anand@nsc.nsc.com (Anand Sheel) (08/28/87)
I am planning on upgrading my PC-XT with EGA capability. I am thinking of an ATI EGA Wonder card. I want to use my CGA monitor for the time being. ATI claims EGA on CGA monitor. Has any one had any experience with the EGA Wonder ? thanks.
mac@idacrd.UUCP (Bob McGwier) (08/31/87)
in article <4599@nsc.nsc.com>, anand@nsc.nsc.com (Anand Sheel) says: > > > I am planning on upgrading my PC-XT with EGA capability. I > am thinking of an ATI EGA Wonder card. I want to use my CGA monitor for > the time being. ATI claims EGA on CGA monitor. Has any one had any experience > with the EGA Wonder ? thanks. > Have had nothing but fun with it. It does everything they say it will. I have run VGA on monochrome, Hercules on an EGA monitor, etc. Nice card. I hope the people at CHIPS technologies are getting filthy rich. Bob
hundt@wind.UUCP (09/01/87)
>Article 7155 of comp.sys.ibm.pc: >From: anand@nsc.nsc.com (Anand Sheel) >am thinking of an ATI EGA Wonder card. I want to use my CGA monitor for >the time being. ATI claims EGA on CGA monitor. Has any one had any experience >with the EGA Wonder ? thanks. I did a similar thing, only with an Everex EGA on my Mitsubishi CGA monitor. The main benefits are 16 colors (vs. 1) at 640x200, appreciably faster text display speed, and flicker-free operation. Now, I take it you intend to run the Wonder in high-res mode. I've seen it done, and I believe it works by scanning different parts of the image on successive passes of the monitor's scanning electron beam. (It over- laps different images to form one composite image.) I've only seen it in a demo situation, but it looked pretty good (albeit not as good as real EGA). /-^-\ Thomas M. Hundt / BELLCORE Morristown NJ / hundt@bellcore.bellcore.com | | {seismo|ihnp4|ucbvax|decvax|ulysses|allegra|clyde}!bellcore!hundt /--_--\
hans@let.vu.nl (Hans Varkevisser) (09/02/87)
I am using the EGA wondercard for about 6 months on an AT with a TTL monitor. I have have tried it on a EGA, CGA and 25 Khz monitor and all functions ok. There is only one problem with a CGA monitor, there is an interlace flicker in all modes and you can't reduce it. It's an iritating flickering but the only solution is a anti-glare filter, that reduces the flickering for 70 percent. I have tried all different kinds of software and there where no problems. The new version of EGA wonder supports 21 modes, CGA, TTL, EGA and 800x600, 1056x352 and so on in 16 colors. If you have specific questions let me now Hans Varkevisser
schwalbe@encore.UUCP (09/02/87)
In article <4599@nsc.nsc.com> anand@nsc.nsc.com (Anand Sheel) writes: > > I am planning on upgrading my PC-XT with EGA capability. I >am thinking of an ATI EGA Wonder card. I want to use my CGA monitor for >the time being. ATI claims EGA on CGA monitor. Has any one had any experience >with the EGA Wonder ? thanks. > Several months ago I had the distinct pleasure of getting an EGA Wonder card (after being wait-listed for several months). I have an Amdek monochrome monitor now and I haven't any problems with *any* software; CGA, EGA, Herc, or Text, with this card (Lotus v2.0 works great in 132 col mode). I bought it because I wanted a card that would run all my software now and then when (soon I hope) I can afford to get a Multi-Sync monitor, I'll still be able to run all my software without changing graphics cards. At the time this was the only card that would do this, I don't know if this is true anymore however. I also have a friend who bought one. He has a CGA monitor now but someday plans on upgrading to Multi-Sync. He has also had no problems I'm aware of. I highly recommend this card. I hope you don't have to wait as long as I did to get it though.
mvolo@ecsvax.UUCP (Michael R. Volow) (09/04/87)
In article <306@vulet.let.vu.nl>, hans@let.vu.nl (Hans Varkevisser) writes: > > > I am using the EGA wondercard for about 6 months on an AT with a TTL How well does the ATI Wonder work with self-booting, non MS-DOS game software that is intended for the CGA board? --Mike Volow, Psychiatry, Durham Veterans Administration Medical Center Durham, NC, 27712 919 383 3568 mvolo@ecsvax.UUCP
dont@xios.XIOS.UUCP (Don Taylor) (09/08/87)
I mailed a reply to the originator of this question, but as there seems
to be quite a bit of (positive) comment about this board I thought that I
had better tell you about the problems that I have had with mine.
1. It seems to be very slot-sensitive, mine likes to be near to the p/s
supply end of the set of slots. I get a lot of flickering if I move
it too far in the other direction. (My machine is an Epson Equity III+).
