mach8 Graphics Accelerator
	mach8 Graphics Accelerator Help
Welcome to the mach8 Graphics Accelerator help system.  If this is the first time you've installed a mach8 product, you may want to take a few minutes to review this system to familiarize yourself with the features and functions of the card.

The mach8 comes with the Flexdesk Control Panel, which allows you to adjust the colors and screen size you can use within WindowsTM.

When you're in a help topic, click on the icon in the title to return to a major section in the help system.


	FlexDesk+ Control Panel

This panel is used to configure your mach8 Graphics Accelerator for Windows.  To learn more about the FlexDesk, click on the window below, or see: Introduction.


Menu Bar

This bar displays the commands available on the control panel.  See Menu Bar  for more information.


Slider Controls

These controls let you adjust the appearance of colors, and your screen.  See Slider Controls  for more information.


Sample Monitor

This is a visual representation of the size of your screen and desktop.  It will change as you adjust the slider controls.  See Visual Guides  for more information.


Sample Palette

This is a visual representation of the colors available.  The display will change as you adjust the slider controls.  See Visual Guides  for more information.


Advanded Button
Advanced Button

This button accesses the Advanced Settings Control Panel.  See Advanced Settings  for more information.


Control Panel Buttons

These buttons let you exit the control panel and implement your changes.  See Control Panel Buttons  for more information.


Status Bar

This bar displays information on your current selection.


FlexDesk + Introduction
	Introduction

The FlexDesk+ Control Panel is used to configure your mach8 Graphics Accelerator for Windows.  It contains slider controls for setting the Color Depth, and Screen Resolution .

The changes you make in the FlexDesk+ Control Panel will come into effect immediately and will remain in effect in all subsequent Windows sessions.

You will only be able to select those Screen Resolutions which have been previously installed using the INSTALL Program.


FelxDesk+ Menu Bar
	Menu Bar
The FlexDesk+ Control Panel menu bar contains File, Features and Help sub-menus.

File Menu:

Command	Function
Open	Opens an existing Settings file.
Save	Saves the current settings to the active Settings file.
Save As	Saves the current settings to an alternate Settings file which you can rename.
Exit	Exits the FlexDesk+ control panel. To exit without saving, use the Cancel button or Esc.

Feature Menu:

Command	Function
Defaults	Restores all FlexDesk+ settings back to their factory defaults.
Advanced	Accesses the FlexDesk+ Advanced Settings panel.
Help Menu:

Command	Function
Contents	Accesses FlexDesk+ Control Panel help.
About	Displays product version information.

See also:

Working with Settings Files


FlexDesk+ Visual Guides
	Visual Guides

The Sample Color Palette and Sample Monitor provide visual feedback as you adjust the Colors, and Screen Size sliders.

Sample Color Palette

The Sample Color Palette approximates the available colors as you adjust the Colors slider.

Note: This dirver only supports 256 colors.

Sample Monitor

The Sample Monitor allows you to visualize your Screen Size slider selections using your current Windows desktop as a reference.  For example, when you increase your Screen Size, the sample monitor will grow and display more of your Windows desktop.


FlexDesk+ Control Panel Buttons
	Control Panel Buttons

These buttons let you exit the panel, and implement your changes.

OK

Accepts any changes to the settings, and exits. When you press OK on the FlexDesk+ Control Panel, the changes are saved to SYSTEM.INI, and to the settings file you were editing (if any) .

Cancel

Exits without saving changes.

Help

Brings up the FlexDesk+ Control Panel help.

Defaults

Selects default settings. This provides a convenient way to return to factory settings.


FlexDesk+ Slider Controls
	Slider Controls

At the bottom of the FlexDesk+ Control Panel, there are two sliders - Colors, and Screen Size. These sliders are used to adjust the display settings you wish to use.

The slider positions indicate the settings that will be in effect the next time you start Windows.  The current settings are indicated by the red tickmark on each slider.

As you move the sliders, you will notice that they may gray out at certain color/resolution settings.  This is because your selection is not possible in combination with the other sliders at their current settings.  If you release a slider while it is grayed out, the other sliders will 'snap' to positions that will allow your selection.  The availability of Screen Resolutions, and Color Depth depend on the capabilities of your graphics card.

Note: Since this driver only supports 256 colors, you can only select the 256 color option using the Colors slider.


FlexDesk+ Advanced Button
	Advanced Settings

The Advanced button in the FlexDesk+ control panel accesses the FlexDesk+ Advanced Settings panel shown below.  To learn more about this panel, click on the part of the window you want information on:

Note: Some features and options may be unavailable (appear grayed out), depending on the Screen Size and color selected in the Main Panel, or the combination of settings selected in the Advanced Panel.


