China DOS Union

Since today's world is a multimedia world, why must we use image viewing tools under the DOS operating system, which has poor support for multimedia, instead of those under Windows or NT operating systems? You might raise such a question. After all, the multimedia era has arrived, Windows 95 and Windows are everywhere, and NT is no longer rare. What reason is there to still cling to DOS? Indeed, the number of installed operating systems in window environments is increasing, and there are many image viewing tools running in them. However, image viewing software under the DOS environment still wins the favor of many users with its irreplaceable characteristics such as small size, low running conditions, easy installation, distinctive style, and easy operation. In addition, these image viewing tools under DOS are almost all shareware, and users can obtain them very conveniently without considering the cost issue. This is also an important factor for the popularity of DOS image viewing tools.

So, what functions do the image viewing tools under DOS have? After synthesizing many relevant software, the author believes that the functions of the current image viewing tools are mainly:

□ Playback of multimedia files such as images, animations, and sounds
□ Preview of image and animation files
□ Conversion between various image formats
□ Relevant file operations (referring to file copying, deletion, etc.)
□ Image presentation (continuous playback of a group of files)
□ Panorama viewing (display of extremely large - format image files)
□ Generation of image file albums (that is, the so - called Catalog function, which can display multiple image files in a miniature together)
□ File search in command line mode (in command line mode, it can automatically screen the files listed in a list and display/play the multimedia files it can recognize)
□ Simple image processing (such as color adjustment, zooming in/out, rotation, color to black - and - white, negative effect, etc.)

In addition, the image viewing software mainly has the following characteristics in terms of technical means and technical performance:

□ Strong software universality, supporting many display devices; generally supporting VESA standard display cards.
□ Most programs adopt the programming technology of 32 - bit protected mode, which can make full use of the user's machine hardware environment and run at a fast speed.
□ Generally supporting 16 - bit high - color and 24 - bit true - color display modes, with good display effects.
□ Multiple display modes, and can switch between various display modes at any time.
□ Richly supported file formats, generally supporting JPEG format files.
□ Low hardware environment required for operation.

Note: The VESA standard ("VESA BIOS Extension Specification" is a de facto industrial standard followed on all SVGA after 1991. VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) is an industrial organization and has many important display card manufacturers. The standards it formulates can enable software developers not to have to collect a large number of different programming methods for SVGA display cards from numerous display card manufacturers.

Tool Software Introduction

After talking so much, let's introduce the image viewing software. Exactly what good image viewing tools are there under DOS? And how can users obtain them conveniently?

There are indeed many image viewing tools under the DOS environment. The author once found dozens of similar software on the HTTP://WWW.CDROM.COM site, and it is not easy to pick the best one among so many software.

In order to start a discussion, the author specially lists several common and representative image viewing tools for readers. Friends who are interested can go to the site listed by the author to find more content if they want more information in this regard.

The image viewing software listed in this article mainly includes:

□ SEA 1.3 (SEA Graphics & Animation Viewer)
□ GDS 3.1f (Graphics Display System, Trial Version)
□ DISPLAY 1.89
□ CSHOW 9.04a (CompuSHOW, the successor product is called 2SHOW)
□ VPIC 6.1
□ QV 2.1 (QuickView Protect Mode)
□ NV 1.5 (NOMSSI Viewer)

The following will introduce the above software one by one:

SEA is the best image viewing tool the author has ever seen. We were attracted by its beautiful interface style the first time we saw it. Among the few image viewing tools with graphical interfaces, only it can preview image and animation files in color. This software written by a Dutch person not only has a beautiful interface designed by a professional art consultant, but also has a very high level of program design. The author used the programming technology of 32 - bit protected mode in program design and took the lead in supporting VESA standard display cards, making the program design simple and compatible; in terms of program functions, it supports multiple multimedia file formats and can convert between them, has basic functions of image viewing tools such as presentation, panorama viewing, file preview, image processing, can perform file operations such as copying and deleting user image files, and can generate image file albums.

Another outstanding feature of it is its excellent file search and display function in command line mode. As long as you give a text - format pathname file list, it can automatically search and display various multimedia files it can recognize for you, even if the suffixes of these files are changed artificially. Currently, the latest version of SEA is 1.3. Its address on the Internet is http://www.stack.nl, and you can also obtain its relevant information and the latest version from ttp://www.photodex.com. Picture 1 is the main interface of SEA.

GDS is the image viewing tool the author first came into contact with and used. As early as 1991, we used its version 1.03. Until today, this compact program is still treasured by the author. Although there are endless new image viewing tools, the charm of GDS remains unchanged. It not only has a unique text menu interface, image presentation, and format conversion functions, but also can automatically identify display devices and arbitrarily set display modes. Especially its earliest - realized image file album function and script file operations with more than 80 configurations provide a unique fully automatic function, which makes it famous all over the world. One of the most famous online service companies in the United States, CompuServe, uses it to build albums for its countless image files, which shows its great influence. The only drawback is that although GDS has been updated to version 3.1f, there is no revolutionary breakthrough in functions compared with the old version. In fact, some performance aspects are weakened due to the shareware version (such as the number of image files that can be processed at one time is limited). The online address of GDS is http://www.photodex.com. Pictures 2 and 3 are the main interfaces of GDS.