2. MS Word 3.1 does not work in EGA mode. Lots of flashing screens. ATI
claim this is a bug in Word. They could be right. It works fine in
Herc. mode which is ok if you don't want Word in colour.
3. 2-3 programs run incredibly slowly in EGA mode. I remember the setup
programs for MS mouse stuff and a shareware DB package called INSTANT.
4. I have tried it on a composite mono monitor with an anti-glare screen.
I think that the interlace flicker is unacceptable. Buy a cheap TTL
monitor and save your eyes.
5. Versions of the ATI EGA BIOS prior to 1.08 (I was told) failed the
PC Mag. EGA compatibility test. If you have one of these, then ATI will
send you a replacement ePROM if you talk to them nicely.
6. The screen blanking program that comes with the board is fatal to
MS Windows.
That is about all I can remember. None of the problems are fatal to me and
I endorse all of the +ve things people have said about the board. I would
probably buy it again.
Don.
Don Taylor,
XIOS Systems Corporation, ...seismo!uunet!mnetor!dciem!nrcaer!xios!dont
1600 Carling Avenue, Suite 150,
Ottawa, Ontario.
K1Z 8R8 613-725-5411
Canada.
--
Don Taylor,
XIOS Systems Corporation, ...seismo!uunet!mnetor!dciem!nrcaer!xios!dont
1600 Carling Avenue, Suite 150,
Ottawa, Ontario.
K1Z 8R8 613-725-5411
Canada. george@mnetor.UUCP (George Hart) (09/11/87)
In article <357@xios.XIOS.UUCP> dont@sdn.UUCP (Don Taylor) writes: >2. MS Word 3.1 does not work in EGA mode. Lots of flashing screens. ATI > claim this is a bug in Word. They could be right. It works fine in > Herc. mode which is ok if you don't want Word in colour. Interesting, Word 3.0 doesn't appear to have the problem. >3. 2-3 programs run incredibly slowly in EGA mode. I remember the setup > programs for MS mouse stuff and a shareware DB package called INSTANT. I'm curious, are these programs using real EGA mode or are they forcing the board into its CGA mode? No idea why this should make a difference unless they're using the BIOS calls... >4. I have tried it on a composite mono monitor with an anti-glare screen. > I think that the interlace flicker is unacceptable. Buy a cheap TTL > monitor and save your eyes. My Multisync has a problem with color bleeding in high-intensity characters. May be a problem with my particular monitor since it happened with two different ATI cards on my monitor nor could I detect the problem on a friend's machine with a similar video setup. >5. Versions of the ATI EGA BIOS prior to 1.08 (I was told) failed the > PC Mag. EGA compatibility test. If you have one of these, then ATI will > send you a replacement ePROM if you talk to them nicely. About 1 week after I installed my card, the screen went white, then blue-white, then red and then black...with a certain "final" feeling to it. At this point, the machine wouldn't even reboot. Fortunately, ATI is a block away so I carried the card in and talked to the technician. He couldn't find a thing wrong with it but he replaced the PROM's (to 1.08 I think) and the card has worked well since. Infant mortality in the PROMs or a latent assembly defect are the only explanations I can give. I also asked the technician about the comment in the documentation about the PC BIOS revision level. Apparently, the (revision date, revision number,serial number) combination listed in the documentation is incorrect. The only symptom of a BIOS problem that I observe; on every warm boot I get a message to the effect "...coprocessor not installed. Emulation may not work properly" but thus far, it seems relatively harmless. One of these days, I'll cough up the bucks to upgrade my BIOS and see if it goes away. -- Regards, George Hart, Computer X Canada Ltd. UUCP: utzoo >!mnetor!george seismo BELL: (416)475-8980
tj@utgpu.UUCP (09/11/87)
HUH? Previous article stated that 1) ATI is slot sensitive? 2) MSWord doesn't work in EGA mode 3) Some programs are slow 4) EGA on a composite mono looks ugly I have to agree with number 4. Composite looks ugly in any mode. (I know I have one...) Number 1 sounds like you have failed to disable the on board video adapter and thus are getting bus contentions etc. THERE IS NO WAY IT SHOULD BE SLOT SENSITIVE. A friend of mine had 2 com1 ports and this resulted in the same type of apparent behaviour. Number 2 sounds like the way that MS Word checks adapters. I think they look for a CGA first, then the others. The ATI will look like a CGA and the software will use it as a CGA and look ugly. IF YOU READ THE DOCUMENTATION for WORD you would know about the switches /c /h /m etc. Try /m with an EGA with a TTL mono monitor. (/c is character mode instead of graphics mode, /h and /m give high res modes, there are others I can't remember, like 43 line mode etc...) (Word 4.0 out soon lets you dynamically switch modes) 3) The ATI card is slow, but I suspect some of this may be due to bus contention and thinking its a CGA in your case.