October 22, 1993 RELEASE NOTES FOR VESA SUPER VGA BIOS EXTENSION VVESA.COM (VER 2.22) READ THIS FILE COMPLETELY BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO USE THIS PRODUCT Contents 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Command Line Keywords 3.0 VESA Modes Supported 4.0 Vesatest Utility 5.0 Windows and VVESA.COM 6.0 VESA Standards 1.0 Introduction VVESA.COM is a Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR) program. It is the implementation of the VESA Super VGA BIOS Extension Standard #VS911022. VVESA is not a driver. It is a program which enables your video board to be used with VESA compatible software. Consult your software manual or your software manufacturer's Technical Support to see if a VESA driver is available for your software. Install your software for VESA Super VGA. Then run VVESA before running your VESA compatible software. If you prefer, a batch file can be written to invoke VVESA and then your software. The resident portion of VVESA only consumes a small amount of memory. To run MS Windows 3.1 with VESA 800x600 16-color driver in the 7-bit video mode 6A, VVESA is not required. To remove VVESA from memory, type: VVESA OFF. 2.0 Command Line Keywords Here is a list of VVESA advanced command line keywords: OFF Remove the driver from the system memory. PAN Enable Linear Address It allows user to pan or scroll within the entire display memory. Standard VGA will wrap around at the end of 64K in planar mode. Linear address is disabled at default. 55rw Force single page read & write mode The Write Page number is set to Read Page number when a display mode is initialized. (Note that only display controller 28800-5 or higher is default to dual page mode, i.e. the writeable and readable windows can be programmed independently) DUALPAGE Turns on individual read and write windows which can be programmed independently for all supported 8, 15 and 24 bit modes including: 100h, 101h, 103h, 105h, 110h, 112h and 113h. FOR MACH32 CARD USERS ONLY: DUALPAGE Does not enable separate read and write windows for the following 15 and 16 bit modes: 110h, 111h, 113h, 114h, 115h, 116h and 117h. NOHICOLOR Disables support for 32,768, 65,536 and 16.7M colour modes on mach32 products. It also disables support for mode 107h (1280 x 1024 256 colours). It will save above 4K of system memory if your application does not support these high color modes. ******** WARNING: ******** If you change the VGA Memory Size setting in the Install program, you must UNLOAD and then RELOAD the VESA driver. Failure to do so can cause unpredictable results as the driver may try and set modes that are no longer supported by the new setting, or fail to support modes that are now possible. To unload the driver use the command "vvesa off", to reload it simply use the command "vvesa." When using VVESA.COM with a mach32, the recommended VGA Memory Size setting is "Shared." This will make the maximum number of VESA modes available. For example, to enable driver to view display memory at upper 512KB, type: VVESA PAN Then run your VVESA application. 3.0 VESA Modes Supported The following VESA modes are supported: MODE RESOLUTION MEMORY MEMORY PRODUCT NUMBER /COLORS REQUIRED MODEL REQUIRED 100h 640x400 /256 512KB packed pixel 101h 640x480 /256 512KB packed pixel 102h 800x600 /16 256KB 4-plane planar 103h 800x600 /256 512KB packed pixel 104h 1024X768 /16 512KB 4-plane planar all except V3 105h 1024X768 /256 1MB packed pixel 107h 1280X1024 /256 1MB packed pixel mach32 108h 80x60/16 256KB Text mode 109h 132x25/16 256KB Text mode 10Ah 132x43/16 256KB Text mode 110h 640x480/32768 1MB packed pixel XL, XL24 mach32 111h 640x480/65536 1MB packed pixel mach32 112h 640x480/16.7 M 1MB packed pixel XL24, mach32 113h 800x600/32768 1MB packed pixel XL24, mach32 114h 800x600/65536 1MB packed pixel mach32 115h 800x600/16.7 M 2MB packed pixel mach32 116h 1024x768/32768 2MB packed pixel mach32 117h 1024x768/65536 2MB packed pixel mach32 Note that some display adapters may not be capable of displaying all the modes listed above depending on the model, amount of video memory and how the display adapter is configured. Check the user's manual of your display adapter for information on how to configure display adapter and the available modes. Note that when using modes 107h, 110h, 111h, 112h, 113h, 114h, 115h, 116h, or 117h on the mach32 some applications may appear with dim or incorrect colors. This happens because these modes require the colour registers (i.e. DAC registers) to be set through video BIOS calls only. Some applications set these registers directly, which results in incorrect colour settings in these modes. If you encounter this problem, contact the application publisher. 4.0 Vesatest Utility VESATEST.EXE is a utility program to check which modes are supported on your display adapter, run VESATEST after loading VVESA. This utility will provide a listing of all VESA modes available on your card. 5.0 MicroSoft Windows and VVESA.COM Running VVESA.COM under Microsoft Windows is not recommended and can corrupt the display. 6.0 VESA Standards Programmers requiring more information about VESA standards may obtain copies of the specifications by writing or calling: VESA 1330 South Bascom Ave., Suite D San Jose, CA 95128 (408) 971-7525