ln63snm@sdcc7.UUCP (ALBANO LOPES) (05/05/86)
I need to do high resolution bit-mapped color graphics on PCs, mostly under Turbo Pascal program control. Any opinions on whether I should buy EGA cards/monitors, or the Princeton SR-12 and a scan doubler? I really know next to nothing about this comparison so far, so any info at all would be useful. Thanks, Jeff Miller sdcc11!ps41@ucsd.edu (I think-- Off my ][+, I'm always confused!)
stever@tekgen.UUCP (Steven D. Rogers) (05/12/86)
Besides the scan doubler by Princeton, there is the Sigma Designs Color400 board which does scan doubling AND true 640x400. Sigma Designs is providing drivers for VDI and MS Windows. There are companies making Color400 clones. So maybe this board will be a "standard" like Hercules. Although Sigma Designs just announced their own EGA clone, they claim they will continue to support the Color400. If you are going to sell software, one of the EGA clones with with EGA, CGA, MDA, and Hercules modes seems a better bet. But beware that the CGA mode works better in some EGA clones than in others. I have a Sigma Designs Color400 and the SR-12 for an AT. I have been quite satisfied with this combination. The ROM of the Color400 does have a bug that freezes the cursor indicator when using Crosstalk on an AT. Sigma Designs has promised a fix in a few weeks. If I was buying today, I would probably get the NEC Multisync monitor with one of the EGA clones (one that worked right!) trading off a slightly lower resolution for maximum flexiblity (PGA clones or higher resolutions are just around the corner and the Multisync should be able to handle them).
jimla@tekig5.UUCP (James G. Larsen) (05/17/86)
The scan doubler will not increase the vertical resolution of the image, It will only replicate adjacent scan lines, giving a more solid appearance to characters. The availability of graphics software is highly dependent on which IBM hardware becomes popular. Due to the popularity of the PC-AT/EGA combination, there is a steady stream of new software products supporting that combination. I would also recommend the combination of an NEC Multisync monitor with a EGA/CGA/Hercules clone. We just received our Multisync and are driving it with an IBM PGA card. Our main problem is finding software to run on the PGA card, which is grossly overpriced and a failure in the consumer market. Let's hope someone introduces a more cost effective PGA clone to stimulate the software vendors. I'm still hoping for support of device independent graphics standards to relieve us of the current mess. Jim Larsen