Latest news on the BlowUP030 software Rev 1.6

The screen-saver

The screen-saver may eiter be turned on for the individual color-depth from
within BLOWCONF.PRG (button SAVER; remember to assign an activation-time and to
save it) or directly from BLOWACC.PRG/ACC where you can only switch it on/off.
If no time has been set, switching on from BLOWACC.PRG/ACC will result in the
default of 5 minutes (300sec).

Feautures:

1.Moving the mouse to the left margin causes the saver to be activated
immediately (about 2 sec)

2.Depending on the color-depth and the pixel-clock (see BLOWCONF) used your
Falcon will be accelerated up to 70% when the saver is active. This is very
useful in longlasting calculations you don't have to watch all the time. The
V-Blanks are simulated - this might cause problems with timing- and hardware-
dependent programms.

3.If you have booted with BLOWBOOT.PRG in the AUTO-folder, the parameters
saved from BLOWCONF are also transfered to the resident driver. This enables
you to use your new resolution immediately (without resetting) by switching
from the DESKTOP (Screen-type...)

4.The possibilities for the TV-mode have been improved:
- live-configuration is possible now
- the pixel-clock is fixed to 32MHz (actually 16MHz resulting from pixel-
dubbeling); higher pixel-clock isn't useful as very good VCRs only have a
4MHz clock to determine their resolution.
- The X-resolution-setting automatically adjusts the left and right margin.
It is possible to change these values but might cause color-bands at the
right margin.
- The Y-resolution-setting is like in all the other modes. As modern TV-sets
can synchronize automatically to vertical frequencies from 50Hz (PAL, 312
lines) to 60Hz (NTSC, 262 lines) the settings are not limited by BLOWCONF.
- 2/4-color-modes have the same restrictions as in VGA-mode
- The often wanted resolution of 768*576 (OVERSCAN-mode - no margins) is
available as a standard-configuration (LOAD CONF button).

5.The MS1/MS2 mode:
MS1: multiscan syncronizing from 15 to 38 kHz (e.g. NEC 3D)
MS2: " " from 30 to 50 or more kHz (nearly all multiscans
sold at present)


Troubleshooting:

+ The serial-No for the installation can be found on the disk-label
(Hi Bernhard K.!)

+ If your Falcon crashes on boot-time (white screen, some pixel flickering in
the lower part) the order of the programms in the AUTO-folder is not correct.
This may be tested by selecting 'unsorted' from the DESKTOP-menu 'INDEX'.
To correct it name your old AUTO-folder to AUTOX, create a new one and 'move'
your programms (holding CTRL) in the right order into the new one (NVDI,
MiNT, SPDGDOS and BLOWBOOT)

Remember: BLOWUP is LAST (but not least) in your AUTO-folder!

If this does not help you have to find out the troble-maker by deactivating
all accessories (except XCONTROL) and programms from the AUTO-folder (except
NVDI/MiNT/BLOWBOOT) [e.g. by renaming the to ACX or PRX] and to activate the
again one-by-one.
If the system crashes again the last programm reactivated causes the trouble.
Please let us know this - and will examine your programm-constellation and try
to fix the situation.
The utility MORTIMER may cause such problems in 256-colors and increased
resolutions like resident RAM-disks do. This is caused by these programms
because they do not expect that the memory neede for the screen can increase
when the DESKTOP asks BLOWUP to change it.

+ If the DESKTOP crashes on displaying a text, it is very probable that the
Y-resolution is not devideable by 16 (not in interlaced-mode). Please
correct your resolution from BLOWCONF. The problem is caused by the TOS's
problem with 'half'-textlines.

+ If you always get the message 'The frequencies of this setting cannot be
used on your monitor ' and you are using a multiscan - you have to switch to
MS1/2-mode in BLOWCONF. You'd better do this immediately after starting
BLOWCONF.

+ In LIVE-configuration it is normal that on icreasing the resolution the part
with the BLOWCONF-menue gets smaller and smaller and that the new parts of
the screen apearing on the right and bottom of the screen cantain pixel-
rubbish (GEM does not yet know of this part of the screen).

+ If you get a thin bright line at the right margin in certain resolutions you
might move this line out of the screen with the HSYNC-slider.

+ If the screen gets small when you increase the resolution (the black margins
get wider) compare the max. vertical frequency your monitor is able to
display with the frequency displayed in BLOWCONF. If the later one is higher
your monitor crunches the screen. Try to
-increase the Y-resolution or
-increase the left and/or right margin
-lower the pixel-clock (only Hard II)
If the frequency is in the range of your monitor use it's buttons to adjust
the screen-size.

+ It's not always possible to center the screen exactly with the HSYNC-slider.
Use the buttons on your monitor to correct it.

+ It's easier to configure TC-resolutions this way:
Set your new resolution in 256-color-mode (e.g. 880*480) select the TC-button.
You will see that the X-resolution gets devided by two (= 440*480). Now you
can save it.