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[Day Brown <daybrown AT hypertech.net>]

I dunno, it may depend on the distro...
BL is obviously easier since it is launched from text mode.

But I have a dos text mode presentation, an ongoing work of art, which
changes the dos text mode from the standard 25x80 to 50x80 and on
occassion, to 25x40. Using the 16color modes, sometimes going to 25x40,
just as some dos text mode games did for special announcements.

Works fine in the win 9x dos mode. I'm trying to understand what would
be needed for a Linux newbie. COREL Linux comes with dosemu under
applications, but you only get the typical small window, no full screen.

Which is part of where I am coming from. The game programmers expected
to be able to get the entire screen without the distractions of the GUI
toolbars and whatnot. Likewise, in dos, I include some jpgs of the
landscape, sometimes with text overlaid, and unless the image has the
whole screen, it might be unreadable. 

Other distros I've seen didnt seemta have dosemu, and when I downloaded
a copy I was unable to get it installed properly. Seems like I've seen
posts where others have the same problem. Which is no problem with BL,
since you always have the dos prompt to start with. Since the
presentation tools could have extensive storylines, I dont think folks
would mind a reboot to get started, but if there is no way to shift text
modes in dosemu authors should be warned.

c:\mode /?
at the COREL dos prompt gets 'bad command...'

>From an artistic standpoint, the BL or dos text mode has some appeal to
the composer because the limitations mean that everyone will see exactly
the same thing. Html dynamically adapts to whatever window size, font
size, and even color varies a lot more. Which is less of an issue if
there are only 16 colors, the same 16 seen in CMOS.

I've seen some distros that would give me the alt-F1 terminal all right,
but then not let me back to xwin; Lotsa newbies dont know 'shutdown -h
now'. Anything wrong with just using 'halt' besides having to turn off
the computer manually?

I've also toyed with the idea of changing the font during the
presentations...., easy in dos.

James Miller wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 1 Jul 2003 qwms-avib AT dea.spamcon.org wrote:
> 
> > Day Brown wrote:
> > >
> > > But in Linux, if you want the 50 lines, you havta be root.
> >
> > Why do you keep saying this?  It has nothing to do with root.
> > You can specify 50 lines as a loadlin parameter in BOOT.BAT.
> >
> I guess maybe he's talking about changing the display mode from the
> command line (can that be done in DOS? I just don't know - never tried
> it).  In any case, Day does need to be aware that, as Steven has said, the
> display mode can be changed at boot time by anyone - from the most
> seasoned sysadmin to the newest newbie.  All one has to do (and since this
> is done in DOS there's also no concern about priviledges) is add the line
> vga=ask to the .bat file that calls loadlin to boot BL.  Once you do that,
> you are presented with a menu of modes on the next boot - again,
> regardless of whether you're a sysadmin with every conceivable priviledge
> known to Linux computing, or just someone who knows how to read a menu and
> press a key on the keyboard.  I wasn't sure whether 80x50 was one of the
> modes in the menu (I only recently added the vga=ask line to my .bat
> loader, so I don't recall all the details), but from what Steven is
> saying, I'm guessing that it is one of the choices.  Once you select your
> choice of mode, all terminals or consoles will appear with that mode.  To
> me, this means that starting dosemu within one of those terminals/consoles
> is going to give DOS the same screen mode.  Now, would that suffice for
> your purposes, Day?  The only potential glitch I see is if Day wants to
> run all but the dosemu terminal in some other mode - say 80x25: I don't
> see why he would, but it is a possibility.  In that case talking
> about changing the screen mode from the command line and possible
> permissions problems may be relevant.  Another possible glitch
> is running an xterminal: does the mode selected at boot time apply to
> xterminals?  The recent post about dosemu's usefulness seemed to be
> premised on running dosemu in an xterminal, so the question may be
> relevant.  If you do not plan on running X and wanting dosemu running
> under it, Day, I think the vga=ask solution is probably the one you're
> looking for (assuming you're really intending to try out BL and dosemu and
> you're not just trying to use this forum as a venue for expatiating
> Linux's [real or perceived] shortcomings).  If you intend on running X and
> dosemu in an xterminal under it, I'd suggest you ask for feedback on
> whether xterminals inherit their mode from the mode selection at boot
> time.  That could turn the discussion in a productive direction.
> 
> James
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