Apparatus and method for automatically detecting and configuring a television display for a personal computer

A method for establishing a television set as a graphic output device for a computer system, the television set being coupled to, but not integrated with, the computer system, the method comprising:

• calling a selected executable routine from a linked library across an application programming interface by a computer system routine, the linked library having a plurality of the executable routines for controlling the television set, at least one of the executable routines detecting a presence of the television set;
• executing a hardware-specific routine associated with hardware operation of the television set in response to execution of the selected executable routine, and returning a hardware-specific result to the called selected executable routine;
• and
• sending an execution result by the called selected executable routine to the computer system routine across the application programming interface based on the hardware-specific result.