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┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Trademarked names are the property of the respective owners │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ VIz Copyright (c) 1989, 1990, 1991 FM de Monasterio Licensed Material - All rights reserved Release 4.21 SUMMARY VIz is a small resident program that accelerates BIOS (and DOS) video input and output in text mode; it can be used with IBM-compatible MDA, EGA or VGA adapter cards and Hercules HGC and HGC+ cards. In its present version, VIz produces video interference ("snow") in old CGA cards; for such systems you can use VIz-CGA, a snow-free, 8088-CPU oriented version. In addition, VIz includes an independent, resident component for displaying a block cursor, either continuously or alternating with a line cursor at an adjustable rate of alternation. The latter display is well suited for easy localization of the cursor in some laptop screens. Finally, VIz also contains an independent, resident ANSI-filter driver that mediates a subset of the ANSI escape sequences to control the console. This filter can be used, instead of ANSI.SYS, to implement ANSI escape sequences to control video display, with the advantage that can be turned off and on, and removed from memory without rebooting. All 3 resident modules occupy a total of less than about 1800 bytes of RAM. Depending on the system configuration and BIOS version, video accelerations by a factor of between 2 and 10 have been obtained. REGISTRATION This software is user-supported; the present release, although lacking the options marked by asterisks, is a fully usable program. You may test this release for (in)compatibilities with your system, but after the testing is completed you are requested to order a registered copy of the full release of the software from the address at the end of this documentation. If you would rather use this unregistered copy, consider making a donation to the Children's Hospital of Washington DC, for indigent children in need of medical care. Every year in the USA, infant mortality claims the lives of tens of thousands of children before their first year of life, and most of them come from families below poverty level... Please send to the same address a check payable to the "PATIENT CARE FUND, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL" on the obverse, and marked "For Deposit Only" on the reverse. Donations will be sent to Children's Hospital. Please identify the program for which you are making the donation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- VIZ.REG contains a form needed to register or upgrade the Software -------------------------------------------------------------------------- See the final part of this documentation for information on the Licensing, Distribution, Warranty, and Limitation of Remedies of this software. ----------------- GENERAL INFORMATION There are 3 basic ways of producing character-oriented, text video displays in DOS computers: (1) using direct video memory mapping, which is extremely fast but dependent on the video hardware and has a limited portability; (2) via BIOS services, provided by the first "hidden" DOS boot file and usually augmented by the video adapter, which are not as fast as direct mapping but more portable; and (3) via DOS services, provided by the other "hidden" DOS boot file and sometimes augmented via installable device drivers, which are much slower than the other two approaches, but have greater portability and permit additional operations such as redirection. Many of the DOS and BIOS video services can be accelerated using a resident program that intercepts the calls made to such services, and implements the video operation with faster instructions. Because of the nature of DOS and of BIOS services, the interception must occur at the input site of the BIOS services (interrupt 10h), whereas it can occur at the input site (interrupt 21h) or output site (interrupt 29h), or both, of the DOS services. VIz is a utility that accelerates many of the basic text-video services and allows changing the video mode, page and font of the display as well as the raw or normal mode of DOS video output. When used in a VGA/EGA system, VIz also permits control of the red, green and blue mixture that determines the color of each of the 16 registers of the color palette, and the RGB mixture can be modified to suit user preferences. VIz also permits controlling the frequency (pitch) of the bell's tone. VIz releases require MS-DOS or PC-IBM DOS version 2 or later. (Upper-memory selfloading requires DOS version 3 or higher.) A cyclical redundancy check (CRC) calculation is performed each time VIz is executed; if the CRC fails, indicating corruption of the code, the program aborts to DOS. HARDWARE COMMANDS Cursor position is updated via direct hardware commands. Starting with VIz release 3.00, such commands can be sent out as WORD (double-byte) values or as two successive BYTE values. The WORD-out method of addressing, also used by other programs (e.g. Microsoft Windows), yields faster accelerations but it may not work with some older clone systems. To test which method of addressing you can use, enter the command 'VIZ /?H' to see if the cursor appears at the indicated position. If it does so, your system can handle WORD-out commands. CPU VERSIONS VIz is entirely written in assembly language. Each VIz version consists of 4 processor-type releases (086, 268, 386, and 486), where the code has been optimized for the specific type of 80x86 processor. This is needed because the processors currently available differ markedly in instruction execution times, and the availability of memory caches affects those times further by influencing both speed of instruction fetching and memory access. The type and degree of code optimization vary with the processor model. In addition to standard (086) assembly language instructions, the 286, 386, and 486 releases of VIz also use 286-, 386- or 486-specific instructions in real mode only (which is the native mode for 086 processors). Such releases differ slightly in resident size. Average accelerations and comparisons with other accelerators based on four benchmarks are described in the accompanying file VIZ.DAT for 086, 286, 386 and 486 VIz versions. ----------------- 1. VIDEO ACCELERATION MODULE VIz installs itself as a resident program that can be invoked repeatedly for modification of its parameters, without producing multiple copies on memory; the accelerator module of the resident uses less than 1,000 bytes of RAM. To maximize speed of code, but minimize resident size, acceleration only occurs for video page 0 in a text mode (1-3, color; 7, monochrome). In other pages, or graphic modes, VIz becomes inactive and is automatically reactivated by a change that resets the video to page 0 in a text mode. Viz accelerates BIOS video functions, and it can also accelerate DOS-mediated screen output. The acceleration of VIz can be turned off either by deallocating the program with the switch /U (if no other resident has been installed after VIz) or by making it quiescent with switch /Q (i.e. it remains resident but not active) until reactivation (any switch but /QU) or deallocation by a further call to VIz. The relative acceleration depends on several factors, including BIOS version and date, 80x86 CPU model and clock speed, and whether or not ROM video BIOS is shadowed or remapped to faster RAM. Another factor, often disregarded, is the use of other residents also intercepting the interrupt 10h. In addition, some memory managers, even when RAM-shadowing video BIOS, have been found to produce a not