The Business Master (4th Edition)

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HGCIBM.COM Version 2.01 Copyright (C) Athena Digital, Gary Batson 1986, 1987 145 Green Hills Rd. - Athens, Ga. 30605 - (404) 354-4522 This manual dated April 20,1987 1 CONTENTS HGCIBM.COM Acknowledgements ............................................. 3 Trademarks ................................................... 3 Using HGCIBM.COM ............................................. 3 Precautions .................................................. 3 Installation ................................................. 4 Using the Command Line ....................................... 5 HGCTEST program .............................................. 5 Sales and Distribution Policies .............................. 6 User Comments ................................................ 6 History ...................................................... 6 Future ....................................................... 7 Changes and Corrections ...................................... 7 Technicalities ............................................... 8 Extended Functions ........................................... 8 ATHENA.SYS Purpose ...................................................... 11 Features ..................................................... 11 Control Program .............................................. 12 Sales and Distribution Policies .............................. 12 Upgrades ..................................................... 13 Software Author Note ......................................... 13 Extended Functions ........................................... 14 Library Versions ............................................. 18 QBDEMOC program .............................................. 18 This program is distributed as Shareware. All rights are reserved except for distribution of the program and its documentation IN ITS ENTIRETY and un-modified. You may test and use this program for 30 days, after which you must register it, destroy it, or pass in along to a friend. If you would like to keep HGCIBM, see the pricing below. This DOES NOT APPLY to those who contributed to HGCIBM Version 1.11. Those individuals are welcome to this upgrade without further remuneration. Please accept it with my THANKS!! Athena Digital 145 Green Hills Rd. - Athens, Ga. - (404) - 354 - 4522 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Athena Digital would like to thank IBM for creating the Personal Computer and Hercules Computer Technology for making PC graphics as pleasurable as PC TTL text. I would also like to thank my wife for putting up with my pre-occupation all these years, and one Scott Schultz for his proding and enthusiasm without which the first simple emulator would probably never have been uploaded. TRADEMARKS MENTIONED Hercules Graphics Card is a trademark of Hercules Computer Technology IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines Microsoft Mouse and Quickbasic are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation ATHENA.SYS is a trademark of Athena Digital USING HGCIBM.COM The purpose of this program is to provide owners of Hercules Graphics Cards* a means to run software written for the IBM* Color Graphics Adapter, and to introduce a commercial version of the Athena Digital emulator called ATHENA.SYS (T) which offers added functionality. PRECAUTIONS MONOCHROME DISPLAY DAMAGE !!! This program will not damage your display, but certain application software certainly can. Programs which attempt to by- pass the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) to set the CRT operating parameters will cause severe problems. Fortunately since most software operates in standard modes, most software vendors permit BIOS to set up the controller for them even if they later write to screen ram directly. HGCIBM will intercept the BIOS calls for all standard modes and program the controller correctly. Writing directly to screen ram is permitted and the emulator will still work properly. When trying an un-tested (with HGCIBM) program for the first time, watch your display carefully for signs of gross distortion or shrinking when the program sets graphics mode. IF THIS OCCURS, RE-BOOT OR TURN OFF YOUR COMPUTER IMMEDIATELY. The display should return to normal quickly when you re-boot. 3 INSTALLATION To install the emulator, you must tell it what mode to start out in, and a little information about your hardware. There are three "modes" of operation for HGCIBM as follows: The /E[mulate] mode enables the emulator to respond to bios calls