Advance Projects - AdvanceCAB Video Windows Utility Documentation

Documentation of the AdvanceCAB videow utility.

AdvanceCAB Video Control For Windows 2000/XP

1 Synopsis

videow [/s XxYxBITS] [/a] [/o] [/e] [/d] [/c FILE] [/p]
    [/n SIZE] [/m]

2 Description

The `videow' utility can be used to control the video output of the PC in Windows NT/2000/XP.

It requires the `svgawin' driver installed and running.

The modelines are read from the file `videow.rc'. The format of this configuration file is specified in the document `advv.txt'.

These are some example rc files:

ntsc.rc NTSC TV.

pal.rc PAL TV.

standard.rc Arcade Standard Resolution (15 kHz).

medium.rc Arcade Medium Resolution (25 kHz).

extended.rc Arcade Extended Resolution (16.5 kHz).

pcvga.rc VGA PC Monitor.

pcsvga60.rc SVGA PC Multisync Monitor.

3 Options

/s XxYxBITS

Set an arbitrary video mode using the first modeline with the correct size found in the config file. You can specify only resolutions already supported by Windows. You cannot create new resolutions.

Adjust the current video mode using the first modeline with the correct size found in the config file.

Set the original Windows mode. Use this option if the screen become unreadable.

Disable the hardware video signal.

Enable the hardware video signal.

/c CONFIG

Use an arbitrary configuration file instead of the standard `videow.rc' file.

Print some info of the video board.

/n SIZE

Set the length of the scanline in bytes. The program automatically select the smallest scanline size.

Enable the use of the hardware mouse pointer.

4 Cards

The program supports all the `svgawin' drivers listed in the `cardwin.txt' file.

You can force the use of a specific driver using the `device_video' option in the configuration file.

The available drivers are :

svgawin/auto Auto detection.

svgawin/nv3 nVidia Riva/GeForce.

svgawin/trident Trident.

svgawin/rendition Rendition.

svgawin/g400 Matrox Mystique/G100/G200/G400/G450.

svgawin/pm2 Permedia 2.

svgawin/savage S3 Savage.

svgawin/millenium Matrox Millennium/Millenium II.

svgawin/r128 ATI Rage 128/Radeon.

svgawin/banshee 3dfx Voodoo Banshee/3/4/5.

svgawin/sis SIS.

svgawin/i740 Intel i740.

svgawin/laguna Cirrus Logic Laguna 5462/5464/5465.

svgawin/rage ATI Rage.

svgawin/mx MX.

svgawin/et6000 ET6000.

svgawin/s3 S3.

svgawin/ark ARK.

svgawin/apm APM.

5 Limitations

The program can only set the resolutions originally supported by Windows. It cannot create new resolutions.
If the video board or the video driver doesn't support interlaced modes, these modes are simulated skipping every odd row. It doesn't look very good.
The program doesn't stay resident, any successive mode change will reset the original video mode.

6 Troubleshooting

If the mouse pointer disappears try to reenable it with the /m option.

If the screen image is stable but garbled it's probably because the Windows video driver uses a not standard scanline size. Try to guess it with the /n option. You should start with the resolution width multiplied by the bytes per pixel. Then, increase this value until the screen become readable. Generally the correct value is multiplier of 2^n where n may vary from 1 to 8.

Try decreasing the video hardware acceleration.

7 Tests

Windows 2000 with a GeForce 2 board

8 Examples

Set a 640x480 mode with 16 bits per pixel:

videow /s 640x480x16

Adjust the current mode:

videow /a

9 Bugs

The configuration file is checked only for the `device_video_modeline' and `device_video' options. All the other options are ignored.