PixelFlipper INIT/cdev is a screen depth changer. It allows the user to change the depth of ANY monitor connected to their Mac without having to pull up the Monitors cdev. To configure PixelFlipper just 1) drag the file into your system folder, 2) pull up the control panel, 3) select PF, 4) configure, and 5) restart. To activate PixelFlipper hold down the modifiers you specified in the cdev and hold down the mouse button. You will see a menu of depths available for this monitor only. PixelFlipper will only allow you to set the depths that are actually available for that specific video card and monitor. You can then change between either the depths and color mode.
System Requirements:
The PixelFlipper INIT/cdev works on any Macintosh system which has Color QuickDraw and is running System 6.0.5 or greater. This includes all Macintosh II’s, SE/30, and the Mac LC.
Configuring PixelFlipper:
The first set of check boxes in the dialog above are the modifiers to be held down in conjunction with mouse button to activate PixelFlipper. You must have at least one of these selected to use PixelFlipper . You can, if you want, have all the modifiers selected; although, this would require nimble fingers.
The next item, “Changes are permanent”, allows you the option to make these depth and mode changes permanent. Next time you restart your Mac the changes will be remembered. By default this is off. Helpful Hint: Keep this option off and then after you popup PixelFlipper press the “P” key, this will make the next switch permanent. The change will only be made for the monitor that you are changing the color environment for.
The next 2 items, “Show Icon at start-up” and “Init Status”, disables/enables the displaying of the icon at boot time or the INIT itself, respectively.
The last item tells you a little information about the current monitor that the control panel is being displayed in. It gives the number of bits and the mode of the current monitor is in. It also gives the version number for this release of PixelFlipper. When reporting bugs, please include this number. If the INIT is not loaded, then this box will indicate that it wasn’t loaded. You can still configure PixelFlipper and the changes will take effect next time you restart your Mac.
The final item, “Undo”, will undo any changes you made to PixelFlipper’s preferences.
Loading:
At boot time you will see either 1 of 2 icons.
The first, the regular PixelFlipper icon, indicates that PixelFlipper loaded properly at boot time.
The second, an icon with an "X" across it, may mean one of a few reasons why PixelFlipper didn’t load at boot time.
1) The user held down the ‘N’ key at start-up.
2) You don’t have Color QD, or your Mac isn’t running System Software 6.0.5 or
later.
3) Some vital resources are missing
4) PixelFlipper wasn’t able to create the preferences file needed to run.
Pressing “N” on start-up will cause PixelFlipper to bypass loading.
Acknowledgements:
Steve Baumeister and Ed Ong for risking sanity and hard drive to test PixelFlipper.
Thanks also to Paul Mercer for providing the ShowINIT code that displays PixelFlipper’s icon at boot time.