to set standard CGA modes and provides maximum compatibility with programs expecting to use the Color Graphics Adapter, but displays the information on your Hercules adapter. When the emulator is in this mode, the text buffer is at segment B800 and the equipment flag is set to indicate that a CGA card is present. Alas, you can't fool all the programs all the time. Some of them read the equipment flag and then try to manipulate the crt controller directly in order to provide faster screen output. Naturally they try to do this at the CGA port addresses (which don't exist) and will hang the system (ATHENA.SYS provides algorithms to circumvent these hang-ups). A re-boot will cure the problem and you should then remember to either un-install the emulator before running these programs or simply place it in /M(ono) mode or /C[GA] mode (if you have a physical CGA) as described below. The /M[ono] mode effectively disables HGCIBM without uninstalling it. The monochrome card is selected and Video BIOS control returns to the computer's ROM (Read only Memory). The /C[ga] mode also disables HGCIBM and returns control to ROM except the physical Color Graphics Adapter is selected if it exists. There are also 3 installation switches available to warn HGCIBM about special hardware. During initialization, the program tries to determine if a Color Graphics Adapter is present. If it is, the program will not install unless you assure it that the Color Graphics Adapter in your system is compatible with Hercules Graphics cards. If yours is or you have a Leading Edge computer, then you should use these switches: The /H[ercules compatible] switch instructs HGCIBM to install and allow the emulation mode even though a Color Graphics Adapter is present. You may use this switch on installation if you have a Hercules compatible CGA card in your system. If a CGA card is present, HGCIBM will abort installation unless the /H switch is used. Also note that some software will output to the CGA registers (3D4, 3D5, 3D8, etc.) to adjust video parameters. This can wreak havoc on the real CGA adapter while in Emulation mode. If the CGA is not physically present, this output causes no problems and is ignored by Hercules adapters. The /L[eading Edge] switch instructs HGCIBM to install if the Leading Edge Model D is connected to a TTL display. 4 The /U[n-install] switch instructs the emulator to reset all vectors and remove itself from memory, freeing the space for other programs. You may un-install the emulator provided that other programs have not altered vectors 8h and 10h, but memory may become segmented if you have loaded another resident program after HGCIBM. The system will be left in the same condition it was in before the installation. (i.e. monochrome display). USING THE COMMAND LINE Simply type the command HGCIBM with a mode switch to install or change to that mode. If you have special hardware, ADD the hardware switch to the mode switch on the same command line as shown in the following examples: HGCIBM /M - installs in (or changes to) MONO mode (emulation disabled) HGCIBM /C - installs in (or changes to) CGA mode (emulation disabled) HGCIBM /E - installs in (or changes to) Emulation mode. HGCIBM /U - un-installs the emulator HGCIBM /M/H - informs HGCIBM that a Hercules compatible CGA is physically present. HGCIBM /M/L - informs HGCIBM that you have a Leading Edge computer. These commands may be issued from a batch file if desired. Hardware switches are needed only on installation. To change modes after installation, just enter the command as above. HGCIBM always checks to see if it is already installed and will process the command correctly. HGCTEST PROGRAM This program is provided for you to test the operation of HGCIBM with your computer configuration. Before running HGCTEST, Load the emulator with the /E[mulate] switch. HGCTEST.BAS runs under BASICA. Just enter BASICA HGCTEST to run it (assuming BASICA is on the default drive with HGCTEST). The program is a simple graphics demo and is self explanatory. If you have a basic compiler, the demo program can be compiled to test the compiler. 