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PCXDUMP Version 4.0 ----------------------- THE screen capture program Documentation and technical notes February 1, 1992 Copyright 1992 by Jesper Frandsen Email address : jesperf@daimi.aau.dk DISCLAIMER AND WARRANTY ----------------------- This product is distributed AS IS. The author specifically disclaim all warranties, expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose with respect to defects in the diskette and documentation, and program license granted herein, in particular, and without limiting operation of the program license with respect to any particular application use or purpose. In no event shall the author be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage including but not limited to special, incidental, consequen- tial or other damages. LICENSING AGREEMENT ------------------- You may use this program for a 10 DAY TRIAL PERIOD. Should you find this program useful, you MUST register it; you will then be provided with the latest releases of the PCXDUMP system (see last section of this manual). The cost as of this writing is $25.00 U.S. per single-user license. When you register, you receive a copy of the latest registered version of PCXDUMP, plus any enhancements that have been added since this document was released. If you obtained this program from a shareware disk distributor, then you have paid only for the service of copying this disk, but you have not paid for the program itself. The author receives no part of the price you may have paid to a disk distributor for this disk. +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | Notice to Distributors, Publishers and User's Groups: | | ------------------------------------------------------ | | Please consult the last page of this document for important | | license information and restrictions. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ PC, XT, PC/AT and PS/2 are trademarks, and IBM is a registered trademark, of International Business Machines Corporation. Hercules is a registered trademark of Hercules Computer Technology PC Paintbrush is a registered trademark of Zsoft Corporation. WordPerfect is a registered trademark of WordPerfect Corporation. PageMaker is a registered trademark of Aldus Corporation. Ventura Publisher is a registered trademark of Ventura Software Inc. GIF is a trademark of CompuServe Inc. OVERVIEW OF PCXDUMP ------------------- PCXDUMP is a program that saves the images on the screen of your IBM Personal Computer or compatible PC to a disk file. PCXDUMP is memory-resident, which means that after you start it, the program is always waiting in the background, while you con- tinue to run other programs. You tell PCXDUMP to capture the image currently being displayed on the screen by pressing a combination of keys which PCXDUMP reserves for itself. The saved images is put on the disk in the PCX-format. A large variety of word processors, desktop publishers and paint programs are capable of importing PCX-files, e.g. WordPerfect, PageMaker, Ventura Publisher, PaintBrush and many many more. The PCX-files will be put in the current directory unless specified (see the /DIR= switch under INSTALLATION OPTIONS), and named DUMP_000.PCX, DUMP_001.PCX etc. (up to DUMP_999.PCX). If anyone wants the pictures in another format (eg. GIF), use a converter program like the GRAPHIC WORKSHOP or VPIC. (available from "wuarchive.wustl.edu" or "wsmr-simtel20.army.mil") 7 GOOD REASONS TO USE PCXDUMP ----------------------------- THE PRICE - PCXDUMP will only cost you 25.00 $. THE SIZE - PCXDUMP will use less than 9500 bytes of conventional memory (and no EMS or XMS). THE SPEED - ALL pixel writes/read are direct to the video memory and hence really fast! SUPER-VGA - PCXDUMP recognizes a large number of SuperVGA chips, and are able to use their resolutions as well. IT'S EASY TO USE - Just press the hotkey and use the mouse or keyboard to control which part of the screen to save. Some capture programs requires the user to convert the output to a widely used graphic format like GIF or PCX. PCXDUMP converts the images directly to the PCX-format. FLEXIBLE - You can customize the hotkeys to a hotkey of your own choice. IT'S SMART - PCXDUMP offers a couple of ways to "delay" the installation. Read about it in "PCXDUMP INSTAL- LATION OPTIONS". PCXDUMP REQUIREMENTS -------------------- To use PCXDUMP, you will need: a) an IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, or 100% compatible computer; b) at least one floppy diskette drive; and c) the IBM-PC DOS (Disk Operating System), or MS-DOS, in a version numbered 2.0 or