insignificant degradation of the video speed. Whereas smaller acceleration factors are to be expected in machines performing a faster BIOS operation (i.e. tighter ROM code, faster CPU, shadowed or remapped ROM), the relative weight of individual factors may yield unexpected results. Another factor affecting acceleration is the region of the upper memory in which VIz loads itself when switch /H is selected. This is free memory made available by an extended memory manager (see below) reclaiming unused memory above 640 kb but below 1 Mb, i.e., memory filled above the video adapters. Contingent upon the hardware, there are marked differences in memory access time within such a region, differences which can also affect the video acceleration of a VIz resident loaded in high memory (see switch /H). VIz updates relevant parameters in the BIOS data area (segment 40h), such as cursor position (page 0 only) and type, video mode, page, and font, that are also processed by VIz; while such updating degrades video acceleration time, it also decreases the possibility of conflict with foreground utilities that use BIOS data but bypass BIOS calls. ----------------- 2. BLOCK-AND-LINE CURSOR ALTERNATION MODULE To help cursor visualization in screens where the cursor is not easily seen, as in some laptop displays, VIz provides a small resident module that allows for the display of a (full-)block cursor, either continuously or alternating with a line cursor. The alternation rate can be adjusted in steps of 54.9 ms between about 0.055 s (/V1) and 5.5 s (/V99). A zero alternation rate (/V0) produces a continuously present block cursor. For the module to be loaded in memory, VIz must be installed with any /V switch (see below), and it adds an additional 100 bytes to the resident size of VIz. Very short or very long alternation rates are distracting or hard to follow. When selecting a rate for laptop displays, start with a value of n=9 (.50 s) or so. Block cursor alternation can be turned off by making this resident quiescent with the switch /V+ (until its reactivation with /Vn). All cursor operations use direct commands to the hardware, and assume register-level compatibility with the Motorola 6845 CRT controller. This chip is present in MDA, CGA, and HGC cards, while a 6845-compatible CRTC is a custom LSI chip in the IBM-EGA, part of the Memory Controller Gate Array on the MCGA, or a part of the Video Graphics Array on the VGA. Notice that the hardware-controlled blinking of the cursor is not eliminated by this service. Hence, depending on the alternation rate selected, a 2-beat frequency may be noticeable. ----------------- 3. ANSI-COMPATIBLE VIDEO FILTER MODULE MS-DOS and IBM PC-DOS files include ANSI.SYS, a console filter driver that mediates a subset of American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard escape sequences for video functions as well as a supplementary subset for keyboard functions (such as key reprogramming). VIz has a second, independently installable resident module that implements standard ANSI escape sequences to control the console video functions. This ANSI-compatible filter uses less than some 800 additional bytes of RAM when installed. It can be turned off either by uninstalling all the VIz resident modules or by selectively inactivating the filter. (The inactive filter can also be reactivated.) The filter does not provide by itself much acceleration of DOS video input/ output as far as ANSI instructions are concerned. Its advantages are small resident size, the capability of being turned on or off, and its harmonious working with the acceleration module of VIz. COEXISTENCE WITH OTHER ANSI FILTERS The installation of the ANSI filter may be made contingent on not detecting the presence of ANSI.SYS or another ANSI-like utility intercepting the FAST CONSOLE interrupt (29h) of DOS, such as ANSI.COM (Copyright 1989 Ziff-Davis Corp.), or the potential presence of such utilities may be ignored (and the filter forced to install). The presence of an installed ANSI-like utility can be ascertained using the Status/Usage/Help panel displayed when the command 'VIZ ?┘' is issued; the Status line at the bottom of the screen displays one of the following: ANSI.SYS Indicates that interrupt 29h (see below) points to a resident code containing a device driver header with the attributes of a character device servicing calls to INT 29h and the device name 'CON.' This is likely to be ANSI.SYS or an ANSI-compatible device driver. ANSI.COM Indicates that interrupt 29h (see below) points to a resident code containing the string 'CON ' at the place where the device driver name should be, but it does not contain other elements of the device driver header. This is an ANSI-compatible resident utility of the type of ANSI.COM. ANSI: No Indicates absence of the above conditions. ANSI IMPLEMENTATIONS The ANSI-compatible filter implements the following subset of ANSI 3.64-1979 standard escape sequences to control console video functions (see your MS/PC DOS documentation of ANSI.SYS commands): Selection of the foreground and background colors on a color display or the text attributes on a monochrome display system. The sequence syntax is <Esc>[#;...;#m, where # is 30-37 to select a foreground color, 40-47 47 to select a background color, and 0-1, 4-5 or 7-8 to select the text attributes. Selection of the video mode (similar to using the MODE command of DOS). The sequence syntax is <Esc>[=#h or <Esc>[=#l, where # is 0-6 or higher (depending on the adapter card in use). Selection of word wrapping, i.e. whether lines longer than the width of the screen are truncated. The sequence syntax is <Esc>[?7h or <Esc>[?7l to turn word wrapping ON or OFF, respectively. Cursor positioning for the following sequences: <Esc>[r#;c#H Move to specified row (r#) and column (c#) <Esc>[r#;c#f Same a previous sequence <Esc>[r#A Move cursor up by specified number of rows <Esc>[r#B Move cursor down by specified number of rows <Esc>[c#C Move forward the specified number of columns <Esc>[c#D Move backward the specified number of columns <Esc>[s Store current position of the cursor <Esc>[u Restore to the position stored by <Esc>[s <Esc>[K Erase from the cursor to end of the line <Esc>[2J Clear all rows and home cursor (this sequence preserves current color attribute) Not supported by the filter are the cursor-position-reporting ANSI sequence (<Esc>[r#;c#R), and the supplementary set of sequences used by the ANSI.SYS driver to permit reprogramming of the keyboard (i.e., <Esc>[#;'string';3p), a set which is not part of the 1979 ANSI standard. Thus, you should consider using the ANSI filter of VIz, instead of ANSI.SYS or other ANSI-like utility, when interested in using video escape sequences alone, without any keyboard remapping. ----------------- 4. USAGE VIZ [/Switches] [;Comments] The switches can be entered from: (1) the DOS command line (COMMAND.COM shell prompt) (2) a batch file (3) a DOS environment string with the format VIZ=/SWITCH1.../SWITCHn Switches can be given in any order. Any character between space and slash [/] can be used as a switch delimiter. Switches are not case sensitive. Switches /A, /B, /C, /D, /I, /M, /P, /R, and /S are "sticky" parameters in the sense that the video change they produce will remain in effect even if VIz is made quiescent or is uninstalled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- (*) Switches marked with asterisks are available only in registered copies -------------------------------------------------------------------------- SWITCH /? This switch displays the Status/Usage/Help panels, which are described in more detail in the section below. If a VGA or EGA