> On Aug 6, 2023, at 5:48 PM, Mateusz Viste via Freedos-user > <freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote: > > On 8/6/23 23:34, Ralf Quint via Freedos-user wrote: >> DOS is using *text *mode, you just can't select a*graphics *mode and expect >> to get text output in that mode. > > BIOS text output functions still work in most graphic modes, hence having a > DOS shell running in graphic mode is nothing unusual. Of course problems may > arise for text applications that make assumptions about the terminal size or > that write directly to VRAM without re-setting a proper text mode.
Generally even with text support by the BIOS in graphics mode, they do not work well for the command line prompt. Often, there is a lack of text cursor, no scroll support or just very slow rendering. > >> And btw, 80x25 character text mode in fact is technically a 640x480 "VGA >> mode" > > It's 720x400. Yep. 9x16 VGA font, 720x400. However, that 9th bit is just a little bit odd (puns intended). 8x16 VGA font 640x400. It’s been a while. But if I recall correctly, I think there were some VGA tricks that could be done to get 480 raster lines in text mode. Kind of like mode X. But, I don’t recall if anything that actually did that for text mode. For some reason, I keep thinking about having an 80x30 text mode available. But, that could just be 80x28 (8x14 EGA font loaded on VGA hardware). There were a lot of such “tricks” that could be done with real VGA hardware. Stuff like smooth scrolling in text mode. All part of the VGA specs. Few of which are supported by Virtual Machines like VirtualBox. :-) Jerome _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
