DVPEG 3.0e read.me file ----------------------- This is an explanation of the function of the various programs that are in the DVPEG ZIP archive. Vidsetup.exe ------------ IF YOU HAVE A PARADISE VIDEO CARD RUN THIS PROGRAM BEFORE YOU RUN DVPEG AND DO NOT RUN THE AUTODETECTION (type N). The video setup program is the only way to edit the list of video modes that DVPEG uses. This program allows you to change and save options that DVPEG uses. These options can be changed in DVPEG but not saved. The main purpose of this program is to test video modes and remove those that do not work on your video card. Any video cards and modes that are in the user list are shown in red. Problems -------- 24 bit graphics --------------- If the colors are not right look under F7 and change the RGB to BGR. For cards that use the Tseng 4000 chips there are several 24 bit modes. The Diamond Speed Star uses 2048 bytes/line while most others use 1920. Try the various modes in vidsetup and only keep those that work. Other graphics -------------- *** If your moniter goes blank or the display is not stable when trying to display a picture, hit ESC immediately and do not use that video mode. If you find that the moniter does not display a stable picture in certain video modes then use this program to delete them. Unfortunately the S/W has no way to know what video mode works with your card. In some cases I can not even identify the SVGA video card although DVPEG supports it. To solve any video related problems you must use this program. It is best if you start off with the manual for your video card. That should tell you what works and what does not. I am sorry that the vidsetup.exe program could not be made more easy to use. Future versions of DVPEG will use much more extensive S/W to identify the video card and detect its version number, amount of memory, etc and avoid this whole problem. VGA or 16 Color Graphics ------------------------ This is partially supported. It will work well for JPEGs but the quality for GIF, Targa and PNM pictures is not the best. ************************************************************************* Note: If your video card is not supported with DVPEG directly you may be able to get it working with the UNIVESA.EXE program. It is a "universal" VESA driver. It supports more cards than DVPEG does. The next incarnation of DVPEG will use the graphics routines that are in this video driver (from the SVGAkit version 3.2). To use this driver. Just run UNIVESA.EXE and then VIDSETUP.EXE ************************************************************************* When the program starts up it will detect what type of video card you have and automatically enter all of the modes for that card in the user list. You should find the hi-lighted card on the right of the screen is the same as the video card that is in your system. The list of modes is in the lower right hand side of the screen. Hit enter twice and you will get to that "window" (ESC will back you out). If you have your video card manual, delete (delete key) any modes that are not listed in your manual. If some modes that your card supports were not entered into the list then arrow to the mode you want to add and hit INS. You can also add custom modes, if you know a lot about your video card, with the C key (poking thru the source code to DVPEG helps - ie the modes.h file). To test a video mode, move to the card you want to test (up/down arrows) and then hit . This will put you onto the upper right window where you can pick from the list of video modes that that card may support. With the up/down arrow move to the video mode that you want to test and hit space. You should see a series of vertical bars that fade in color as they go from left to right. If you can not see the bars or the image is junk then dvpeg will not work with that mode. When you find what card/mode combo's work with your system you can enter it into the list by hitting when you are in the upper right mode menu. To delete an item from the list hit enter until you get to the lower right user list menu. With the up/down arrow move to the mode you want to delete and hit . will move you "deeper" into the menu's while will more you back out. When you are at the video card menu and you hit you will exit the video setup program. At this point it will ask you if you want to save the information. If you have correctly made a list of working modes for your system then hit and the file dvpeg.cfg will be created for dvpeg to use. It contains the list of working modes and a few other things (future features). I hope that this makes sense and you find it usable. This is the worst part of my viewer and it will be improved in newer versions. Advanced features ----------------- Using the 'F' command you can set a color to fill the screen with (any combination of red, green, blue). This