5 SALES AND DISTRIBUTION POLICIES - HGCIBM.COM There is no limitation on distribution of HGCIBM.COM as long as no remuneration is accepted in connection with it's distribution, and as long as it is distributed un-modified and in it's entirety. You are permitted a 30 day trial period to decide whether or not you wish to keep HGCIBM or purchase ATHENA.SYS after which you must either register it with Athena Digital, destroy it, or pass it along to someone else. The registration fee for HGCIBM.COM is $9.95 in check or money order. OEMS and Dealers are encouraged to support ATHENA.SYS with their products, but may be permitted to distribute HGCIBM with their materials provided that Athena Digital receives the registration fee. Those interested should contact Athena Digital for details. USER COMMENTS Let us know what you think. Any criticism is better than none and will help to steer us along a path which is in the majority's best interest. Your suggestions need not be limited to graphics. Any comment regarding Athena Digital programs or documentation is welcome. Thank you for your support. HISTORY In June of 1986, Athena Digital uploaded a simple "Freeware" emulator for Hercules cards which supported only the 200 by 640 Color Graphics Card mode (HGCIBM.COM Version 1.11). To our knowledge, this was the first such program publicly announced. At first glance there would appear to be no physical way to effectively display CGA graphics on a ttl card. It not only could be done, but done in such a way that resulting display quality is actually better than the real CGA though it is in shades of black and white. Support came in from users as far as Israel and eventually from CGA software developers. This support inspired Athena Digital to create HGCIBM.COM Version 2.00 which offers emulation support of all of the CGA modes and to start the development of Athena's own Video BIOS to support not only emulation, but to provide an upgradeable and expandable Video BIOS which enhances any display system. Version 2.01 is no longer offered as freeware. It is not copy restricted, but it is required that that it be registered if and only if the copy is kept. If the user determines that he does not wish to keep HGCIBM, he must pass his copy on to someone else, or destroy (erase) it. This does not apply to those who contributed monetarily to HGCIBM Version 1.11. Those individuals are more than welcome to version 2.01 with no further contribution. 6 FUTURE Version 2.01 does not provide all of the Athena Digital support functions. It is a fully functional emulator only, and does not offer support for Microsoft Mouse* or extended video BIOS calls except for a subset of calls 0B0h (SetContext) and 0BFh (AthenaState) as described below. Due to restrictions imposed by the "resident" utility implementation, the next release of Athena's BIOS (ATHENA.SYS Version 3.00) will be in the form of an MS-DOS device driver. Installed in this way, the program becomes as much a part of the operating system as is the ROM video BIOS, except that it can be easily upgraded and enhanced. Future enhancements will be limited to ATHENA.SYS, thus obseleting HGCIBM.COM except as an emulator only. If bugs are found in HGCIBM, they will be corrected. For more information about ATHENA.SYS, read the section called ATHENA.SYS Video BIOS in this document. HGCIBM CHANGE AND CORRECTION NOTES BUGS FIXED o Version 1.11 would sometimes crash with programs that intercepted the timer interrupt while in Graphics, and then changed to text. o If interrupts were redirected, Version 1 could not find itself for a mode change and would install a second copy. Now it can find and control itself unless it is bypassed altogether. o Version 2.00 (beta test version) would not install on a Leading Edge due to differences in the way the Leading Edge video buffers are implemented. This was corrected with the /L[eading Edge] switch. ENHANCEMENTS o Version 2.01 contains a SUBSET of Athena Digital's own video bios and will support a wider range of compatibles as well as the AT. This also provided a means for improved screen behavior in color text mode, and faster screen operations if bios is used. o All standard video modes are now supported. The 320 x 200 mode supports two intensities(colors). Color 1 and color 2 will appear identical, where color 3 will be high intensity. Forty column text is supported but will be displayed on the left half of the screen only at the same resolution as eighty column text. All four pages of 80 column text (or 8 pages of 40 column text) are available on true Hercules cards. Some of the compatibles will support only one text page at 80 columns, and 2 at 40 columns. o Version 2.01 provides extended bios calls which assembly language programs can use to determine if HGCIBM is present, and what version it is. 7 TECHNICALITIES HGCIBM installs itself between two BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) interrupts. The two interrupts used in this way are hex 10 (BIOS video) and hex 8 (timer). The later is used only