DISPLAY is an image viewing tool written by compatriots in Taiwan. Its biggest feature is to integrate the大成 of various multimedia file formats, integrate the display, playback, and management of image, animation, and sound files, and can also play CD discs (for the content of the file formats it supports, please refer to Table 3); it can perform multiple processing such as inversion, flip, mirroring, zooming on image files, and it really gives a feeling of "with this one tool, you have no need for other image viewing tools". Technically, DISPLAY is a program running in 32 - bit protected mode, using the virtual memory technology of the DJGP P D compiler, so there is no specific requirement for the user's machine memory size (DISPLAY can still run normally on a machine with LX486/33W and 4M memory used by the author). The shortcomings of DISPLAY are that the interface is too shabby, which is really not commensurate with its powerful functions; in addition, it lacks comprehensiveness in supporting multiple variants of a file format, so sometimes some multimedia files cannot be recognized. It seems that the author's non - commercial creative motivation is very obvious. If this software wants to become a perfect image viewing tool, there is still a long way to go. Currently, the latest version of DISPLAY is 1.89a, and the online address is http://bicmos.ee.nctu.edu.tw. Picture 4 is the main interface of DISPLAY.

CSHOW is also a relatively common image viewing tool. It and another image viewing tool VPIC are both the most compact image viewing tools (the main program length of CSHOW 9.04a version is 149K, and the main program length of VPIC 6.1a version is 127K). Although VPIC is smaller in size, its functions are extremely limited, and its "gold content" cannot be compared with CSHOW. Both CSHOW and VPIC mainly have the function of displaying image files, accompanied by simple image file management functions and image format conversion functions; both can automatically identify VESA display cards; and the image processing ability is very weak. Currently, C - SHOW has been replaced by 2SHOW software, and the online address is http://www.udel.edu/eile en/sw/cshow.html. And VPIC has not been upgraded for a long time, and there is no Internet address.

Pictures 5 and 6 are the main interfaces of CSHOW and VPIC respectively.

Both QV and NV are image viewing tools written by Germans. Although these tools may not be the best in the author's view, they reflect to a certain extent the profound attainments of Germans in image viewing tools. Even the manual and documentation of the image viewing tool DISPLAY written by compatriots in Taiwan are almost all written by Germans! In terms of functions and characteristics, QV is an image viewing tool mainly for playing animations and sounds, and can also play a few types of image files, and has no image processing ability; there are two versions, 32 - bit protected mode and ordinary mode. The earlier ordinary mode version can also play sound files with the speaker. The author of NV is a black person (Figure 7), and its interface is a typical Turbo style; this software mainly displays image files, has strong image processing ability and certain image file management ability, but its functions and style are somewhat different from those of SEA, GDS, and DISPLAY. The online address of QV is http://www.multimediaware.com/qv; the online address of NV is http://www.tu - chemnitz.de/~nomssi.

Pictures 8 and 9 are the main interfaces of QV and NV respectively.

The above is a brief introduction to the image viewing tools under DOS. For the comparison of the functions and performance of these software and the list of file formats supported by each, please refer to Tables 1, 2, and 3.

DOS Image Viewing Tool Function Comparison Table (Table 1)

┏━━━━┳━━━┳━━━┳━━
┣┓Index ┃ ┃ Whether ┃Whether┃ Whether ┃ Whether ┃ Can support ┃ Can search for ┃ Have ┃ Can perform ┃
┃┗━┓ ┃ Interface ┃ Support ┃Support┃ Support ┃ Support ┃ Command line ┃ Can support file ┃ Image ┃ Simple file ┃
┃ Software ┗┓┃ Style ┃ Roaming ┃Preview┃ Presentation ┃ Album ┃ File search function in mode ┃ format automatically ┃ Processing ┃ Operation ┃
┃ Name ┗┫ ┃ Function ┃Function┃ Function ┃ Function ┃ ┃ ┃ Identified ┃ Ability ┃ ┃
┣━━━━╋━━━╋━━━╋━━╋
┃ SEA ┃ Graphic ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ Zoom, inversion, mirroring, color adjustment/fading, blurring, edge finding, contour, sharpening, γ correction ┃ √ ┃
┃(V 1.3) ┃ Interface ┃ ┃ Color ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃
┣━━━━╋━━━╋━━━╋━━
┃ GDS ┃ Text ┃ × ┃ × ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ × Trial version ┃ × ┃ Color adjustment/fading, negative, zooming, lightness and darkness ┃ × ┃
┃(V3.1f) ┃ Menu ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ √ Professional version ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃
┣━━━━╋━━━╋━━━╋━━
┃DISPLAY ┃ Text ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ × ┃ √ Only browse the first directory ┃ √ ┃ Inversion, mirroring, flip, zooming, color adjustment/fading, negative, printing ┃ √ ┃
┃(V1.89) ┃ / Graphic┃ ┃ Black and white ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃
┣━━━━╋━━━╋━━━╋━
┃ CSHOW ┃ Text ┃ √ ┃ × ┃ √ ┃ × ┃ × ┃ √ ┃ Color adjustment/fading, black - and - white negative, zooming, brightness ┃ √ ┃
┃(9.04a) ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ Note ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃
┣━━━━╋━━━╋━━━╋━
┃ VPIC ┃ Text ┃ √ ┃ × ┃ √ ┃ × ┃ √ File name limited to 14 bytes ┃ Only identify specific suffixes ┃ Color adjustment ┃ √ ┃
┃(V 6.1) ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃
┣━━━━╋━━━╋━━━╋━
┃ QV ┃ Text ┃ √ ┃ × ┃ × ┃ × ┃ × ┃ × ┃ × ┃ × ┃
┃(V 2.1) ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃
┣━━━━╋━━━╋━━━╋
┃ NV ┃Turbo ┃ √ ┃ × ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ √ Slow speed sometimes crashes ┃ √ ┃ Zooming, inversion, mirroring, rotation, negative, fading, brightness, moving, lightness and darkness, color adjustment ┃ √ ┃
┃(V 1.5) ┃ Menu ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃
┗━━━━┻━━━┻━━━┻━━

