- Blog entry posted in 'Catch-All Bin', January 31, 2010.
way back when (back in the mid 1990's to be exact) i worked for a company that repaired computer monitors. however the company could not afford a dedicated test pattern generator. one of them cost $3000.00, and another one that was a PC with a proprietary multifunction card and test pattern software cost $10,000.00. i figured i could do the same thing with a collection of cards and a PC for a lot less, so i began writing a set of test pattern programs, with a separate EXE file for each pattern, and i would install the correct card (mono, CGA, EGA, or VGA), boot the computer and run the test patterns i needed. soon, the collection of test pattern programs grew quite large, and Trident came out with an inexpensive multifunction card, so i decided to put all of the test patterns "under one roof", and add SVGA patterns as well. when i was finished, a PC with a cheap multifunction card and a single program was all that was needed for a test pattern generator that would test mono, CGA, EGA, VGA and SVGA monitors. i happened to mention this to a vendor who i had bought monitor schematics from, and they asked if i would send them a demo copy of the program. so i compiled a demo copy of the program with the display of each test pattern limited to 10sec, and sent it to them. they tested it with the recommended hardware and liked it, and asked how much per copy i wanted. i set up an agreement with them, and sent them a copy of the software with a self installer and documentation. for the next 2 or 3 years i made some money on the deal, quite often making enough for my mortgage payment. after a while, both my business (repairing computer monitors) and their business (monitor repair support) dried up. the cost of new CRT monitors went from $300.00 to less than $150.00 in less than a month, and i (and apparently the owners of the support company) had to find a new line of work.
well now, after finding that there's a little bit of interest for it, i have recompiled Video Test Bench as FREEWARE, and uploaded it here.
a couple of things to be aware of:
1) you should use the recommended hardware
2) the software will run under any version of DOS that doesn't have hardware abstraction (WIN2K, WINXP, etc.. all have hardware abstraction in the DOS that runs in a cmd window)
3) ask me if you want instructions on how to wire up a config switch to a multifunction card.
4) i no longer have hardware to test the software on, and have to rely on DOSBOX's emulation as being correct when i test the software.
since it's been 13 years or so since i last compiled the software, i had completely forgotten the command line syntax of the MS Basic compiler.... good thing i still had copies of the batch files i used to compile the original software with...
