PCX2SIX
SIXEL Graphics Utility
Guide 1.00
PCX2SIX
conversion program
SIXEL Graphics Utility
Guide
Author(s) Date Rev Page Comments
J.G.Zvonar 12/4/95 1.00 all Original Version
John G. Zvonar
10309 Trout Cove
Austin, Tx 78749
EMAIL JohnG.Zvonar@AMD.COM
Table of Contents
1. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
4. Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5. Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6. Using PCX2SIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
7. Palette file format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
8. Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
9. Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1. Introduction
The ability to display pictures on the VAX systems both inside
of specifications and as stand alone reference documents can
aid in the daily job performance. This utility provides the
ability to put any PC picture into native VAX/VMS SIXEL format.
1.1 Major Components
1.1.1 VAX/VMS
1.1.2 PCX2SIX.EXE
1.1.3 Graphics capable terminal or emulator
1.2 Copyrights & Trademarks
1.2.1 SIXEL - Digital Equipment Corporation
1.2.2 Windows - Microsoft Corporation
1.2.3 PAINT, PBRUSH, PCX - ZSoft Corporation
1.2.4 Kermit - Columbia University 2. Scope
This document will cover the use of the PCX2SIX utility to
create pictures in SIXEL format for specifications and stand
alone pictures. The features provided will be described as
will the few limitations of the conversion utility.
2.1 Intended Audience
This user guide is written assuming that the reader has at
least a basic familiarity with DOS, and has a need to display
SIXEL graphics perhaps on a VAX/VMS system.
2.2 What is not covered
This document does not cover information related to PCX or
SIXEL or the internal program code.
This document will not cover the details of creating the
graphic that is to be displayed, other than how to get it into
the correct file format.
Limited coverage of how to get the file from PC platforms to
the VAX/VMS system will be done.
No coverage of Windows or DOS is attempted.
2.3 General Information
2.3.1 The author has no association with ZSoft Corporation.
2.3.2 The conversion utility is supplied as is. FREE of charge.
2.3.3 The utility is for unlimited, unrestricted use except as
follows. The utility may not be bundled with other "FOR
SALE" software without prior written permission from John
G. Zvonar, otherwise the utility may be given away for
FREE with all documentation.
2.3.4 There is no warranty, period!
2.3.5 The SIXEL output has been tested on TRUE VT340 terminals
and various terminal emulators.
3. References
3.1 Additional Documents Required
No additional documents are needed for using the PCX2SIX
utility to create pictures for use in a SIXEL graphics
environment.
4. Conventions
4.1 Items of special interest are in bold characters.
4.2 User typed input is in underlined italics.
4.3 Single stroke key presses are identified as press <key>. The
keys <enter> and <ret> or <return> are used interchangeably.
5. Overview
Graphics provided as reference documents or as part of the
operating specification provide significant benefit over just
having words for descriptions, or using character based pictures.
This utility allows the viewing of PC based pictures on the
VAX/VMS system using the capability of terminals supporting SIXEL
graphics protocol.
5.1 SIXEL Graphics
The DEC Terminals which support SIXEL graphics information can
display pictures with VGA to Super VGA (PC based measure)
quality levels. The SIXEL protocol is a bitmap based graphics
capability supplied by DEC integral to several terminals in VT
terminal product line. Many VT terminal emulators also provide
full, or partial, SIXEL graphics support, most in at least 16
colors.
5.2 PCX Format
5.2.1 The ZSoft PCX format was chosen was chosen to be the
'common format' for the utility. This was chosen due to
the wide variety of applications on many different
platforms that support and generate PCX files. PCX files
are bitmap files.
5.2.2 Any application that can create PCX files can generate a
file suitable for the PCX2SIX utility. Color is
supported for up to 256 colors. Note though that most
terminals only support the first 16 colors.
5.2.3 Almost all PC Windows applications can output to this
format at least through the WINDOWS clipboard capture.
5.2.4 PAINT supplied with Windows can put any clipboard image
into the PCX format.
5.2.5 The final SIXEL files can still be used to create hard
copy output by printing them to an appropriate network
SIXEL printer once they are on the VAX/VMS system.
