maltman@lennon.austek.oz (Marcus Altman) (02/21/90)
I'm just starting a project which will use VGA 256 colour mode. It would be a real help to have a set of graphics libraries to deal with the mouse and maybe have pop-up menus, different text fonts, custom designed fonts etc.. Has anybody had any experience with any of the commercially available libraries? I'll probably be using a 286 machine with VGA and cutting the code in Microsoft C. ( The VGA card hasn't been aquired yet either - any suggestions? ) Thanks in advance, Marcus. email:maltman@austek.oz
gvokalek@augean.OZ (George Vokalek) (02/22/90)
In article <321@lennon.austek.oz>, maltman@lennon.austek.oz (Marcus Altman) writes: > I'm just starting a project which will use VGA 256 colour mode. It > would be a real help to have a set of graphics libraries to deal with > the mouse and maybe have pop-up menus, different text fonts, custom > designed fonts etc.. I am in the late stages of such a project. I am not using the 256 colour mode of VGA, but am supporting the resolution of VGA. I have, however, been keenly looking for VGA support libraries myself. > > Has anybody had any experience with any of the commercially available > libraries? > Only borland and MetaWindows. Borland offer no VGA support in the Turbo C package, apart from EGA emulation modes. However, there has been a recent BBS release of a BGI (Borland Graphic Interface) kit which includes tools for building graphics drivers, and includes a VGA driver. Great, you say. Well, not really. Borland, and the MetaWindow library too, only support VGA in 320x256 resolution. Most VGA cards support (with 512k fitted) up to 800x600 in 256 colour. Unfortunately, this mode seems to be unsupported because of the radical change in the programming model of the card when this mode is invoked. I suspect many other commercial libraries would be similarly behaved, so I would suggest you look carefully before buying. If you only require the 320x256 resultion then you have no problem. I am ignorant of the exact technical issues associated with the VGA card, and have ordered the following book to cure this. You may wish to obtain a copy yourself. (I have not yet received my copy). Title "Programmers Guide to the EGA and VGA cards", 600 pages by Ferraro Pub Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Cost $42.95 , Jun 89 ..G..