Grx February 2001

grx@gnu.de

12 participants
20 discussions

Wish list & ram4 & Win32
by Josu Onandia 14 Feb '01

14 Feb '01

Hi everybody, - For the wish list: A more compact representation of fixed-width fonts. A font definition has a pointer for every character. If the characters have a fixed with, and are contiguous, the pointer table is a waste. And as I have a font with nearly 20,000 characters, then I'm simply not allowed to have 20,000x4 bytes of wasted space. I use a font representation without pointer table, wich I could submit if you find it useful. - I'm started using the Win32 driver from Peter Gerwinski. I'm very pleased with it (thanks Peter). But I'm having some problems with the colors: when I do a bitblt from the screen to memory and then back to screen some colors are lost. Perhaps it's a problem with the palette, I don't know, I'm working on it right now. - The frame driver I've written (I call it ram4n, for 'non-planar') is not an improvement over the standard ram4 driver. Both of them use 4 bits to represent a pixel, but they are different in the physical organization of those 4 bits. -The standard driver has 4 planes (R G B and bright, if I'm not wrong), and a pixel has one bit in each of the planes. For example, to know a pixel's color, you have to read one byte for plane, pick the bit you are interested in, and then reassemble the 4 bits in a GrColor variable. This is a very nonintuitive and slow way of manipulating pixels. It's advantage is that tha VGA hardware is structured that way, and then pixel manipulation becomes very quick (for a video context, not for an in-memory context). - My ram4n driver has only one plane, and the 4 bits of a pixel are contiguous, that is, in every byte there are 2 pixels. To manipulate a pixel you read a byte, change the upper or lower 4 bits, and write it back to memory. Although this organization is unusual in PCs, I've seen it in other graphics systems that are not VGA. In fact I use it in a PowerPC 823. And that's all. Sorry for the verbosity :-) Greetings, Josu

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Wish list
by Mariano Alvarez Fernandez 14 Feb '01

14 Feb '01

Hi. I want to make a GRX wish list for future releases, here are the mines: New targets: - Win32 (I'm working on this) - DirectX (on Windows) - Frame buffer (on Linux) Docs: - Reference guide. - Frame/Video driver desingn. - Font drivers internals. Other: - Driverized input (so Linux targets could be merged) - Better fonts. - Free repacement for bgi fonts. Please add your wishes, or if you can, pick one. Greetings, M.Alvarez

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Announce GRX 2.3.4
by Mariano Alvarez Fernandez 13 Feb '01

13 Feb '01

Hi all: This mail to announce GRX 2.3.4 final release. Only few changes from the 2.3.4 pre-release: - fixed some errors in user's guide. - updated readme file. Please Peter, if you want put 2.3.4 in the GRX home site. Download: For linux/unix and general use (files without CR LF): http://www.terra.es/personal/malfer/zipfiles/grx234.tar.gz For DJGPP users (files with CR LF and manifests files): http://www.terra.es/personal/malfer/zipfiles/grx234s.zip Enjoy, M.Alvarez

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Announce: GRX 2.3.4
by Mariano Alvarez Fernandez 13 Feb '01

13 Feb '01

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help: failed to compile grx2.3
by Krist 12 Feb '01

12 Feb '01

hello all, when i compiled grx2.3, using DJGPP v2.01 under win95, i got some errors: file: utils/shiftscl.c gcc complained the inline assembly codes have some errors. anyone else has encountered with that similar error? thanks for your help! Best regards, Krist

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bcc2grx and 32 bits color modes
by Mariano Alvarez Fernandez 10 Feb '01

10 Feb '01

I have finally found why the bccbgi demo program didn't work for me on X11, my X server was in 32 bits color mode. Putting it in 24 bit solved the problem. So it seems that bgi programs don't work in 32 bits color modes, grx ones work without problems.

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Re: Announce: GRX 2.3.4 pre-release
by Mariano Alvarez Fernandez 08 Feb '01

08 Feb '01

Hi Waldemar. > I think there are two minor inconsistencies in the doc: > > 1) > Setting video modes > > Before a program can do any graphics drawing it has to configure the graphics > driver for the desired graphics mode. It is done with the GrSetMode function as > follows: > > ==>void GrSetMode(int which,...); > > I think the above line should read > int GrSetMode(int which,...); > > returning non zero (TRUE) on success. > OK, thanks. > > 2) > Graphics cursors > > The library provides support for the creation and usage of an unlimited number > of graphics cursors. An application can use these cursors for any purpose. > Cursors > always save the area they occupy before they are drawn. When moved or erased > they restore this area. As a general rule of thumb, an application should erase > a cursor > before making changes to an area it occupies and redraw the cursor after > finishing the drawing. Cursors are created with the GrBuildCursor function: > > ==>GrCursor *GrBuildCursor(char far *pixels,int pitch,int w,int h, > int xo,int yo,GrColorTableP c); > ==>GrCursor *GrBuildCursor(char *data,int w,int h,int xo,int yo,GrColorTableP > c); > > I think one of the above two lines is obsolete or has a typo in it ? > Thanks again, I forgot to delete the second one. > > BTW, do you know why that line in src/bgi/clrdev.c is commented out ? > > void __gr_cleardevice(void) { > _DO_INIT_CHECK; > GrResetClipBox(); > GrFilledBox( 0, 0+PY, getmaxx(), getmaxy()+PY, BLACK); > __gr_Reset_ClipBox(); > ==>/* GrClearScreen(__gr_colorbg); */ > moveto( 0, 0); > } I don't know. Perhaps GrFilledBox do the work faster. Harmuth, are you there?