Image processing functions refer to:

Color adjustment (+/- Green/Red/Blue/All colors) Edge finding (Find edge) Zooming (Resize)

Fading (color to black - and - white gray scale) Contour (Contour) Inversion (Invert)

Lightness and darkness (+/- color density) Sharpening (Sharpen) Flip (Flip)

Brightness (+/- screen brightness) γ correction (Gamma Correct) Mirroring (Mirror)

Rotation (Rotate)

Note: The fact that CSHOW does not have "file search function in command line mode" means that it cannot automatically screen the files listed in a list and display and play the multimedia files it can recognize in command line mode, but it can operate the files in a certain directory in the way of command line plus parameters.


DOS Image Viewing Tool Performance and Background Information Comparison Table (Table 2)

┏━━━━┳━━━┳━━━━━┳━━
┣┓Index ┃ Main ┃ Latest ┃ Display ┃ System ┃ System ┃ Author/Company ┃ ┃
┃┗━┓ ┃ Execution ┃ File ┃ JPEG image ┃ Supported ┃ Required ┃ Software Type ┃ Country ┃
┃ Software ┗┓┃ File ┃ Establishment ┃ File speed (Note) ┃ Display device ┃ Minimum hardware ┃ INTERNET WWW address or E - mail address ┃ ┃
┃ Name ┗┫ Length ┃ Date ┃ ┃ Type ┃ Environment ┃ ┃ ┃
┣━━━━╋━━━╋━━━━━
┃ SEA ┃ 968K ┃ 97/05/05 ┃ 32.9K/s ┃ VESA ┃ 386Sx, 2M memory 512K ┃ Rational System, INC./SHAREWARE ┃ Netherlands ┃
┃(V 1.3) ┃ ┃ ┃ 6359K/ 193s┃ ┃ VESA standard VGA card. ┃ http://www.stack.nl & www.photodex.com┃ ┃
┣━━━━╋━━━╋━━━━━╋
┃ GDS ┃ 306K ┃ 97/01/21 ┃ 5.01K/s ┃VESA, TVGA, VGA ┃ None ┃ Photodex Corporation/SHAREWARE ┃ United States ┃
┃(V3.1f) ┃ ┃ ┃ 6359K/1267s┃ 25 types of ┃ ┃ E-mail:photodex@netcom.com ┃ ┃
┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ display devices ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃
┣━━━━╋━━━╋━━━━━╋
┃DISPLAY ┃1207K ┃ 96/03/06 ┃ 4.68K/s ┃ VESA, VGA, etc. ┃ 80386 ┃ Jih - Shin Ho ┃ China ┃
┃(V1.89) ┃ ┃ ┃ 6359K/1356s┃ 34 types of display devices ┃ ┃ http://bicmos.ee.nctu.edu.tw ┃ Taiwan ┃
┣━━━━╋━━━╋━━━━━
┃ CSHOW ┃ 149K ┃ 95/06/02 ┃ 9.04K/s ┃ VESA, VGA, etc. ┃ 384K memory ┃ Canyon (tm) Sedona, Az./SHAREWARE ┃ United States ┃
┃(9.04a) ┃ ┃ ┃ 6359K/ 703s┃ 34 types of display devices ┃ ┃ http:www.udel.edu/eileen/sw/cshow.html ┃ ┃
┣━━━━╋━━━╋━━━━
┃ VPIC ┃ 127K ┃ 94/06/07 ┃ × ┃VESA, VGA, EGA, etc.┃ None ┃ Bob Montgomery/SHAREWARE ┃ United States ┃
┃(V6.1a) ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ 21 types of display cards ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃
┣━━━━╋━━━╋━━━━
┃ QV ┃ 224K ┃ 96/08/29 ┃ × ┃ VESA ┃ 80386 ┃ Wolfgang Hesseler/SHAREWARE ┃ Germany ┃
┃(V 2.1) ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ VGA ┃ VGA ┃ http://www.multimediaware.com/qv ┃ ┃
┣━━━━╋━━━╋━━━━━
┃ NV ┃ 483K ┃ 95/05/03 ┃ 12.59K/s ┃ VESA, etc. ┃ 640K memory 80286 ┃ Jacques NOMSSI NZALI/SHAREWARE ┃ Germany ┃
┃(V 1.5) ┃ ┃ ┃ 6359K/ 505s┃ 25 types of display cards ┃ VGA ┃ http://www.tu - chemnitz.de/~nomssi ┃ ┃
┗━━━━┻━━━┻━━━

