Tip of the month from PRC
 March 1997 
DOS Screen Grabbers

Revised 4 November 2003

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Tip of the month is edited by Peter Ring, PRC (Peter Ring Consultants, Denmark)
- consultants on how to write user friendly manuals

Screen grabbing is a very common task for technical writers. Windows screen grabbing is normally not a big problem. Most people use the build-in facilities of Windows, or programmes like Paint Shop Pro.

But grabbing DOS screens is a problem if you can't use the text-only grabber or are not satisfied with grabbing a DOS screen on a Windows window.

The question frequently comes up on various mailing lists, and here are the answers collected over the last year + my own experiences:

PCXDUMP

One of my personal favorite for DOS screendumps. Not because it's Danish, but because it can make a correct graphic screen dump of a DOS screen and save it in a decent unproblematic format. It works with or without Windows 3.1+. For use with Windows 95 it must be initiated before starting Win95, e.g. from AUTOEXEC.BAT.

PCXDUMP e.g. supports 1,2,4,8,15,16 and 24 bit video modes. Supports all CGA, EGA and VGA modes. Will grab any tweaked mode, plus extended support for Ahead, ATI, Chip&Technologies, Genoa, MXIC, OAK, Paradise, Realtek, Trident, Tseng, Video-7, S3, Compaq, ALG, Matrox and VESA. Captures all text modes to either ascii or graphic files (including soft fonts as used by DOS 6+). Menu based "installation" with many options.

To download a 10 days free working demo of the latest shareware (US$ 30) issue of PCXDUMP (p.t. version 9.30) go to Jesper Frandsen / Viper Software's homepage: http://www.sc3000.com/sc2000/archives/pcxdump.zip. The software may be purchased from sources in USA, Germay and Denmark, see the homepage.

The programme is written by Jesper Frandsen, Viper Software, e-mail: jesperf@daimi.aau.dk .

SnagIt32 v6.0.0

It is a frequently highly recommended shareware programme (US$ 39.95), also for DOS screens.

Works very well. Earlier versions had problems with grabbing screens with for example Danish Ø, but this is solved now. The function is hidden in the menu Input > Advanced > Full Screen DOS. You can download an evaluation copy from http://www.techsmith.com and try it for free for 30 days.

Hijaak

from Quarterdeck includes DOS screen captures, but I have seen reports that not everybody is happy with it.

Other programmes:

The following programmes are available from the http://www.simtel.net:
PS: The SimTel website includes a lot of other interesting programmes - take a look at it!

If you disagree with these ideas - or have other relevant points, experiences, or ideas +/-, please e-mail me !
Ideas for new "Tip of the month" subjects are very welcome, too!

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