allbery@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon Allbery) (06/07/86)
Expires: Quoted from <365@usc-oberon.UUCP> ["Turbo Pascal Questions"], by hartsoug@usc-oberon.UUCP (Mike Hartsough)... +--------------- | Answers to the following questions regarding Turbo Pascal would be appreciated. | I have version 2.0 | | A discussion a while back concerned turning the cursor off...I of course | was not interested at the time...how is this done from a Turbo program? +--------------- I have a procedure to do this; anyone interested send mail. I don't know if it's 2.0 compatible or not (I have 3.0). It uses information stored in low RAM by MS-DOS and accesses the card (color or monochrome, there is a DOS pointer in low RAM which knows which is in use and contains the port number of the card), so it doesn't need INT 10 but DOES need a reasonably-compatible MS-DOS (Sanyo MBC550 need not apply). Works fine on my ITT XTRA, I assume it will work on a PC/XT/AT since I got the tech info. from a book about those machines, but others are ???. Usage: cursor(true); { turn cursor on } cursor(false); { turn cursor off } --Brandon -- ihnp4!sun!cwruecmp!ncoast!allbery ncoast!allbery@Case.CSNET ncoast!tdi2!brandon (ncoast!tdi2!root for business) 6615 Center St. #A1-105, Mentor, OH 44060-4101 Phone: +01 216 974 9210 CIS 74106,1032 MCI MAIL BALLBERY (part-time)
brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) (06/08/86)
In article <1210@ncoast.UUCP> allbery@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon Allbery) writes: > >I have a procedure to do this; anyone interested send mail. I don't know if >it's 2.0 compatible or not (I have 3.0). It uses information stored in low >RAM by MS-DOS and accesses the card (color or monochrome, there is a DOS >pointer in low RAM which knows which is in use and contains the port number of >the card), so it doesn't need INT 10 but DOES need a reasonably-compatible >MS-DOS (Sanyo MBC550 need not apply). Works fine on my ITT XTRA, I assume it >will work on a PC/XT/AT since I got the tech info. from a book about those >machines, but others are ???. Don't send this guy mail to get this routine! If you see any copies of it, burn them quickly. This is just crazy. Why do people write routines like this? Is it just to drive people crazy or what? IBM-PCs have an official way to deal with screen functions. (This has *nothing* to do with MS-DOS, by the way) These routines aren't perfect, but there is little excuse for not using them unless you want something that they can't do. Turbo Pascal & compatible systems have a built-in routine called "intr" that makes interfacing to these routines easy. Most C compilers have a similar routine. INT 10, function 15 (ah register) gets you the screen mode. 7 is monochrome adapter, anything less is colour adapter or compatible, more is EGA or other card. Function 8 is cursor addressing. Put -1 in dx and the cursor goes away. (I will admit that the above -1 is not documented, but it's still a damned sight better than poking around in the BIOS ram!) -- Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. - Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473