fzw@ti-csl (01/04/86)
/* Written 12:52 pm Nov 24, 1985 by mercury@ut-ngp.UUCP in ti-csl:net.micro.ti */
/* ---------- "TI PC video interrupts wanted" ---------- */
[all followups go to net.micro.ti]
I am trying to write some video-intensive software for TI Portable
PC's, without having access to a TI Technical Reference Manual.
I have absolutely *no* documentation on the BIOS, and I desperately
need to be able to:
(1) Put together graphics primitives for Microsoft Fortran 3.2.
(2) Write a useable terminal emulator. All I've tried so far,
all PD, have been relatively major failures *as terminal emulators*,
and my one attempt to write one in compiled BASIC, though
successful, was not very practical.
(3) Patch the MIX Text Editor so it can update the screen without
having to go through the (awful) ANSI screen driver.
(1) Do text-things to the display, like locate the cursor,
clear the TEXT screen, change the character color, underline,
blink, etc. Knowing something about the memory map of the
display would be invaluable.
(2) Do graphic-things, like clear the GRAPHICS bitplane(s), set a
pixel with a specific color, draw a line *without* having
to go through the interrupt (I need to know how the graphics
memory is laid out).
Larry
/* End of text from ti-csl:net.micro.ti */
You might look up the October and November 1985 issues of _TI
Professional Computing_ magazine, for a two-part article which
addresses most of your needs on the CRT DSR, and has a lot of example
code. (This mag is published in Austin, you might want to give them
a call at 250-9023.)
In Ms-Dos V1.1 days, before the ANSI driver, someone who worked for
me wrote, collected, and modified code to do things like insert line,
delete char, block move, copy etc. When he gets back from holiday next
week, I'll see if he still has a copy.
I _might_ be able to get you a copy of the Tech Ref, if you can
post me a shipping address.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Fritz Whittington ~~Usenet: {convex!smu,texsun, ~
~520 Parkview ~~ ut-sally,rice}!tilde!fzw ~
~Richardson, Texas 75080 ~~GTE Telemail: FWhittington ~
~(214) 995-0623 (work) ~~ARPA: fzw%ti-csl.CSNET@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~". . . Es bleibet dabei, ~~ You are even free to think that the above ~
~ Die Gedanken sind frei!"~~ might represent some opinions other than my ~
~ ~~ own, but you might be wrong. ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~fzw@ti-csl (01/04/86)
/* Written 4:48 pm Nov 30, 1985 by mercury@ut-dillo.UUCP in ti-csl:net.micro.ti */
With a hard disk I don't think the paging would be much more than a minor
irritant since, being a strong beliver in modularity, I keep most of my
source files < 15k. But with the (abismally slow) floppy disk drives on
our TI's, this might be a problem.
Larry Baker mercury@ut-ngp.{ARPA, UUCP, UTEXAS.EDU}
University of Texas at Austin ut-sally!ut-ngp!mercury@csnet-relay.CSNET
Computer Science/Physics phgl774@uta3081.BITNET
/* End of text from ti-csl:net.micro.ti */
If you mean they are much slower than an I*M PC's floppies, then it will help
a great deal if you set buffers=20 in your config.sys file. (I presume you
know that a diskette formatted on an I*M PC will read *very* slow on a TIPC,
because of the inter leave difference. Floppies formatted on a TIPC can be
read on an I*M PC with only a slight slow-down.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Fritz Whittington ~~Usenet: {convex!smu,texsun, ~
~520 Parkview ~~ ut-sally,rice}!tilde!fzw ~
~Richardson, Texas 75080 ~~GTE Telemail: FWhittington ~
~(214) 995-0623 (work) ~~ARPA: fzw%ti-csl.CSNET@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~". . . Es bleibet dabei, ~~ You are even free to think that the above ~
~ Die Gedanken sind frei!"~~ might represent some opinions other than my ~
~ ~~ own, but you might be wrong. ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~