Robert,
Although 18 worked fine in a DOS prompt under Windows 95/98 (don't laugh), now I have a shiny new computer running XP, 18 and 20 both crash this (resulting in a, rare IME, BSoD) if I try to run them under a Command Prompt. Hence I have to run them under DOS-Box (0.72).
Did you try creating a shortcut to Fractint, then set the properties to run Fractint full screen (2 places)? If you have a machine where the manufacturer has tuned the XP video drivers to work with the hardware, you should be able to get this to work. I have a laptop that came with XP that works fine. I also have a laptop and a desktop where I installed a generic XP, and neither will work properly with Fractint.
* How do I set up DOS-Box to run Fractint (or the like) with maximum power?
Set cycles=max in your dosbox.conf file. I don't remember having changed anything else.
* How do I avoid the corruption of the output screen when I switch out of drawing and back within Fractint, or when I switch away from DOS-Box and back?
Try going to a text screen in Fractint first. In general, it isn't a good idea to switch away from Fractint while an image is being generated/displayed unless using disk video modes.
BTW, 20 seems to have lost the Palette Editor, and not gained the promised 32767-pixel limit (the latter according to the help, which still says 2048). Can anyone enlighten me?
Try the latest developer's version (20.04p08) located at the developer's web sites: www.fractint.org or www.fractint.net Jonathan