is the active adapter, the program saves the contents of the palette registers prior to changing the video attributes for its various displays. See section STATUS/USAGE/ HELP PANELS below. NOTE: (EGA users only) The default IBM palette attributes are restored if the BIOS fails to store properly the original data. * SWITCH /A[±] Installs a resident filter to implement (the video subset of) ANSI escape sequences; the installation may be made contingent upon failure to detect the presence of the DOS driver ANSI.SYS or some ANSI-like residents (/A), or to ignore their potential presence (/A+). Although the filter can take advantage of VIz acceleration, its operation does not require the enabling of the resident accelerator module, and its activity can be controlled independently with the following switches: * /A If VIz is not yet installed, adds the ANSI filter module to the resident code to be installed, provided that ANSI or another logical device named 'CON ' mediating int 29h (see #3 above) is not installed, and inactivates the remapping of the EGA/VGA palette via /C+, /Cn:n, or /Cm. * /A+ If VIz is not yet installed, adds the ANSI filter module to the resident code to be installed, even when ANSI.SYS or a similar CON utility has already been installed, and inactivates the remapping of the EGA/VGA palette via /C+ /Cn:n, or /Cm. If VIz is already installed, and the resident filter was made inactive with /A-, /A+ reactivates the ANSI filter. * /A- Inactivates the filter, if installed and active. It also reactivates a previously active remapping of the EGA/VGA palette. Defaults: /A = /A+; null switch = no resident on installation. The ANSI module does not become resident unless switch /A[+] is specified at the time VIz is being installed and cannot be added after installation of the resident(s). * SWITCH /Bn Selects the color for the screen border in text modes, and the background and border color in graphic modes. This color is specified by <n>, a one or two digit number representing the Red-Green-Blue mixture for the color using an octal (base 8) format ranging from 0 to 77 (see Switch C below). Switch /C+ also sets the screen border; the default border for the EGA is black, and the screen background attribute for other color adapters. SWITCH /Cn:m±? Allows for color changes in the EGA/VGA color palette, which consists of 16 registers, and is used to map video memory data into colors. Both in (the EGA-compatible modes of) the VGA and the EGA, the value in each one of these registers determines the amount of Red, Green, and Blue mixture in the displayed color. This amount can be represented by the data bits <RGBrgb>, where <000rgb> shows the color at 33%, <RGB000> at 66%, and <RGBrgb> at 100% intensity. These bits, and their resultant color, are shown below using both binary (base 1) and octal (base 8) number formats: ┌─────────┬───────┬─────────────┐ │ binary │ octal │ Color │ Since the binary format takes up a ├─────────┼───────┼─────────────┤ lot of space it is more convenient +│ 000 000 │ 00 │ 100% black │ to use the 2-digit octal format to │ 000 001 │ 01 │ 33% blue │ represent an RGB value. The binary │ 000 010 │ 02 │ 33% green │ equivalence of octal numbers is: │ 000 011 │ 03 │ 33% cyan │ │ 000 100 │ 04 │ 33% red │ │ 000 101 │ 05 │ 33% magenta│ 0o = 000000b │ 000 110 │ 06 │ 33% yellow │ 1o = 000001b │ 000 111 │ 07 │ 33% white │ 2o = 000010b ├─────────┼───────┼─────────────┤ 3o = 000011b +│ 001 000 │ 10 │ 66% blue │ 4o = 000100b +│ 010 000 │ 20 │ 66% green │ 5o = 000101b +│ 011 000 │ 30 │ 66% cyan │ 6o = 000110b +│ 100 000 │ 40 │ 66% red │ 7o = 000111b +│ 101 000 │ 50 │ 66% magenta│ 10o = 001000b +│ 110 000 │ 60 │ 66% yellow │ 11o = 001001b +│ 111 000 │ 70 │ 66% white │ 12o = 001010b ├─────────┼───────┼─────────────┤ 13o = 001011b +│ 001 001 │ 11 │ 100% blue │ 14o = 001100b +│ 010 010 │ 22 │ 100% green │ 15o = 001101b +│ 011 011 │ 33 │ 100% cyan │ 16o = 001110b +│ 100 100 │ 44 │ 100% red │ 17o = 001111b +│ 101 101 │ 55 │ 100% magenta│ 20o = 010000b +│ 110 110 │ 66 │ 100% yellow │ etc +│ 111 111 │ 77 │ 100% white │ └─────────┴───────┴─────────────┘ (+) IBM default color palette Of course, other colors can also be generated when using a different RGB mixture value. For instance, a desaturated (i.e., whitish) RGB sequence is obtained in the octal range 71o through 76o. This palette control is also enabled (versions 2.42+) for the monochrome mode of VGA and MCGA video adapters to remap color codes into gray-scale values. The following services are available: * /C:n The RGB values of the palette registers is set by a 16- number sequence in which these two-digit, octal numbers are separated by colons (:) as in the following example /C03:00:20:30:40:50:01:77:70:11:22:33:44:55:66:76 which shows the default palette colors used by VIz when switch /C? is used. If less than 16 numbers are given, their RGB values are loaded into the respective palette registers starting from register 0. When a non-numeric value is provided, the palette is not changed. * /Cm± The VGA and MCGA adapters emulates a 16-color text mode for a monochrome display, and the palette consists of 4 groups of four shades of gray. In MONOCHROME modes, /Cm loads a palette in which the gray-scale value increases uniformly with increasing attribute values; the palette corresponds to the following command /C00:50:01:31:61:12:42:03:43:04:44:05:55:26:07:77 Switch /Cm can also be used with CGA monochrome systems (e.g., laptops) to translate color attributes into gray scale values. In COLOR modes, switch /Cm± enables [+] or disables [-] the gray-scale summing of the RGB mixture. The summing, carried out by the BIOS, sets the gray-scale equivalent of a given color to 30%, 50%, and 11% of the Red, Green and Blue value in the video digital-to-analog registers (these percentages are close to the relative brightness of the displayed 'pure' red, green, and blue). /C? This service provides a display of the palette registers and the corresponding RGB mixture in octal format. It is possible to alter the RGB mixture of any register simply by pressing <R>, <G>, or <B> and then <> or <>. These arrows cycle through 0%, 33%, 66%, and 100% intensity of the respective RGB component. The actual RGB mixture of the selection is also shown on a graph. Press the right or left arrow to cycle through the registers, and <HOME> to go to register 0 or <END> to go to register 15. Press <ENTER> to save the current palette, <ESC> to quit the service without any palette changes, <DEL> to reject any change and to restart the service, and the indicated function keys to load several available palettes. * /C- Use to inactivate the implementation of EGA/VGA palette changes via VIz. The video attributes remain unchanged until the a video operation reloads the palette, e.g. a video mode change. Switch /A+ also turns off remapping of the palette. * /C+ Use to reactivate the implementation of EGA/VGA palette changes via VIz; it reloads the last color palette that was selected via VIz. Switch /A- reactivates remapping if remapping was in effect prior to an /A+ request. Defaults: /C = /C+. The selected EGA/VGA color palette changes are asserted (i.e. the palette is loaded with the selected RGB values) each time a video mode change, or a video font change, is requested and VIz is enabled (i.e., no /Q switch, no graphics mode, and no video page other than 0). To preserve the small size of Viz, there is no hotkey pop-up service. If during the execution of an application the color palette changes, the RGB values selected via VIz cannot be asserted except by shelling to DOS (and executing VIz with the switch /C+ to reload the palette) or by triggering a video