Note: The test environment for "display speed of JPEG image files" is: host LX - 486, INTEL486/33 CPU, memory 4M, display card Trident TVGA8900C, display memory 1M. The test method is to accumulate the time used to continuously display 30 JPEG image files with a total capacity of 6359K, and calculate the average size of JPEG image files that each image viewing tool can restore and display per second based on this. The result may be different on microcomputers of other types, different grades, and different configurations, but the ratio of this index of each software has certain reference value.


DOS Image Viewing Tool Supported File Formats and Overall Evaluation Comparison Table (Table 3)

┏━━━┳━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
┣┓Index┃ Supported image formats ┃ Supported animation formats ┃ ┃ ┃
┃┗━┓┣━━┳━━┳━━┳ Notes ┃ Comments ┃
┃ Software ┗┫ GIF┃ JPG┃ PCX┃ PIC┃ BMP┃ TIF┃ ICO┃ Other supported image format numbers ┃ GIF┃ GL ┃ DL ┃ FLI┃ MPG┃ AVI┃ MOV┃ ┃ ┃
┃ Name ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ FLC┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃
┣━━━╋━━╋━━╋━━╋━
┃ SEA ┃ √┃ √┃ √┃ ×┃ √┃ √┃ √┃ Read 8/Write 8 ┃ √ ┃ × ┃ × ┃ √ ┃ × ┃ √ ┃× ┃NXT: The next version supports ┃ Excellent interface, stable performance, fast speed ┃
┃V 1.3 ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ Also supports.WAV.VOC and other sound formats ┃ Strong universality Evaluation:★★★★★┃
┣━━━╋━━╋━━╋━━╋
┃ GDS ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ × ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ Read 23/Write 15 ┃ × ┃ EXT┃ EXT┃ EXT┃ EXT┃ EXT┃ × ┃EXT: Need to load and execute respective corresponding external playback programs ┃ Good interface, many image formats, strong functions Trial version has limited functions Evaluation:★★★★ ┃
┃V3.1f ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃
┣━━━╋━━╋━━╋━
┃DISPLAY √ ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ Read ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ Read 37/Write 28 ┃ × ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ Also supports.RAW.ANM.WAV, poor format compatibility; can decompose animations into frames and store them ┃ General interface, most image and animation formats, poor usability and compatibility; Evaluation:★★★★ ┃
┃ V1.89┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃
┣━━━╋━━╋━━╋━
┃ CSHOW┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ Read ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ × ┃ Read 11/Write 4 ┃ × ┃ × ┃ × ┃ × ┃ × ┃ × ┃ Does not support animations ┃ Small size, easy to operate, supports many display devices but does not support animations Evaluation:★★★ ┃
┃9.04a ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃
┣━━━╋━━╋━━╋━
┃ VPIC ┃ √ ┃ × ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ × ┃ Read 6/Write 5 ┃ × ┃ × ┃ × ┃ × ┃ × ┃ × ┃ Does not support animations ┃ Smallest size, does not support JPG format, limited batch image viewing functions Evaluation:★ ┃
┃ V 6.1┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃
┣━━━╋━━╋━━╋━━
┃ QV ┃ Read ┃ × ┃ × ┃ × ┃ Read ┃ × ┃ 32 x32┃ Read TGA ┃ √ ┃ × ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ × ┃ √ ┃ × ┃ Also supports.CEL.GIF animation formats and.VOC.WAV sound formats, can use the machine's speaker to make sounds ┃ Strong animation function but few image formats, cannot convert between formats Evaluation:★★★ ┃
┃V 2.1 ┃ ┃ NXT┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃(PNG:NXT) ┃ ┃ NXT┃ ┃ ┃ NXT┃ ┃ ┃
┣━━━╋━━╋━━╋━━╋
┃ NV ┃ √ ┃ Read ┃ Read ┃ × ┃ √ ┃ √ ┃ × ┃ Read 4/Write 2 ┃ × ┃ EXT┃ × ┃ EXT┃ EXT┃ × ┃ × ┃EXT: Need to load and execute external programs, EXT also supports ICO,WAV,CMF,ZIP,ARJ formats ┃ Good display effect, strong image processing ability ┃
┃ V 1.5┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ ┃ But poor stability Evaluation:★★★ ┃
┗━━━┻━━┻━━┻━━┻━

Note: NXT means the next version supports; EXT means that to realize this function, you need to load and execute an external program;
For the list of multimedia formats supported by each image viewing tool, please refer to Appendix 1.

We have compared the image viewing tools above and given a reference overall evaluation opinion. It can be seen from the data listed in the above tables that the comprehensive index of SEA is obviously ahead of other image viewing tools. For the list of image and animation formats supported by each image viewing tool, the types of display cards, and the machine hardware environment required, please refer to Appendix 1 and Appendix 2.

