MonoSol is a free tiny Klondike Solitaire game designed for good playability on vintage computers, especially those with monochrome screens.
Download MonoSol v1.1 (11/29/2022)
Upon launch the game begins and instructions are displayed until the first input is made.
Features
MonoSol should run on most DOS computers. Under emulation it has been tested on an 8086, 64KB RAM, MS-DOS 2.0. On real hardware 286, 640KB, MS-DOS 3.30.
Supported Video Modes |
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Name | INT 10h mode | Resolution | Key |
CGA | 06h | 640x200x2 | F1 |
AT&T 6300 | 40h | 640x400x2 | F2 |
EGA | 0Fh | 640x350x2 | F3 |
VGA | 11h | 640x480x2 | F4 |
The video mode should be automatically detected except for 640×400 AT&T 6300 mode which will be automatically selected only for some GRiD computers. Modes can be switched on the fly using the F1-F4 keys.
DosBox doesn’t seem to support AT&T 6300 or monochrome EGA modes but MonoSol runs fine in DosBox monochrome CGA and VGA modes.
CuteMouse, a popular DOS mouse driver, doesn’t seem to support the AT&T 6300 video mode. The mouse functions but the cursor is not visible so I tested using the Microsoft Mouse driver v6. DosBox doesn’t require a mouse driver (it’s integrated).
MonoSol was written in x86 Assembly in early 2022, assembled with NASM, and was my first attempt at writing a tiny game. The goal was a game that would look sharp in 640x400x2 mode on GRiD gas-plasma displays yet also be small enough to include in ROMs without much consequence.
NOTE: 640x400x2 mode is referenced by many different names. AT&T 6300, Olivetti M24, Compaq Portable III, Doublescan CGA, and more.
Keyboard Controls (monosol.com or monosolm.com) | ||
1-7 | Tableau piles | |
A-D | Foundation piles | |
8/Space | Deck pile, deal 3 cards | |
9/Enter | Draw pile, select card | |
Tab | Auto-send selected card to a foundation pile | |
Up/Down | Modify card selection within a pile | |
+/- | Save/Restore game state | |
n | New game | |
x | Exit | |
F1-F4 | Change video mode (CGA, AT&T 6300, EGA, VGA) |
Mouse Controls (monosolm.com supports mouse) |
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Left Click | Select piles (source or destination) | |
Right Click | Auto-send selected card to a foundation pile | |
Click the N | New game | |
Click the X | Exit |
Version History | ||
v1.0 | 3/2022 | Initial release |
v1.1 | 11/2022 | fixes, optimizations, performance, added ending screen |