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- README.DOC
- FiberOptics 1.1 By Joseph W. Szarmach Jr.
- Copyright (C) 1994 JWS Enterprises
-
- FiberOptics may be freely distributed, but may not be sold.
-
- FiberOptics is a collection of SuperVGA screen saver like graphics
- demos which resembles a screen saver program. Each demo looks like a
- fiber-optic plant, kind of like those fiber optic plants at the mall.
- To start FiberOptics, at the DOS prompt type:
-
- c:\>FIBER
-
- and press enter. FiberOptics will scan your video graphics adapter
- for VGA and Super VGA support. In most cases, FiberOptics will
- automatically use the highest video mode supported by your VGA card.
-
- Supported video modes include:
-
- 320x200x256 colors - standard VGA (not recommended)
- 640x400x256 colors - For cards with 256K video RAM
- 640x480x256 colors - For cards with 512K video RAM
- 800x600x256 colors - For cards with 512K video RAM
- 1024x768x256 colors - recommended mode - For video cards with 1 meg.
- video RAM.
-
- FiberOptics will NOT detect the capabilities of your monitor however.
- For example, it is possible that a video card may be capable of
- 1024x768 but the monitor only capable of 800x600. If such is the
- case, your monitor will become unreadable (press the escape key to
- exit). You may force FiberOptics to attempt to use any of the video
- modes above.
-
- Forcing A Video Mode
- --------------------
- As discussed above, it is possible that FiberOptics will not detect
- and use the best possible video mode for your computer. There are two
- possibilities which may occur:
-
- 1) Your system is capable of displaying a higher video mode than
- FiberOptics automatically detects. FiberOptics checks for something
- called "VESA extensions" which contains a list of video modes
- supported by your video card. If they are not present, FiberOptics
- will default to standard VGA (320x400). Your system may still be able
- to display super VGA however. FiberOptics supports many super VGA
- video cards including Tseng 4000, Chips & Tech, Trident, Ahead,
- Cirrus 54xx, S3 and VESA. If FiberOptics defaults to a low
- resolution mode and you think you have a super VGA card, it is worth
- trying to select the mode yourself.
-
- 2) FiberOptics may detect a video mode higher than your monitor can
- display. In such cases, it is possible to select a lower video mode.
-
-
- The following video modes are defined:
-
- MODE
- ----
- /1 - 320x200x256 colors - For standard VGA Mode
- /2 - 320x400x256 colors - This mode is the default mode for
- standard vga users. If your system cannot make use of this
- mode, try mode 1.
- /3 - 640x400x256 colors - This is the maximum resolution if your
- video card has only 256K video RAM on the VGA card.
- /4 - 640x480x256 colors - 512K video RAM required. Most monitors
- can easily handle this video mode.
- /5 - 800x600x256 colors - 512K video RAM on VGA card required. This
- is true super VGA.
- /6 - 1024x768x256 colors - 1 Meg video RAM on video card required.
- This is the recommended mode.
-
- To force FiberOptics to use one of the above video modes, enter the
- mode on the command line. For example:
-
- c:\>FIBER /5
-
- will force FiberOptics to use the 800x600x256 color mode.
-
- C:\>FIBER /4
-
- will force fiber optics to use the 640x480x256 color mode.
-
- Remember, if your monitor becomes unreadable, your system is not
- capable of that video mode. Press escape to exit (or worst case,
- reboot your computer).
-
- WHAT'S NEW WITH VERSION 1.1?
- ----------------------------
- 1) A 320x400x256 color mode has been added. If FiberOptics detects
- standard VGA, this mode will be used (as opposed to 320x200 with
- version 1.0).
-
- 2) Users can select (force) any video mode. Six modes are supported.
-
- 3) New "plants" and shapes have been added. There are 14 different
- plants/screens.
-
- MISCELLANEOUS
- -------------
- There is no warranty of FiberOptics suitability for any purpose, nor
- any acceptance of liability, express or implied. Use this program at
- your own risk.
-
- Feel free to distribute this program. You may distribute this program
- provided that you do not charge for it.
-
- If you have any questions or comments, I can be reached at:
- (203) 933-3633
-
- By Mail:
- Joseph W. Szarmach Jr.
- 2295 Nichols Ave.
- Stratford, CT 06497
-
- By GEnie:
- J.SZARMACH
-
- By CompuServe:
- 76436,3107
-