Actual Uses and Usage Tips
───────────

Although the image viewing tool has powerful functions and can do many things for us, there is still an issue of application level for users. This requires users to have a deep understanding of the functions of the image viewing tool and at the same time have sufficient imagination. A typical example is that the author uses the command-line file search function of SEA to quickly and automatically retrieve and display images, achieving the effect of a "picture search tool".

The following are some of the author's own experiences with image viewing tool software for your reference:

□ Fully automatic retrieval and display of multimedia files on the hard disk (can also be used as a technical means for public security departments to detect "computer porn".

Executing the AUTOSCAN batch processing command can detect all logical drives except the floppy drive (including the optical drive and network drive). If you want to detect a specified drive, just add the drive letter after this command (for example, the command to scan drive D is AUTO SCAN D.

The content of AUTOSCAN.BAT is as follows:

@ECHO OFF
REM Automatically scan common image files and FLI/FLC, GIF animations with SEA
REM Supported image formats: PNG, GIF, JPEG, TARGA, BMP&RLE, TIFF,
REM PCX, LBM (IFF) PNM (PPM, PGM, PBM),
REM WPG, ICO and Dp2e-LBM, BBM & PCC.
REM Supported animation formats: FLI/FLC, GIF.
@ECHO ON
WIZ %1 -pp > C:\AUTOSCAN.DIR
SEA @C:\AUTOSCAN.DIR
DEL C:\AUTOSCAN.DIR

Note:
WIZ is a high-speed multi-disk file searcher. It supports real wildcard operations━━much better than DOS wildcard functions. It can scan multiple disks at once, even files in compressed documents. It can filter files by characteristics such as size, date, type (executable, compressed), etc. It can complete the search well in disks larger than 1G (about 5 times faster than similar programs), and supports DUBSPACE, CD-ROM and network environments.
If the user does not have this program, the DOS system command CHKDSK can also be used to replace WIZ (the command is CHKDSK/V %1 > C:\AUTOSCAN.DIR). Unlike WIZ, this method can only detect one logical disk at a time.

Create Your Own "Digital Photo Album (Catalog)"

First, combining with the screenshot tool and this function can produce very excellent movie and game promotional posters or comic strips, with excellent effects. The author has personally made comic strips of "The Lion King", although it is just a further development on others' basis, but there is still a feeling of "shaking hands with God". The most important thing is that this feeling is indescribably wonderful because they are completely made by oneself!
In addition, if you have peripheral devices such as a scanner or digital camera, you might as well use this function to input photos of yourself, relatives, or friends into the computer, and then make a "digital photo album" to experience the real feeling of "digital survival". If conditions permit, you can also burn it into a CD, which will be a very precious and never-fading "memory"!
From Table 1, it can be seen that SEA, GDS, and NV all have the "photo album" function.

□ Convert Image Formats

This is a basic function of the image viewing tool, but it is sometimes very useful: when certain occasions require a must-use specific image format, you have to face this problem. The common image file formats now are: .BMP, .PCX, .TIF, .PIC, .TGA, .GIF, .JPG, etc. In the 256-color image compression format, the .GIF format is the most commonly used because its compression efficiency is very considerable; while in the 16M true color image compression format, .JPG is the best. Most image viewing tools can complete the mutual conversion between GIF→JPG, JPG→GIF, and other image formats and these two formats.

□ Make Your Own ICO File (.GIF.JPG->.ICO)

If you want to configure an icon for a Win95 or Windows application, you will definitely involve the problem of making an .ICO file. In fact, good image materials are everywhere, and we always have the urge to convert them into icon files. How to convert these large image files into small usable icon files? The image scaling function (Resize) of SEA 1.3 can well solve this problem.
The specific usage method is as follows: Move the cursor to the image file to be converted, press the TAB key, move the cursor to the "Image manipulation" item, press Enter, then select "Resize" and set the size to be reduced to (generally 32×32 or 64×64), confirm, and then select the reduced file format (generally .ICO format), and a beautiful reduced picture is completed in an instant. If you want to process a batch of files at once, just use the space bar to select the group of files to be converted before pressing TAB, and then the other operation processes are the same as above.

□ Decompose Animations

This is not a function that any image viewing tool except DISPLAY has! With this function, you can decompose an animation into image files in units of frame pictures, and can store the result in any popular image compression format, without the need to bother to capture the screen image. DISPLAY can decompose animation formats such as .AVI, .GL, .DL, .MPG, .FLI, .MOV.
The usage method is as follows: Enter DISPLAY, place the cursor on the animation file to be processed, press Enter to enter the animation file selection menu, select "Save each frame" as "YES", and then select the format and directory of the image file to be stored according to the prompt.

Conclusion
────────

Image viewing tools are a type of very attractive tool software, which is widely spread and has a high usage rate. And the 7 image viewing tools of the author are only a small part of the DOS image viewing tools, and it is not known whether they are the best; and under Win95 and Windows, there are another type of image viewing tools with more powerful functions and different styles waiting for everyone to understand, which is another brand-new world! The purpose of the author in writing this article is to increase the interest and level of use of software by many computer enthusiasts, arouse everyone's resonance, and expect to improve together.

