[comp.sys.ibm.pc] How to put MS-DOS into VGA 50-row mode ??

tjr@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (thomas.j.roberts) (02/17/90)

How do I get MS-DOS to use the 50-row mode of my VGA?
I can set the video mode so the BIOS uses all 50 rows when I do:
	set cursor to <row>,<col>
	display <char>
for <row> = 0 to 49, <col> = 0.

As soon as the program exits, the prompt scrolls the top 25 rows,
and appears in row 25. From then on, only the upper 25 rows are used
(but the lower 25 rows displayed by my program remain on the screen,
unchanged).

What magic do I need to perform to get MS-DOS to use all 50 rows?
Why does MS-DOS care, anyway?

Tom Roberts
att!ihlpl!tjrob

teittinen@cc.helsinki.fi (02/18/90)

In article <13685@cbnewsc.ATT.COM>, tjr@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (thomas.j.roberts) writes:
> How do I get MS-DOS to use the 50-row mode of my VGA?
> I can set the video mode so the BIOS uses all 50 rows when I do:
> 	set cursor to <row>,<col>
> 	display <char>
> for <row> = 0 to 49, <col> = 0.
> 
> As soon as the program exits, the prompt scrolls the top 25 rows,
> and appears in row 25. From then on, only the upper 25 rows are used
> (but the lower 25 rows displayed by my program remain on the screen,
> unchanged).
> 
> What magic do I need to perform to get MS-DOS to use all 50 rows?
> Why does MS-DOS care, anyway?

No magic needed, just MS-DOS 4.0. Then you can issue command "MODE ,50"
and you've got what you want - 50 lines under DOS. The reason for this
is that DOS screen handling functions before 4.0 were hardcoded for 25
line screen. So there is no way to make older versions to use 50 lines.
BTW, I'm using DOS 4.0, and I think it's much better than what most of
DOS 3.* users say. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, even under DOS 4.0
you need to have the ANSI driver installed.

-- 
E-Mail: teittinen@finuh.bitnet               ! "Studying is the only way
        teittinen@cc.helsinki.fi             !  to do nothing without
Marko Teittinen, student of computer science !  anyone blaming you" -me

scholes@boulder.Colorado.EDU (SCHOLES MARTIN LEE) (02/19/90)

In article <13685@cbnewsc.ATT.COM> tjr@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (thomas.j.roberts) writes:
>How do I get MS-DOS to use the 50-row mode of my VGA?
>As soon as the program exits, the prompt scrolls the top 25 rows,
>and appears in row 25. From then on, only the upper 25 rows are used
>(but the lower 25 rows displayed by my program remain on the screen,
>unchanged).
>What magic do I need to perform to get MS-DOS to use all 50 rows?
>Why does MS-DOS care, anyway?

I've ran into this on my machine, and the problem is not DOS at all, it is the
ANSI.SYS driver, which blindly assume that you are running a 25 line screen.
Many BBS's have drivers to correct this, but I recommend that you use the one
probably supplied with your VGA card.

scholes@snoopy.colorado.edu

toma@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Tom Almy) (02/19/90)

In article <13685@cbnewsc.ATT.COM> tjr@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (thomas.j.roberts) writes:
>How do I get MS-DOS to use the 50-row mode of my VGA?
[...]
>As soon as the program exits, the prompt scrolls the top 25 rows,
>and appears in row 25. From then on, only the upper 25 rows are used
>(but the lower 25 rows displayed by my program remain on the screen,
>unchanged).

>What magic do I need to perform to get MS-DOS to use all 50 rows?
>Why does MS-DOS care, anyway?

MS-DOS doesn't care. ANSI.SYS cares. If you run without ANSI.SYS then all
will be fine. If you need ANSI display support then you need to use either
an ANSI.SYS clone supplied by the display card vendor, or one of many
commercial or PD substitutes available (FANSI-CONSOLE, NANSI.SYS, NNANSI.SYS,
etc. I personnally recommend NNANSI, but then I did that one). These 
substitutes will also give you improved performance over the DOS ANSI.SYS.

There is an alternative of sorts. DOS 4.0 ANSI.SYS does support 43 and 50
line modes. The only difficulty is that while the ANSI clones will support
mode changes with ANSI-like escape sequences, the DOS 4.0 ANSI.SYS expects
you to use the MODE command.  Of course the MODE command to change the
display mode won't work unless the DOS 4.0 ANSI.SYS is used (no substitutes
accepted)!  Way to go, Microsoft!

Tom Almy
toma@tekgvs.labs.tek.com
Standard Disclaimers Apply

mattl@ritcsh.cs.rit.edu (FaceMan) (02/20/90)

In article <13685@cbnewsc.ATT.COM> tjr@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (thomas.j.roberts) writes:
>How do I get MS-DOS to use the 50-row mode of my VGA?
        [ text deleted ]
>As soon as the program exits, the prompt scrolls the top 25 rows,
>and appears in row 25. From then on, only the upper 25 rows are used
         [ text deleted ]
>What magic do I need to perform to get MS-DOS to use all 50 rows?
>Why does MS-DOS care, anyway?

   What you need is a replacement for your ANSI.SYS. On my machine I
 set the number of lines to 50 and got the same problem. So instead
 of using ANSI.SYS from DOS, I got NNANSI.SYS. It's a replacement for
 ANSI that supports EGA and VGA. You can find it on SIMTEL, or 
 wuarchive.wustl.edu., as well as many other places (ftp, BBS, etc).
   NNANSI is actually only one of them. There are many replacements
 that will do the same thing out called VANSI, etc.....



-- 
(-8  Matthew Lecher, known as the "FaceMan", master of sight and sound....  8-)
(-:  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "Awwww, that's just a buzzword" <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<  :-)
[-:  mattl@ritcsh.cs.rit.edu                  ! "I looked into the eyes of  :-]
[-8  mal6315@ritvax, mal6315@ultb.isc.rit.edu ! destiny and saw my future." 8-]

teexmmo@isis.educ.lon.ac.uk (Matthew Moore) (03/02/90)

In article <2334@ritcsh.cs.rit.edu> mattl@ritcsh.cs.rit.edu.UUCP (FaceMan) writes:
>>What magic do I need to perform to get MS-DOS to use all 50 rows?
>
>   What you need is a replacement for your ANSI.SYS. On my machine I

Which version of DOS are you running, and on what machine? 

Running DOS 4.0 on a PS/2 , with ansi.sys installed, the command is:-

mode con lines=50
                    (or 43 or 25  as required).
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