Hercules Graphics Station Card TIGA 2.0 Utilities Diskette README - Documentation Supplement March 1, 1991 - Release 1.20 This file contains changes or additions to the printed documentation. Contents: 1) VERSIONS.EXE - a utility to identify the TIGA and Windows driver release components installed on your system. 2) Using AutoShade v.2 with the Hercules Graphics Station Card 3) Updating the Windows 3.0 Drivers From Release 1.11 or 1.12 4) Usage Note for the Windows 3.0 Drivers 5) Known problems with the Windows 3.0 Driver 6) Reporting Bugs via the Hercules BBS 7) Revision History VERSIONS.EXE ------------ When there is an update to the TIGA and Windows driver software for the Hercules Graphics Station Card several files may have to be replaced. VERSIONS.EXE will display the version number and/or release date of various components of the Hercules supplied drivers. VERSIONS.EXE is provided so that Hercules technical support can quickly find out the revision levels of the software installed on your system in case you experience any difficulty. VERSIONS.EXE is copied into the system's TIGA directory by STATION. To use VERSIONS.EXE simply type VERSIONS [Enter] from the DOS prompt and follow the directions on screen. Conditions reported by VERSIONS.EXE: If the file date of the TIGA Graphics Manager and/or Communication Driver is preceded by the word "ERROR", this means that one or both of these components is not present in memory, or is not functioning properly. If the message "NOT SPECIFIED" appears, this means that a particular component was not specified in the Windows SYSTEM.INI file. For example, if your SYSTEM.INI file contains the line "display=tiga48.drv", (the driver that uses the high resolution font set) then the message "NOT SPECIFIED" will appear under the version for TIGA48LO.DRV. This is not necessarily an error since only one of the two files TIGA48.DRV and TIGA48LO.DRV needs to be present for proper operation. If the message "INSTALLED, BUT NOT IN SYS DIR" appears, this means that a particular component was specified in the Windows SYSTEM.INI file, but was not located in the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. If the word "EMMEXCLUDE" is not found in the WINDOWS\SYSTEM.INI file, within the [386Enh] section, or contains improper syntax (misspelling), a warning message will appear. Note: this program does not search for the correct address range excluded for the Graphics Station Card, it only looks for the keyword EMMEXCLUDE. Thus, a warning may apply to an EMMEXCLUDE statement syntax error pertaining to a device other than the Hercules Graphic Station Card. Using AutoShade v.2 with the Hercules Graphics Station Card ------------------------------------------------------------- HGSADI.EXP is a protected mode P386 ADI v4.0/4.1 combined rendering and display driver that in addition to supporting AutoCAD Release 10 and Release 11, supports AutoShade v.2. In display mode, HGSADI.EXP supports 256 colors at 640x480, 800x600, and 1024x768 as determined by the current TIGA mode (specified using the STATION.EXE utility). In rendering (frame buffer) mode the driver supports either 256 colors at the same resolutions as in display mode or it may be configured to operate in 512x480 24 bit-per-pixel mode. Driver Setup Follow the instructions below to prepare the driver for AutoShade v2.0: 1. Make sure the HGSADI.RLM file is in your TIGA directory. The file should have been copied into your system's TIGA directory by STATION.EXE. 2. Append the option -i0x60 to your TIGA environment variable in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. For example, a typical setup might look like this: set TIGA=-mc:\tiga -lc:\tiga -i0x60 This option redirects the host interrupt vector used by the TIGA communication driver to hex 60;the default is hex 7F. This is necessary because AutoShade is running under PharLap's 386|DOS-EXTENDER which, to avoid hardware interrupt conflict, redirects the IRQ0 - IRQ7 lines through interrupt 78h - 7Fh. Windows 3.0 and other TIGA applications will have no trouble with TIGA configured to this interrupt. Your particular system may use interrupt 0x60 for some other purpose. If this is the case, you will need to experiment with different interrupt vector locations (for instance 0x61) until you find an available interrupt for TIGACD. 