mode/font change. * SWITCH /D±n Adjusts brightness of screen (VGA card only); the brightness change step is specified by the sign and value of <±n>, which is a decimal number of 1 or 2 digits, with or without a sign, in the range from -63 to +63. Use of high negative or positive numbers can result in an unreadable screen. Selection of /D0 results in the restoration of the screen to its default settings (as dictated by the manual controls of the monitor). Defaults: /D = /D+2; /D1 = /D+1; /D- = /D-2. * SWITCH /E Creates or updates the variable VIZ=/SWITCH1.../SWITCHn in the DOS global environment, where /SWITCH1.../SWITCHn are the switches to be implemented when VIz is executed from the DOS command line without any arguments. If the 'VIZ' variable already exists, switch /E updates the contents of this variable. Although switch /E is incorporated into the variable contents, its presence is ignored when VIz uses this variable as input. Switch /E modifies the DOS global environment irrespective of whether the resident shell is the initial copy of COMMAND.COM (global environment) or a secondary copy (local environment). See the INSTALLATION section below for more details. No defaults. * SWITCH /FHtg If VIz detects a HERCULES card adapter (HGC or HGC+), switch /FHt changes the card to text mode (80x25) whereas switch /FHg changes the card to its default (page 0) 720x348 graphics mode. * SWITCH /Fn± If VIz detects an EGA or VGA adapter, switch /Fn permits the selection of the number of screen rows to be displayed. The following video fonts are supported: 12 or 14 (EGA or VGA), 25 (EGA and VGA), 28 (VGA), 35 (EGA and VGA) and 43 or 50 (EGA or VGA) screen rows. Except for the 12/14 and 35- row fonts, implementation of the selected font is maintained until switch /F-, which disables font implementation, or another font is selected; the font implementation can be reenabled with /F+. If a number <n> is not specified, switch /F toggles between 25-row and 43 (EGA) or 50-row (VGA) screens. (If an EGA/VGA adapter is found, VIz also selects the alternate BIOS print-screen service to avoid the default BIOS print-screen routine that works with 25 rows only.) For a 25-row screen, an 8x14 font is used in an EGA and a 9x16 font in a VGA. Fonts with more than 25 rows can be loaded only if the video page is between 0 and 3. No defaults. * SWITCH /Gn The frequency in Hz (cycles per second) of 55-ms bell tones is specified by <n>, a decimal number of up to 4 digits, in the range from 25 to 5000 Hz. Values below 25 become 25 Hz and above 5000 become 5000 Hz; if more than 4 digits are given only the four least-significant digits are used, e.g., 50,000 Hz is read as 0000, triggering the use of 25 Hz. The bell tones always last 55 ms (one tick of the 8253/8254 timer chip). Since the tones are forced to begin at the start of a 55-ms tick period, stacked bell rings will result in a distinctive, staccato-like burst due to the intervening silent 55-ms tick periods. Most computer speakers seem to work properly within the range from about 100 Hz to about 3,000 Hz. Frequencies for the octave starting at middle are C=523 Hz, D=587 Hz, E=659 Hz, F=699 Hz, A=880 Hz, and B=988 Hz. The frequencies for higher [lower] octaves increase [decrease] approximately by a factor of 2 per octave change from the above values. Defaults: /G = /G440. * SWITCH /H Loads the resident in the Upper Memory Area (UMA), between addresses 640 kb and 1,024 kb of memory; this is the region below the 1-Mb boundary of the memory accessible by 086 CPUs, but above the 640-kb hardware barrier of MS-DOS. The switch requires an available upper memory block (UMB) of about .9 to 1.7 kb (depending on the number of modules to be installed), which is allocated by the program itself either via a direct XMS request or, when DOS controls the UMB allocation (i.e. DOS 5.0 linked to the UMA through the command DOS=UMB in CONFIG.SYS), via DOS calls. Allocation of UMBs requires the presence of an XMS manager (XMM) that supports the UMB services 10h-11h of the XMS 2.0, and (if the XMM lacks the capability of remapping memory) the presence of an UMB provider. * SWITCH /Hn A lower upper-memory limit for the UMB loading can also be requested via switch /Hn, in which <n> is a four-digit hexadecimal number between A000 (640 kb) and FFFF (1,024 kb), in order to avoid or select specific areas of upper memory. * SWITCH /Hn@ A lower-memory resident marker can also be installed along with the UMB resident via switch /H@ or /Hn@; the marker occupies 144 bytes of lower conventional memory, can be identified in some memory mapping utilities by the name VIz @ UMB and is released from memory when the UMB resident is uninstalled. This marker may be used (1) to remind that the resident is already installed in upper memory, (2) to help locate the UMB installation address in the case of some mapping utilities, and (3) to help avoid removal conflicts when lower and upper-memory residents are interspersed. Defaults: Low-memory installation if any error is found during the UMB loading; high-memory installation below lower-address limit if UMBs are not available above such limit. * SWITCH /I± Selects how background color attributes with a hexadecimal value in the range from 8h to Fh (bit 7=1) are displayed in text modes. * /I- High-bit attributes produce a blinking character on a background of normal (medium) intensity. * /I+ High-bit attributes result in a steady character on an intense background. Defaults: Null switch = /I- on installation. * SWITCH /K± Disables [+] or enables [-] access of the CPU to video RAM in VGA/MCGA. It can be used to kill BIOS-mediated displays that cannot be redirected to the NUL device. * /K- Enable CPU access to video RAM (normal display). * /K+ Disable CPU access to video RAM (blanked display). Defaults: /K = /K+; null switch = /K- on installation. * SWITCH /Mn Selects the video mode specified by <Hn>, in which <n> is a hexadecimal number between 0 and FF, or <Dn>, where <n> is a decimal number between 0 and 255. NOTE: There is no checking that the selected mode is a valid one for the adapter. No defaults. * SWITCH /N± Determines whether or not noncritical program messages are displayed. * /N- Noncritical messages are displayed via the redirectable StdOut device of DOS. * /N+ Noncritical messages are not displayed, in which case a a brief bell tone is sounded when a error has occurred. Defaults: /N = /N+; null switch = /N- on installation. Since VIz beeps when a command error is detected, /N- should need to be used only after such a beep to display the error message again. Please note that the installing, uninstalling, and critical-error VIz messages cannot be redirected and are always displayed. The final status of the operation can be monitored in batch files with the ERRORLEVEL commands. * SWITCH /Pn Selects the video page specified by a number <n> in the range of 0 to 7 for 25-row display EGA/VGA, 0 to 3 for 43/50-row display EGA/VGA, and 0 to 3 for CGA. No defaults. SWITCH /Q Forces the video accelerator into a quiescent mode; if loaded, the ANSI filter and the Cursor blink resident are NOT inactivated. The overhead video time for having VIz quiescent is an additional 2% or less of that without VIz. (Even when it is quiescent or during graphic video modes, the accelerator still monitors the video interrupt to check for page or mode change requests.) A quiescent mode lasts until the next execution of the program, unless switch /Q or /? has been selected. No defaults. * SWITCH /R± Selects the mode of processing text output that is used by DOS. In the normal ('cooked') mode, the kernel builds a device request for a single character output, makes