97/10/15
In Zhengzhou

………………………………


Appendix 1:
┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
┃ Supported by DOS image viewing tools ┃
┃ Image, animation formats and display devices ┃
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● SEA 1.3
_____________________________________________________
■ Supported image formats (all listed image formats can be converted to each other):

JPG, TGA, BMP & RLE, TIFF, PCX, GIF, LBM (IFF), PSD, CEL,
Dp2e-LBM, BBM & PCC, PNM (PBM, PGM, PPM) and PNG.

■ Supported animation formats:

FLI/FLC, AVI, GIF.

■ Supported sound formats:
WAV, VOC.

■ Supported display devices:

A VGA card with at least 512K video memory supporting the VESA standard.

● GDS Supported image/animation file formats and display devices
______________________________
■ Supported image formats:
Bits (* = R&W R: read W: write)
Suffix Read Write 1 2 4 8 15 16 24 32 Description
______ ______ ______
.ANS Yes Yes - - (text mode) - - Color ANSI text (BBS)
.TXT Yes Yes - - (text mode) - - Generic text (ANSI opt.)
.BBM Yes Yes * * * Rd Rd ** Rd Deluxe Paint (IFF 'Brush'
.BMF Yes - R Corel Gallery ClipArt
.BMP Yes Yes * * * ** Microsoft Windows Bitmap
.CUT Yes Yes * * * Media Cybernetics (HALO)
.DIB Yes - * * * ** Device Independent Bitmap
.GDS Yes Yes * R R * Rd Rd ** Rd Raxsoft/Photodex Scanning
.GIF Yes Yes * * * * VMMFSaveGIFCompuServe GIF87/GIF89a
.HAM Yes - * * * Rd Rd ** Rd Electronic Arts (IFF/HAM)
.ICO Yes - R R R Microsoft Windows Icon Files
.IFF Yes Yes * * * Rd Rd ** Rd Electronic Arts (IFF/HAM)
.IMG Yes Yes * R * GEM Raster /@K(see also /@K)
.JFI Yes Yes R ** Rd VMMFSaveJPGJPEG (standard JFIF)
.JPG Yes Yes R ** Rd VMMFSaveJPGJPEG (standard JFIF)
.LBM Yes Yes * * * Rd Rd ** Rd Deluxe Paint (IFF/HAM)
.MAC Yes - R Macintosh MacPaint Mono
.PBM Yes - R R R R Rd PBMPlus Bitmap (mono)
.PCC Yes Yes * R * * Rd ZSoft PC Paintbrush 'Brush'
.PCX Yes Yes * R * * ** ZSoft PC Paintbrush
.PGM Yes - R R R R Rd PBMPlus Bitmap (gray)
.PPM Yes - R R R R Rd PBMPlus Bitmap (true color)
.RAX Yes Yes * R * * ** ** Rd Raxsoft/Photodex VideoGames
.RFX Yes Yes * R * * ** ** Rd Raxsoft/Photodex Fonts
.RLE Yes Yes * * * ** Windows RLE Bitmap
.SC* Yes Yes * * ColorRIX
.TGA Yes Yes R ** ** Rd TrueVision Targa (+RLE,Pals)
.TIF Yes Yes * R * * Rd Rd ** Rd Tagged Image File Format
.WPG Yes Yes * R * * WordPerfect Graphics (Bitmap)

■ Supported animation formats:

.DL ExtViewers 'DL' Files (DL-VIEW.EXE)
.GL ExtViewers Grasp (GRASPRT.EXE)
.FLC ExtViewers AutoDesk (FLXPLAY.EXE,
.FLI ExtViewers FLIPLAY.EXE, QUICKFLI.EXE,
.FLX ExtViewers PLAY.EXE, AAPLAY.EXE)
.MP2 ExtViewers MPEG Audio (XING's MPEG.EXE)
.MPA ExtViewers MPEG Audio (XING's MPEG.EXE)
.MPG ExtViewers MPEG Video (XING's MPEG.EXE)

The above animation formats require loading external executable programs, and the executable programs should be in the same directory as GDS:

DL-VIEW.EXE .DL playback program
DL-VIEW.CFG .DL configuration file
DL-VIEW.DAT .DL palette comparison table

FLXPLAY.EXE .FLI/.FLC playback program \
FLIPLAY.EXE .FLI/.FLC playback program ) Either one exists
QUICKFLI.EXE .FLI playback program /

GRASPRT.EXE .GL playback program
MPEG.EXE .MPG, .MPA, .MP2 playback program (Xing Tech.)

