Re: [Freedos-devel] FreeDOS kernel and FreeCOM command.com updates

Hi Jeremy, could you share some roadmap for the documentation/changelog updates for kernel 2043 and freecom 0.85, to make planning easier when it comes to including updates in FreeDOS 1.3rc5? I guess this could also include being more specific about the "work of others" in the to be updated

Re: [Freedos-devel] Why games have bad color in VirtualBox

On Thu, 17 Jun 2021 at 04:58, Paul Dufresne via Freedos-devel wrote: > I did not check capabilities return by QEMU... > My vague hypothesis is that the game use VGA functions, rather than VBE > function to set palette, > and that it matters because D0=1... and I make the assumption D0=0 for

Re: [Freedos-devel] Why games have bad color in VirtualBox

I have a really old PC Magazine utility called EGAPALET that at the time was called a bit of "gonzo programming". Normally, EGA (& VGA) only allows 16 colors at a time on the screen but the color palette is 64 colors. EGAPALET lets you see all 64 colors on the screen at the same time. It

Re: [Freedos-devel] Why games have bad color in VirtualBox

On Thu, Jun 17, 2021 at 1:09 PM Paul Dufresne via Freedos-devel wrote: > > vgapal works in VirtualBox ... and DOSEMU2, not tested under QEMU. > > I think problematic games run under DPMI (protected mode). > Might be linked to the problem for VirtualBox not handling color palettes > correctly...

Re: [Freedos-devel] Why games have bad color in VirtualBox

vgapal works in VirtualBox ... and DOSEMU2, not tested under QEMU. I think problematic games run under DPMI (protected mode). Might be linked to the problem for VirtualBox not handling color palettes correctly... sometime. Will have to look the source code of the games to see how they do...

Re: [Freedos-devel] Why games have bad color in VirtualBox

Jim, > On Jun 17, 2021, at 12:52 PM, Jim Hall wrote: > > On Thu, Jun 17, 2021 at 11:21 AM Jerome Shidel > wrote: >> >> Hi, >> >> A while back Jim did a nice article on DOS text mode colors. >> >> I asked him why he didn’t cover VGA text mode pallets for

Re: [Freedos-devel] Why games have bad color in VirtualBox

On 6/17/2021 9:52 AM, Jim Hall wrote: On Thu, Jun 17, 2021 at 11:21 AM Jerome Shidel wrote: Hi, A while back Jim did a nice article on DOS text mode colors. I asked him why he didn’t cover VGA text mode pallets for customizing them. This led to the creation of a simple tool to demonstrate

Re: [Freedos-devel] Why games have bad color in VirtualBox

On Thu, Jun 17, 2021 at 11:21 AM Jerome Shidel wrote: > > Hi, > > A while back Jim did a nice article on DOS text mode colors. > > I asked him why he didn’t cover VGA text mode pallets for customizing them. > > This led to the creation of a simple tool to demonstrate altering the text > mode

Re: [Freedos-devel] Why games have bad color in VirtualBox

That said, I am at least partially wrong. Changing colors works in VirtualBox, QEMU and DOSEMU2. color 0 is black, this is the default color for text mode. In Debug: -o 3c8,0 -o 3c9,0 -o 3c9,0 -o 3c9,ff Change the black to blue. (out 3c8,0 choose color 0, then first value at 3c9 is

Re: [Freedos-devel] Why games have bad color in VirtualBox

Hi! I vaguely remember that you could do "copper bars" in DOS by quickly changing DAC mask or similar registers, not sure which. Is any of that working in any simulator? Or is it one of the few things which only work with real hardware? :-) The idea is to change colors at different moments

Re: [Freedos-devel] Why games have bad color in VirtualBox

Hi, A while back Jim did a nice article on DOS text mode colors. I asked him why he didn’t cover VGA text mode pallets for customizing them. This led to the creation of a simple tool to demonstrate altering the text mode colors to whatever RGB value you want on VGA systems.

