jeff@drexel.UUCP (Jeff White) (07/14/88)
Has anyone in netland every worked with a piece of software called FlickerFree? I've seen in advertised a couple of times InfoWorld. It's published by Gibson Reserach (ala Steve Gibson), and advertises itself as a 7k byte assembly language driver that completely replaces the BIOS screen display calls to make screen updates much quicker. It looked to be a decent product, at a reasonable price ($39), and by a reputable firm, and since my company was paying for it, I decided to order it. When I called them up, though, I was told that it was no longer being sold. When I asked the salesperson why, she said, "Oh, Steve's a perfectionist, and he wanted to concentrate his time on ______ (the name of his disk reformatting software)." I can appreciate perfection, but just because you want to be perfect doesn't mean you have to pull everything but your current product off the market. I'd like to know if anyone was successfully able to purchase a copy, and if so, how well does it work. Are there similar products available from other companies? Jeff White Drexel University - ECE Dept. rutgers!bpa!drexel!jeff
root@yale.UUCP (Celray Stalk) (07/14/88)
I purchased a copy about 6 months ago. I used it for a while but found it incompatible with some of the software I'm using (Pc-Write and CED, I believe) so I shelved it. The Fansi-console shareware program now contains the same functionality (actually, much more) but uses more memory because of those extra features (somewhere between 40 and 60 KB as I recall). Fansi is the program I'd recommend, but I received a flyer from them saying the next version will not be shareware (so get a copy of the current version while you can). Alternately, I'll sell you my copy of Flickerfree cheap... --Peter ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------- Peter Baer Galvin (203)432-1254 Senior Systems Programmer galvin-peter@cs.yale.edu 51 Prospect St, P.O.Box 2158, Yale Station ucbvax!decvax!yale!galvin-peter New Haven, Ct 06457 galvin-peter@yalecs.bitnet --Peter ------------------------------------------ -------------------------------- Peter Baer Galvin (203)432-1254 Senior Systems Programmer galvin-peter@cs.yale.edu 51 Prospect St, P.O.Box 2158, Yale Station ucbvax!decvax!yale!galvin-peter New Haven, Ct 06457 galvin-peter@yalecs.bitnet
dave@micropen (David F. Carlson) (07/14/88)
In article <638@drexel.UUCP>, jeff@drexel.UUCP (Jeff White) writes: > > Has anyone in netland every worked with a piece of software called > FlickerFree? I've seen in advertised a couple of times InfoWorld. It's > published by Gibson Reserach (ala Steve Gibson), and advertises itself as > a 7k byte assembly language driver that completely replaces the BIOS screen > display calls to make screen updates much quicker. It looked to be a decent > Jeff White > Drexel University - ECE Dept. > rutgers!bpa!drexel!jeff Because the bios screen routines are in ROM, they require mucho wait-states to access (250nS rom vs. 150nS ram). By simply relocating the bios into ram, as many 386 boxes do, a factor of ~2-3 is made. So this was never the miracle that Steve Gibson might have liked to have sold. ("Up to 7 times faster" translates in non-marketing lingo to actually only ~2-3 times faster anyway.) -- David F. Carlson, Micropen, Inc. ...!{ames|harvard|rutgers|topaz|...}!rochester!ur-valhalla!micropen!dave "The faster I go, the behinder I get." --Lewis Carroll
ralf@b.gp.cs.cmu.edu (Ralf Brown) (07/15/88)
In article <521@micropen> dave@micropen (David F. Carlson) writes: } By simply relocating the bios into ram, }as many 386 boxes do, a factor of ~2-3 is made. The factor of two comes from the fact that most 386's use 16-bit ROMs, so relocating them into 32-bit RAM will cut the number of memory accesses in half. Note that there are one or two 386 systems that actually use 32-bit ROMs, and these will not show such a great speed increase. -- {harvard,uunet,ucbvax}!b.gp.cs.cmu.edu!ralf -=-=- AT&T: (412)268-3053 (school) ARPA: RALF@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU |"Tolerance means excusing the mistakes others make. FIDO: Ralf Brown at 129/31 | Tact means not noticing them." --Arthur Schnitzler BITnet: RALF%B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU@CMUCCVMA -=-=- DISCLAIMER? I claimed something?
