CompuServe Messages

Scott– The current video mode is stored at 0040:0049h. You can use DOS DEBUG to examine it or change it. DEBUG DB 40:49 E 40:49 3 This, and all kinds of other goodies, are documented in the old IBM Tech Ref PC-AT. They have a complete BIOS listing and a run down of its data areas. Most PC hardware books will also have equivalent, though not always identical, information. BTW, snooping around had two immediate rewards for me this time. I didn't realize this right away, but enlightenment comes to those who sleep. <You hear me, Booker?> 1) Brief would reset the VRAM to mode 3 (cga 80×25 text), no matter what I told it. This is not acceptable, as I need more than that when I'm working. That's one of the major reasons I bought a super vga. VRAM bios tells everybody that they're in mode 1 (40×25 color) when set to extended text modes. Brief sees this, and says nix nix, and bang, I'm back in Kansas with Dorothy. The screen's all jumbled up, because I told Brief it had 132 columns and 43 lines to display. The solution was so simple I'll laugh when I stop crying. Manually set the byte at 0040:0049h to *03* before starting Brief. I wrote a short (40 byte) program that does this, and I call it from a batch file when I start Brief. I forgot it in the office, but I'll try to remember to upload it tomorrow, if anyone else is having the same problem. 2) LZ has an (undocumented?) byte in their parameter file that sets the video mode for the text screen on single monitor set-ups. All the SVP & MVP files set mode 2. If you're having problems with external programs in shell, try setting it to 3 or 7 (80×25 mono). In some files, it's labelled "mode". In others, it's not commented at all. In all cases, it's the byte immediately following the hex value that LZ returns to ACAD when initializing.