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1987-06-24
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HGCIBM.COM Version 2.02
Copyright (C) Athena Digital, Gary Batson 1986, 1987
2351 College Station Road, Suite 567, Athens, Ga. 30605
404/354-4522
This Manual Dated June 1, 1987
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
HGCIBM.COM
Acknowledgments .............................................. 3
Trademarks ................................................... 3
Using HGCIBM.COM ............................................. 3
Precautions .................................................. 3
Installation ................................................. 4
Using the Command Line ....................................... 5
HGCTEST program .............................................. 5
Sales and Distribution Policies .............................. 6
User Comments ................................................ 6
History ...................................................... 6
Future ....................................................... 7
Changes and Corrections ...................................... 7
Technicalities ............................................... 8
Athena Digital Video BIOS
Purpose ...................................................... 9
Features ..................................................... 9
Control Program .............................................. 11
Sales and Distribution Policies .............................. 11
Software Author Note ......................................... 12
Extended Functions ........................................... 13
Library Versions ............................................. 19
QBDEMOC program .............................................. 19
This program is distributed as Shareware. All rights are reserved
except for distribution of the program, its documentation, and
any DEMO materials IN ITS ENTIRETY and un-modified. You may test
and use this program for 30 days, after which you must register
it, destroy it, or pass in along to a friend. If you would like
to keep HGCIBM, see the pricing within. This DOES NOT APPLY to
those who contributed to HGCIBM Version 1.11. Those individuals
are welcome to this upgrade without further remuneration. Please
accept it with my THANKS!!
Athena Digital's program and emulation algorithms were first
Copyrighted June 10, 1986. It is now the basis for the existence
of Athena Digital and represents months of effort and a large
personal investment. Any information presented in this document
or available in the associated programs is and shall remain the
Copyrighted Property of Athena Digital. Any attempt to use this
information to create a competitive product, whether the product
is distributed "free" or otherwise is in violation of copyright
laws.
Athena Digital
2351 College Station Road, Suite 567, Athens, Ga. 30605
2
DISCLAIMER
Athena Digital makes every effort to ensure that this
documentation is accurate. However, because we are constantly
striving to improve our products, we are unable to guarantee the
accuracy of the contents of this document after the date of
publication and we disclaim liability for any changes, errors or
omissions. We have also made every effort to warn you of possible
damage to your equipment from careless use of other applications
with ours. If you do somehow damage your display or anything
else, Athena Digital ASSUMES ABSOLUTELY NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR IT.
If it will make you more confident, no such claims have ever
been made against us .. but we have to protect ourselves.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Athena Digital would like to thank IBM for creating the Personal
Computer and Hercules Computer Technology for making PC graphics
as pleasurable as PC TTL text.
TRADEMARKS MENTIONED
Hercules and RamFont are trademarks of Hercules Computer
Technology.
IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines.
Microsoft, QuickBASIC, CodeView and MS-DOS are trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation.
Athena Digital Video BIOS is a trademark of Athena Digital.
USING HGCIBM.COM
The purpose of this program is to provide owners of Hercules
Graphics Cards a means to run software written for the IBM Color
Graphics Adapter, and to introduce a commercial version of the
BIOS called Athena Digital Video BIOS which offers added
functionality.
PRECAUTIONS - MONOCHROME DISPLAY DAMAGE !!!
This program will not damage your display, but certain
application software certainly can. Programs which attempt to by-
pass the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) to set the CRT
operating parameters will cause severe problems. Fortunately
since most software operates in standard modes, most software
developers permit BIOS to set up the controller for them even if
they later write to screen ram directly.
(cont'd)
3
HGCIBM will intercept the BIOS calls for all standard modes and
program the controller correctly. Writing directly to screen ram
is permitted and the emulator will still work properly. When
trying an un-tested (with HGCIBM) program for the first time,
watch your display carefully for signs of gross distortion or
shrinking when the program sets graphics mode. IF THIS OCCURS,
RE-BOOT OR TURN OFF YOUR COMPUTER IMMEDIATELY. The display should
return to normal quickly when you re-boot.
HGCIBM INSTALLATION
To install the emulator, you must tell it what mode to start in,
and a little information about your hardware. There are three
"modes" of operation for HGCIBM as follows:
The /E[mulate] mode enables the emulator to respond to BIOS calls
to set standard CGA modes and provides maximum compatibility with
programs expecting to use the Color Graphics Adapter, but
displays the information on your Hercules adapter. When the
emulator is in this mode, the text buffer is at segment B800 and
the equipment flag is set to indicate that a CGA card is present.
Alas, you can't fool all the programs all the time. Some of them
read the equipment flag and then try to manipulate the crt
controller directly in order to provide faster screen output.
Naturally they try to do this at the CGA port addresses (which
don't exist) and will hang the system (This problem is overcome
with Athena Digital Video BIOS). A re-boot will cure the problem
and you should then remember to either un-install the emulator
before running these programs or simply place it in /M(ono) mode
or /C[GA] mode (if you have a physical CGA) as described below.
The /M[ono] mode effectively disables HGCIBM without un-installing
it. The monochrome card is selected and Video BIOS control
returns to the computer's ROM (Read Only Memory).
The /C[ga] mode also disables HGCIBM and returns control