5.2.6 The PCX2SIX utility will not add or delete pixels. If
the number of X direction pixels was 640 then the number
of X direction SIXELS will also be 640. See section 8.2
for more information. 5.3General procedure outline
5.3.1 Select an application package for graphics generation on
your platform of choice running your operating system of
choice.
5.3.2 Create the drawing.
5.3.3 If needed capture the picture to the clipboard and paste
it into PAINT. Save the image as a PCX file.
5.3.4 Convert the file using the PCX2SIX utility.
5.3.5 Upload/Transfer the SIXEL file to the VAX/VMS system.
5.3.6 Use the type command to display the picture and determine
if the appearance is what was desired. With MS Kermit
the REPLAY command can also be used to display the SIXEL
graphic without transferring the graphic to a VMS host
system.
5.3.7 Use the PCX2SIX command line switches as needed to change
the picture appearance.
6. Using PCX2SIX
This section describes basic operation of the PCX2SIX conversion
utility. This is a DOS PC based tool. No special PC
requirements are needed.
6.1 Hardware: IBM Compatible PC
6.1.1 The utility will create the SIXEL file on the hard disk.
There must be enough free disk space for the output
files.
6.1.2 There must be at least three free file spaces available
from the FILES & BUFFERS settings. This is usually not
a problem.
6.1.3 The utility should run in as little as 64K of ram.
6.2 Software: PCX2SIX.EXE
6.2.1 The only software required for the conversion is the
PCX2SIX utility itself.
6.2.2 Create a directory for the utility then use a copy
command to copy the executable from the distribution disk
onto the hard disk.
6.3. Running PCX2SIX
6.3.1 The conversion utility is started by typing pcx2six
followed by the full filename and optional extension. For
example:
C:>pcx2six test.pcx <ret>
6.3.2 Note that unless otherwise indicated the file must reside
in the current directory. Optionally a disk drive and
path may precede the full filename and optional
extension. For example:
C:>pcx2six D:\files\test.pcx <ret>
In this case the output file test.six will also reside in
the directory D:\files.
6.3.3 The file is now transferred to the VAX using any number
of utilities, or displayed in Kermit v 3.14 using the
REPLAY command at the prompt. The file is an ASCII file,
do not use a binary file transfer protocol. The file may
be viewed on the VAX by a simple TYPE command.
6.4 Optional Command line inputs
There are numerous optional command line switches to allow
minor customizing and correction of the bitmap images.
6.4.1 The command line input will accept a second filename
parameter. This filename parameter indicates to the
utility that the output is to be directed into a file
with a user specified file name. The parameter is the
filename to create.
6.4.2 When invoked as C:>pcx2six test.pcx capture.txt <ret>
the file capture.txt will be created and will contain all
of the SIXEL commands needed to draw the picture.
6.4.3 After transfer the SIXEL file may be viewed by using the
VAX/VMS type command, for example $type capture.txt
<ret>. Kermit 3.14 can also be used to view the file, at
the prompt >replay capture.txt
6.4.4 This SIXEL file is also suitable for printing on any
SIXEL compatible printer.
6.5 The Palette Features
A feature of the utility is the ability to adjust the palette.
Most of the command line switches are related to palette
manipulation. The SIXEL protocol supports up to 256 colors,
however most emulators only support 16. Best results have been
obtained by keeping to 16 or less colors.
6.5.1 The /I Switch
The /I switch will instruct the utility to Ignore any
palette information. This means that it will select the
colors based on id number but will make no attempt to
adjust the RGB value of the id number. In this case the
terminal palette colors will be used for display, even if
the colors have been changed by someone or something.
Note that under normal condition the terminal colors map
well to the standard PC colors.
6.5.2 The /P Switch
The /P switch will instruct the utility to create and use
a default Palette. The default palette will be identical
to the factory default 16 color palette on a VT340.
6.5.3 The /R Switch
The /R switch will instruct the utility to Read in and
use a palette file. The palette file name must be the
same as the PCX file being processed but with the
extension of .PAL. This feature allows fine tuning of
the individual palette values for the SIXEL output file.
The palette file format is discussed later in this
document.
6.5.4 The /W Switch
The /W switch will instruct the utility to Write out the
palette information. A file with the same name as the
PCX input file but with the extension of .PAL will be
created. If the file already exists it will be
overwritten. This output file is in the same format that
is needed for the /R switch.