a Ctrl-C check, and then passes this request to the StdOut console device; if no error is found, the buffer pointer and character count are updated. This process is repeated until either the end-of-file character (ASCII 26, Ctrl-Z) is found or all characters are processed. Tabs (ASCII 9) are expanded to 8 spaces. In the binary ('raw') mode, instead of filtering the stream for control | characters, DOS passes a single request header to the device. Control- | C, Control-P, and Control-S keyboard entries are not checked during I/O | operations. Depending on the DOS version, DOS-mediated video output in binary mode is faster by factor of about 1.40 or so. * /R- Changes DOS processing to the normal or 'cooked' mode. * /R+ Changes DOS processing to a binary or 'raw' mode. Defaults: Null switch = /R- on installation. When executed, some utilities set the DOS processing mode to 'raw,' and then change it to normal when they finish, irrespective of the original mode. Other utilities set the mode to 'raw' and leave it on. Repeated use of switch /R+ may be necessary to maintain the binary DOS mode. | NOTE: If the DOS binary mode is selected, the 'BREAK=ON' command should | also be issued to facilitate detection of Control-C entries during disk | and other operations. * SWITCH /Sn± Enables [Sn+] or disables [Sn-] special services triggered by some keys that can have untoward effects under some circumstances, especially for LAN servers. * /S1± Enables [+] or disables [-] the printing of the screen triggered by the <PrtSc> key. /S1- is useful when the number-pad keys are used often, and the possibility of triggering unwanted prints is commensurably high. More importantly, if the machine is not connected to an on- line printer, <PrtSc> will freeze the system. * /S2± Enables [+] or disables [-] the dynamic halt, which is triggered by the <Pause> key (PS/2s and COMPAQs) or by the <Ctrl><NumLock> combination (in PCs). The halt is maintained until another key is pressed. This service is available only if the Cursor module is also loaded. Defaults: /S = /S1+; /S = /S1+; /S2 = /S2+; null switch = /Sn+ on installation. If /S1± (or /S± or simply /S) is requested at the time of installation, VIz also selects the alternate BIOS print-screen service if the adapter is an EGA or VGA, in order to handle screen lengths longer than 25 rows (this alternate service is needed if other screen fonts are to be used, since the BIOS default service only prints 25 lines. Some EGAs do not work properly when this alternate print-screen service is enabled. If the selection of switch /S1± during installation yields a print-screen malfunction, install VIz without selecting /S1±, /S±, or /S±, and only then select switch /S1 in a subsequent execution. SWITCH /U Uninstalls the resident from memory. The request is not honored if any of the interrupt vectors intercepted by the program do not point to the resident, indicating subsequent installation of other resident(s) using the same interrupt(s) or the revectoring of such interrupts by a prior, ill-behaved resident. In general, the program should be uninstalled only when it was the last resident to be loaded; in practice, however, it can also be uninstalled if subsequently loaded residents do not hook the same interrupts as the program (even though this increases memory fragmentation, the resulting "hole" is innocuous, and may be used by DOS for other purposes, such as local environment blocks). No defaults. SWITCH /V±n Selects the loading of the resident cursor module. This module does not become resident unless /V+ or /Vn is specified at the time VIz is being loaded; this module cannot be added to the resident after the loading. /Vn Enforces a cursor whose shape alternates between a full block and a thin line, in which <n> is a decimal number (of 1 or 2 digits) specifying the alternation rate from 0.055 s [/V1] to 5.5 s [/V99]. /V0 Forces the display of a continuous, full block cursor. /V- Disables the display of the cursor. Due to a potential BIOS conflict, switch /V- is ignored at the time of VIz loading; to make the cursor invisible, first use /V+ or /Vn and then /V-. /V+ Reverses the cursor changes produced by /Vn and /V-. Defaults: /V = /V+; null switch = no resident on installation. * SWITCH /X± | If the DOS video output to the Standard Output device (StdOut) is being | mediated by VIz (see switch /Z±), switch /X controls whether the StdOut | can or cannot be redirected to a file or another device (such as NUL or | PRN) by the commands '>' or '>>' from the DOS command line. Switch /X- | provides a further acceleration of DOS text output. | | * /X- The INT 21/40h/1 DOS video output is always displayed, | i.e., it cannot be redirected. | | * /X+ The INT 21/40h/1 DOS video output can be redirected to | a file or another device. | | Defaults: /X = /X+; null switch = /X+ on installation. SWITCH /Z± Directs the video output through INT 21h, function 40h, device handle 1 ('write to StdOut device') to the DOS console driver or the accelerator module of VIz. Mediation of the INT 21h/40h/1-output to VIz produces a considerable acceleration of DOS text output in MS-DOS versions 2 to 5. /Z- INT 21/40h/1 video output is allowed to be processed by the installed CON driver. /Z+ INT 21/40h/1 video output is redirected to the teletype subservice of VIz. Each TAB is expanded to 8 spaces in text modes of 80 or more columns (the DOS default), and 4 spaces in text modes of 40 columns. Defaults: /Z = /Z+; null switch = /Z+ on installation. NOTE: Because the MS-DOS command 'DIR /W' uses a 4-space tab expansion, instead of the default 8-space, switch /Z+ affects the DIR /W display. --------- The COMMENTS may be added in the DOS command line after the specification of the switches. These comments, which may be useful in clarifying batch files, must be preceded by a semicolon (;), and are ignored by VIz. Do not use the DOS redirection and pipe characters in the comments as DOS will attempt to implement the implied redirection or pipe request. ----------------- 5. STATUS/USAGE/HELP PANELS Executing the program with switch /? selected allows access to the Status/ Usage and Help panels. (If a Mouse pointing device driver, compatible with the Microsoft Mouse driver version 6.0 or higher is loaded and active, all of the services provided by these panels can also be activated by pointing the mouse to specific regions of the screen and clicking either button.) The STATUS/USAGE panel, which is shown first, describes status information for the resident and some video services. The bottom line shows the status of the StdOut stream redirection, ANSI filter, DOS text processing and the current value of the video page and video mode. A succinct explanation of the status of the highlighted service can be obtained by pressing the left or right keypad arrow keys or by clicking the mouse upon the screen button labelled <Status>; these explanations can be erased by pressing key <F10>. The video mode number shown in the Status panel is followed by an asterisk if a mode higher than n+128 is detected (AT and PS/2 machines only); thus, mode 131 is displayed as 3*. The USAGE subpanel shows a menu for the command switches: To cycle between the main and the auxiliary menu, press key <F2> or <M>, or click the mouse upon the screen button labelled <Menu>. If the resident is installed, the status of some 'on/off' command switches is displayed by '+' or '-' before a given menu entry. The HELP panel provides a summary description of the program and commands, and is displayed if key <F1> or <H> is pressed from the Status/Usage panel (or if the mouse is clicked upon the screen button labelled <Help>). Press the