Old DOS pgms req. VESA support on AGP Matrox cards

[John Wright]

I'm sure this is a really tired old FAQ and I suspect the answer is "fuggedaboudit" but...

I'd really like to use some favourite old Graphics viewers from DOS such as DISPLAY and QPV. These require VESA BIOS support and I can't get them to work with newer Matrox cards, seemingly the AGP cards.

Both pgms display menus and can show graphics files in a small preview mode but any attempt to display in 640x480 or 800x600 at any colour depth just makes the display go nuts (sometimes hanging machine). I've tried the VBETSR and VBG200 utils without success.

I'd like to use them in Windows NT and 2000 environments as well as 9x.

If this is a lost cause, perhaps I should be asking what Windows graphics programs are comparable to DISPLAY. With DISPLAY I could bring up a directory of files and perform file operations (rename, copy, etc.), even view in hex, sort the directory, view files in succession or tag and view. It viewed many formats with zoom, rotate, etc. Manipulated images could be re-saved. There was batch processing, slideshows, movie viewers. It did just about everything and I haven't seen a Windows program that comes close.

Thanks in advance for any help

[Ali]

Try this:

http://grafi.ii.pw.edu.pl/gbm/matrox/svbe.html

Good luck

Ali

[Greebe]

Dang, ya beat me to it Ali!

[endy]

I'm trying to play Warcraft 2 and got the same problem, when I try to install the mentioned file I get this message:

"VBG200 not installed
No PCI Interface"

What is wrong?

[Venturer]

Have you tried to use a good DOS emulator? A DOS emulator emulate also vesa modes!
XP DOS emulation simply sucks!
Try this emulator:

http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/news.php?show_news=1

DOSBOX is written for make run old dos games but hopefully it will work for your viewers!

Try it and tell me if it works!

[endy]

Ok, thx for the tip. I got Warcraft 2 working now, but I can't get the multiplay to work with DosBox. Don't know if it supports IPX gameplay?

[Venturer]

I don't know!
But i think it can 't support IPX gameplay! Mainly this emulator let you to play old good DOS games; but it's very limited with other functions. Perhaps in a future release it will support multiplayer gaming.

[kjliew]

Hi John, are you using G-series cards or Parhelia? You were not clear about which Matrox card you're having VESA problem currently besides it's an AGP card.

For G200 and G400, I think Matrox VESA implementation is pretty decent. The G400's VESA VBE is at version 3.0 which is the latest. The G200's is at least at version 2.0, or perhaps 3.0 as well with recent BIOS update. (G400 comes with VBE 2.0 as well initially.)

You need to switch to full-screen under Win9x/2K before you run any DOS-based programs that use VESA video modes. If you start the DOS program in windowed mode, you'll not have any access to VESA support at all. I guess you probably start your DOS-based program in windowed mode where you have the file listing and thumbnail preview, and then try to switch to VESA mode while doing fullscreen preview.

I have no problem running VBETEST from SciTech in a Win2k fullscreen DOS box. If I run it from windowed DOS box, VBETEST will just quit with no VESA support.

The only downside of Matrox VESA VBE implementation is that it does not support low-res VESA mode. I believe this is where Matrox have a little VESA TSR that provides low-res VESA mode.

Most 3rd-party VESA VBE software (eg. SciTech UniVESA or SciTech Diplay Doctor as what they called it later...) doesn't work on AGP card.

[endy]

Thanks for that kjliew! The fullscreen solution solved my problem. Quite simple too...