AirSync graphics issue

[Richard Gaskin]

John Rule wrote:
>>So you are saying that the graphics are always displayed as garbage? 
>>Regardless of whether this Viewsonic Airsync wireless monitor is used? 
>>Or is it only when you use the"Remote Desktop" Feature of this monitor? 
>>Or is the Remote Desktop a part of another software?
>
> This has to do with the RR engine displaying graphics; no other software
> exhibits this behavior. If I start the stand alone first (and then remote
> in), the graphics are displayed correctly. It is the 'Remote Desktop'
> feature that is causing the incompatibility (the AirSync is 16 bit only).
> 
> The odd thing is, I can have the PC set to 24 bit, start my stand alone, and
> then remote in (which changes the PC resolution to 800x600 16 bit) and the
> graphics are displayed fine. It is when I start my stand alone from the
> AirSync (I am already in my 'remote' session at 16 bit), the graphics are
> garbage.
> 
> It's like RR has no idea that the environment is 16 bit...

Good diagnostics.  Looks like you're on your way to resolving it.

The first thing I would check is to make sure that the system has the 
very latest driver for that display installed.

I used to find myself embarassed by the engine when things like this 
happened, esp. when faced with customer comments like "But all my other 
apps work!".  I haven't had display issues in a while, but I went 
through a rough patch with certain video cards on some PC laptops a 
while back.

Back then the engine was still called "MetaCard", and when I wrote to 
MetaCard Corp's Scott Raney I was in a panic mode and perhaps a bit 
crass with him.  Nonetheless, he remained calm and confident and told me 
to update the video drivers and get back to him if the problem persisted.

It rarely did (only once or twice if memory serves, and those were fixed 
by also turning off hardware accelleration, which is raely useful for 
anything but games anyway).

Scott was so confident about these display issues he put this somewhat 
bold statement in MetaCard's Read Me:

    MetaCard is very good at exposing bugs in the drivers for graphics
    cards.  These problems seem to be most frequent in Windows 98, but
    can plague any Windows system.  The most common symptom are images
    or cursors that draw in the wrong colors or with the mask and data
    reversed, and bits of windows left on the screen when they are
    closed or moved.  Be sure you have the latest drivers from the
    vendor of your graphics card.  If the problem still exists with
    those, try turning acceleration to its lowest level.  If that
    doesn't fix the problem (or even if it does), please report this
    bug to the vendor of your graphics card.

Customers would gripe at me up and down when I told them to first make 
sure their drivers were up to date (often reiterating "But all my other 
apps work!", only more angrily), and I'd sometimes help them out by 
finding the update and emailing it to them.

But sho 'nuff, in 95% of the cases the problem went away, and turning 
off hardware accelleration took care of the rest.  Today, to the best of 
my knowledge all of my Rev-based apps are running well on 100% of 
systems they've been installed on.

It takes some cajones to say that the engine is "very good at exposing 
bugs in the drivers for graphics cards", but damned if it isn't true. 
And it's logical enough, even if other apps don't trip over the same 
wires*:  specs for Windows drivers are a bizarre hodge-podge from 
multiple vendors, and display manufacturers are always testing and 
revising their drivers constantly (the good ones, anyway).

Taking advantage of the display manufacturer's ongoing bug-fix efforts 
is a great first step.

If that doesn't do it, try turning off hardware accelleration.

If yours is the rare case not solved by those two, drop a note to 
support at runrev.com with as much info as you can gather, and chances are 
Tuviah will be able to address it one way or another.  You'll probably 
want to cc the display manufacturer, since it's just as likely the issue 
is on their side.

Keep us posted with what happens.  I love a good bug-solving mystery. :)



* Side note about "All my other apps work great!":  exclude all 
Micro$oft apps from such comparisons.  I believe the decades' old rumors 
of Micro$oft using undocumented APIs in their own apps were confirmed in 
some of the two-dozen anti-trust lawsuits against them worldwide in the 
last few years.  Whether illegal or merely annoying, since it appears 
Micro$oft writes their apps differently from how they tell other 
developers to do so they make for an unscientific comparison, useless 
for real-world diagnostics.

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Media Corporation
  __________________________________________________
  Rev tools and more: http://www.fourthworld.com/rev