while in graphics mode. HGCIBM will fail to function properly if it is not given control during the above interrupts. Other software using interrupt 8 be called on a priority basis, preempting HGCIBM if necessary. HGCIBM version 2.01 no longer passes interrupt 10h (while in emulation mode) since it was learned that compatible ROM bios was not always entirely compatible. If you have other software using interrupt 10h, try loading it after HGCIBM. You can still control HGCIBM after the interrupt is changed but you will not be allowed to un-install it. HGCIBM need be loaded only once each time the computer is started since it attaches itself to BIOS and stays in memory until re-boot or it is commanded to un-install. The memory usage has increased to about 5k now due to bypassing of ROM video bios in emulation mode, but does provide much improved color text emulation and should be compatible with a wider variety of machines. HGCIBM.COM EXTENDED VIDEO FUNCTIONS This section is provided for those familiar with IBM PC assembly language. The following calls are made through the standard video interrupt 10H. ; (AH)=B0h SetContext - (AL) contains context value In HGCIBM, these functions simply enable or disable the emulation modes. As can be seen, most mode numbers mimic those provided by the standard PC bios. The difference between these modes and the standard AH=0 call is that the driver behavior switches are modified before the mode change. A call here for any of the standard modes will disable the emulator bios and pass calls to the computer's rom. A call here higher than 7 will enable the emulation modes. These changes affect the way HGCIBM interprets calls to the standard bios function 0 as shown below. These calls cannot be used to overide the hardware setup determined by HGCIBM during initialization. Calls for invalid context switches are ignored and the call returns with the carry flag set: 8 HGCIBM function calls: TARGET MODE EMULATION TARGET ADAPTER Standard Modes: (HGCIBM will re-enable ROM bios) (AL)=0 disabled CGA 40x25 b/w text (AL)=1 disabled CGA 40x25 Color text (AL)=2 disabled CGA 80x25 BW text (AL)=3 disabled CGA 80x25 Color text (AL)=4 disabled CGA 200x320 Color grph (AL)=5 disabled CGA 200x320 BW grph (AL)=6 disabled CGA 200x640 BW grph (AL)=7 disabled MONO 80x25 BW text CGA Emulation Modes: (correspond to Standard modes 0 - 6) (AL)=20 - (AL)=26 enabled HERC page at B800h Hercules only modes are not supported by HGCIBM. ; (AH)=BFh AthenaState - Return the current driver state. (AL) = Current mode (as set in call B0h) (AH) = Character Columns on screen (BH) = Current Active Display Page (DX) = Installed options, switch states D0 = 1 if mono or hercules card is installed. D1 = 1 if cga card is present D3 = 1 if hercules modes/cga emulation are allowed. D4 = 1 if emulation modes are enabled *HGCIBM supports D0,D1,D3,and D5 only. Others will always be 0. (CX) = ATHENA/HGCIBM version number (CH) has major version (CL) has minor version * set cx to 0 before calling function BFh, if 0 is returned, ATHENA.SYS or HGCIBM.COM (version 2 or higher) are not installed. If the major version is greater than or equal to 3, the response is from ATHENA.SYS. HGCIBM.COM will not be upgraded past major version 2.00. All future enhancements will be limited to ATHENA.SYS or language libraries. 9 HGCIBM function calls: ; (AH) = 0 SetMode - (AL) contains new mode value The new mode is set according to the current switches and the screen is cleared. STANDARD MODES: NEW MODE EMULATION FLAG TARGET SCREEN (AL)=0 disabled CGA 40x25 b/w text enabled HERC 40x25 emulation (AL)=1 disabled CGA 40x25 Color text enabled HERC 40x25 emulation (AL)=2 disabled CGA 80x25 BW text enabled HERC 80x25 emulation (AL)=3 disabled CGA 80x25 Color text enabled HERC 80x25 emulation (AL)=4 disabled CGA 200x320 Color grph enabled HERC 200x320 emulation (AL)=5 disabled CGA 200x320 BW grph enabled HERC 200x320 emulation (AL)=6 disabled CGA 200x640 BW grph enabled HERC 200x640 emulation (AL)=7 don't care MONO 80x25 BW text one page (resets emulation flag and returns to ROM) 10 ATHENA.SYS (T) Version 3.00 Athena Digital Video BIOS for MS-DOS (T) Computers scheduled release - May 15, 1987 PURPOSE For some unknown reason, hardware and software vendors have not seen fit to establish adequate specifications and graphics support for the widely used Hercules Graphics standard. The most peculiar aspect of this is the fact that the Hercules standard was the third available for the IBM personal computer and the first which offered truly high graphics resolution as well