To create beautiful pictures on your computer's screen, get a program called Deluxe Paint ___ or one of its cousins.
Deluxe Paint was invented in California by Dan Silva in 1985. Then he invented an improved version (Deluxe Paint 2). Then he developed a further improvement (Deluxe Paint 3), which included advanced graphics tricks and also animation. His programs all ran on the Commodore Amiga. They were published by Electronic Arts.
An Electronic Arts employee ___ Brent Iverson ___ developed an IBM version of Deluxe Paint 2. Then another Electronic Arts employee ___ Steve Shaw ___ developed an IBM version of Deluxe Paint 3 and called it Deluxe Paint Animation. He also invented a lesser version called Deluxe Paint 2 Enhanced, which includes all the features of Deluxe Paint 3 except animation.
Electronic Arts also developed an Apple 2GS version of Deluxe Paint 2.
Electronic Arts also sells several paint programs for the Mac: Studio 1 has animation but no color; Studio 8 and Studio 32 have color but no animation. They were all developed by an independent group of French programmers inspired by Dan Silva.
In this chapter, I'll concentrate on the IBM versions. Each IBM version requires 640K of RAM and a mouse.
Choose an IBM version
Which IBM version should you buy ___ Deluxe Paint 2, Deluxe Paint 2 Enhanced (which should be called Deluxe Paint 2«), or Deluxe Paint Animation (which should be called Deluxe Paint 3)?
Intelligence Deluxe Paint Animation understands more commands than the other versions, and it's the only version that produces animation.
Price Deluxe Paint 2 has been included free with many computers and software packages. That's because it's considered obsolete! Discount dealers sell Deluxe Paint 2 Enhanced and Deluxe Paint Animation for about $100 each.
Hard disk Deluxe Paint 2 Enhanced and Deluxe Paint Animation require a hard disk. If you don't have a hard disk, you must buy Deluxe Paint 2.
VGA Deluxe Paint Animation requires a VGA (or MCGA) video card. If your video card is worse than that ___ if you have just EGA, CGA, or Hercules ___ you must buy Deluxe Paint 2 or Deluxe Paint 2 Enhanced.
High resolution Unfortunately, Deluxe Paint Animation operates just in low resolution (320-by-200). (Instead of using RAM to store higher resolution, it uses RAM to store your animation.) If you insist on full VGA resolution (640-by-480), buy Deluxe Paint 2 or Deluxe Paint 2 Enhanced. To operate in Super VGA resolution (800-by-600 or 1024-by-768), you must buy Deluxe Paint 2 Enhanced. Summary Deluxe Paint 2 is obsolete. Use it only if you get it free or you're broke or you lack a hard disk.
If your computer has a poor video card (Hercules monochrome, CGA, or EGA), get Deluxe Paint 2 Enhanced.
If your computer has a good video card (MCGA, VGA, or Super VGA), get either Deluxe Paint Animation or Deluxe Paint 2 Enhanced. Deluxe Paint Animation offers animation, but Deluxe Paint 2 Enhanced offers higher resolution.
Assumption In the rest of this section, I assume you're using Deluxe Paint 2 Enhanced or Deluxe Paint Animation.
Copy to the hard disk
When you buy Deluxe Paint 2 Enhanced or Deluxe Paint Animation, you get four 5¬-inch floppies and two 3«-inch floppies.
Here's how to copy the 5¬-inch floppies to your hard disk. (Copying the 3«-inch floppies is similar.)
Turn on the computer without any floppy in drive A. When you see the C prompt, put the PROGRAM Disk into drive A and type ``a:''. The computer will display an A prompt.
Type ``install''. The computer will say ``Installation''.
If you're using Deluxe Paint Animation, press ENTER twice. If you're using Deluxe Paint 2 Enhanced instead, press ENTER once, then type ``dp'' (so the screen says ``dp'' instead of ``DPAINT''), then press ENTER again.
When the computer tells you, put the other three disks in drive A and press ENTER.
The computer will say, ``Installation Complete!'' (Then if you're using Deluxe Paint 2 Enhanced, do this: type ``century'', press ENTER, and wait for the computer to copy fonts to the hard disk.)
Turn off the computer, so you can start fresh.
Run the paint program
To start using the paint program, turn on the computer without any floppy in drive A.
To do Deluxe Paint Animation, type ``do da''. To do Deluxe Paint 2 Enhanced, type ``do dp''.
(That ``do'' method works if you put the DO.BAT file onto your hard disk as I recommended in the MS-DOS chapter. If you have not put DO.BAT onto your hard disk, do Deluxe Paint Animation by typing ``cd da'' and then ``da''; do Deluxe Paint 2 Enhanced by typing ``cd dp'' and then ``dp''.) Choose a video mode
If you're using Deluxe Paint 2 Enhanced, you must choose a video mode. (If you're using Deluxe Paint Animation, you don't have to choose a video mode, and you can skip ahead to the next section.)
Deluxe Paint 2 Enhanced shows you this list of video modes:
a. CGA 320 x 200 4 colors
b. CGA 640 x 200 2 colors
c. EGA 320 x 200 16 colors
d. EGA 640 x 200 16 colors
e. EGA 640 x 350 16 colors
f. MCGA 320 x 200 256 colors
g. MCGA 640 x 480 2 colors
h. VGA 320 x 200 16 colors
i. VGA 640 x 200 16 colors
j. VGA 640 x 350 16 colors
k. VGA 640 x 480 16 colors
l. Hercules 720 x 348 2 colors
m. Tandy 320 x 200 16 colors
o. Amstrad 640 x 200 16 colors
p. Extended VGA 640 x 400 256 colors
q. Extended VGA 640 x 480 256 colors
r. Extended VGA 800 x 600 2 colors
s. Extended VGA 800 x 600 16 colors
t. Extended VGA 800 x 600 256 colors
u. Extended VGA 1024 x 768 2 colors
v. Extended VGA 1024 x 768 16 colors
Type a letter from ``a'' to ``v''. Here's which letter to type:
Video you bought Type this letter
Hercules monochrome ``l''
CGA ``a'' for lots of colors, ``b'' for high resolution
EGA ``e''
MCGA ``f'' for lots of colors, ``g'' for high resolution
VGA ``f'' for lots of colors, ``k'' for high resolution
A plain VGA system is limited to 640-by-480 resolution and has a 256K video RAM. If your VGA system can handle higher resolution or has extra video RAM, you have extended VGA, which lets you type these letters instead:
Extended VGA you got
Resolution Video RAM Type this letter
640-by-480 512K ``q'' for lots of colors, ``k'' for high res.
800-by-600 256K ``f'' for lots of colors, ``s'' for high res.
800-by-600 512K ``t''
1024-by-768 256K ``f'' for lots of colors, ``u'' for high res.
1024-by-768 512K ``t'' for lots of colors, ``v'' for high res.
If you choose a letter near the end of the alphabet (``p'' through ``v'', you face two complications:
The computer might say, ``Specify which card is active''. To reply, press the SPACE bar, look at the menu of VGA card manufacturers, and type your manufacturer's code letter. (If your VGA card is manufactured by a company that's not on the menu, try pretending that your VGA card is an AST VGA Plus, which handles video modes q and r.)
The computer might say, ``Not enough memory''. That means your computer doesn't have enough expanded RAM. Choose a different letter instead.
Move the mouse
Look at the computer's mouse. The mouse's tail is a cable that runs from the mouse to the computer. The area where the tail meets the mouse is called the mouse's ass.
The mouse's underside ___ its belly ___ has a hole in it, and a ball in the hole.
Put the mouse on your desktop and directly in front of you.
