Check VGA 0.4 VGA BIOS Scanner
==============================

General
-------

This prograg scans the first 500 bytes of VGA BIOS for any given text
string. If the string is found, the internal DOS Errorlevel variable is
set to 1, if the string is not found, the Errorlevel is set to 0. You
can test the value of this variable in a batch file.

There are several video chip manufacturers and even one usually produces
multiple VGA chips, which all need different setup files and drivers.
Identifying the chip is not easy, but this program can provide at least
a good guess, and what's more important, automatically in a batch file.

Usage
-----

checkvga -l

First check the text string you'll later want to search. For this
purpose the program recognizes -l (list) switch, which simply list the
interesting part of VGA BIOS (and then some to be sure) on screen. Look
for the manufacturer's name, but don't be fooled by "IBM". Some programs
expect to find these characters here, so they are in _every_ VGA BIOS.

Magic
-----

checkvga Tseng > nul
checkvga "Video Seven" > nul

Some known verified "Magic" words are:
Tseng, PARADISE, Video Seven, Video-7, TRIDENT, Sigma

If output disturbs you, you can redirect it into /dev/nul

Status of program
-----------------

I wrote this program and declare it as Freeware. The idea I got from Dr.
Dobb's Journal #166 July 1990 article "SuperVGA Programming" by
Christopher A. Howard, when I was looking for information about how to
detect used video card. I just translated the video card specific idea
to C and for a user given text string. I have included the code of this
program, the code of that article can be found from the usual places eg.
SIMTEL20.

This program is Freeware, free to use and distribute. Enjoy!

References:	Dr.Dobb's Journal #166 July 1990
		SuperVGA Programming by Christopher A. Howard

--jouni

Jouni Miettunen * jon@stekt.oulu.fi * Oulu * Finland * Europe * 1993
