Quote: " I never would have guessed that I need to call dbSetDiplayMode(800,600,32)"
Well, yes, the window size is not the same as the "render target" size. That allows you to do various effect which you wouldn't be able to do if that was bounded.
Quote: "You would think that would set the display to 800x600x32 wouldn't you? But it doesn't. My desktop stayed at 1024x768 and witout any apparent change to the actual display, it scaled the images and sprites correctly within my already sized 800x600 window."
Sure because you have to set your window size and display mode to be 1:1 at size. That does make sense, doesn't it? Once you make your application fullscreen, then changing the "display mode" will also change the actual video resolution. But - yes - I admit that the name could be more precise, that's for sure.
Quote: "I've only been playing with this for a few days and I'm starting to think this GDK was not worth the price (free). I'll keep at it though and see if the whole thing is this wacky or if this was just an isolated incident."
Hehe, welcome to my club
Although what you are describing actually makes sense to me, I wouldn't blame it for that.