higher. Besides a Mouse Systems compatible mouse will be convenient. You can use PCXDUMP with either a color or a monochrome EGA or VGA display card (and naturally with a SuperVGA display card). WHAT PCXDUMP CAN CAPTURE ------------------------ PCXDUMP is capable of capturing graphic images on systems equipped with any of the following video display adapters: * Multicolor Graphics Adapter (MCGA) * Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) * Video Gate Array adapter (VGA) Although PCXDUMP can dump images from mode 4,5 and 6, you will still need mininum an EGA or MCGA card to install PCXDUMP. No Hercules support, sorry ! If anyone have a desperate need for using PCXDUMP on Hercules (mono) systems, please email me. Then *maybe* I'll think about it! PCXDUMP captures all of the video modes listed in the following chart, which have been standardized by manufacturers of the various video adapters mentioned above: Video Graphics Adapters Mode Resolution Colors Supporting ----- ---------- ---------- -------------------- 04 320 x 200 4 CGA/EGA/VGA *) 05 320 x 200 4 CGA/EGA/VGA *) 06 640 x 200 2 CGA/EGA/VGA 13 320 x 200 16 EGA/VGA 14 640 x 200 16 EGA/VGA 15 640 x 350 2 EGA/VGA 16 640 x 350 16 EGA/VGA 17 640 x 480 2 VGA/MCGA 18 640 x 480 16 VGA 19 320 x 200 256 VGA/MCGA *) In these two CGA-modes, PCXDUMP will always use a palette of Black, Cyan, Magenta and White. And if you have any of these SVGA-cards, you will be able to use their SVGA-modes as well !! - ATI-WONDER (up to 1024x768x256, 640x480x32768) - TRIDENT (up to 1024x768x256) - GENOA (up to 1024x768x16, 800x600x256) - PARADISE (up to 1024x768x256, 800x600x32768) - TSENG ET 3000 (up to 1024x768x16, 800x600x256) - TSENG ET 4000 (up to 1024x768x256) - TSENG HiColor (up to 1280x1024x16, 1024x768x256 800x600x32768) - OAK-037C (up to 800x600x16) - OAK-067 (up to 1024x768x16, 800x600x256) - VIDEO-7 (up to 1024x768x16, 800x600x256) (incl. 720x540x16, 720x540x256) - CHIP & TECH. (up to 1024x768x16, 800x600x256) - AHEAD A/B (up to 1024x768x256) PCXDUMP is not designed to work with high-resolution 4-color images. If you try to activate PCXDUMP in an unsupported videomode, PCXDUMP will produce a long deep tone. NOTE: On the TSENG HiColor card (and the other cards that can show 32768 colors), when you're capturing graphics in 32768 colors be aware that although VPIC is able to show 24-bit Targa pic- tures, it's not capable of showing 24-bit PCX (VPIC version 4.6). However I have seen ALCHEMY 1.5.1 (from Handmade Software, Inc.) show 24-bit PCX correctly. TEXT MODES ---------- In the registrated version of PCXDUMP, you will also be able to capture screens in these text-modes: Video Text Adapters Mode Resolution Colors Supporting ----- ---------- ---------- -------------------- 03 80x25 16 EGA/VGA/MCGA 03 80x43 16 EGA 03 80x50 16 VGA/MCGA 07 80x25 2 EGA/VGA 07 80x43 2 EGA/VGA In mode 03 you can capture the screen in both color or monochrome. In text mode, PCXDUMP uses the RAM resident font to convert the screen to a bitmap. This means that the resulting bitmap represents the captured text screen exactly as it appears on the screen, even if the program loads a specialized font. Note that with Ventura Publisher or WordPerfect 5.1, the size of the image when incorporated into your document is dependent on the size of the frame (VP) or figure (WP). For best results, you must adjust this size (within VP or WP) so that pixels are not truncated or compressed. You can calculate the best size for the image in your document based on the horizontal and vertical resolution of your printer. For example lets say you capture a VGA text mode screen that has 80 columns and 25 lines. The font size in this mode is 8 by 16 pixels. This means that there are 400 (16 times 25) scan lines in the image and it is 640 pixels horizontally (80 times 8). You must size the image so that the number of pixels in the image is evenly divisi- ble by the printer resolution. Therefore, if you have a laser printer or DeskJet printer that prints at a resolution of 300 dots per inch (both horizontal and vertical), a frame size of 2.13 inches by 1.33, or 4.27 inches by 2.67 inches would produce non-distorted output. Note that you must account for the inside border space and border width when sizing figures in WordPerfect. NOTE: If you capture a color screen on a plain EGA card, the colors may not seen right when you try to view it. PCXDUMP dumps the color text-screen in a 256-colors PCX-file. Any program that shows 256 color files to an EGA-screen must try to find the best colors since EGA can only show 16 out of 64 colors. And if the program that you use