AFAIR the editor kept the video mode when launched, so you could set 80*43 on command line and then launch Turbo Pascal.

I didn't like 80*43 nor 80*50, because:
- They are graphic modes, and writing text was slow in my VGA.
- The text is very small and less readable.

If I were to use a non standard mode, I would use 80*28. It's very readable and still is a text mode, but the difference in lines is minimal.

The VGA card is able to produce the 43 line mode if you configure the text mode to use 350 lines instead of 400 lines. There is a BIOS call to downgrade text modes to 350 lines or 200 lines you can invoke before initializing mode 3. I'm unsure whether that call only works for the next mode set, or works until revoked. See http://www.ctyme.com/intr/rb-0167.htm (Interrupt 10h, AH=12h, BL=30h)

It's not true that the 80*43 or 80*50 modes implemented in the Borland IDEs is a graphics mode. Instead, these modes are normal text modes, replacing the 8x14 or 8x16 character set by an 8x8 character set.

Thank you mkarcher! That worked.

Zup, I didn't know that mode 80x28 existed.

Any idea how I can force editor to 80x28 mode?

(I assume it is done by loading ega font in vga mode 400/14=28.57=28, but how to achieve this?)

I am looking for a solution here, if you have an idea please let me know!
DOSBOX scaling question

Thanks guys!

The number of lines of text and the resolution determine the size of font. Changing the font won't affect the number of lines of text.

Update,

I use this to set 80x28 mode:

MOV AX,1111h
MOV BX,0000h
INT 10h

But once I start IDE it's back to 80x25.

Is there a more permanent method to set 80x28? (like mkarchers link did for 80x43)

debs3759 wrote on 2024-01-16, 08:06:

The number of lines of text and the resolution determine the size of font. Changing the font won't affect the number of lines of text.

That's only partially true. When you use INT 10h, AH=11h, you can optionally enable "text mode adjustment". If enabled, the BIOS will reprogram the character height and re-calculate the number of text lines on the screen. In that case, changing the font (to a font with a different height) does change the number of lines on the screen.

PlaneVuki wrote on 2024-01-16, 12:17:

Is there a more permanent method to set 80x28? (like mkarchers link did for 80x43)

I'm afraid there is not. The Borland IDEs insist on re-initializing the video mode. The recognize the *43 / *50 modes and also re-configure the font to 8x8 after setting mode 3, but this is not a generic solution to keep any exotic video mode configured.

mkarcher, understood.

(Thinking outside borland editor now)

So we can load characters of height 8, 14 and 16. Anything else?

Is it possible to load font with charac height 12 easy way?
(I imagine hard way could be to redraw smaller characs within 16high ones, then limit drawn charac height to 12? Not sure if this would allow more lines of text though, 33 lines)

(Also, is code I fount to initialize 80*28 correct?)

Can't the Borland IDE be patched?
If it sets certain things we don't want, a NOP could be inserted, maybe? 🤷‍♂️

PlaneVuki wrote on 2024-01-16, 15:40:

So we can load characters of height 8, 14 and 16. Anything else?

The BIOS contains built-in fonts of height 8, 14 and 16. The BIOS also allows to load custom fonts of any height between 1 and 32. I would refrain from heights one and two, because at 400 scanlines, this would produce 400 or 200 rows, which will likely break a lot of software that doesn't blindly assume 25 lines. There is a way (using the "video save table") to register a font that automatically gets loaded as soon as you initialize certain modes, which would allow to make fonts persistent over mode sets. I currently don't have the information at hand whether custom fonts loaded using the save table will be loaded with "row count adjustment", or whether the number of row in mode 3 stays at 25, even if the save table instructs to load a custom 8x8 font.

You should be able to find fonts between 8*6 and 8*20 floating around in the internet. Resources around the Linux tool "SVGATextMode" (if they still exist) might be a good start to get fonts of unusual dimensions. Some fonts are optimized for the 9-pixel character box of the native VGA text mode, whereas other fonts are optimized for 8-pixel character boxes.