6.5.5 The /S Switch
The default output disables SIXEL scrolling. This is to
insure that the image does not roll off of the top of the
screen. Using the /S switch will ENABLE SIXEL scrolling
if desired.
6.5.6 The /M Switch
The /M switch must be followed by a number between 0 and
15. This number sets the color to be used for the
Monochrome image conversion. The default if /M is not
used is color 7 (white). The exact syntax would appear
as /M5 to use color 5 for the monochrome image. Note
that this does not change the background color which will
remain at whatever the terminal has set into the palette
for color 0.
6.5.7 The /B Switch
On occasion it may be desirable to scale up or down the
palette values. The /B allows the scaling without having
to modify a palette file. The exact syntax would be
/B120 or /B90. The scaling is performed relative to 100,
so /B120 will increase the palette numbers by
approximately 120/100, whereas /B90 would decrease the
palette values by about 90/100. The maximum palette
value is 100. The default /B value is 100.
6.5.8 The /X and /Y Switches
The two switches /X and /Y work together to set the pixel
aspect ratio. The default values are 2 and 1 for X and
Y respectively. These switches can be used to change
somewhat the size of the image. The switches when used
would look like /X2 /Y1.
6.6 Multiple command line switches may be used. The only
restriction is to separate the switches requiring a numeric
input by a space.
6.6.1 Good Example: C:>pcx2six input output /P/W/B110 /S
6.6.2 Bad Example: C:>pcx2six input output /P/B110/W/S
6.6.3 Summary: Switches /B, /M, /X, /Y must all be followed
by a space.
7. Palette file format
7.1 The palette file used by the utility is in ASCII.
7.2 There is one line per color, and there must be either 16 or
256 lines or the palette file will be considered invalid.
7.3 The color values are stored three to a line in Red Green Blue
format.
7.4 Each RGB value is separated by a vertical bar character |.
7.5 The file may be edited with any ASCII editor like NOTEPAD, or
DOS EDIT utility.
7.6 An example file:
|0|0|0|
|20|20|80|
|80|13|13|
|20|80|20|
|80|20|80|
|20|80|80|
|80|20|20|
|53|53|53|
|26|26|26|
|33|33|60|
|60|26|26|
|33|60|33|
|60|33|60|
|33|60|60|
|60|60|33|
|80|80|80|
7.7 Each palette value can be from 0 to 100.
8. Limitations
8.1 Colors - Most terminals in use today only support 16
colors. The utility supports 256 colors. If the
pictures are to be viewed by a wide audience use a
maximum of 16 colors.
8.2 Resolution - The VT340 supports 800 x 480 pixels, across
and down respectively. The typical PC is 640
x 480. Aspect ratios will not be exact. Some
emulators will show a reduced size version
that is the 640 x 480 within an 800 x 480
emulated window, while others chose to show
the 640 x 480 as the entire screen. A true
VT340 shows the PC picture as 640 x 480 within
the 800 x 480 window.
When creating the PCX file set the number of
pixels desired, draw, then convert. Also try
using the /X /Y options for aspect ratios.
8.3 VT330 - The VT330 is a monochrome terminal. The terminal
will adjust the color information into 4 shades of
white. Test color images on VT330 terminals.
8.4 VT240 - The VT240 has less vertical pixels than the newer
graphics terminals, therefore part of the image will
not be on the screen.
8.5 Speed - On a main frame system the drawing speed is limited
by the speed of the terminal connection. The faster
the connection the faster the picture shows up.
9. Troubleshooting
This section contains some common problems.
9.1 Switch problems
9.1.1 All command line switches must be in UPPER CASE.
9.1.2 If the switch requires a number the number must be
followed by a space.
9.2 Invisible Colors
9.2.1 Try converting into 16 colors using PAINT or PBRUSH from
ZSoft Corporation.
9.2.2 Try setting the palette colors manually using a .PAL
file.
9.3 File Transfer VAX/VMX Buffer overflow
9.3.1 Transfer the file to VAX using ASCII(text) protocol not
Binary.
9.4 Blank Screen
9.4.1 The terminal does not support graphics. Switch to a
VT330 or VT340.
9.4.2 If using an emulator check the documentation to verify
that it supports SIXEL GRAPHICS. A VT320 for example
will not support SIXEL or ReGis graphics.
(End)