to show the PCX-files isn't good enough, the result may be funny colors. A solution is to remap the PCX-files to 16 colors. This can be done with e.g. PICLAB or GRAPHIC WORKSHOP (both shareware). HOT-KEYS -------- When PCXDUMP is installed, you can use these hotkeys: ALT+SHIFT+N gives a 2 color PCX-file ALT+SHIFT+I gives a inverted 2 color PCX-file ALT+SHIFT+C gives a 256 color PCX-file ALT+SHIFT+R dumps the whole screen in 2 colors (dumps immediately) ALT+SHIFT+E dumps the whole screen in 256 colors (dumps immediately) PCXDUMP will give a beep when activated and (a higher) one when it has finished dumping graphics. You can only use the C & E hotkeys when there's at least 16 colors on the screen. It's possible change the hotkeys, read about it in "PCXDUMP INSTALLATION OPTIONS" ADJUSTING FRAMESIZE ------------------- If you own a mouse and have your mouse-driver installed, you will be able to cut out part of the screen with a on-screen frame, controlled by the mouse. This can also be done by using the arrowkeys plus <SPACE>. The size of the frame will be shown in upperleft corner. MOUSE: Press RIGHT button and move mouse to control frame-size. Press LEFT button and move mouse to control frame-position. KEYBOARD: Press the arrowkeys to control frame-size. Press <SPACE> plus the arrowkeys to control frame-position. BOTH MOUSE and KEYBOARD: Press <ENTER> to dump graphic within frame. Press <ESC> to cancel You can only adjust the framesize, when using the N, I & C hotkeys. HOW FAST IS PCXDUMP ? --------------------- Direct memory read/write will be performed in ALL modes, 2, 16, 256 and 32768 colors mode. So the program is pretty fast !! I'm using a 386sx/20 Mhz system (and a Tseng ET4000 card), and this is my measurements: picture sec (approx.) -------------------------------- 320 x 200 x 256 1-1.5 640 x 480 x 256 6 800 x 600 x 256 9 1024 x 768 x 256 14 640 x 480 x 16 11 800 x 600 x 16 17 1024 x 768 x 16 27 640 x 480 x 32768 23 In 16-colors mode, things take a little longer, because it's more complicated to read and write pixels than in 256 colors mode.... Due to the 24-bit coding in PCX-files, capturing of graphics in 32768 colors mode involves 3 readings of every pixel and therefore making capturing of these mode slower than other modes. If it's a simple picture, things will go faster since PCXDUMP don't have to write so much information to the disk. IF THE COMPUTER IS TOO BUSY TO CAPTURE -------------------------------------- There may be times when you request PCXDUMP to capture your screen, but nothing, at first, seems to happen. This is usually because the foreground application program is in the middle of a sensitive task which cannot be interrupted. In these cases, PCXDUMP is aware that you have requested a screen capture, and will pop up as soon as it becomes safe to do so. PCXDUMP INSTALLATION OPTIONS ---------------------------- This section identifies the "command line switches" which PCXDUMP recognizes and responds to. A command line switch is a string of characters which you type after the PCXDUMP command itself. The purpose of these switches is to allow you to modify the way PCXDUMP performs certain of its operations. Turning PCXDUMP's beep sounds off and removing PCXDUMP from then memory are just two examples of functions which the command line switches allow you to control. A single command line may contain as many switch options as you desire, in any order, in either uppercase or lowercase letters. Option: /ON ------------- Usage: PCXDUMP /ON Installs PCXDUMP. This option is only necessary if no other options are given. Option: /OFF -------------------------- Usage: PCXDUMP /OFF This option removes PCXDUMP from the memory. Don't use this switch if PCXDUMP not is the last TSR loaded. If another resident program is loaded AFTER PCXDUMP and you use this option, the memory may be messed up and you may have to reboot. Option: /NOSOUND ------------------ Usage: PCXDUMP [other options] /NOSOUND Tells PCXDUMP to turn off sound. Option: /TIME=number ---------------------- Usage: PCXDUMP [other options] /TIME=number Use this option to "delay" the installation of INT 09h. Many programs (e.g. games like "4D STUNT DRIVE") will take complete control over INT 09h at startup (INT 09h is the hardware keyboard interrupt, remember) and doesn't call the original INT 09h. For that reason PCXDUMP's own INT 09h will not be called at all. This obstacle can be overcome by using this option. If your program takes, say, about 20 seconds to start up, it's a good idea to delay the instal- lation about 30 seconds. PCXDUMP uses the hardware clock interrupt at INT 08h to keep