■ Supported display devices (display cards marked '*' may not be 100% compatible on all machines):
1-HERC *5-AHEAD *9-CIRRUS D-F1280 H-SS24X *L-TSENG P-ST64
2-CGA 6-AHEADB *A-CL54 E-GENOA I-STEALTH *M-TSENG4
3-EGA 7-ATI *B-EVEREX *F-OAK J-STPRO *N-VESA
*4-VGA 8-CHIPS C-EV634 *G-PARA *K-TRIDNT O-VIDEO7
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● DISPLAY 1.89 Supported image formats
_____________________________________
■ Supported image formats:

Read:
GIF(.gif)*, Japan MAG(.mag), Japan PIC(.jpc), Sun Raster(.ras),
Jpeg in Jfif(.jpg)*, XBM(.xbm), Utah RLE(.rle), PBM(.pbm), PGM(.pgm),
PPM(.ppm), PM(.pm), PCX(.pcx), Japan MKI(.mki), Tiff(.tif),
Targa(.tga), XPM(.xpm), Mac Paint(.mac), GEM/IMG(.img),
IFF/ILBM/PBM(.iff,.lbm), Windows BMP(.bmp), QRT ray tracing(.qrt),
Mac PICT(.pct), VIS(.vis), PDS(.pds), VIKING(.vik), VICAR(.vic),
FITS(.fit), Usenix FACE(.fac), IRIS/SGI(.sgi), YUV(.yuv), RAW RGB(.rgb),
PCPAINT/Pictor(.pic,.clp), RAW GREY(.gry), Photo-CD(.pcd),
VORT output(.pix), WordPerfect Graphics(.wpg), Windows ICON(.ico),
ANSI screen file(.ans), Image INDEX(.idx), VIVID output(.img,.viv),
Thumbnail(.tnl), Dr. Halo(.cut), Japan PI(.pi), PNG(.png)*.

■ Write:
GIF*, Sun Raster, Jpeg*, XBM, PBM, PGM, PPM, PM, Tiff, Targa,
XPM, Mac Paint, Ascii, Laser Jet, IFF/ILBM, Windows BMP,
Mac PICT, VIS, FITS, FACE, PCX, GEM/IMG, IRIS/SGI, YUV, RAW RGB,
Postscript, RAW GREY, Wordperfect Graphics, Windows ICON,
Image INDEX(.idx), ANSI screen file, Thumbnail, Dr. Halo, PNG*.

■ Preview:
GIF, Jpeg, Windows BMP, PBM, PGM, PPM, Targa, PCX, Mac Paint,
Photo-CD, PNG, XBM, Sun Raster, Thumbnail, GEM/IMG, Windows ICON,
WPG, FACE, IFF/ILBM, XPM, IRIS/SGI.

■ Supported animation formats:

DL(.dl), FLI(.fli), FLC(.flc), RAW(.raw, produced by DMPEG),
MPEG(.mpg), AVI(.avi), GL(.gl), IFF/ANIM(.anm), QuickTime (.mov).

■ Supported display devices:

acumos.grn - AcuMos AVGA2 chipsets.
aheada.grd -
aheadb.grd -
ati.grd -
atigupro.grn - ATI Graphics Ultra Pro video.
atiultra.grn - ATI ULTRA board.
ativga.grn -
ati_16md.grn - ATI Graphics Ultra Plus/Pro, up to TrueColor.
chips.grd -
cirrus54.grn - Cirrus 54xx chip series, up to TrueColor.
cl5426.grn - Cirrus CL-GD542X Chipsets up to HiColor.
et3000.grn - ET-3000.
et4000.grn - ET-4000 Normal/HiColor/TrueColor with Tseng Lab. BIOS.
everex.grd -
genoa.grd -
newss24x.grn - Speedstar 24x, up to TrueColor.
oak.grn -
paradise.grd -
realtek.grn -
s3805_1m.grn - S3 805 with 1M ram, up to Truecolor
s3864_2m.grn - S3 864 with 2M ram, up to Truecolor
sparadis.grn -
ss24x.grn - Speedstar 24x, up to HiColor.
stdvga.grn - Standard VGA. 320 x 200 only.
stealth.grn - Diamond Stealth S3 graphics accelerator.
tr8900.grn - Trident 8900.
vesa111.vdr - General VESA driver. VESA 1.2 compatible. Fixed resolutions.
vesa112.vdr - Same as vesa111.vdr and supports 32-bit modes.
vesa_s3.grn - Diamond Stealth S3 graphics accelerator & Orchid F1280.
video7.grd -
viper.grn -
wd90c3x.grn - Western Digital VGA chips: WD90C30 and WD90C31.
wdvanila.grn - If WD90C3X.GRN doesn't work, try this one.
Internal - VESA driver. My suggestion for your SVGA cards.
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● CSHOW 9.04a Supported image formats and display devices
_________________________________________________

■ Supported image formats:

GIF, RLE, MacPaint, PCX, PC Paint, PC Paintbrush, ColoRIX, EGA Paint,IMG,
Dr. Halo, Targa, IFF/LBM/HAM, BMP, Tiff, JPEG, RIP Icon, PBMPLUS, and PNG.

■ Supported animation formats:

None.