3. Copy the HGSADI.EXP file from the \ACAD directory of the Hercules Graphics Station Card Utilities Diskette TIGA 2.0 version to the directory of your hard disk where you have installed the AutoShade files. If you are using AutoCAD Release 10 or Release 11 you may already have this file installed and configured for use with AutoCAD. In either case, add the following line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT or AutoShade start-up batch file: SET DSPADI=C:\PATH\HGSADI.EXP SET RDPADI=C:\PATH\HGSADI.EXP Where "C:\PATH" is substituted with the appropriate drive letter and path to your copy of the HGSADI.EXP driver. (If you are using HGSADI.EXP with both AutoShade and AutoCAD, you don't need to install multiple copies of the driver. AutoCAD will use the driver that is pointed to by the environment variable DSPADI which is set up when preparing the system for AutoShade. It is desirable to have only one copy of a driver present on your system since in the event of an update you don't have to keep track of multiple copies.) 4. If you have made changes to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, reboot your system so the changes take effect. 5. Now you may start AutoShade. If you have been running AutoShade with another type of display device, you should start AutoShade with the -r option to reconfigure the program. From the DOS prompt, type: SHADE -r [Enter] 6. When you reach the Select Display Device menu, choose "P386 Autodesk Device Interface display driver." A Hercules driver identification line will be displayed followed by two questions: Do you want dark vectors on a light background field? Answer "Y" if you want to work on a reverse-video screen, otherwise press [Enter] to accept the default No answer. Do you want to enable dual-screen mode? This question applies only to AutoCAD and should be ignored in the AutoShade configuration; press [Enter] to accept the default NO and continue. 7. Now you will be asked to select the rendering display device. Choose "P386 Autodesk Device Interface rendering driver." Again, a Hercules driver identification line appears and is followed by the questions: Do you want 24-bit rendering? If you answer yes, rendering will be done in 512x480 true color mode; otherwise the rendering will be done in 8-bit (256 color) mode at the same resolution as the display mode. Would you like to correct the rendering screen aspect ratio? If you are planning to render with 256 colors accept the default "No" answer since the aspect ratio of the rendering screen is 1/1. The 512x480 24-bit per pixel resolution does not yield square pixels so an image will appear stretched in the horizontal direction unless you adjust the aspect ratio. If you plan to render is 24-bit per pixel mode answer "Y" to this question and give the values "123" for the Pixel Width and "100" for the Pixel Height in response to the following two prompts: Pixel Width, 1 to 32766 <1>: Pixel Height, 1 to 32766 <1>: 8. Answer "Y" to the remaining three questions asked by the configuration prompts: Do the display and AutoShade rendering devices share a single screen? (default = NO): Y Do the display and Autodesk RenderMan rendering devices share a single screen? (default = NO): Y Does FLIP SCREEN require a redraw? (default = NO): Y 9. After the configuration is complete the AutoShade opening screen appears and you may start to use the program. It is not necessary to force a configuration (using the -r command line option) again unless you wish to change any of the configuration settings that you have just made. Updating the Windows 3.0 Drivers From Release 1.11 or 1.12 ---------------------------------------------------------- If you do not wish to go through the Windows SETUP program to get the new drivers onto your system, follow these steps for an easy update installation: 1. Run STATION from the new Release 1.20 diskette to copy the latest version of TIGACD.EXE and the WIN30.RLM file to your \TIGA directory, and then exit to DOS. 2. Copy the files from the \WIN30 directory of the Relase 1.20 diskette to the \SYSTEM directory of your Windows installation by typing the following: COPY A:\WIN30\*.* C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM Substitute the appropriate path if your Windows files are located in a directory named something other than \WINDOWS. That's all it takes. Usage Note for the Windows 3.0 Drivers --------------------------------------- When using the Microsoft Windows SETUP program to select the TIGA driver for use with the Hercules Graphics Station Card you are now presented with these two options: TIGA Color High Resolution and TIGA Color Medium Resolution. The only difference between these two drivers is the font resources that the driver employs. In the case of the High Resolution choice, SETUP will install the 8514 screen fonts. In the case of the Medium Resolution