[comp.windows.ms.programmer] windows background

tobey@einstein.eds.com (Christopher Tobey) (02/27/91)

Hello everyone

I was wondering if anyone knows of an ftp site that would have
a program which would allow me to display graphic images in the
background of windows other than .bmp?  Another nice feature
would be to have it break microsoft's 16 color barrier.  Specific-
ally I was thinking of displaying gif images in the background.
I have a gif2bmp program; however it doesn't seem to keep the same
color palette.  In fact I think it converts everything to a 16 color
palette.

Anyway, any information on this would be greatly appreciated.  Post
or e-mail is fine.  If there is a large enough response I will post
a summary.

Thanks

Christopher Tobey
GMI Engineering & Management Institute
Electronic Data Systems  Troy, MI
ARPA:  tobey@einstein.eds.com
UUCP:  ...uunet!edsews!einstein!tobey

jdb@reef.cis.ufl.edu (Brian K. W. Hook) (02/27/91)

In article <357@einstein.eds.com> tobey@einstein.eds.com (Christopher Tobey) writes:
|>Hello everyone
|>
|>I was wondering if anyone knows of an ftp site that would have
|>a program which would allow me to display graphic images in the
|>background of windows other than .bmp?  

There is a shareware program called GIFVIEW that will convert between GIF,
BMP, and RLE files.  Get a .GIF that you want and convert it to .BMP and
you are set.  I think it is stored somewhere as WINGIF.ZIP.

|>Another nice feature
|>would be to have it break microsoft's 16 color barrier.  Specific-
|>ally I was thinking of displaying gif images in the background.
|>I have a gif2bmp program; however it doesn't seem to keep the same
|>color palette.  In fact I think it converts everything to a 16 color
|>palette.

You need a 256 color driver for Windows.  If you have a Video-7, Tseng
Labs, or PAradise card then you shouldn't have a problem finding drivers.
I run my Paradise in 640x400x256 (slow as hell, though).

Brian

iam@stiatl.salestech.com (Ian Mercado) (02/28/91)

Sounds to me like you need WINGIF.ZIP, the ONLY GIF viewer you'll need for
Windows (for now, anyway).  It will display GIFs and save them back out as
BMPs if you desire without any loss of resolution or color whatsoever.  You
can also do a few other things such as stretching and clipping and mirroring
the image before saving it.  It's what I used to get a nice 1024x768x256
picture of a lighthouse next to a frozen coastline for my background.

Check your local BBS or FTP site for more details.  It's quite nice and it's
also quite shareware.

Ian

-- 
--------   ----   ----   --    |   Ian Mercado: iam@stiatl.salestech.com      |
   --     -    -  -----  --    |                emory!stiatl!iam              |
   --    -------- --  -----    |                                              |
-------- --    -- --   ----    |   "Can't keep my mind from the circling sky" |