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OS/2 Shareware BBS: 33 VDrivers
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1993-05-21
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Small resource SVGA display driver for 1024x768x256 (2.1 March beta only)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Release date: 21/05/93
CONTENTS
Introduction
Limitations
Bugs (well, bug...)
Disclaimer
Installation
How this driver was created
Contacting the author
Blatant plug
INTRODUCTION
This driver basically gives you the resources used by the 640x480 display
driver at 1024x768 resolution, thus effectively giving you more screen real
estate. The main differences between this and the standard 1024x768x256 SVGA
driver are:
Small fonts
Small system fonts (esp. useful when viewing help)
8.Helv is now *really* tiny!
Small icons
Full-sized icons are 32x32 pixels and not 40x40
Small title bars
Title bars have shrunk along with everything else;
they are now the same height (in pixels) as in 640x480
resolution.
LIMITATIONS
This driver is only suitable as a replacement for 1024x768x256 resolution
SVGA display drivers. It therefore supports cards such as those with Tseng
and Trident chipsets. It will *not* work 8514 or XGA cards. Basically, if
your card uses the IBMDEV32.DLL driver unpacked from SV768256.DLL on Display
Driver Diskette 2 then this driver will probably work.
This driver is intended for the March beta of OS/2 2.1 only. It *may* work
with the December beta of OS/2 but this is untested. If you have the
December beta then let me know how you get on.
BUGS
For some reason, the System VIO font is no longer present in the Font Palette
using this driver. If you encounter any other difficulties then please email
me.
DISCLAIMER
This driver was created for my own use only. I have made it available merely
as a service to others who are also fed-up with having their screen
resolution wasted. I accept no responsibility or liability for any loss or
damage arising from or as a result of the use of this driver.
You know the score: if you use this driver and everything goes horribly wrong
then don't blame me, you were warned :-)
Note: I should point out that I don't expect you to have any problems, but
that doesn't mean you won't...
If anyone at IBM is upset that I've uploaded some modified March beta code
then I'm *really* sorry. You could sue me, but I haven't got any money so it
probably wouldn't be worth it :-) Seriously, let me know if there are
problems with making this driver available and I'll get it removed ASAP.
What would be wonderful would be to have IBM make small resource 1024x768
drivers available as part of the standard OS/2 distribution.
INSTALLATION
These instructions assume that OS/2 is installed on your C: drive. If this is
not the case then modify paths accordingly. For example, C:\OS2 will become
x:\OS2 (where x: is the drive on which OS/2 is installed).
Since you are reading this I assume that you have managed to unzip the file
containing the replacement driver!
1. You should verify that your video card is supported by this driver
(see LIMITATIONS).
2. Ensure that your display adapter is currently running in
1024x768x256 resolution.
3. Make a backup copy of the two files
C:\OS2\DLL\DSPRES.DLL
and C:\OS2\DLL\IBMDEV32.DLL
4. Boot OS/2 without Presentation Manager. You can do this by booting
from the installation disks (and pressing ESC at the first
opportunity). Alternatively, make a copy of your CONFIG.SYS then
edit it [the original] to change the line
PROTSHELL=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE
to PROTSHELL=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE
and then shutdown and reboot.
This step is required because Presentation Manager locks the DLLs
that we wish to replace whilst it is running.
5. Having completed step 4, you should be in a full-screen OS/2 command
shell. Copy the files DSPRES.DLL and IBMDEV32.DLL supplied with
these instructions to the directory C:\OS2\DLL
6. If you altered your CONFIG.SYS, now is the time to restore the
backup copy that you made in step 4. If you forgot to make a backup
copy, then you can type PMSHELL at the command line. PM will then be
loaded (and probably the WPS too) and you will be able to edit
CONFIG.SYS and restore it to its original state (that prior to step
4). Having restored your CONFIG.SYS you can shut down and reboot.
If you didn't modify CONFIG.SYS then you can simply reboot your
machine.
7. If everything has gone smoothly then you will be presented with a WPS
desktop in 1024x768x256 resolution using small resources.
If this is not the case then check to see that you followed these
instructions exactly.
If you still have problems then this driver is not for you. Go to
step 4 and restore the original DSPRES.DLL and IBMDEV32.DLL files
which you backed up in step 3.
8. If you have changed the default system font to something other than
10.System Proportional, then you will need to undo the change. If
you don't understand what this means then don't worry, you probably
won't have changed it!
In order to set the default system font to 10.System Proportional,
run the REXX script FONT.CMD included with this distribution.
That's it! I'd be delighted to know how you get on with this driver, whether
your experience is good or bad. See CONTACTING THE AUTHOR below.
HOW THIS DRIVER WAS CREATED
If your video card isn't supported by this driver then you may wish (if
you're feeling brave and/or foolish) to attempt to create a small resources
driver of your own. I therefore describe how I created the small resource
driver.
Like many people, I was fed up with the large fonts and icons used in the
standard 1024x768 SVGA display driver. Desiring an excuse to avoid doing
revision for my finals, I downloaded a binary editor (beav) and dug out my
copy of Borland's Resource Workshop for OS/2 (supplied with Borland C++ for
OS/2). Then I played...
