keithe@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Keith Ericson) (04/13/89)
We are looking for a _VERY_ high performance VGA and EGA compatible display controller to run in 25 MHz (CPU Clock) 386 AT's. We've had an ATI WonderVGA card in for evaluation. It is going back. It is slow. I mean, SLOW! In it's 16-bit mode it accepts data slower than does a Genoa 8-bit EGA card. The extended display modes are completely incompatible with other VGA cards we have tried (Video7's FastWrite and VRAM; and a ZyMOS card). The ATI has a unique (=weird, =unusable) display-memory architecture and (the real killer) ATI doesn't supply any BIOS support for it. If you want to illuminate a pixel you get to figure out the register set and memory location to light it up.. If you want to put up text in graphics mode you get to write your own text-display routines. The mouse is a 2-button version; even with another driver (Logitech, Microsoft, Mouse Systems) we couldn't get it to handle a 3-button version (which we need). The setup routine (there are no jumpers; instead they use an EEPROM to hold the configuration information) is not particularly easy to use, but this is a minor point since it's used so seldom. The worst is that the manual tells you to be careful to set the mouse interrupts and address to unused settings, but then the setup uses "primary" and "secondary" for labels instead of real addresss ports and IRQ values. Good luck... For run-of-the-mill VGA'ing this card may be fine (but I still think it's too slow); or if you're running the applications for which they supply drivers you'll be OK. But it ain't gonna make it for our uses. The evaluation of this card was done by myself and two cco-workers. They have even lower opinions of the card than I do: they wouldn't want it in their machines on a bet. If anyone knows of a VGA/EGA compatible display controller that can produce 800 x 600 x 256 colors (minimum) and has (blazing) fast CPU-to-DisplayMemory access, please let me know. (My understanding of the Tatung cards is that they are essentially Video7 FastWrite and VRAM clones: anyone had any experience with these?) Cost is a moderate issue: it would be nice if it didn't cost an arm,a leg and one's firstborn male child, too... :-) kEITHe +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Keith Ericson at TekLabs (resident factious factotum) | |Tektronix, PO 500, MS 58-383 Beaverton OR 97077 (503)627-6042 | +---------------------------------------------------+-------------------------+ | UUCP: uunet!tektronix!tekgvs!keithe or | Note: These addresses | | uunet!tektronix!tekgvs.labs.tek.com!keithe | may be hazardous | | ARPA: keithe%tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM@RELAY.CS.NET | to your mailer's | | CSNet: keithe@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM | health!! | +---------------------------------------------------+-------------------------+ | Mail sent via "machine1!machine2!...!keithe@machineN.UUCP" doesn't make it! | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "Of course, you only live one life, and you make all your mistakes, | | and learn what not to do, and that's the end of you." - R.P. Feynman | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+