is good for testing to see if a newer video mode (15/16/24 bit) is properly supported. dvpeg286.exe (the 286 viewer) ----------------------------- This is a 286 version of dvpeg. It is slightly slower but otherwise identical to the 386 version. dvpeg.exe (the viewer) ---------------------- The first time this program is run it will look for the dvpeg.cfg file (configuration file from vidsetup.exe). If it does not exist it will run vidsetup. This can present a problem with some video cards. F1: help (always check this as I update the program more than I do this file) Advanced features ----------------- You can save the tint, contrast, bright setting for automatic setting the next time a file is loaded. Use E to view the file instead of ENTER, adjust the tint, bright, contast to your liking and hit S to save them. To delete the settings for the picture you are viewing hit D. These settings are saved in the file dvpeg.vu 4DOS file descriptions should be read and printed after the file name If the Titles are turned on the 4DOS description will be printed. Selecting (toggling) Options ---------------------------- Generally one letter in each line will be in upper case. When that key is hit the option will toggle or change. file_selection screen --------------------- You will always see subdirectors in the file listing and can move thru the directory tree by hitting enter when over a subdirectory or .. which will move you out one level. arrow keys: move around on the list of files/directories/drives Pg Up, Pg Dn: move up/down one screen full of files Home: move to the top of the list of files End: move to the end of the list of files ESC: exit the program Enter: view the file or move into / outof the current directory F1: help F2: change drive - just type a single letter ie d F3: change viewing defaults (dithering, show menu, smoothing ...) F4: change mask - type in *.gif, *.jpg ... (max. of 5 masks) F5: change sort order (ie by name, file size, date ...) F6: type in a new directory F7: change some less frequently used defaults there is lots of stuff under this including: - enabling 50 line text mode - turning the beep on/off - turning error messages on/off - changing the slide show delay - enabling the screen clear before draw (some video cards don't clear it) - change file buffer size for speed or to reduce memory usage - twiddle - this controls the video screen size picked if a picture is 640 * 481 DVPEG will not use the 640 * 480 but will go to 800 * 600. If twiddle > 1 then the 640 * 480 screen is used - thing of it as a "slop" factor - ...... space: select a file for slideshow viewing (turns filename red) A: select all files for slide show s: start slideshow S: run slideshow in a continous loop (ESC exits current picture and goes to the next, any other key causes an exit after the current picture) Del: deletes the file that the cursor is on pre_picture_viewing screen -------------------------- F1: help - check this since it will be more accurate than this list Enter: view the picture ESC: exit to pick another file A: switch between high/medium JPEG quality E: turn off end of picture beep M: toggle this menu on/off L: lockout SVGA (256 color modes) ie only leave hi-color or better W: lockout SVGA modes that are smaller than the smallest 15/16/24 bit mode G: greyscale viewing of JPEGs (faster than color) S: change/enable shrinking of the picture to fit (only works when panning is off) D: toggle dithering on/off Q: toggle between 1 or 2 pass quantization P: toggle panning on/off if the picture needs it (this can take several megs of memory [main or disk]) K: lock in a resolution ie if you are on 640 * 480 all pictures will use that size screen until you turn it off (note size not type [8/15/16/24 bit]) arrows: select a video mode (default should be the right size) picture_painted screen (some of these work with hi_color modes) ---------------------- ESC: exit to file selection screen arrows: pan across the picture (if the picture is > screen) -,+: shrink, expand the picture (if the picture is > screen) Pg Up: turn brightness up Pg Dwn: turn bightness down Home: contrast increase End: contrast decrease Shift (keypad) 7,4,1 adjust red tint (increase, reset, decrease) Shift (keypad) 8,5,2 adjust green tint Shift (keypad) 9,6,3 adjust blue tint F1 ... F10 multiply all panning and color controls ie F2 is *2, F8 is *8 S: save the bright, contrast, tint controls to be used next time this picture is viewed (does not work for 15/16/24 bit JPEGs) D: delete any stored tint ... settings for the current picture R: re-init video mode and redraw with all tint controls reset r: re-init video mode and redraw P: goto the previous picture Enter: goto to next picture N: goto the next picture Sounds ------ A low frequency beep is an error indication. This can not be turned off. When