keypad cursor keys (Home/End, PgUp/PgDn, arrows) to scroll the display down or up. Press key <F1> to skip the brief program summary and position the text on the Usage section directly. Press key <Esc> or <F2> to return to the Status/Usage panel. Press key <X> or click the mouse upon the screen button labelled <eXit> to return to the DOS-prompt command line from either panel. NOTE: When the program is waiting for keyboard (or mouse input) during the display of the Status/Usage panel, it calls repeatedly the IDLE interrupts of DOS: INT 28h and, if MS-DOS 5+ is installed, function 1608h of INT 2Fh; INT 28h allows a potential background activation of (some) other residents while INT 2Fh/1608h allows DOS to suspend the idle program temporarily and transfer control to another program. ----------------- 6. INSTALLATION It is recommended that VIz be installed before other residents also using the BIOS interrupt 10h (video input/output). Due to the intrinsic nature of the implementation, VIz does not chain some the interrupt-10h calls to residents located down the intercepted interrupt chain. In order for such residents to have access to these data, they need to be loaded after VIz. Thus, it may be convenient to install VIz early in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The larger the number of residents intercepting interrupt 10h before VIz, the slower the absolute video acceleration provided by the program. This is because each call has to be processed by each element in the interrupt chain. One way to minimize the problem is to install a minimum number of residents via the AUTOEXEC.BAT and, before executing a given application, install additional residents via a batch file that also executes the main application, and removes these transient residents upon the completion of the task. (VIz itself may fall in this transient category.) If you intend to make use of the resident ANSI filter in a more permanent manner, VIz may also be installed just as described above; if you want to remove the ANSI component after a given ANSI-oriented task, however, then VIz should be the last resident to be installed prior to such a task. The driver ANSI.SYS needs not to be loaded or, if loaded, removed, to use the ANSI resident of VIz. However, if any ANSI-like utility were already installed and active, and VIz were switched to its 'fast DOS' mode (/Z+), such an utility might be unable to process escape sequences, unless these sequences were sent directly to the CON device via calls to interrupt-29h instead of interrupt 21h. 6.1 INSTALLATION IN UPPER MEMORY This section describes in more detail aspects of the active (i.e., self- loading) or passive (e.g. via DOS LOADHIGH) installation of the resident in the upper memory region. DIRECT UPPER-MEMORY AREA LOADING The utility can self-install the resident in the upper memory area (UMA), that is, RAM addresses between 640 kb and 1,024 kb, via switch /H (or its subfunctions /Hn, /H@, and /Hn@). Program releases prior to version 4.02 lack this feature. The allocation of UMA blocks (UMBs) is arbitrated by an XMS manager (XMM) version 2.0 or higher; the XMM must be installed prior to the UMB-loading of the resident. Allocation also requires the remapping of UMA addresses by a UMB provider, when such a task is not implemented by the XMM itself. The XMM HIMEM.SYS and the UMB-provider EMM386.EXE are distributed with MS DOS 5.0; the allocation of UMBs is controlled by DOS when these 2 drivers are installed, and the command 'DOS=UMB' is added to the CONFIG.SYS file. Of course, other 386-specific memory managers, such as 386MAX or QEMM386, provide both UMB remapping and XMS support. All XMMs require DOS version 3.0 or higher. Switch /Hn, where A000 ≤ n ≤ FFFF (hexadecimal), allows the specification of a minimum upper-memory limit for the UMB to avoid UMA regions having a very slow access time (or to preserve regions with a fast access time for other utilities that require faster times, such as a disk cache or screen accelerator), or to avoid fragmentation of the UMA when UMB allocation is not controlled by DOS 5, but by the XMM itself. Such a fragmentation may occur when the XMM allocates blocks on a first-fit basis, i.e., the first available UMB having the lowest UMA address is allocated, irrespective of whether or not a (smaller) block matching the requested size is available at a higher UMA address. Unless the size of the available UMBs increases with increasing memory address, first-fit allocation of a small UMB leads to the breaking of large UMA blocks into smaller ones, thus hampering the UMB installation of larger residents. When DOS controls the UMB allocation, the program enforces the allocation of the resident block on a best-fit basis when <n> is not specified, that is, all available blocks are searched (by DOS), and the one matching most closely the size requested is allocated. When DOS controls UMB allocation and <n> is specified, UMBs are allocated on a first-fit basis. While this may contribute to UMA fragmentation, it allows for the checking of a minimum memory limit in those cases in which the selection or avoidance of a specific UMA region is more important. Hence, compared to the upper-memory installation provided by the LOADHIGH command of DOS 5.0, or similar services provided by some memory managers, program self-loading into a UMB has several advantages, including: (1) it does not require an initial free block of upper memory of the size of the entire program (as opposed to the size of its resident only), (2) it does allow user control on the selection of the upper-memory block, and (3) it can help reduce UMA fragmentation. NOTE: The address and size of available UMBs can be obtained with MEM.EXE (when DOS controls UMB allocation) or via the memory manager itself (when this allocation is controlled by 386-specific memory managers. In either case, such data can also be obtained with UMAX.EXE, a UMA mapping utility that is distributed by the author. HIGH-LOADING VIA MEMORY MANAGERS OR DOS 5+ Of course, the resident can also be installed in the UMA via a 386-memory manager or via (UMB-linked) DOS 5.0, provided that there is enough memory for the actual size of the entire program, and any additional memory that may be needed by the loading utility. To minimize disk storage, the program is distributed as a compressed file that expands upon its execution. The difference between the actual loaded size and the nominal directory size may create conflicts with high-memory loading programs that fail to measure the actual size: When the available high memory is not sufficient to permit the file expansion, but is larger than the nominal directory size, such programs will load the (compressed) utility. The subsequent expansion will then overwrite adjacent memory and likely crash the memory manager or DOS, or both. The program expands by a factor of about 1.35. NOTE: The program requires an additional 2,600 bytes of available memory beyond its decompressed size to be able to implement switch /F14 or /F35; Screen contents are restored after the panels displayed by switch /C? and /? only if an additional 4,600 bytes of memory are available. 6.2 UPPER-MEMORY UPDATING When the program has been installed in upper memory, it does not require a high-memory loading utility to update its resident and all updates can be made via program executions from the DOS-command line. This obviates the restriction (of some memory systems) of having to maintain a pool of of free upper memory simply to load the entire program to update a small resident. Program releases prior to version 3.40 lack this feature. 