aharon@wisdom.BITNET (Aharon Shtull-Trauring) (01/20/87)
Hi. I am the (not so) proud owner of a Taiwanese PC-Clone
which my wife uses for her word-processing, editing and
translating business. I bought a Hercules "compatible"
card as well as a CGA "compatible" card - the latter
for running games for my kids. I have several
problems:
(1) When the CGA card is in the computer, the Hercules
card acts as if its brain damaged. Letters looked half-baked
and are unreadable. The documentation (which reads as if
it was written by a Taiwanese who only knew Urdu) for the
monochrome graphics card says that the card has 2 32K buffers
of graphics memory, and that if you wnat it to live
peacably with a CGA card you must disable page 1 by
running a program called half (or else sending something
to a register via basic). None of these things seem
to help or hinder.
(2) In monochrome mode, when I do a dir, my monitor
starts raining Greek letters. This is especialy
noticeable when I go into Turbo mode (I have a 8088-2
that can run at 8+ MHZ). I thought the card may have
some sort of refresh problem, but running th Borland
graphics toolbox demo works beautifully, even at 8 MHZ
(in fact it of course looks much better running at 8MHZ)
(3) My wife uses the Hercules card for Microsoft Word.
When she runs a disk that has system 2.1 or higher the
Hercules card does strange things while in word. It
only works 100% properly when booting of a disk
with 2.0 (the command.com can be 2.11)
Help!!! Can Hercules live with CGA and is it just my clone
that stinks, or is there some vital piece of information
that the "technical wizards" who sold me this clunker
just don't know (or aren't saying).
On another topic, I would like to understand the difference
between different density diskettes. It doesn't seem to
matter if I use single-sided double density or double-sided
double-density - I stillo get 360K. Why?
Any help would be most appreciated:
Aron Shtull-Trauring
(aharon@wisdom.bitnet)
(aharon%wisdom.bitnet@wiscvm.wisc.edu)brown@nicmad.UUCP (Mr. Video) (01/21/87)
In article <8701200750.AA26234@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> aharon@wisdom.BITNET (Aharon Shtull-Trauring) writes:
[... problems with Herc and CGA cards ...]
The Hercules card and the CGA card can exist together only if the Hercules
card is NEVER used in graphics mode. The graphics address of the Hercules
card end up in the CGA addresssing area. The program that is run to put
the Hercules card into mono mode only is HGC HALF.
You MUST remove the CGA card before Hercules graphics mode is used.
Sorry to give you the bad news, but that is the way it is.
--
ihnp4------\ |------------------------|
harvard-\ \ | terminus: |
Mr. Video seismo!uwvax!nicmad!brown | The clearing house for |
rutgers-/ / | rec.arts.drwho |
decvax------/ |------------------------|
terminus-----/news@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu (Usenet netnews) (01/21/87)
Organization : California Institute of Technology Keywords: From: tim@tomcat.Caltech.Edu (Tim Kay) Path: tomcat!tim In article <1442@nicmad.UUCP> brown@nicmad.UUCP (Mr. Video) writes: >The Hercules card and the CGA card can exist together only if the Hercules >card is NEVER used in graphics mode. The graphics address of the Hercules >card end up in the CGA addresssing area. The program that is run to put >the Hercules card into mono mode only is HGC HALF. > >You MUST remove the CGA card before Hercules graphics mode is used. I believe this isn't right. A screen full of Hercules graphics requires 720x348/8 = about 32K bytes of memory. The card comes with 64K bytes or TWO pages of graphics memory. A program can double buffer; there is a control bit that determines which page is displayed. The first page starts at 0xb0000, while the second starts at 0xb8000. The latter address also happens to be the address of the CGA. If you have a CGA, you use the HGC HALF command to disable the second page of memory. You can still do graphics, just no double buffering. I don't know how many programs use that second page of memory. If yours doesn't, and you don't have a CGA, you could use the memory as a small ram disk. Timothy L. Kay tim@csvax.caltech.edu Department of Computer Science Caltech, 256-80 Pasadena, CA 91125
tj@utcs.UUCP (01/22/87)
WRONG ANSWERS GUYS. According to the Hercules Manula on my desk the Herc graphics card can coexist with the color card. You do not have to remove it to use the other. Page 1-5 says "The Hlaf configuration makes the first graphics page located at B0000-B7FFF accessible to graphics software. The second graphics page located at B8000-BFFFF is suppressed allowing the presence of other video cards provided that their screen buffer does not occupy any portion of the first graphics page. (This configuration allows the the presence of an IBM Colour Card in the system at the same time as the Hercules Graphics Card.) " HGC DIAG is a mono text only mode. I will know more real soon cause I am about to buy a Herc Graphics Card to co-exist with my Herc Color card. tj .