as the first to support graphics on the ttl monochrome display. Today, this standard is almost universally accepted as the display adapter of choice for ttl monochrome PC systems and its display quality is yet challenged only by the expensive EGA standard which also requires an expensive color monitor to exploit it's capabilities. Even then, the EGA provides a lower horizontal resolution (640 horizontal, rather than 720). Athena Digital will attempt to remedy this by making it as simple as possible for vendors to exploit the capabilities of the Hercules card by providing a BIOS which fully supports the Hercules monochrome card and/or Color Graphics Card (and eventually others) with fast support for standard modes, CGA emulation, and several new modes. One of the primary enhancements provided by ATHENA BIOS is emulation of the Color Graphics Adapter on the Hercules Graphics Card. This allows Hercules owners to run the majority of graphics programs which do not already support the hercules adapter. This includes programs like BASICA and programs running under the BASIC compiler, as well as increasingly popular programs like QUICKBASIC. This eliminates the need for a Color monitor and graphics card in many cases with obvious price advantages. ATHENA also provides bios support for the higher resolution Hercules 350 vertical by 720 horizontal modes, and a new 350 vertical by 360 mode with three intensities and 4 logical pixel colors. ATHENA provides ALL of the Standard BIOS call support for these new modes including character generation and scrolling, which greatly simplifies direct support of hercules high resolution modes by software vendors and makes it universally possible for applications developers to determine the computer's video hardware capabilities and behave accordingly. ATHENA FEATURES o Supports 5 new Hercules only modes, which are as readily available to applications developers as are the standard modes. o Provides extended equipment, system capability information for applications. 11 o Supports Color Graphics Adapter Programs on the Hercules Graphics Card, and includes algorithms to support Microsoft Mouse sofware and prevent many of the "hangups" experienced with earlier software emulators. o Supports high speed ANSI console escape sequences. o Supports new "context switching" between adapters and certain modes. o Supports faster video operation in ALL modes than Standard ROM BIOS. o Simple replacement for "buggy compatible" BIOS. o Installs as a device driver for MS-DOS version 2.00 or later o Adds PC-AT BIOS print string functions to the PC Once installed, ATHENA replaces the standard MS-DOS "CON" device driver and ROM video bios unless an EGA card is present. By integrating BIOS with DOS, faster DOS screen output is possible. Installation is a matter of copying ATHENA.SYS to your boot disk, and inserting a one line command in your MS-DOS config.sys file. This MUST be the FIRST "DEVICE =" command in the file and has the following basic form: DEVICE = ATHENA.SYS ATHENA.SYS is compatible with a variety of MS-DOS computers, including the PC, PC-AT, and Leading Edge. Our aim is to work with as many different computers and display adapters as possible, so enhancements can be expected periodically. Version 3.00 video bios does not support EGA so it aborts installation if the EGA is detected. Future products will likely support the EGA for uniformity but EGA graphics are supported in EGA bios, and there is no apparent need to extend it at this time. The EGA hardware standard also conflicts directly with the Hercules standard. Our present purpose is to provide support for the multitude of Hercules and/or CGA systems. 12 CONTROLLING ATHENA BIOS AFTER INSTALLATION Along with ATHENA.SYS, you are provided ATHENA.EXE which allows you keyboard control over ATHENA's variety of modes. ATHENA.EXE operates as any other external DOS command. Simply place it in your program directory and use it with switches as below. If you forget the switches, just type ATHENA and it will give you a help screen. ATHENA /M[ono] - Places BIOS in MONO mode (emulation disabled) ATHENA /C[ga] - Places BIOS in CGA mode (emulation disabled) ATHENA /E[mulate] - Places BIOS in CGA EMULATION mode. ATHENA /? - Gives a report of ATHENA's status. ATHENA /Q[uiet] - ADD this switch to others to suppress messages These commands may be issued from a batch file if desired. SALES AND DISTRIBUTION POLICIES - ATHENA.SYS ATHENA.SYS is a fully restricted program, and will soon be offered for sale by mail order, through OEMS, and dealers. Illegal distribution