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RE: Announce: GRX 2.3.4 pre-release
by Josu Onandia 08 Feb '01

08 Feb '01

Hi Mariano, I have just developed a frame driver for packed 4 bits per pixel mode. That is, 2 pixels packed in each byte. I supose this mode is not very useful in PC platforms. I use it in an embedded system. If anyone is interested, I would be glad to submit it, but if it's not the case, why bother in maintaining and distributing it? About the Win32 target, I'm very interested. A year ago Peter Gerwinski informed that he had a beta version. I wonder what happened with this project. Josu Onandia > -----Mensaje original----- > De: Mariano Alvarez Fernandez [SMTP:malfer@teleline.es] > Enviado el: miércoles 7 de febrero de 2001 0:26 > Para: GRX > Asunto: Announce: GRX 2.3.4 pre-release > > Hi, all: > > Announce GRX 2.3.4 pre-release. > > Main changes: > > - user's guide updated again. > - ctx2pnm included. > - new grxdemo.c and pnmtest.c test programs. > - test programs changed a little, to remove warnings and to use GRX > keyborad interface when possible. > - pascal subdirectory update (contributed by Eike Lange). > - Win32 target (see bellow). > - user's guide ported to info format (contributed by Vicente Fuentes > Gea) > > This is a pre-release, I have checked the library on DJGPPv2, > Mingw32, Linux svgalib and Linux X11. (On X11, the bgi demos don't work, > I don't know why). > > It will be nice if borland, wattcom and pascal users can check the > makefiles. > > Is there any DJGPPv1 user? If not, I will want to remove support for > it in future releases, I think it doesn't make sense. > > About the new Win32 target. Yes, here is it, but not, I don't have > (yet) a windows driver. Grx compiles OK using Mingw32 (except the print > addon), but with the memory driver only (you can check it using the > memtest.c program). > > I wil wait a week or two to release the final version. > > Download: > > http://www.terra.es/personal/malfer/zipfiles/grx234.tgz > > Greetings, M.Alvarez > >

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Announce: GRX 2.3.4 pre-release
by Mariano Alvarez Fernandez 06 Feb '01

06 Feb '01

Hi, all: Announce GRX 2.3.4 pre-release. Main changes: - user's guide updated again. - ctx2pnm included. - new grxdemo.c and pnmtest.c test programs. - test programs changed a little, to remove warnings and to use GRX keyborad interface when possible. - pascal subdirectory update (contributed by Eike Lange). - Win32 target (see bellow). - user's guide ported to info format (contributed by Vicente Fuentes Gea) This is a pre-release, I have checked the library on DJGPPv2, Mingw32, Linux svgalib and Linux X11. (On X11, the bgi demos don't work, I don't know why). It will be nice if borland, wattcom and pascal users can check the makefiles. Is there any DJGPPv1 user? If not, I will want to remove support for it in future releases, I think it doesn't make sense. About the new Win32 target. Yes, here is it, but not, I don't have (yet) a windows driver. Grx compiles OK using Mingw32 (except the print addon), but with the memory driver only (you can check it using the memtest.c program). I wil wait a week or two to release the final version. Download: http://www.terra.es/personal/malfer/zipfiles/grx234.tgz Greetings, M.Alvarez

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Announce: GRX 2.3.3
by Mariano Alvarez Fernandez 01 Feb '01

01 Feb '01

Hi! I have pakaged a new GRX release, these are the changes: - Applied the last patch from Andris Pavenis. - Added the updated GRX user's guide. - BGI test programs moved to test/bgi. - bgi fonts removed, sorry. - And the big one. Modified the head sources (BCC2GRX included) to point to copying.grx instead doc/copying.cb. Note that the license has not changed. The modification is only to clarify it and to integrate BCC2GRX . Testing. I have tested the library on DJGPPv2, linux svgalib and linux X11. The bgidemo doesn't work on X11. People who can test other plattforms are welcome. Future plans. I will wait a month or so. If no GRX authors disagree with the big change I will release 2.3.4 with some changes on the test programs and adding my ctx2pnm routines (and any other changes people can submit). I want 2.3.4 to be the next official GRX release, so Peter can put it in the GRX main page if he wants, and I can package it for the DJGPP simtel library. Download. http://www.terra.es/personal/malfer/zipfiles/grx233.tgz Greetings, M.Alvarez P.D. I know, my english is terrific, sorry.

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Grx February 2001