0kool wrote:Sorry for the delay, but the routine got the best of me.
Jo22 wrote:Hi, which graphics modes/systems do you think of ?
Do you mean the machine I want to try this with (just an average P54 with S3 VGA card and CRT), or how I want it to behave (believe I already answered the question, I'll take what I can get)?
Um, both, actually. The first one mainly, though. 😅
0kool wrote:
Jo22 wrote:For VGA, there's the possibility to switch to monochrome mode (bw). However, it may only work for programs using BIOS routines.
How could this be achieved? Can you give me a few examples of what might work?
VGA has a convert to grayscale feature built-in. It was used when a monochrome VGA monitor was connected.
If a PC is switched on, the VGA BIOS willl check if such a monitor is connected (there's a mono pin on the VGA connector).
So if a monochrome monitor is connected, or no monitor at all, the VGA BIOS will switch to monochrome mode.
Normally, if you attach a monitor later on, the graphics output will still be monochrome.
Well-behaved programs like Norton Commander or the utilities that come with DOS 5/6 will still be monochrome.
Certain games, too. Abouth everything that uses calls to the BIOS or the VGA BIOS.
However, programs with their own drivers (Windows 3.1) will ignore that and appear in full colour.
It's possible to trigger that "convert to grayscale" feature of VGA cards/the VGA BIOS from DOS by using a little utility.
Not sure how such a program is named, though. There used to be lots of little utilities from shareware sources or BBSes.
Edit: Not quite what you're looking for, but might be useful - SETMONO and SETCGA.
These little utilities are comparable to MODE command in later DOSes (MODE mono and MODE co80).
- I found them on my fathers disks. Quick tests showed that they work on VGA cards, too.
When running SETMONO, Norton Commander looses all colour. SETCGA brings it back.
So I guess it should work okay with text mode games, too. Just keep in mind that it may be intended for
switching between MDA/Hercules and CGA cards, rather than changing only colour.
Anyway, it seems to work for our purpose on VGA systems.. 😀
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