track of time. Example: PCXDUMP /time=60 Installs PCXDUMP, and PCXDUMP waits 60 seconds before it grabs INT 09h. Keep in mind that when you use this option, you will not be able to use PCXDUMP after exiting the program (or game) you wished to save images from. The reason for this is that the interrupted program remembers the "old" INT 09h address, and when you exit the program it restores INT 09h and thereby overwrites your INT 09h address. But since you now have saved all the images you wanted, you couldn't care less. If you want to use PCXDUMP again, you don't have to reboot. Remove PCXDUMP from the memory by writing: PCXDUMP /OFF and then install PCXDUMP again. Option: /DISK=number ---------------------- Usage: PCXDUMP [other options] /DISK=number This is another way to "delay" the installation of INT 09H. In fact this option "delays" the installation of both INT 08h and INT 09h. In some programs (I have seen this in the WING COMMANDER game) it's not possible to gain access to the keyboard even with the /TIME option. The reason for this is that the WING COMMANDER game takes complete control over both INT 08h and INT 09h WITHOUT calling the original interrupt procedures. My way of handling this is a bit tricky and may be unstable, but this is the only way I've come up with so far: Instead of counting how many seconds it takes before the program is ready, you count how many times the program reads from the disk during startup (that is: how many times INT 13h is called). I have included a little TSR-program that count exactly how many times INT 13h is called. This program is "GETINT13.EXE". You run "GETINT13.EXE". Start the program you wish to save images from. When it's loaded, exit the program. Out in the DOS again you press the hotkey to activate GETINT13 -> ALT+SHIFT+2 and GETINT13 will tell you how many times INT 13h was called. Example: When I wanted to save the logo from WING COMMANDER, I did this: C:\>GETINT13 <+ENTER> C:\>WC <+ENTER to start WING COMMANDER> As soon as I could I quit WING COMMANDER by pressing ALT+X (I think). Out in the DOS again I pressed ALT+SHIFT+2 to see how many times INT 13h was called (about 190 as I remember). I then installed PCXDUMP: C:\>PCXDUMP /DISK=150 /SHIFT=0 /HOTKEY=14 and started WING COMMANDER again. When the logo appeared I pressed BackSpace which was the new hotkey for PCXDUMP. Well back in DOS again, it's no longer possible to activate PCXDUMP (for the same reasons as with the /TIME option). But you can remove PCXDUMP from the memory with the option /OFF and the re-install PCXDUMP. Keep in mind that you have to be a little desperate to use this option. Not that your computer can be harmed in any way but the risk for the computer to "hang" is present. But what the heck, at least you have now a chance to save your precious image. As you noticed, WING COMMANDER called INT 13h about 190 times but I gave PCXDUMP the option /DISK=150. Remember that any program will load a lot data when you start it, at least it loads itself, but doesn't save the same amount of data when exiting, so use a smaller number than GETINT13 tells you, since GETINT13 count the total calls of INT 13h. Option: /SHIFT=number ----------------------- Usage: PCXDUMP [other options] /SHIFT=number Instead of using the default hotkey sequence which is ALT+SHIFT+<some hotkey>, you can tell PCXDUMP to use a combination of the ALT, Left SHIFT and CTRL keys. number Effect on hotkey sequence ----------------------------------- 0 No shift keys 1 Press (Left) SHIFT 2 Press ALT 3 Press ALT + (Left) SHIFT 4 Press CTRL 5 Press (Left) SHIFT + CTRL 6 Press ALT + CTRL 7 Press (Left) SHIFT + ALT + CTRL Option: /HOTKEY=scancode -------------------------- Usage: PCXDUMP [other options] /HOTKEY=scancode Instead of using the default hotkeys (C,E,R,N,I), you can tell PCXDUMP to use a custom hotkey. When doing that all other hotkeys will be disabled and you will no longer be able to use the mouse. The image will be saved immediately and PCXDUMP will automatically determine whether to dump a color or monochrome image. In Appendix A you will find a list of possible hotkey- scancode. If you don't have a standard keyboard or you want to use a hotkey not listed in Appendix A, I've included a program "SCANCODE.EXE" which will help you. Just run the program, press the key you want as the hotkey and remember the scancode number (in decimal). Press ESC to exit the program. Use the scancode number you just saw when installing PCXDUMP. The scancode must be in the range 1-90. If you try to install PCXDUMP when it's allready installed, you will hear a beep and the current hotkey