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1992-07-12
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VGACAP (c) Copr. 1987-92 Lawrence Gozum & Marvin Gozum
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
User Manual
DISCLAIMER
This product is distributed AS IS. The authors 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 authors be liable
for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage including but
not limited to special, incidental, consequential 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 VGACAD system see last section of this
manual). Freely distribute UNMODIFIED copies of VGACAP*.ZIP and charge
$10 max for distribution, in lieu of recognized Users Group guidelines
(e.g., Asso. of Shareware Professionals or NY Amateur Computer Club).
WHAT IS VGACAP ?
VGACAP is a resident utility that captures pictures in
EGA 640x250x16
MCGA 320x200x256
VGA 640x480x16
SVGA 640x480x256
SVGA 800x600x16
SVGA 800x600x256
SVGA 1KBx768x16
SVGA 1KBx768x256
SVGA 1280x1024x16
VGACAP captures to *.RAW file files (ie., "RAW" pixel dumps). MCGA/VGA
320x200x256 pictures can optionally be saved in a BLoaDable format
for BASIC programming.
WHAT IS VGAFIL ?
VGAFIL is a conversion program for use in a batch file (*.BAT) or as an
interactive stand-alone program; it is designed to integrate with VGACAD
v2.0 (and up) and replace BLD2GIF and RAW2GIF. Moreover, it encodes
captured images to 256-color GIF, PCX, TIF, or BMP (Windows 3.x) files.
You can also select 16-color GIF files, and 32768-color TGA (Targa 16).
VGAFIL also configures VGACAP to take advantage of specific SVGA chipset
hardcoding for FAST screen captures.
VGACAP and VGAFIL can be viewed as a generic conversion utility system
since almost any EGA/MCGA/VGA/SVGA image from (320x200 to 1024x768) that
can be viewed, can be converted to/from GIF, PCX, BMP or TGA format !
If you can view files using 'less popular formats', you can capture and
convert them like so ...
'LESS POPULAR'
FILE FORMATS (input)
EFS \
WIPS \
SFP \
PIG \
RAS \ YOUR --> SVGA
ISF / VIEWER --> SCREEN
PDA / | CAPTURED VGAFIL
DEGAS / VGACAP --> RAW FILES --> UTILITY
GEM / |
ETC / |
'MORE POPULAR'
FILE FORMATS (output)
GIF
PCX
BMP (Windows 3.x)
TGA (Targa)
TIF (TIFF P)
REQUIREMENTS
About 512KB of memory is required for VGAFIL, although it uses about 2/3
of that; it, also, requires that the BRUN41.exe runtime module be present
in your present path; this is explained later in this manual. You MUST
have an EGA or MCGA card. To grab 640x480x16 screens you must have VGA;
for 640x480x256 (and above) grabs, you MUST have SVGA. VGACAP uses
about 4KB of RAM.
COMPATIBILITY
If you grab a screen from an application that "simulates" the SVGA
640x480x256 mode and get 1/4th of the screen or get four 1/4ths of
the screen then you grabbed from the unsupported 360x480x256 mode
NOT a real SVGA 640x480x256 screen; you must configure that application
for a TRUE 640x480x256 SVGA mode if your card supports it.
The BRUN41.exe runtime module HATES 'Shadow RAM' (ie., putting your
SYETM or VIDEO BIOS in RAM); it 'hangs' (at least on our 386 SX).
If VGAFIL 'locks-up' at start-up then you have this problem too;
disable 'Shadow RAM' (eg., via CMOS set-up) and it should work.
Trident TVGA card users that have the supposedly rare 'BR versions'
will notice that the bank switching will be erroneous. We tried to
accomodate this version but ended up compromising the more popular
TVGA 8800 and 8900 versions <sorry>. The Trident 1024x768x256 grabs
are not supported at this time since it uses a very peculiar, card
specific, bank switching methodology (ie., it conflicts with SVGA
display conventions); screen grabs are limited 800x600x256 or
1024x768x16, if available. This applies even to a VESA setup with this
card.
VESA implementation was included for FAST grabs (vis-a-vis BIOS) on
those exotic SVGA cards with obscure chipsets; moreover, it also makes
installation easy for those who don't know what their chipset is.
VESA grabs should work on all 256-color SVGA modes up to 1024x768x256.
If VGACAP is configured for BIOS or VESA grabs, then 16-color screen
grabs are limited to 680x480 and 800x600 (if you try capturing greater
resolutions, you will get garbage). With hardcoded chipset settings,
up to 1024x768 and 1280x1024 16-color grabs are possible.
ATI SVGA card users CANNOT capture 1024x768x16 screens if they are
trigerred via mode 65 (hex) since this is the old packed mode that
is inconsistent with SVGA 16-color display conventions (garbled images
will result). ATI users MUST view 1024x768x16 screens via mode 55 (hex),
the planar mode, to grab them.
If you create CUSTOM colors in your Windows 3.x environment, the
BMP encoding algorithm may not work as well as it should; it will do
its best with the Windows 3.x default color palette.
VGACAP has been tested to load and operate successfully after being
relocated to the UMB (Upper Memory Block) using DOS 5.0; if you
experience problems with relocation simple load VGACAP in "low"
memory. We have NOT tested VGACAP loaded into EMS memory; it may work
way up there too - try it, if it works up there, let us know.
If you are having compatibility problems with VGACAP (particularly SVGA
bank switching) or VGAFIL encoding, please contact Lawrence Gozum
[73437,2372] via CompuServe's
E-Mail
or
PICs Forum
CONFIGURING VGACAP
VGACAP, on default, is set for BIOS; these are 'generic' and should work
with most, if not all, SVGA cards. However, BIOS calls are slow and
sometimes unpredictable. By using the hardware configuration, VGACAP
will capture screens in 2-3 seconds compared to about 20-30 seconds for
800x600x256 screens (based on 28ms HD on 16 MHz 386sx).
To configure VGACAP for your specific hardware type
VGAFIL -V <ret>
or
VGAFIL -C <ret>
A menu will guide you. Simply select the letter which corresponds to
your video card chipset. Remember, when in doubt, use BIOS or VESA
setup. BIOS setups do not guarantee that it will work; generally, if
your video board manufacturer took care in writing its BIOS - it SHOULD
work; BIOS should grab up to 1024x768 256-color grabs.
New! - VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) support has been
added to capture 256-color screens (up to 1024x768x256) without knowing
what your chipset is. Simply install your VESA driver then configure
VGACAP for VESA. VESA support requires you to load a card-specific
resident program before VESA can be used. An error message will result
if VESA has not been previously loaded; this will happen when you install
VGACAP with the VESA configuration or with VGAFIL, during configuration.
Under certain circumstances (see compatibility section), VGAFIL will
r