of this program is punishable in the same manner as any other copyrighted work (if someone has provided you a copy of ATHENA.SYS you must destroy it immediately). For the purchase price of $34.95, you will receive the program on a 5.25" IBM format diskette with documentation sheets, and be notified of upgrades at low cost as they become available. Dealers, OEMS, and those desiring Site Licenses are welcome and encouraged to contact Athena Digital about liberal discounts. UPGRADING FROM HGCIBM If you have already registered HGCIBM and wish to upgrade to ATHENA, you may do so at a reduced rate for a limited time. To order the upgrade, send your registration name and address along with 29.95 in a check or money order (normally 34.95). SOFTWARE AUTHORS You do not have to distribute ATHENA to support it, Athena Digital for one will make the program infinitely available to users. If you do decide to enhance your product specifications by supporting the emulation modes (your product probably already does) or the extended modes, simply send us your company name, your product(s) name, your name, your address, and your telephone number. From time to time, Athena Digital will upload a "supporting product listing", and will keep you informed of updates and enhancements. If you would like to mention your support in your product specifications, you are encouraged to do so provided you include the trademark notice as in the example below. 13 <program name> supports the Hercules emulation modes of ATHENA.SYS (T) Video Bios. <bottom or top of page> ATHENA.SYS is a registered trademark of Athena Digital ATHENA.SYS FUNCTION CALLS This information is provided for technical users, and presumes familiarity with Standard BIOS function calls. ; ***** (AH)=B0h SetContext - (AL) contains context value These functions first change the current state switches to that indicated below and then switch to the requested context. As can be seen, most mode numbers mimic those provided by the Standard PC BIOS. The difference between these modes and the standard AH=0 call is that the driver behavior switches are modified before the mode change and the concept of contexts is introduced for each mode. For instance, if the driver were currently set to acknowledge an active CGA card, but it is desired to switch the active display to emulation CGA or one of the Hercules only modes, a call here for the desired mode would freeze the CGA screen and switch contexts to the requested screen. If the target of the switch is the same as it was when it was last active the target screen is not cleared. If a target mode change is required then the target screen is cleared. In either case, the context switches to the new active screen. Context switches also affect the way ATHENA interprets calls to the standard bios function 0 as shown below. These calls cannot be used to overide the hardware setup determined by ATHENA during initialization. Calls for invalid context switches are ignored and the call returns with the carry flag set: 14 ATHENA.SYS function calls: To force Athena to clear the target screen, set D7 in register AL (or the mode value with 80H). ; TARGET MODE EMULATION TARGET SCREEN Standard Modes (AL)=0 deactivated CGA 40x25 b/w text (AL)=1 deactivated CGA 40x25 Color text (AL)=2 deactivated CGA 80x25 BW text (AL)=3 deactivated CGA 80x25 Color text (AL)=4 deactivated CGA 200x320 Color grph (AL)=5 deactivated CGA 200x320 BW grph (AL)=6 deactivated CGA 200x640 BW grph (AL)=7 deactivated MONO 80x25 BW text Hercules only modes CGA Emulation Modes: (correspond to Standard modes 0 - 6) (AL)=20 . activated HERC page at B800h . (AL)=26 Hercules Text Mode: (supports 8 pages) (AL)=27 activated HERC 80x25 BW text Herc Modes: (AL)=28 no change HERC 350x720 at B000 (AL)=29 no change HERC 350x720 at B800 (AL)=30 no change HERC 350x360 at B000* (AL)=31 no change HERC 350x360 at B800* *modes 18 and 19 support low and high intensity Certain mode changes are not possible without erasure of a previous context and screen. The following HERCULES context changes can be accomplished without erasure of a previous context. (Emulation modes 24 - 26) and (modes 7,27,28 or 30): These two groups use separate Hercules pages and do not destroy each other. Changes made within each group are destructive to other modes in the same group. (modes 28 and 30) and (modes 29 and 31): Context is retained when switching between groups, but lost when switching between modes within the same group. Emulation modes 20 - 23 destroy the context of all other Hercules modes because they use both adapter pages. 