■ Supported display devices:

Hercules, CGA, EGA, MCGA, VGA, 8514/a, XGA, VESA and Super-VGA(including high-color SVGAs).
0. (none) 18. IBM PGC
1. AcuMos 19. IBM 8514/A
2. Ahead Systems 20. IBM 8514/A
3. Amstrad PC1512 21. IBM XGA
4. AT&T 6300 22. NCR
5. AT&T DEB 23. Oak Technologies
6. ATI GraphicsSolution 24. Paradise/WestrnDigtl
7. ATI VGAs 25. Plantronics
8. Chips & Technologies 26. STB EM16+
9. Cirrus 27. STB Ergo+Sierra DAC
10. Compaq QVision 28. Tandy 1000SL/TL
11. DGIS 29. TIGA
12. Diamond Speedstar 24 30. Trident VGA
13. Everex VGAs 31. Tseng 3000
14. Genoa 6400 GVGA 32. Tseng 4000
15. Hercules GraphxStatn 33. Tseng4000+Sierra DAC
16. Hercules InColor 34. VESA BIOS Extensions
17. IBM (generic) CGA 35. Video 7
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● VPIC Supported image formats and display devices
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■ Supported image formats:

BIF Binary image format black and white image capture board file (can only be displayed).
BMP Microsoft Windows 3.0 bitmap file.
GIF Including GIF87a and GIF89a.
LBM
MAC (can only be displayed).
PIC
PCX Including 24-bit .
CUT
SCx
TGA 8-32-bit .
TIF 24-bit.

■ Supported animation formats:

None.

■ Supported display devices:

EGA, VGA and SuperVGA display cards.
8514A, Acumos, Ahead (A & B chip), ATI, Chips &
Technology, Compaq, Everex, Genoa, Headland (Video 7), NCR, Oak,
Paradise, Primus, Realtek, S3, Trident (8800BR & CS and 8900),
Tseng(ET3000 & ET4000 chip), Western Digital, and Zymos VGA.
If your display card supports the VESA standard, it can automatically determine and use it.
___________________________________

● QuickView Protected Mode V2.1
_______________________________
■ Supported image formats:
- .BMP
- .GIF
- .TGA
- .ICO(32x32)

■ Supported animation formats:
- .AVI: Codecs:
- .DL: Versions 1, 2 and part 3
- .CEL (original animation CEL file),
.FLC,
.FLI
- .GIF animation

Sound formats:

- .VOC
- .WAV:
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● NV Supported image formats and display devices
____________________________________________________
■ Supported image formats:

NOMSSI Viewer supports 8 image formats, including:

OS/2 Bitmap arrays, IFF HAM coding and PBM FORMs, PCX CGA/EGA images,
PNG alpha chanel, gamma correction and many TIFF extensions.

■ Supported animation formats:

■ Supported display devices:

NOMSSI Viewer is an expert in SuperVGA, it can automatically confirm your machine configuration and effectively utilize these resources. VGA cards include:

Acumos, Ahead, ATI, Avance Logic, Chips&Tech, Cirrus, Compaq,
Everex, Genoa, HMC, MXIC, MGA, NCR, Oak, Paradise, Poach, PRIMUS,
Realtek, S3, Trident, Tseng, UMC, Video7, Weitek, Yamaha
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Appendix 2:
┏━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
┃ Running environment required by each tool software ┃
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Hardware configuration required by SEA:
________________________________
Minimum configuration:
386Sx, 2MB, a VGA card with 512K video memory supporting the VESA standard.
Optimal configuration:
33 MHz 486, 4MB memory, a mouse, a VESA VGA card with 1M video memory supporting the VESA standard.


Hardware configuration required by GDS:
_______________________


Hardware configuration required by DISPLAY:
______________________________________
Minimum configuration:
CPU above 386
Optimal configuration:
CPU above 486, 8MB memory and true color display card


Hardware configuration required by VPIC:

System requirements for QV:

CPU above 386, DOS 3.0 or above operating system, or running in the DOS window of Windows 3.1, Windows 95, OS/2, must have a VGA display card. To support sound, the sound card must be compatible with Sound Blaster. The PC speaker is no longer supported.


System requirements for NV:

Requires DOS 3.3 or above operating system (including DR DOS, MSDOS, NOVELL DOS, OS/2 or Windows DOS session)
Any IBM PC compatible machine with a configuration not lower than 640K memory, 80286 CPU and VGA display card.
The JPEG coding standard requires CPU not lower than 386SX.
The DPMI version of NOMSSI Viewer (NVX) requests extended memory.

QV refers to version 2.1, which is too old. Now version 2.51 has been released.

Hehe, just reposting. But the interface of sea is really great. The interfaces of other image viewing software aren't all as nice as this.

Well, as for the interface, Pixel32 is the best one.

Pixel32？

Take a look

Didn't notice

Wow, it's great. The interface is beyond reproach.
Hehe.
Supported too few (can only be said to be drawing, not reading pictures).

Is there a registration code?
Moderator

Try this registration code for Pixel32:

Registered Name: Wengier
Registration Code: 84C8-516D-A17F-B579

Thanks in advance.

Hehe, there's also PictView
It has few functions but is very compact, and supports many formats
http://www.pictview.com/

PictView 1.94 is very powerful and supports more than 40 graphic formats. It can be downloaded on my website.

The building owner listed it very detailedly

I tried it, and the fastest one is still SEA.

Learned, although rarely use DOS.

Used SEA, it's been a long time! Hehe