6.3 UPPER-MEMORY DEALLOCATION When resident deallocation is requested (switch /U) from the DOS command line (as opposed to via upper-memory loading utilities), the resident is removed from memory even when it was loaded in the UMA; the confirmation request of versions 3.00 to 3.16 is no longer required. When switch /U is requested via a high-memory utility be aware that some of these utilities warn that a "resident installation has failed." This warning is harmless and may be ignored. 6.4 MEMORY MAPPING UTILITIES Although the program releases its own copy of the environment at the time of installation (to reduce resident size), the resident can be identified in lower-memory usage maps by the name VIzxxx that appears in the command-line listing of most memory mapping utilities irrespective of the actual contents of the command line when this program is installed in lower conventional memory; in this name, 'xxx' represents the release number (e.g., 421). However, when UMB loading is mediated by the XMS directly (e.g., extended memory manager and DOS versions 2 to 4, or DOS 5 not configured under the command 'DOS=UMB'), and the resident is installed in a UMB via switch /H, most memory mapping utilities do not list the allocated UMB, lump it with other allocated blocks, or fail to show the name of the resident. If the identification of the UMB resident is required, use switch /H@ or /Hn@ to load in lower RAM a small resident marker that shows up in memory maps. When the allocation of UMBs is controlled by DOS (e.g. DOS 5.0 configured under the command DOS=UMB, and the drivers HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE), the UMB resident can be identified with some mapping utilities (e.g. MEM.EXE) although it is often listed as "Data" instead of "Program." Other memory mapping utilities identify the UMB resident only when an associated lower memory marker is also installed. ----------------- 7. TECHNICAL INFORMATION This section describes information that may be of use in case of conflicts arising when other terminate-and-stay resident programs are loaded. 7.1 INTERRUPTS The following hardware and software interrupts are intercepted depending on the program configuration: INTERRUPT 8h (system timer) Channel 0 of the 8253/8254 timer chip produces a hardware interrupt (IRQ0), interrupt 8h, about 18.2 times a second that is used by the system time-of- day clock. When the cursor module is installed, switch /Vn (n=0 or 1 to 99) forces the display of the block cursor, either in continuous or alternating manner. Cursor shape is implemented via commands using either 16-bit (word) or 8-bit (byte) output, depending on the VIz version that was selected. INTERRUPT 10h (video BIOS) The accelerator module of VIz intercepts the ROM BIOS video interrupt, 10h. When the system is in page 0 and a text mode, video acceleration occurs for subfunctions 0h through Eh, except for subfunctions 4h, 7h, Bh, and Ch. INTERRUPT 21h (DOS services) Starting with version 2.0, DOS allows the redirection of the Standard Input (StdIn) and Standard Output (StdOut) console device, permitting programs to send input to or to receive output from other programs. Unless redirected, the StdIn comes from the keyboard and the StdOut goes to the screen. These and some other devices can be addressed by predefined DOS 'file handles' as if they were disk files. A common DOS-mediated technique to send output to the screen is to write to the handle 1 (StdOut) via interrupt 21h, function 40h; in fact, this is the preferred method of DOS-mediated video output for DOS version 2.0 or higher. The accelerator module of VIz also intercepts interrupt 21h. Switch /Z+ re- directs the 21h/40h/1-console stream (StdOut) to the accelerator, resulting in significant accelerations of the DOS video services. The acceleration is not increased by setting the DOS mode to "raw" (see below). Switch /Z- (or default installation) permits the 21h/40h/1-video output to be processed by the 'CON' device. The redirection of StdOut to VIz does not conflict with the CLS command (as the redirection does not affect interrupt 29h [see section 6.2]). Selection of switch /Z+, however, voids any redirection of the StdOut, including that to the 'NUL' device (e.g. to avoid some messages), since the 21h/40h-stream is intercepted by VIz before the output can be redirected by DOS. Switch /Z requests are not disregarded when ANSI.SYS, ANSI.COM, or VIz-ANSI filter is active. The redirection of StdOut to VIz by switch /Z+, however, will conflict with ANSI commands sent to the CON device via standard-output calls to INT 21h, function 40h/1. In contrast, ANSI commands using INT 29h are not affected by switch /Z+ (see below). INTERRUPT 29h (fast console) The ANSI-compatible module of VIz intercepts interrupt 29h, an undocumented feature present in all recent versions of DOS. INT 29h is normally provided by the built-in console device driver of DOS, and consists of a call to the BIOS interrupt 10h. DOS uses INT 29h instead of the normal request-passing mechanism to accelerate output to the current 'CON' device. The ANSI module filters this output. If a request to inactivate the installed ANSI filter is encountered (switch /A-), VIz checks whether the INT 29h can be restored to its original memory address. If the revectoring is not possible (i.e. when another resident has also intercepted INT 29h), this filter remains partially active in order to handle an ANSI escape sequence generated by COMMAND.COM to clear the screen when a CLS command is detected (see below); other ANSI escape sequences are ignored by the filter and passed to the screen. Hence, when revectoring is possible, switch /A- has the same effect as installing VIz without a switch /A, except that the memory occupied by the ANSI filter is not released; the filter is reactivated by a subsequent call to execute VIz with switch /A+. VIz versions 3.64 and higher do not redirect interrupt 29h to the teletype service of VIz any longer (old switch /X±), since a much faster DOS output can be obtained with switch /Z. 7.2 CLS COMMAND AND INT 29h The internal console device driver installed during booting handles the CLS as well as INT-29h service. The CLS procedure of COMMAND.COM first tests to see if (1) the standard-output handle is associated with a character device driver (bit 7=1), and (2) the driver services INT 29h (bit 4=1). If one or both tests fail, or if both tests are successful but the vector for INT 29h does not point to the memory segment of the DOS kernel, COMMAND.COM outputs the ANSI escape sequence <Esc>[2J to INT 29h; otherwise, it makes a call to INT 10h, subfunction 6 of the BIOS to clear the screen. When INT 29h cannot be revectored on /A-, the partial driver activity slows down slightly the DOS video output whenever the ASCII character 27 (Esc) is found in the character stream. This partial activity is needed, however, as DOS issues an ANSI escape sequence to clear the screen whenever INT 29h has been revectored. Thus, if VIz were not to retain its ANSI driver partially active when revectoring of INT 29h is not possible, the DOS escape sequence would be displayed (without clearing the screen) whenever a CLS command was issued. 