15 ATHENA.SYS function calls: (modes 0 - 6) and all others: Context is retained when switching adapters. ; ***** (AH)=BFh AthenaState - Return the current driver state. OUTPUT: (AL) = Current mode (as in call B0h) (AH) = Character Columns on screen (BH) = Current Active Display Page (DX) = Installed options, switch states D0 = 1 if mono or hercules card is installed D1 = 1 if cga card is installed D2 = reserved D3 = 1 if hercules modes/cga emulation are allowed D4 = 1 if emulation modes are activated D5 = 1 if ansi console codes are enabled D6 = 1 if it is necessary to wait for horizontal retrace before CGA text screen updates. This bit is reset by default when ATHENA initializes. If the /W(ait) option switch is used on the installation command line, this bit will be set to cause ATHENA to wait for retrace when updating CGA text. This switch has no effect on Hercules or Mono modes. Application software should never try to wait in Hercules modes since the CGA registers may not even exist and the Hercules standard does not require it. (CX) = ATHENA/HGCIBM version number (CH) has major version (CL) has minor version * set cx to 0 before calling function BFh, if 0 is returned, ATHENA.SYS or HGCIBM.COM is not installed. If the major version is greater than or equal to 3, the response is from ATHENA.SYS. HGCIBM.COM will not be upgraded past major version 2. All future enhancements will be limited to ATHENA.SYS or language libraries. 16 ; ***** (AH) = 0 SetMode - (AL) contains new mode value The new mode is set according to the current switches and the screen is cleared. STANDARD MODES: NEW MODE EMULATION FLAG TARGET SCREEN (AL)=0 deactivated CGA 40x25 b/w text activated HERC 40x25 emulation (AL)=1 deactivated CGA 40x25 Color text activated HERC 40x25 emulation (AL)=2 deactivated CGA 80x25 BW text activated HERC 80x25 emulation (AL)=3 deactivated CGA 80x25 Color text activated HERC 80x25 emulation (AL)=4 deactivated CGA 200x320 Color grph activated HERC 200x320 emulation (AL)=5 deactivated CGA 200x320 BW grph activated HERC 200x320 emulation (AL)=6 deactivated CGA 200x640 BW grph activated HERC 200x640 emulation (AL)=7 don't care MONO 80x25 BW text one page HERC MODES: If Hercules modes are not allowed, these calls are ignored. (AL)=27 HERC page at B000h Herc mono mode (supports 8 text pages) Herc Modes: (AL)=28 HERC 350x720 at B000 (AL)=29 HERC 350x720 at B800 (AL)=30 HERC 350x360 at B000* (AL)=31 HERC 350x360 at B800* *modes 30 and 31 support low and high intensity ATHENA.SYS Version 3.00 provides the standard bios support functions for all of the listed modes. 17 ATHENA LIBRARY VERSIONS These are introduced in the accompanying QBDEMO program. The demo is a short first-hand introduction to ATHENA.SYS and Athena Language Libraries for programmers. There are 2 files required to run the demo: QBDEMOC.EXE ; QuickBasic library DEMO - BCOM20 program module FEATURES.PRX ; DEMO text o To run the demo, place these two files in your default directory and type "QBDEMOC". o If you have an older style Color Graphics Adapter which "snows" when text is printed, then start the demo as "QBDEMOC/W". o If you have a Hercules Card AND a Hercules CGA card AND both are attached to monitors, then start the demo as "QBDEMOC/H". o If you have a Leading Edge, no switches are required. o You may use both "/H" AND "/W" on the same command line. o It makes no difference whether HGCIBM is installed or not to run the demo, since ATHENA BIOS is linked with the demo and will be used in either case. 18 ----------------end-of-author's-documentation--------------- Software Library Information: This disk copy provided as a service of The Public (Software) Library Disks in the library are updated monthly. For a copy of the latest monthly software library newsletter and a list of the 800+ disks in the library, call or write The Public (Software) Library P.O.Box 35705 K Houston, TX 77235-5705 (713) 721-6104 We are not the authors of this program, nor are we associated with the author in any way other than as a distributor of the program in accordance with the author's terms of distribution. Please direct shareware payments and specific questions about this program to the author of the program, whose name appears elsewhere in this documentation. If you have trouble getting in touch with the author, we will do whatever we can to help you with your questions. All programs have been tested and do run. To report problems, please use the form that is in the file PROBLEM.DOC on many of our disks or in other written for- mat with screen printouts, if possible.