rich@uofm-cv.UUCP (Richard M. Jungclas) (02/13/84)
We here at the University of Michigan, have an application currently being developed that utilizes both a monochrome and a graphics display. This actual dual arrangement has been in operation for almost two years and requires no special modifications and/or hardware. It does require that you have the equivalent of separate monochrome and graphics boards. We are using the standard IBM boards, but I don't see why you couldn't use other vendor boards. The refresh RAM for these displays are in two distinct areas. (eg. Graphics address starts at B8000 and occupies the next 16K. The monochrome refresh memory starts at B0000 and also occupies next 16K. I not aware of any situations utilizing two graphics displays, although it could be possible. Again each display would need its own refresh memory. Eg one graphic display mapped into the B8000 address and one mapped into the B0000 address. Some of the newer boards that combine monochrome and graphics board could be a problem and I don't know enough as how this equipment works to say for sure. If however, the board has an "IBM compatibility" mode then it should probably work. I'm not aware of any vendor for an IBM PC offering any monochrome/ graphics boards with a configurable refresh address which would be ideal for multiple displays. Someone suggested it is easy to string together a series of color monitors by using Y adapters, etc. . I would argue that this is not an application of multiple displays, but rather an application of multiple monitors of a SINGLE DISPLAY. Such an application is intended for displaying items to large audiences, etc. The system in use here at Michigan utilizes both concurrently. Hope this helps. If you need more info. and/or the specific code etc. you can mail be a note via the network or contact me by telephone (Rich Jungclas) at (313) 763-1563.