FlexDesk+ Advanced - Environment
	Environment Settings

Use the Environment Check boxes to specify your display's Logical Dots Per Inch (LDPI).  These are logical, not physical dots.  The actual physical dots per inch will depend on your monitor's size and the selected resolution.

If you leave the Automatic checkbox checked, then this setting is chosen for you according to Screen Size: Small Font for 640x480 and 800x600, and Large Font for all other sizes.

If you find small fonts difficult to read, use Large Font or DTP settings, even at lower screen sizes.  Or, if you need to see more text on the screen at one time, use Small Font even at higher screen sizes.

Small Font - (96 LDPI, VGA Standard)

Large Font - (120LDPI, 8514 Standard)

DTP - (128 LDPI, Desktop Publishing)


Working with Settings Files

Settings Files are used to save a particular set of options for quick recall.  For example, if your favorite image editor works best in 16M color mode, but you usually work in 256 color mode, you could save two settings files: NORMAL.FLX, and IMAGE.FLX.  To switch between these settings, you would open the FlexDesk+ Control Panel.  Use File Open to open NORMAL.FLX or IMAGE.FLX, and then click the OK button for the changes to take effect.

Note: 	When you have no specific settings file opened, you are actually editing the settings in your SYSTEM.INI file.


	Glossary

C

Color Depth

Command Line

CTRL+Drag

D

Display Memory

G

Graphics Card

I

INSTALL Program

K

K

KB

L

Logical Dots Per Inch (LDPI)

M

M

MB

P

Pixel

S

Screen Resolution

Settings Files

Switches

SYSTEM.INI

W

Windows Restart


Color Depth
Color Depth / bpp

The number of colors that are available, or color depth, is determined by the number of bits associated with each pixel to represent its color. This is specified as the bits per pixel, or 'bpp' setting. Common values are:

8 bpp	gives 256 colors
16 bpp	gives 65K  colors
24 bpp	gives 16.7M  colors.


Command Line

Every program run under Windows has a 'command line'.  This consists of the full pathname of the program to be run, plus any parameters, such as the filename to edit, or any switches that the program understands.


CTRL+ Drag

This is a technique in Program Manager in which a program icon can be copied to make a new program icon.  Press the Ctrl key, then drag (click and hold) the icon to the desired new location, then release the mouse button.  The new icon will initially have all the same properties as the original icon.


Display Memory

The memory on your graphics card.  You may have 1MB  or 2MB of display memory.


Graphics Card

The card (or 'board') within your computer that controls your monitor.  Different cards have different capabilities.  Graphics accelerators specialize in speeding up graphical environments, such as Windows.


INSTALL Program

The mach8 INSTALL Program is included on Disk #1 of your mach8 installation disks.  Use INSTALL to perform the following tasks:

Install mach8 Utilities (including the INSTALL Program) onto your hard disk

Set monitor type and hardware parameters for optimized performance

Run diagnostics on your mach8 graphics card

Install enhanced display drivers

For more information on the INSTALL Program, refer to your mach8 User's Guide.


K

K = thousand


KB

KB = kilobyte (1,024 bytes)


Logical Dots Per Inch (LDPI)

Applications use Logical Dots Per Inch to calculate the size of objects that must be an exact physical size on the display.  For example, if an application needs to display a box one inch high, and the Logical Dots Per Inch is 120, then the box is drawn 120 pixel high.


M

M = million


MB

MB = megabyte ( 1,048,576 bytes)


Palette

In 256 color mode, a 'palette' is required to define the actual color that appears on screen for each of the 256 possible pixel bit combinations.  Some applications require the ability to change the entries in the palette, for example to display realistic images.


Pixel

A pixel is one 'dot' on your display.  Each pixel can be a different color - the number of possible colors is determined by color depth.


Screen Resolution

Screen Resolution is the number of pixels displayed on your screen, expressed as a number in the form WxH, where W is the number of pixels displayed horizontally (width) and H is the number of pixels displayed vertically (height).  Typical screen resolutions include 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768.


Settings Files

Settings files allow you to save and re-call FlexDesk+ Control Panel settings.  Settings files require a '.FLX' file extension.


Switches

Some programs accept command line parameters known as switches, which usually start with '/' or '-'.


SYSTEM.INI

The Windows system initialization file (usually in \WINDOWS).  The {DISPLAY} section of SYSTEM.INI contains the FlexDesk+ settings.


Windows Restart

Restarting Windows means that all applications will be closed, Windows will go away and then automatically come back.  If there are unsaved changes in any of the applications that you currently have open, the applications will prompt you as to whether you want to save the changes.  If you cancel any of these prompts, Windows will not be restarted.