combination will be display on the screen. You will also see the message: "PCXDUMP is already installed!". Option: /DIR=directory -------------------------- Usage: PCXDUMP [other options] /DIR=directory This option will place the PCX-files (DUMP_000.PCX etc) in the specified directory instead of the current directory. Many programs will have some data in other directories than the up-start directory, and this option saves you for the trouble of tracking down the PCX-files after capturing the graphics. Example: PCXDUMP /DIR=C:\ (* Will place files in C:\ *) PCXDUMP /DIR=C:\PCX\ (* If C:\PCX\ exist then files will be put here *) Instead of writing /DIR=C:\PCX\ you can also write /DIR=C:\PCX Option: /CHIPSET=number -------------------------- Usage: PCXDUMP [other options] /CHIPSET=number If PCXDUMP somehow fails to recognize your video-adapter, which you know is on the list, this is a way to force PCXDUMP to use it. The number must be in the range 2-18: Number Chipset Number Chipset ---------------------- ------------------- 0 UNSUPPORTED 10 Tseng 4000 HiColor 1 RESERVED 11 OAK-37 2 EGA-card 12 OAK-67 3 VGA-card 13 Video 7 4 ATI-vga 14 Ahead A 5 Trident 15 Ahead B 6 Genoa 16 Chips & Technology 451 7 Paradise 17 Chips & Technology 452 8 Tseng 3000 18 Chips & Technology 453 9 Tseng 4000 APPENDIX A ---------- These are the codes you may use with PCXDUMP's "/HOTKEY=scancode" parameter to change the hotkeys. Key Code Key Code Key Code Key Code --------- --------- ----------- ------------------ A 30 1 02 F1 59 Keypad plus 78 B 48 2 03 F2 60 Keypad minus 74 C 46 3 04 F3 61 Keypad 5 76 D 32 4 05 F4 62 Space 57 E 18 5 06 F5 63 Backspace 14 F 33 6 07 F6 64 Enter 28 G 34 7 08 F7 65 H 35 8 09 F8 66 I 23 9 10 F9 67 J 36 0 11 F10 68 K 37 F11 87 L 38 ` 41 F12 88 M 50 - 12 N 49 = 13 Tab 15 O 24 , 51 Esc 01 P 25 . 52 Q 16 / 53 R 19 ; 39 S 31 ' 40 T 20 [ 26 U 22 ] 27 V 47 \ 43 W 17 X 45 Y 21 Z 44 REGISTRATION ------------ REGISTRATION OF PCXDUMP IS BASED ON 'PERSONAL USAGE'. CORPORATE OR ORGANIZATIONAL USERS *MUST* REGISTER ALL COPIES USED ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS; A SPECIFIC PERSON (NAME) MUST BE EXPLICITLY ASSIGNED TO EACH REGISTRANT WHO WILL BE PROVIDED WITH A NEW VERSION OF PCXDUMP WHERE THE NAME OF THE SPECIFIED PERSON WILL BE SEEN TO INDICATE REGISTERED USAGE. REGISTRATION GRANTS A SPECIFIC PERSON (NOT A JURIDICAL PERSON OR CORPORATE ENTITY) THE RIGHT TO 'USE' PCXDUMP. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ALTHOUGH I WILL TRY TO RESPOND TO YOUR REGISTRATION IN 2-3 WEEKS, │ │ PLEASE ALLOW UP TO 4-6 WEEKS DELAY TO PROCESS YOUR REGISTRATION. │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ORDERING INFORMATION --------------------- The prices of the registered PCXDUMP packages are subject to change after August 30, 1992. The latest shareware issue of PCXDUMP, which includes the most up-to-date information on pricing and new features, is always posted for downloading in these places: * American users: The migthy simtel base. FTP-address: wsmr-simtel20.army.mil in PD1:<MSDOS.GRAPHICS> and it's mirror-site FTP-address: wuarchive.wustl.edu in /mirrors/msdos/graphics * European users: FTP-address: nic.funet.fi in /pub/msdos/graphics/graphics FTP-address: garbo.uwasa.fi in /pc/graphics If this document is more than nine months old when you receive it, it might not be current. To make sure you have the latest informa- tion on pricing and availability of new features, contact the author or look for the latest shareware release of PCXDUMP in one of the places listed above. You can use a check or money order to receive latest release of PCXDUMP. To obtain registered release of the PCXDUMP system, register by sending the order form below with your check or money order for $25.00 U.S. per copy, payable to Jesper Frandsen. Send your order to: Jesper Frandsen c/o B. Frandsen Duedalen 1 5492 Vissenbjerg DENMARK +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | I wish to license _____ copy/copies of the latest release of the | | PCXDUMP program. I have enclosed $25.00 for each single-user | | license, as indicated. (Prices subject to change.) | | | | I have also enclosed extra $4.00 for shipping and handling. | | | | Name ___________________________________________________________ | | | | Company (if applicable) ________________________________________ | | | | Address ________________________________________________________ | | | | City _______________________________ State ______ Zip ________ | | | | Country _____________________ | | | | I prefer: _____ 3-1/2" disk; _____ 5-1/4" disk | | | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+