Double Height Monitor Emulator/Utility/Public Domain
From: Carlos Borges (carlos@garfield.cs.mun.ca)
Date: 07/04/91-02:09:32 PM Z
From: Carlos Borges <carlos@garfield.cs.mun.ca>
Subject: Double Height Monitor Emulator/Utility/Public Domain
Date: Thu Jul 4 14:09:32 1991
Double-Height Monitor Emulator Review
Written by Miguel Borges (an630)
16/32-bit Support Team Member
Lars-Erik 0sterud has been a very consistant ST
programmer. It seems he writes another neat program every
week. Some of his earlier projects, such as minibbs,
miniterm, and a virus protector, are quality shareware
programs.
His new release, a "double-height" monitor emulator for
the STe, is another useful program. The emulator doubles the
resolution height of the normal screen. On a monochrome
monitor, the resolution becomes 640X800 instead of 640X400.
The same program will work with a colour monitor, giving you
the resolution of 640X400 as opposed to 640X200 in medium
resolution. It works in low resolution as well.
Although the idea of a "large-screen" emulator isn't
exactly new, Lars-Erik's program is a fresh aproach to
software monitor emulation. This auto folder program works
on both colour and monochrome systems, sensing the monitor
type and resolution on boot-up.
To install a conventional smooth scrolling virtual
screen, you hold the right shift key while booting. When the
desktop appears, you are looking at half of the screen. When
the mouse pointer approaches the top or bottom of the screen,
the display will scroll in the appropriate direction. I
assume Lars-Erik used hardware scrolling on the STe, since
the scrolling is very smooth. In this respect, this program
is much like monSTEr.
Where Lars-Erik's program differs from the traditional
emulators I've seen, however, is when you hold the left shift
key while booting. Instead of the scrolling screen, a
condensed software interlace is used to accomplish
"double-height". The one draw-back with this feature,
however, is the resulting screen flicker. I found this to be
quite unbearable on a colour monitor (like an Amiga!). On a
monochrome monitor, though, adjusting the brightness and
contrast practically eliminates the entire flicker. If
you're like me, and use your computer late at night, you
would have your brightness turned down anyway.
The software overscan in monochrome is this program's
real strength. I works with most intelligent GEM
applications, although it only uses half of the screen with
TOS programs. It works great with Timeworks Desktop
Publisher.
The program is meant for the STe, MEGA STe, and the TT.
I've only tested it on a 1040STe.
A small text file explaining the program's features and a
few precautions (such as auto folder program order), is also
included in the distribution archive.
In closing, I would recommend Lar's-Erik 0sterud's Double
Screen-Height emulator for anyone who sometimes wants to see
more information on the screen. It is great for Desktop
Publishing, and is certainly cheaper than larger monitor. If
you've been using monSTEr, I'd recommend switching.
You can get the program via anonymous ftp at
atari.archive.umich.edu (filename: double.lzh). If you don't
have ftp access, you can e-mail me
(an630@cleveland.freenet.edu), and I'll be happy to send you
a uuencoded copy.
-----------------------------------------
Return to message index