choice, SETUP uses the VGA screen fonts. Many users prefer to use the VGA screen fonts even at 1024x768 resolution because more data can be displayed on the screen. You may wish to experiment with both drivers to determine which you like best. Note that it is the setting of the TIGA resolution via STATION (640x480, 800x600, or 1024x768) that determines the resolution at which Windows will operate. The choice of the High or Medium Resolution Windows driver only defines what font resources are employed. If you are experimenting with the two TIGA Windows driver files it is necessary to erase the existing drivers before SETUP will copy the new drivers to your system. If you want to run SETUP to switch between the two drivers, make sure that you have deleted or renamed the following files in the \SYSTEM subdirectory of your Windows 3.0 directory: TIGA48.DRV TIGA48LO.DRV VDDTIGA.386 TIGA.GR3 After these files have been deleted or renamed you can successfully run SETUP again to select a different TIGA driver. Known Problems with the Windows 3.0 Driver ------------------------------------------ This is a list of known problems with the current Windows 3.0 TIGA driver for the Hercules Graphics Station Card. Both Texas Instruments and Hercules are aware of these deficiencies and are working to correct the problems in a future driver. 1) Problem: Printing from several applications to non-Postscript laser printers is broken. Symptoms include incomplete graphics printout from Corel Draw and PowerPoint and UAE's from Excel. Work-around: SuperPrint from Zenographics is a utility that replaces Microsoft's built-in Windows printer drivers. In addition to providing a solution to the bug in the TIGA driver, SuperPrint provides scalable on-the-fly screen and printer fonts and fast background printing. 2) Problem: There is no attempt to adjust the palette of background windows or desktop wallpaper for "best-fit" colors. The active or "in-focus" window owns the palette. Work-around: Don't use 256-color wallpaper images if this condition is bothersome. 3) Problem: Microsoft PowerPoint develops an Unrecoverable Application Error if the Slide Sorter is asked to display more slides than can be shown on a single screen. After this condition occurs the Windows environment is corrupted and must be terminated. Work-around: Don't use Slide Sorter, use Title Sorter instead. 4) Problem: In PowerPoint with Show Guides turned on from the Draw menu; grabbing one of the guides with the mouse and moving it causes a trail of black pixel "droppings" to be left behind the arrow. Work-around: None, the screen is cleared of the "droppings" when the image is updated as in changing the %view from the View menu. 5) Minature icons that are created when toggling between full-screen DOS applications and the Windows desktop using the Alt-ESC key sequence are sometimes corrupted. Work-around: None, the problem is cosmetic, not fatal. Reporting Bugs via the Hercules BBS ----------------------------------- If you discover a bug in a Hercules-supplied driver or program, we invite you to call our Technical Support BBS and use our automated bug reporting system. Information on connecting to the BBS is given in the Hercules Graphics Station Card Owner's Manual. Once you are connected, type "S" at the main menu and select script #1. Revision History: Hercules Graphics Station Card Utilities Diskette TIGA 2.0 Version ------------------------------------------------------------------- Release 1.20 - March 1, 1991 Fixed problems with the Windows driver's handling of windowed or full-screen DOS applications. Release 1.13bbs - February 15, 1991 (BBS release only) Fixed HGS3DS.EXP bug with Autodesk 3D Studio Keyframer. Modified HGS3DS.EXP so that it supports a configuration featuring a Weitek math co-processor only (no Intel math chip present). Included VERSIONS.EXE utility on Utilities Diskette. Documented (in the README file) the use of the HGSADI.EXP driver with AutoShade v2.0. Changed the OEMSETUP.INF file to describe the TIGA48.DRV driver as TIGA Color High Resolution and the TIGA48LO.DRV driver as TIGA Color Medium Resolution. No screen dimensions are listed as they had been previously. Release 1.12 - January 7, 1991 Fixed Windows 3.0 driver bug that prevented Arts & Letters from operating. Resolved Windows 3.0 driver incompatibility with Ami Professional. Resolved Windows 3.0 driver incompatibility with Adobe Type Manager. Updated HGSADI.EXP driver. Release 1.11 - December 17, 1990 Original production release of Hercules Graphics Station Card Utilities Diskette TIGA 2.0 Version ** End of File **