Re: [Freedos-devel] Why games have bad color in VirtualBox

More precisely, the default DAC Mask ( i 3c6 in debug) is: QEMU: FF DOSEMU2: FF VirtualBox: 00 VirtualBox default mask of 0 and the fact that it cannot be changed, could well explains changing colors directly does not work. (as I believe a mask of 0 make it not change any colors when

Re: [Freedos-devel] Why games have bad color in VirtualBox

I think I understand what is happening. First, an extract from: https://www.phatcode.net/res/224/files/html/ch34/34-05.html The DAC Mask "There’s one register in the DAC that I haven’t mentioned yet, the DAC Mask register at 03C6H. The operation of this register is simple but powerful; it can

Re: [Freedos-devel] Why games have bad color in VirtualBox

Hi Paul, while it is great to hear that you are doing a lot of reading about EGA/VGA programming, I would suggest that you use DEBUG to try a few things until you find the first type of palette manipulation which works in another virtual window but not in VirtualBox. Then the next step could be

Re: [Freedos-devel] Why games have bad color in VirtualBox

Ok, a few minutes ago, I had no idea about which I/O ports were related to colors... and now, I begin to suspect what could be wrong in VirtualBox code, that is it seems to ignore port 0x3c6 (mask register)... which is said: "in normal use, should be 0xff"... In:

Re: [Freedos-devel] Why games have bad color in VirtualBox

Hi Paul, > I was thinking... I think DOSEMU2 execute program in VM86 mode. Only if it is a real mode program. If it is a protected mode program, it uses protected mode. DOSEMU2 has DPMI. > That way, direct IN/OUT generate an interrupt that > can be intercepted to emulate hardware. Yes. This

Re: [Freedos-devel] Why games have bad color in VirtualBox

I was thinking... I think DOSEMU2 execute program in VM86 mode. That way, direct IN/OUT generate an interrupt that can be intercepted to emulate hardware. It is a bit unclear how QEMU/VirtualBox works... I have read, that newer CPU emulate a full CPU. But I don't know the details... and how

Re: [Freedos-devel] Why games have bad color in VirtualBox

This wouldn't be the first thing VirtualBox doesn't implement fully/correctly. Another notable omission is the "direct" mode of creating sound by writing values straight to a SoundBlaster-compatible card; VirtualBox only supports DMA transfer for sound. Sent with

Re: [Freedos-devel] Why games have bad color in VirtualBox

DOSEMU2 seems to report itself almost exactly as VirtualBOX, that is: VBE 2.0, D1=0:VGA compatible D1=0, D0=1:DAC is fixed with 6 bit by primary color This destroy my hypothesis about games USING VGA Set palette function... rather than the VBE one (AL=9... had wrongly written AH=9 in previous

Re: [Freedos-devel] Why games have bad color in VirtualBox

QEMU, AX=4F00 INT 10h (Return VBE controller information) reports itself as version 3.0. So I use http://www.petesqbsite.com/sections/tutorials/tuts/vbe3.pdf Capabilities: D0=0 DAC is fixed width, with 6 bits per primary color D1=0 Controller is VGA compatible D2=0Normal RAMDAC operations D3=0

[Freedos-devel] Re : Wirth compilers (was: 2 diffrent index of ibiblio?)

Thanks a lot Rugxulo for your email about Wirth compilers. Some projects, I did began to look, some I was not aware. And your opinion and info about FPC now supporting 16 bit DOS is very appreciated!___ Freedos-devel mailing list

Re: [Freedos-devel] Additional notes on Games

I have taken a short look at: (gnuchess source for showing board) http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/chess.git/tree/src/frontend/output.cc and did not have "the feeling" it was using ANSI anymore. But then according to:

Re: [Freedos-devel] Additional notes on Games

>> there is absolutely no need to waste memory for everybody just because >> someone might try GNUCHESS. > Why doesn't a program, that uses ansi.sys (or an equivalent), check for > its presence?! :-) I found INT 2Fh, AX=1A00h for this purpose. because it uses escape sequences, not ANSI. ANSI

Re: [Freedos-devel] Additional notes on Games

Hi guys, there is absolutely no need to waste memory for everybody just because someone might try GNUCHESS. Why doesn't a program, that uses ansi.sys (or an equivalent), check for its presence?! :-) I found INT 2Fh, AX=1A00h for this purpose. Joe -- KOVÁCS Balázs aka Joe Forster/STA;

Re: [Freedos-devel] Additional notes on Games

> But again, avoid all those hassles by always loading > NANSI. That is a lot better than BANNING ALL apps > which use ANSI "because they could confuse users"! > ANSI even is a standard part of MS DOS. It is "base"! as we haven't seen complains about escape sequences on the screen for a LONG