A little experimentation showed that IBMDEV32.DLL was the DLL responsible for
the display resolution and resources used. In other words, IBMDEV32.DLL is
the display driver. Cleverly, only one IBMDEV32.DLL is used for all the SVGA
display cards supported by the March OS/2 2.1 beta.
Next, I made a copy of IBMDEV32.DLL and fired up Resource Workshop (RW from
here on). I deleted all the resources attached to the DLL and then saved
the result to 1024.DLL.
I manually unpacked the 640x480x256 IBMDEV32.DLL from Display Driver Disk 2.
I loaded this into RW and saved the resources as a .RES file (640.RES).
Feeling brave, I loaded 1024.DLL into beav. From my Windoze days I knew that
the large font drivers had a device resolution of 120 something or others.
The small font drivers had a resolution of 96. Knowing 120 to 78 hexadecimal
(well, I didn't *know*, I used my trusty HP calculator :-), I browsed
through 1024.DLL searching for something that might prove relevant.
Eventually, I found two sequences of four bytes. Both sequences were
78 00 00 00 (all numbers are hex). I changed the 78 to 60 in both instances
(60 hex being 96 decimal). I saved 1024.DLL and quit beav. Actually, I've
made it sound simple. I could pretend that I got it right first time and
impress you all, but then I'd be lying ;-) I'll spare you the grief...
Using RC.EXE (supplied with OS/2), I bound the contents of 640.RES to the
newly modified 1024.DLL. Automagically, I had a small resource IBMDEV32.DLL
(albeit called 1024.DLL, but that was easily changed).
Anyhow, I replaced my C:\OS2\DLL\IBMDEV32.EXE with the 1024.DLL just created.
I rebooted.
Well, I had small icons and small title bars. Unfortunately, I still had that
enormously large system font which IBM for some reason has seen fit to
inflict upon all owners of display cards/monitors capable of at least
1024x768. Why they assume that we wish to waste our high resolution with
enormous fonts I really don't know. I only have a 15" monitor and they're
far too large for me. I pity those with 20" monitors. I guess they must have
long keyboard leads and sit about six feet back from the screen...
Okay, "Simple!" I think to myself. The March beta lets you change the
default system font (there's a little REXX script in the March OS/2 README).
So I change it to 8.Helv. Bad move. Sure, it worked. However, the WPS
settings notebooks insisted on using the *real* (giant) system font, and not
the default that I'd set. This would have been bearable had they not tried
to space the dialog components according to the 8.Helv font metrics...
I reset the default system font to 10.System Proportional. I needed another
solution. I'm sure that there is some magic in IBMDEV32.DLL which dictates
which sized system font to use (you know, sensible size, or stupid size).
Most likely, it simply contains the resource ID of the font to use. However,
Turbo Debugger GX wouldn't let me disassemble IBMDEV32.DLL to see what it
was doing (it's not an executable program and so TDGX didn't want to know)
and I wasn't brave enough to attempt to force IBMDEV32.DLL into submission
with beav. I therefore cast my attentions elsewhere.
It turns out that DSPRES.DLL contains the system fonts (ISO System
Proportional, non-ISO System Proportional and System VIO) used by OS/2.
Further inspection revealed that there are three versions of both of the
System Proportional fonts. Why three? I've no idea. I thought there were
only two variations: small and large. Apparently not, but I digress. The
System Proportional (ISO) font appears to be stored under resource IDs 100,
101 and 102. The non-ISO versions under 200, 201 and 202. Using my skill and
cunning (okay, so I guessed :-) I copied the contents of resource 100 to 101
and 102. Likewise, I replaced 201 and 202 by the contents of resource 200.
Then I saved DSPRES.DLL.
I replaced my C:\OS2\DLL\DSPRES.DLL with the new version and rebooted.
Heaven! Bliss! Screen space! Finally, I could use the available screen
resolution in a sensible way. Somewhere along the line, System VIO fonts
had disappeared from the font palette, but that was a small price to pay...
CONTACTING THE AUTHOR
This section is misleadingly titled. Of course, I'm not the author of the
driver included in this package. Some clever people at IBM actually wrote
it. I merely, um, modified it. Tampered may be a better description...
Still, if you wish to get in contact with me to tell me how I've saved your
life (or trashed your hard disk :-) then you can e-mail me up until June
23rd. After that I finish university and am allowed out to play in the real
world. My email id is
djn@ukc.ac.uk
If you wish to snail-mail me, I can be contacted at
Daniel J Neades
c/o 45 Causley Drive
Warmley
Bristol
BS15 7BA
England
BLATANT PLUG
One final note, you may wish to try out my first ever PM program. It's a
graphical process display/kill utility (standard stuff...) called PMps.
It's on hobbes in pub/os2/2.x/sysutils/pmps.zip.
I've just finished writing a really whizzy little application which you'd
all love. Unfortunately, it's under wraps at the moment and so you'll have
to wait for it...