7.3 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE 'VIZ' When the program is executed without arguments from the DOS command line (or a batch file), it searches the DOS environment for a variable having the format VIZ=/SWITCH1/SWITCH2..../SWITCHn Up to 128 characters are allowed after the equal sign. This string can be incorporated to the environment block via the 'SET' command of DOS or via switch /E of this program (see below). Program releases prior to version 3.63 lack this feature. While the SET command modifies the current DOS environment block, whether it is the global or a local one, switch /E only modifies the global block (even when the program is executed via a secondary COMMAND.COM, as in the case of shelling out to DOS from an application). Notice that the local environment block is only a copy of the global block and lacks sufficient room to increase significantly the length of a variable, and that changes made to a local environment are not inherited by the global one. When searching for the environment variable, the program uses the current DOS environment block, whether it is the global or a local one. A recommended use of the environment string is to specify a default /Cn:n setting (e.g. /C03:00:20:30:40:50:01:77:70:11:22:33:44:55:66:76) that can be restored simply by executing VIz without any arguments after the color palette has been changed. 7.4 ERRORLEVELS Upon exit its to DOS, the program passes execution status values that can be tested via ERRORLEVEL commands in a batch file. The following are the values for version 4.20 or higher: Value Condition ----- -------------------------------------- 255 Failure of cyclical redundancy check 255 CPU type cannot execute version code 255 Invalid DOS version 254 Invalid ANSI (switch /A) request 253 Unknown/incompatible video adapter 252 Not enough additional RAM (/C? /? /F14 /F35) 251 Hooked interrupts revectored 250 Invalid cursor (switch /Vn) request 128 XMM not installed or UMB load/unload error 96 DOS environment error 64 Incomplete color palette data list 32 Invalid color palette datum 16 Invalid video font for adapter and/or page 8 Invalid video mode request 4 Invalid video page for adapter and/or font 2 Invalid video adapter for the request 1 Unknown or invalid switch request 0 Successful execution NOTE: Because some of the error conditions in the range from 1 to 128 are non-fatal (i.e., the program can recover execution), and the error values are additive, the final errorlevel value may represent more than a single error condition. Program releases prior to version 3.10 lack this feature. ----------------- 8. LICENSING INFORMATION This documentation, programs, and other files distributed in this software package (the "Software") are the copyrighted property of FM de Monasterio (the "Author"), who provides the Software and licenses its use. All rights are reserved. The file VIZ.REG contains a form needed to register this Software. Single User License. Upon registration, you are granted a nontransferable license to use this Software in a single computer at a time. The Software may also be transferred to another computer, provided that the Software is used only in one (1) computer at any time; under the license, the Software may be installed on a network server. Site/15-PCs License. Upon registration, you are granted a nontransferable license to use this Software in a single site, or a set of sites, provided this Software is not used in more than fifteen (15) computers at any time, and that such computers are located exclusively within the site. Licenses for more machines are available at discounted prices. Refunds Policy. If a problem notified within ninety (90) days of shipping of the registered copy cannot be solved, the registration fee (but not the shipping costs) will be refunded upon receiving a written request with the original diskette(s) enclosed. Upgrade Policy. Program upgrades are limited to licensed users. Upgrades within the same major version (e.g. release 2.00 through 2.99) are free of charge if a self-addressed, stamped diskette mailer with a formatted, 360- kb diskette is included with the request. Other upgrades are charged half the (single-user/site) registration fee. Technical Support. A phone number for technical support is made available to site licenses for 100 machines or more; other licensed users must write to the Author who will contact them. U.S. GOVERNMENT INFORMATION The use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government of the Software is subject to the restricted rights applicable to commercial software that are specified in the subdivision (b.3.ii) of the 'Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software' clause, document DFARS 52.227-7013. The contractor/ manufacturer is FM de Monasterio, P.O. Box 219, Cabin John, MD 20818-0219, USA. ---------------- DISTRIBUTION You may distribute this Software via magnetic and/or electronic means, but you are specifically prohibited from: - Charging fees or asking donations in exchange of or payment for copies of this Software. - Distributing this Software with commercial products without the written, express permission in advance from the author. - Distributing this Software via a for-profit organization or group, either alone or with other software. - Modifying any contents of this Software, including, but not limited to, the copyright notice and this license. The unauthorized copying, decompiling or disassembling of this Software is prohibited. Any other use of this Software is also prohibited without the express, written permission in advance from the author. Latest program releases may be found at the Information Exchange BBS, 202- 433-6639 (2400+ baud). TECHNICAL PROBLEMS If you encounter problems when using the Software (which can be replicated in the absence of other resident utilities), please write to the Author at the address above providing your name and address, program version number, machine model and configuration, and a description of the problem(s). When feasible, corrections for such problems may be incorporated in new program releases. Technical support is limited to registered users; correspondence from nonregistered users may not be answered. ---------------- WARRANTY DISCLAIMER The Author cannot and does not warrant that any functions contained in the Software will meet your requirements, or that its operations will be error free. The entire risk as to the Software performance or quality, or both, is solely with the user and not the Author. You assume responsibility for the selection of the program to achieve your intended results, and for the installation, use, and results obtained from the Software. The Author makes no warranty, either implied or expressed, including with- out limitation any warranty with respect to this Software documented here, its quality, performance, or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall the Author be liable to you for damages, whether direct or indirect, incidental, special, or consequential arising out the use of or any defect in the Software, even if the Author has been advised of the possibility of such damages, or for any claim by any other party. All other warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, are expressly excluded. LIMITATION OF REMEDIES The information contained in the documentation for the Software is subject to change without notice. The Author's entire liability, and your exclusive remedy shall be: (1) the replacement of an original Software diskette not meeting the above Limited Warranty and which is returned to the Author along with proof of purchase, or (2), if the Author is unable to deliver a replacement diskette which is free of defects, you may terminate the License Agreement by returning this Software and the corresponding license fee will be returned. By using the Software, you acknowledge (1) to have read and understood all parts of this document and (2) to have agreed with and accepted all of its provisions without any reservation. ---------------- Refer all inquiries to: FM de Monasterio P.O. Box 219 Cabin John, MD 20818-0219 USA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [END]