You may experience problems with VGAMoire when using a print | spooler (such as DMP). VGAMoire may take over while the spooler | is sending data to the printer (depending on how it sends the | data). The spooler should resume without any complications as | soon as VGAMoire returns control to the current program (if you | experience problems, be sure to let me know, so I can work on | fixing them!). If you want your spooler to be able to print | data even once VGAMoire decides to activate itself, then you | must use the [B2] option (see the description of the [Bn] option | for more information). Otherwise, printing will resume when | VGAMoire is done drawing its moire pattern. ═══════ SPECIAL NOTES FOR MICROSOFT WINDOWS ════════════════════ VGAMoire was not intended to work in Microsoft Windows, and it doesn't. Miscrosoft Windows fools VGAMoire and feeds it false information. The result is that VGAMoire may try to pop up while Windows is active, which causes the display to go haywire | (VERY) and you have to reboot the machine (actually, Windows is | still operating, and if you're adventurous or you know what to | do, you can save anything you were working on and exit Windows, | which will then right the display). However, if you want to use Windows while VGAMoire is loaded (though you can't use VGAMoire while Windows is active), you can do this--quite easily, in fact. The example batch file shown below demonstrates how to start Windows 3.0 from a batch file and disable VGAMoire while Windows is active and then reenable it when Windows is exitted. Even if VGAMoire isn't loaded, the batch file will still work exactly the same and won't accidentally load VGAMoire. WIN.BAT ────────────────────────────────────────────── @ECHO OFF CD\WIN3 \TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N - >NUL WIN \TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N + >NUL To use Windows, you would type WIN from the DOS prompt. This will deactivate the resident copy of VGAMoire (but won't display an ugly error message if VGAMoire isn't loaded, because the output is redirected to NUL). Then it runs Windows. When the user exits from Windows, the batch file turns VGAMoire back on, if it is loaded (but again, will not display an error message if it isn't). ═══════ TECHNICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION ════════════════ VGAMoire chains itself into interrupt vectors 8h, 9h, 10h, 13h, and 17h. It monitors these interrupts and resets its countdown if it detects activity. It also monitors the mouse by calling the mouse driver to see if the mouse has moved or a button has been pressed. VGAMoire disables the video screen refresh while it switches modes and saves/restores the video display. There are two major benefits to this: (1) the screen doesn't flicker or do other strange things while VGAMoire is working, and (2) the display appears to switch to/from VGAMoire much quicker this way. This is purely a cosmetic feature. We specifically program the "black" color register to be black, in case a palette-manager program is loaded which might have changed black to something else. The whole purpose behind VGAMoire is to keep the screen from burning out. What good would it do if the "black" background for the screen were set by another program so it were, oh, say, BRIGHT WHITE?? | Beginning with VGAMoire release 1.4b, graphics mode screen | blanking is supported. The current process is allowed to | continue running while the screen is blanked. The blanking is | easily achieved by invoking a VGA ROM BIOS function. VGAMoire | can be configured to blank the screen in text modes, too. This | allows text-mode based processes to continue running in the | background, too. For more information, and for a version history, see the source code, VGAMOIRE.ASM. ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ I hope you find VGAMoire useful. Thank you for your support. Christopher Antos ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════