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1989-11-16
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===================================================================15 Nov 89==
Speed Video Test -- Version 1.0 -- Bernardo Zamora
==============================================================================
THE QUEST
---------
A while ago I was wandering around the SIMTEL-20 <screen> subdirectory
and happened to find some screen-speeding programs. I requested all of
them and realized they would indeed speed all access to video (if
BIOS calls were used)....
Sadly I also realized none of them provided means to compare their
effectiveness, and while they claimed speeding most of the BIOS-video
subfunctions, I didn't believe it all...
So I started this quest for truth, to find out the best of all the
video speed up programs.
The testing equipment was an ACER 1000 XT Turbo with CGA, 640 RAM,
30Mb Hard Disk, color monitor, no caches, no other video-intercepting
programs loaded.
Remember that the most important/used/necessary subfunctions are :
* Set cursor position. (02)
* Scroll window up. (06)
* Write char and attribute. (09)
* Teletype write. (14)
The programs should try to improve mostly this four subfunctions.
==============================================================================
THE COMPETITORS
---------------
Name of program : AD_VIDEO.1
Contained file : ADVID105.ARC
Version : 1.05
Date : 1989
Copyright : AnDan Software
Way of installing : Driver in CONFIG.SYS
Special features : Provides programs to change to 43/50 rows, has 8
different versions with improved performance, can
be told to prevent snow. It's the driver that
improves more functions and performs near the best
in all tests. It proved the fastest (a little
short of viz086).
Drawbacks : It's the only program that cannot be deactivated.
Memory used : 1392 bytes
Program size : 1727 bytes
Shareware : Shareware, $5 students, $10 private, $40 companies.
Name of program : THEFAST.COM
Contained file : THEFAST.ARC
Version : 1.04
Date : 1987
Copyright : TheSoft Programming Services and Ian E. Davis
Way of installing : TSR
Special features : Initially a ZENO rewrite, to circunvent bug
with Tandy 1000.
Drawbacks : Little speed improvement in only 6 subfunctions,
fails to improve scroll-up, it's the program that
speeds up TELETYPE by a smaller amount. Little here
to recommend this one.
Memory used : 864 bytes
Program Size : 942 bytes
Shareware : $5 Shareware (probably not registered)
Name of program : VIZ086.COM
Contained file : VIZ153.ARC
Version : 1.53
Date : 1989
Copyright : FM de Monasterio
Way of installing : TSR
Special features : Provides switches to 'sleep' the fast program,
and to speed up further with 80286/80386 card. Can
show current video-mode, can be told to change to
any video mode or page (only works in page 0).
Drawbacks : It looks like a good contender, but has 2 problems :
It doesn't improve a lot the TELETYPE subfunction,
and it FAILED to scroll the screen correctly. When
I typed CLS from the DOS prompt, the screen went
berzerk and thought the screen should only have
1 row, scrolling everything there only. Bad bug!.
The only way to recover was by deactivating it.
Memory used : 1072 bytes
Program size : 8544 bytes
Shareware : Shareware, Noncommercial : $5(8086), $10(80386)
Commercial : $30 - 10 sites
Name of program : ZENO13.COM
Contained file : ZENO13.ARC
Version : 1.3
Date : 5/29/1987
Copyright : ** Several modifications by different authors **
Way of installing : TSR
Special features : Provides ASM source file. It has the fastest
teletype speeding (only slowed by the standard
BIOS scroll-window-up function).
Drawbacks : Fails to speed scroll-window-up. This is one
of the most necessary functions, used in the
TYPE program, in DIR, and in lots of other
common programs.
Memory used : 976 bytes
Program size : 805 bytes
Shareware : (not mentioned anywhere in the manual)
==============================================================================
THE TEST
--------
I decided I needed a NEW test, one that tried all the subfunctions
individually and check their speed increase. This test was called
VTEST, the ULTIMATE test (*smile*). It would confront face to face
the four programs.. and show their strengths and weakneses. This test
performs each subfunction lots of times (see the included PASCAL source
for each test). The timing results are presented here, with an included
final table with all the features highlighted. Type VTEST ? for help.
==============================================================================
THE RESULTS
-----------
TEST BIOS ADVID THEFAST VIZ ZENO13
┌─┬──────────────────────┬─────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐
│0│Set Video Mode │27.90│27.74 1.01│27.90 1.00│27.52 1.01│27.57 1.01│
│1│Set Cursor Size │22.41│24.17 0.93│24.22 0.93│25.38 0.88│25.32 0.88│
│2│Set Cursor Position │33.45│21.59 1.55│19.72 1.70│22.03 1.52│22.30 1.50│
│3│Read Cursor Position │29.88│19.06 1.57│19.22 1.55│20.71 1.44│20.60 1.45│
│4│Read LightPen Position│19.94│21.70 0.92│22.30 0.89│22.63 0.88│22.63 0.88│
│5│Set active Display Pg │18.95│20.05 0.95│20.93 0.90│21.09 0.90│21.37 0.89│
│6│Scroll Window Up │66.79│23.56 2.83│66.79 1.00│23.95 2.79│66.73 1.00│
│7│Scroll Window Down │66.73│23.56 2.83│66.79 1.00│66.73 1.00│66.79 1.00│
│8│Read Chr and Attribute│59.26│21.97 2.70│59.43 1.00│20.71 2.86│59.43 1.00│
│9│Write Chr and Attr │34.60│14.34 2.41│12.08 2.86│13.35 2.59│13.13 2.64│
│A│Write Character │44.49│17.85 2.49│15.82 2.81│16.48 2.70│15.60 2.85│
│B│Set Color Palette │17.96│19.50 0.92│20.05 0.90│20.27 0.89│20.21 0.89│
│C│Write Pixel │15.05│16.15 0.93│15.71 0.96│16.09 0.94│16.37 0.92│
│D│Read Pixel │14.45│15.54 0.93│15.10 0.97│15.43 0.94│15.71 0.92│
│E│Teletype write char │84.31│25.65 3.29│54.21 1.55│46.52 1.81│26.36 3.20│
│F│Get Current Video Mode│17.03│18.62 0.91│10.49 1.62│11.81 1.92│19.39 0.88│
└─┴──────────────────────┴─────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘
Note : all times are in seconds, and points are given as a ratio of
increase/decrease of performing time.
Alas, if an entry says 14.34 2.41
it means the time taken to perform that test was 14.34 seconds, and went
2.41 times faster than the BIOS test.
If the ratio is greater than 1, the test went faster, and if it is
below 1, it went