From: ab588@yfn.ysu.edu (joseph sabatino)
Subject: Re: CGS and all that good stuff...
Organization: Youngstown State University/Youngstown Free-Net
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 06:18:34 GMT


`}
 
Hi Bill, remember me? I think you called my board once or twice. 
anyways, your message on the net was sent to me for a personal reply.
 
     First of all, I'm sorry that you didn't like using the CGS handler. I 
spent alot of time and effort into it, trying to do two things. First, 
to establish some kind of graphic standard for XL/E computers. The 
second thing was to provide a handler which works with the BEST term 
program ever written for these machines. From the many users that 
choose CGS mode on my bbs, and from the many Oasis, Pro!, and Carina 
sysops who download and use the CGS bbs modules, I guess it has made 
telecom more enjoyable for more than a few people.
 
     If you think setting up CGS is a pain, try installing some drivers (by 
hand) on an IBM system. Without an auto-install program, it can take 
several hours, or even days.
 
     The CGS handler can work with any decent dos that allows normal 
alpha numeric characters for filenames. If you are using a version 
of MyDos that doesn't support this, then I suggest that you switch to 
Sparta 3.2d.
 
     There are now 20 official CGS fonts, with several more recently 
submitted for inclusion on the official CGS font assignment list. 
These fonts have been sent in from all around the world. Just this week, 
I assisted a sysop in Amsterdam Holland in getting his bbs to support 
CGS. CGS boards are poping up all around the world. But anyways, the 
CGS font system is very flexible, allowing up to 99 fonts to be 
installed at any one time. This ammounts to 101,376 bytes of font 
data! Granted, I doubt that any bbs will ever require THAT many fonts to 
be online at any one time. But most will have anywhere between five thru 
a dozen. 
 
     CGS is much more than just fonts. It also includes colors and 
graphics. The fonts are just the easiest and quickest to use. 
 
     One of the main reasons why the CGS handler doesn't exclusivly draw 
text to a graphics screen, is because such a system couldn't keep up with 
9600 baud. If it can't handle 9600, I'm not interested in it. BobTerm/CGS 
can easily handle 9600 baud.
 
     The fonts don't HAVE to be in a ramdisk. They can also be placed on a 
hard drive. The reason why they cannot be placed on a normal floppy 
disk is because they are too slow. Another reason is because of 
something called concurrent i/o. Simply put, if you have concurrent 
mode enabled for a modem, and try any i/o to a normal floppy drive, you 
will crash the operating system. Period.
 
     I'm starting to compile a list of boards that support CGS. Here's a 
couple you might try.
 
 
Message # 02
Title CGS boards
From  dave scott
To    Tom Hunt
Time   2:39:00am
Date  Sun  2-Feb-92
 
..........A bit further and Thanks
Tom for allowing us to be Dl'd here..
The Spirit Accects Articals from all
8-bit users.... So ya got something
you want to share? Let Tom know. I
call often and will pick them up from
Tom if he don't mind! and get ya all
published asap!   
                    Dave Scott
                    Coach Dave
                   Desert Illusion
BBS
            1-519-457-3998
And Before anyone asks Yes I am a
coach I coach Football in the
cityleague as a Defencive
Co-ordinator... And yes we won
Last year!!!! hahaha..
 
 
Message # 03
Title Maniac Haven BBS
From  Mr.Maniac
To    All
Time  12:54:00pm
Date  Sun  9-Feb-92
 
 
   Carina 2.4X plus software! running
24 hours at 3/12/2400 baud! 60 Megs
of online storage! Soon to have CGS
support!
 
      M a n i a c   H a v e n
                B B S
 
  707-447-9668
 
     Or better yet, call the CGS support bbs, at 419-368-4413. The 
whole board is set up for CGS. But you'll find the online hi-res demos, 
and the current versions of the files, under the Z function from the 
main menu. Perhaps the best demo is the game demo. You use 
control-cursor-up/down/left/right to move your little man around multiple 
screens. It's graphics are kind of like Ultima or Phantasie. BTW, the 
cgs handler is up to version .093 now. The board is sending out CGS 
.093 control codes, so if your handler is an earlier version, you'll 
get control codes on your screen.
 
     Feel free to try and give XL/E users a better system, using QUICK, 
Action!, AVUE PATHER, or any other language. Both BobTerm and the CGS 
handler were written in 100% assembly language. If you try and duplicate a 
2.5k CGS handler in Action!, you'd probably end up with a 13k module. 
And then you'd have to add a special high-speed screen handler of 
somekind, and don't forget the file xfer protocals, etc.
-- 
Joe Sabatino-->ab588@yfn.ysu.edu
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