igp@camcon.uucp (Ian Phillipps) (07/19/88)
From article <521@micropen>, by dave@micropen (David F. Carlson): > In article <638@drexel.UUCP>, jeff@drexel.UUCP (Jeff White) writes: >> >> Has anyone in netland every worked with a piece of software called >> FlickerFree? I've seen in advertised a couple of times InfoWorld. It's >> published by Gibson Reserach (ala Steve Gibson), and advertises itself as >> a 7k byte assembly language driver that completely replaces the BIOS screen >> display calls to make screen updates much quicker. It looked to be a decent > Because the bios screen routines are in ROM, they require mucho > wait-states to access (250nS rom vs. 150nS ram). By simply relocating > the bios into ram, as many 386 boxes do, a factor of ~2-3 is made. So > this was never the miracle that Steve Gibson might have liked to have > sold. David is missing a valid point (for those of us with creaky old CGA, anyhow), that the BIOS can't update the screen while the video is being displayed - a hardware bug in the IBM CGA card. Most(?) newish CGA-type cards don't have that bug. Hence, software can easily get a speedup independent of hardware speed. There was a PD/share package including the file QWIKSCRN.COM/EXE which does the same thing (+ smaller & cheaper) if you have a card which doesn't "snow" when you do this. It was bundled up with QWIKANSI and QWIKMODE - should be on a bulletin board near you (I think it was posted near here a while back). -- UUCP: ...!ukc!camcon!igp | Cambridge Consultants Ltd | Ian Phillipps or: igp@camcon.uucp | Science Park, Milton Road |----------------- Phone: +44 223 358855 | Cambridge CB4 4DW, England |
viggo@freja.dk (Allan Kim Schougaard) (07/23/88)
In article <638@drexel.UUCP> jeff@drexel.UUCP (Jeff White) writes: > Has anyone in netland every worked with a piece of software called >FlickerFree? I've seen in advertised a couple of times InfoWorld. It's >published by Gibson Reserach (ala Steve Gibson), and advertises itself as >a 7k byte assembly language driver that completely replaces the BIOS screen >display calls to make screen updates much quicker. It looked to be a decent >product, at a reasonable price ($39), and by a reputable firm, and since my >company was paying for it, I decided to order it. >When I called them up, though, I was told that it was no longer being sold. > I'd like to know if anyone was successfully able to purchase a copy, and if >so, how well does it work. Are there similar products available from other >companies? There is a devicedriver called Fansi(.sys) selling for $89.95 which promises to iliminate flicker and at the same time make screen updates faster. (The name is derived from Fast Ansi). I have had no experience with this product so please followup if you decide to get it. VIGGO at DIKU
Ralf.Brown@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU (07/29/88)
In article <3944@freja.dk>, viggo@freja.dk (Allan Kim Schougaard) writes: }In article <638@drexel.UUCP> jeff@drexel.UUCP (Jeff White) writes: }> Has anyone in netland every worked with a piece of software called }>FlickerFree? I've seen in advertised a couple of times InfoWorld. It's }>a 7k byte assembly language driver that completely replaces the BIOS screen }>display calls to make screen updates much quicker. It looked to be a decent }There is a devicedriver called Fansi(.sys) selling for $89.95 }which promises to iliminate flicker and at the same time make }screen updates faster. (The name is derived from Fast Ansi). The FANSI.SYS device driver is over 40K, and by the time you add the extra memory for scroll-back and everything else, FANSI uses a hefty chunk of memory. You should be aware of this before making a decision. -- UUCP: {ucbvax,harvard}!cs.cmu.edu!ralf -=-=-=- Voice: (412) 268-3053 (school) ARPA: ralf@cs.cmu.edu BIT: ralf%cs.cmu.edu@CMUCCVMA FIDO: Ralf Brown 1:129/31 Disclaimer? I |Ducharm's Axiom: If you view your problem closely enough claimed something?| you will recognize yourself as part of the problem.