news@crdgw1.crd.ge.com (USENET News System) (03/09/91)
From: dixon@sagittarius.crd.ge.com (walt dixon)
Path: sagittarius!dixon
I'm working on PC containing a NEC MGE card. This card contains a 50Mhz
TMS34010 graphics processor and supports displays of 1024x768x256 colors.
Currently I am using the card in VGA emulation mode, but I've reached
the point where I need the increased resolution and colors. I know that
there are TIGA and DGIS drivers available for this card, and in fact
I have pulled both drivers from the NEC BBS. Unfortunately neither driver
came with any documentation. I've talked to NEC "tech support" and they
referred me to GSS, the company that wrote the DGIS driver. GSS wants
to sell me a DGIS driver kit. The price is reasonable, but I'm not
sure that this kit is what I need. After all, I already have a driver
(I think). TI sells a development kit including a graphics board for
over $1K. Again, this package seems like overkill. Ultimately, I
want to use the MGE or some other commercially available graphics
card. To port the TI tools to the MGE card, I'd need a better description
of the hardware than I've been able to get from NEC.
I'd be real interested in hearing from people that have been through this
type of development. What type of tools did you use? etc... As far as
I have been able to tell I have a choice between DGIS and TIGA. TIGA
drivers tend to be faster, but require more memory on the PC side. Is
anyone aware of any counter examples to this conclusion?
I know that a windows 3.0 driver exists for the MGE card. At this point
in time, windows is not an option as I already have quite a bit of code
written based on a commercial windowing library (CSCAPE if anyone cares).
I've got complete library sources, and it appears that it would be easy
to port the code to other hardware. We tried to get a beta version of
windows 3.0 last year, but we could not get the non-disclosure agreement
through our legal department.
Please respond directly to me. I will post a summary. Thanks for
your help
Walt Dixon {internet: dixon@crd.ge.com }
{us mail: ge-crd }
{ po box 8 }
{ schenectady, ny 12301 }
{phone: 518-387-5798 (W) }
{ 518-875-6203 (H) }
Walt Dixon dixon@crd.ge.com