Widescreen LCD & DOSCab?

[MrD]

Is it possible to use a widescreen LCD with DOSCab?

My first guess is "no" since you probably can't get the right resolutions setup.  OR, "yes" but it will be a smaller resolution that is stretched and the aspect ratios will all be off?  I'd really rather not go to Windows if I can help it at this point.

I was originally going to go the route of building a cabinet, and using a touch screen CRT (which I already bought, and having working fine).  However, I stumbled upon a jukebox shell, and now I'm rethinking my project.  It's a NSM Prestige ES-160 and I'm thinking I could replace the title strips with a LCD screen and box in around it, then use a CD type skin.  This all has to go behind a piece of glass, so that rules out the touchscreen, plus my original touch screen is a CRT and there won't be room for it.

If I could replace it with a widescreen LCD (if I can find a model that will fit) I might have more room for the CD covers, etc.  Then I have to just get all the buttons wired and working, wire in to the existing speakers, clean it up.......you know the never ending project that these become.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Chris]

To use a widescreen properly with DOSCab, you need to edit the aspect ratio in jukebox.ini.  The default is 1.3333 for a standard monitor.

How do you figure out the correct value?  Just divide the aspect ratio.  If your monitor has a 16:9 aspect ratio, your aspect ratio is 16 divided by 9, or 1.7777777.  NOTE:  You want the physical aspect ratio, not the aspect ratio for the resolution you want to run in!  DOSCab will adjust for the resolution aspect ratio automatically.  Once you have the aspect ratio, set the MonitorAspectRatio setting in jukebox.ini to that value.

The skin you are using may not fit perfectly in the aspect ratio; if so, it will letterbox or crop the output.  This is controlled by the FixedDimension setting (I couldn't think of a better name). FixedDimension = Height uses the full height of the skin, and crops or letterboxes the sides; FixedDimension = Width uses the full width of the skin, and crops or letterboxes the top and bottom. FixedDimension = Auto uses width for horizontal orientations and height for vertical orientations.

Of course, you'll also need to set the width and height settings in jukebox.ini to the LCD's native resolution.  As long as your video card supports that mode in DOS, it should work.  Some cards may need a VESA 3.0 driver installed to get unusual resolutions, others may do it in the BIOS.  Not all video cards will have native support for widescreen resolutions, but if this is the case with your card you'll have the problem in both DOS and Windows.

Although you can use any skin with a widescreen display, the skin cd6-1-ws.skn is optimized for widescreen use.

--Chris

[MrD]

Thanks Chris! 

Looks like I need to start shopping for a deal on a widescreen LCD, and figure out a different project for my touch screens.