brown@nicmad.UUCP (Mr. Video) (01/22/87)
In article <1549@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu> tim@tomcat.UUCP (Tim Kay) writes: >Organization : California Institute of Technology >Keywords: >From: tim@tomcat.Caltech.Edu (Tim Kay) >Path: tomcat!tim > >In article <1442@nicmad.UUCP> brown@nicmad.UUCP (Mr. Video) writes: >>The Hercules card and the CGA card can exist together only if the Hercules >>card is NEVER used in graphics mode. The graphics address of the Hercules >>card end up in the CGA addresssing area. The program that is run to put >>the Hercules card into mono mode only is HGC HALF. >> >>You MUST remove the CGA card before Hercules graphics mode is used. > >I believe this isn't right. A screen full of Hercules graphics requires >720x348/8 = about 32K bytes of memory. The card comes with 64K bytes or >TWO pages of graphics memory. A program can double buffer; there is a >control bit that determines which page is displayed. The first page >starts at 0xb0000, while the second starts at 0xb8000. The latter address >also happens to be the address of the CGA. If you have a CGA, you use >the HGC HALF command to disable the second page of memory. You can still >do graphics, just no double buffering. I don't know how many programs use >that second page of memory. If yours doesn't, and you don't have a CGA, >you could use the memory as a small ram disk. OK, here is what Hercules says in their manual for the card: Getting Started 2. Make sure that there is not an IBM Monochrome Display/Printer Adapter, IBM Color Graphics Adapter, or any other video board in the system. (For the exceptions to this rule, read the section "The Graphics Card's Software Switch" in this manual.) The Graphics Card's "Software Switch" A Selecting A Configuration 1. The FULL configuration is the normal operating configuration of the Hercules Graphics Card and is required by Lotus 1-2-3 (Version 1A [my note: and 2.00+]). FULL allows unrestricted access to the 64K of Hercules card memory. The IBM color card may never physically be in your system when you are in FULL, although the Hercules Color Card may be. 2. The HALF configuration allows an IBM color card to remain in the system at the same time as the Hercules Graphics Card. HALF limits access to the first 32K of Hercules card memory. Certain programs that use graphics, like Microsoft Word, may be run in HALF. So, I was part right and part wrong. But, the general drift of the whole thing is that having the CGA card installed can cause trouble. If you don't know what the program is going to do and it puts it into FULL mode on its own, then the CGA can't be in the machine. Around here we use the rule that a Hercules card and the CGA card are NOT installed in the same machine at the same time. That way we don't have to worry about program conflicts. -- ihnp4------\ |------------------------| harvard-\ \ | terminus: | Mr. Video seismo!uwvax!nicmad!brown | The clearing house for | rutgers-/ / | rec.arts.drwho | decvax------/ |------------------------| terminus-----/
waynec@hpsrlc.HP.COM (Wayne Cannon) (01/23/87)
The DOS coprocessor manual for my unix system also refers to its emulation of systems that use both display cards simultaneously (e.g. for color graphics and text) for another vote for their likely compatiblity.
brown@nicmad.UUCP (01/24/87)
In article <1987Jan22.105732.10639@utcs.uucp> tj@utcs.UUCP (tj) writes: > >WRONG ANSWERS GUYS. > >According to the Hercules Manula on my desk the Herc graphics card >can coexist with the color card. You do not have to remove it >to use the other. Page 1-5 says > >[... quotes manual ...] > >HGC DIAG is a mono text only mode. > >I will know more real soon cause I am about to buy a Herc Graphics Card >to co-exist with my Herc Color card. I too quoted the manual, more extensively though. Anyway, the conflict of interest is with the IBM Color Graphics Card. If you were the read the manual some more, the exception was the Hercules Color Card. -- ihnp4------\ |------------------------| harvard-\ \ | terminus: | Mr. Video seismo!uwvax!nicmad!brown | The clearing house for | rutgers-/ / | rec.arts.drwho | decvax------/ |------------------------| terminus-----/
kuo@skatter.UUCP (01/26/87)
In article <8701200750.AA26234@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, aharon@wisdom.BITNET (Aharon Shtull-Trauring) writes: > > Hi. I am the (not so) proud owner of a Taiwanese PC-Clone > which my wife uses for her word-processing, editing and > translating business. I bought a Hercules "compatible" > card as well as a CGA "compatible" card - the latter > for running games for my kids. I have several > problems: > > (1) When the CGA card is in the computer, the Hercules > card acts as if its brain damaged. Letters looked half-baked > and are unreadable. The documentation (which reads as if > it was written by a Taiwanese who only knew Urdu) for the > monochrome graphics card says that the card has 2 32K buffers > of graphics memory, and that if you wnat it to live > peacably with a CGA card you must disable page 1 by > running a program called half (or else sending something > to a register via basic). None of these things seem > to help or hinder. I think it is possible to have both the CGA and Herculus in the machine but you have to use the MODE program to select which one is active. I read this somewhere but cann't remember where and have not tried it myself. I have an ATI Graphics Solution card which emulates both CGA and Herculus; the mode is software selectable. I normally boot up with the CGA mode then (software) switch into the Herculus mode when I need it. You may want to read some more on the MODE thing. > (3) My wife uses the Hercules card for Microsoft Word. > When she runs a disk that has system 2.1 or higher the > Hercules card does strange things while in word. It > only works 100% properly when booting of a disk > with 2.0 (the command.com can be 2.11) > Why don't you take out the CGA, use Herculus alone. And when you need CGA, use SIMCGA? (Unless, of course, the games boots from a diskette.) I think DOS 2.11 is a no-no to use. You are better off with either DOS 2.0 or 2.1; I have seen 2.11 do strange things! > On another topic, I would like to understand the difference > between different density diskettes. It doesn't seem to > matter if I use single-sided double density or double-sided > double-density - I stillo get 360K. Why? > Normally the only difference between buying a single-sided double density and a double-sided double density is that the SSDD is only checked on one side at the factory whereas the DSDD got both sides checked. I normally buy SSDD disks then format them for DSDD, cheaper that way. Only about one out of 50 cannot be formatted to DSDD, so I use them for games! > Any help would be most appreciated: > > Aron Shtull-Trauring > (aharon@wisdom.bitnet) > (aharon%wisdom.bitnet@wiscvm.wisc.edu) Hope these info are of help! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Kuo Bitnet (VMS address) : KUO@SASK Accelerator Laboratory (UUCP address) : "skatter!kuo@sask.uucp" (a.k.a. The Beam Warehouse) Univ. of Saskatchewan uucp (unix address) : !ihnp4!sask!skatter!kuo Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (Bitnet address) : !ihnp4!sask.BITNET!kuo CANADA S7N 0W0 Tel. (306) 966-6059 [Disclaimer: all the standard stuff.]