you hear such a beep the program will pause until you hit a key. A high frequency beep is a sign that the picture is all loaded and drawn. This can be turned off under the F7 menu from the main screen. Files Generated by Using DVPEG ------------------------------ dvpeg.cfg --------- Vidsetup will create called dvpeg.cfg This file stores you viewing defaults and describes your video card. It can only be edited with vidsetup. This file will be stored in the directory that vidsetup.exe was found in. If you wish to have multiple copies (for different video cards, different defaults) then copy the original to the directory where you want to make a custom one. Go into the directory and run vidsetup. If vidsetup finds a dvpeg.cfg file in the local directory it will read it and write the replacement there. dvpeg.vu --------- This file is created and updated by the viewing program. It has a list of tint/bright/contrast defaults for individual pictures. This file will be created in the directory that the pictures are in. If one is not found there the program will search in the directory that the executables are in. Any new defaults will be written where-ever the file is. If you have the pictures on CD-ROM or read-only media then you will have to: 1) Make a dvpeg.vu file on a writable directory 2) copy a dvpeg.vu file to the directory that holds the executable This is a binary file and you should be able to merge multiples together. Closing comments ---------------- Please do tell me about any problems. Yes vidsetup could be made much easier to use but that would take a lot of time getting information from the video card mfg's. I welcome any information that people can forward to me so that I may support more video cards. If you are interested in the latest executables or source code you can reach me thru my addresses. FTP to sunee.uwaterloo.ca in directory pub/jpeg/viewers is the easiest way to get the latest version. If you do not have internet access I will send out copies thru the mail. Just send me a letter with a donation to cover postage and disks. Don't forget to tell me why type of disk (5.25" or 3.5" and the format ie 360k, 1.2M, 1.44M). Updates ------- This program undergoes rapid changes at times when I have nothing better to do. The easiest way to get the most recent version is thru the internet. I work on whatever interests me at the time. The biggest problem is the lack of information on video cards. I add what I can when I get the information. Of course I can only test the S/W on the machine that I have (currently a Trident 8900 video card) and so offer no guarantees. If you make any changes I would appreciate hearing about it so that I can offer it in future versions. Donation -------- If you find this program usefull or are requesting an update thru the mail I do not turn down cash offers ;-) Acknowledgements ---------------- Thanks to: Tom Lane and the IJG for their JPEG code which is the core of my viewer. (Simtel: graphic/JPEG4386.ZIP) John Bridge's VGAKIT52.ZIP (Simtel: vga/vgakit52.zip) Kendall Bennett (kjb@citri.edu.au) (Simtel: vga/SVGAKT32.ZIP) Finn Thoegersen's VGADOC2.ZIP (Simtel: vga/vgadoc2.zip) and many others for testing and providing information to make this program what it is. I can be reached thru the internet at: praetzel@sunee.uwaterloo.ca or by mail at: 137 Oprington Crt. Kitchener, Ontario Canada N2N 3E2 Copyrights, Lefts and Centers ----------------------------- Yes everything is copyrighted. The IJG software has a note in the readme.ijg file that is with the source code (and the message when you exit DVPEG). I copyright my own work since eveyone else seems to be doing it ;-) Basically. If you want to make money off of my work I would like a piece of the action. Otherwise feel free to use and modify the program for any personal use. Since I included the UNIVESA.EXE program here is the Copyright that comes with it: SuperVGA Test Library, Copyright (C) 1992,1993 Kendall Bennett. Universal VESA TSR, Copyright (C) 1993 Kendall Bennett. All Rights Reserved. The SuperVGA Test Library and the Universal VESA TSR are not public domain software. They are copyrighted software, Copyright (C) 1992,1993 Kendall Bennett. It is however free software, or what some people term 'Freeware'. You may use it for whatever you wish, even using it to write public domain, freeware, shareware and commercial software. You may NOT however re-distribute modified versions of the source code nor distribute the source code for a profit. If you make any worthwhile changes to the source code, you can send them to me for inclusion in a future release. Since this software is free, it is supplied WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. It is supplied as it, in the hope the people will find it useful, and that it will advance the state of the art of computer software.