[comp.unix.microport] ATI EGA Wonder Emulation Mode

honzo@4gl.UUCP (Honzo Svasek) (04/22/88)

ATI makes a wonderfull EGA card, the EGA Wonder. It emulates EGA color
modes on a monochrome monitor. This works very well, but only under DOS.

Multi User OS's such as Xenix, Microport or Venix do not seem to use
the EGA Bios.

Id like to get any info on how this emulation is done, so that I can
include this in my console driver.

|_| (
| |  ) Honzo.Svasek@4gl.nl

kkcheng@crocus.waterloo.edu (M.L.T) (05/16/88)

In article <553@4gl.UUCP> honzo@4gl.UUCP (Honzo Svasek) writes:
>ATI makes a wonderfull EGA card, the EGA Wonder. It emulates EGA color
>modes on a monochrome monitor. This works very well, but only under DOS.
> ....

Correct me if I am wrong, I thought only the ATI Graphic Solution will emulates
EGA color modes on a monochrome monitor but not the EGA Wonder.  I want to buy
the EGA Wonder card and use a monochrome monitor (until I have money to buy an
EGA monitor), and someone told me that I must use an EGA monitor because
EGA Wonder will not work with a monochrome monitor.  Is it true?

 0 0
  !      kkcheng@crocus.waterloo.edu
  @     

haugj@pigs.UUCP (John F. Haugh II) (05/17/88)

In article <6856@watdragon.waterloo.edu>, kkcheng@crocus.waterloo.edu (M.L.T) writes:
> In article <553@4gl.UUCP> honzo@4gl.UUCP (Honzo Svasek) writes:
> >ATI makes a wonderfull EGA card, the EGA Wonder. It emulates EGA color
> >modes on a monochrome monitor. This works very well, but only under DOS.
> > ....
> Correct me if I am wrong, I thought only the ATI Graphic Solution will emulates
> EGA color modes on a monochrome monitor but not the EGA Wonder.  I want to buy
> the EGA Wonder card and use a monochrome monitor (until I have money to buy an
> EGA monitor), and someone told me that I must use an EGA monitor because
> EGA Wonder will not work with a monochrome monitor.  Is it true?

no, they were incorrect.  i have an ATI wonder board for the '386 which
has been used in ega color mode on a wyse 530 TTL monochrome monitor.  it
was run under both DOS and xenix, although xenix doesn't seem to tolerate
the ATI so well.  next time i rip the machine apart for p.m. i'll try
it out again.  more news then maybe.

the biggest problem i had was not setting switch 8 correctly.  you MUST
(if you only have one monitor at least) disable the softswitch or
whatever they call being able to change monitor types using software.
failure to do this can result in serious damage to your monitor.

- john.
-- 
 The Beach Bum                                 Big "D" Home for Wayward Hackers
 UUCP: ...!killer!rpp386!jfh                            jfh@rpp386.uucp :DOMAIN

 "You are in a twisty little maze of UUCP connections, all alike" -- fortune

pre1@sphinx.uchicago.edu (Grant Prellwitz) (05/18/88)

In article <6856@watdragon.waterloo.edu> kkcheng@crocus.waterloo.edu (M.L.T) writes:
>In article <553@4gl.UUCP> honzo@4gl.UUCP (Honzo Svasek) writes:
>>ATI makes a wonderfull EGA card, the EGA Wonder. It emulates EGA color
>>modes on a monochrome monitor. This works very well, but only under DOS.
>> ....
>
>Correct me if I am wrong, I thought only the ATI Graphic Solution will emulates
>EGA color modes on a monochrome monitor but not the EGA Wonder.  I want to buy
>the EGA Wonder card and use a monochrome monitor (until I have money to buy an
>EGA monitor), and someone told me that I must use an EGA monitor because
>EGA Wonder will not work with a monochrome monitor.  Is it true?
>
> 0 0
>  !      kkcheng@crocus.waterloo.edu
>  @     

I can definitely state that you were misinformed (that, or this ATI EGA wonder
board that I am running with a Samsung monochrome monitor is doing funny things
to my eyes:^)  I have to say that I am very pleased with the combination.  I
had an initial incompatibility with the demo that comes with the Microsoft BUS
mouse, but a call to ATI got a new ROM shipped out to me at no charge.  I can
now run MahJongg wonderfully (though I would LOVE to see what it looks like in
color instead of shades of amber:^), as well as using 43-line mode in WS2000,
etc.  When I am using graphics programs I frequently use the Hercules mode,
and it seems to work beautifully too.  I can also, of course, install new
character sets, etc.  Now I'm looking to upgrade to a multisync monitor, so
I can get beautiful colours and even better resolution.

I am interested in the original comment about it not working well in non-DOS
(yes, I KNOW I should say 'MS-DOS' :^) operating systems.  At some point I
would like to get at least Minix up and running, if not a commercial *NIX.  If
I have to spend money to upgrade, I'd rather it be for a laser printer or 386
board, not a replacement for a perfectly good video card.

	Sincerely yours,
	Grant Prellwitz


-- 
=====================Grant Prellwitz==========================
!ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!pre1          pre1@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP 
76474,2121 (CIS)                                    pre1 (BIX)  
!ihnp4!chinet!pre1    contents sole responsibility of poster.
-- 
=====================Grant Prellwitz==========================
!ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!pre1          pre1@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP 
76474,2121 (CIS)                                    pre1 (BIX)  
!ihnp4!chinet!pre1    contents sole responsibility of poster.

suhans@let.vu.nl (suhans) (05/18/88)

> Correct me if I am wrong, I thought only the ATI Graphic Solution will emulates
> EGA color modes on a monochrome monitor but not the EGA Wonder.  I want to buy
> the EGA Wonder card and use a monochrome monitor (until I have money to buy an
> EGA monitor), and someone told me that I must use an EGA monitor because
> EGA Wonder will not work with a monochrome monitor.  Is it true?
I have the ATI wondercard and it emulates EGA,CGA and Hercules on
 a normal Mono chrome monitor. You can use any monitor, I have
tried an EGA, CGA and a 25 Khz in all modes.
But you only can use High res. (above EGA) on a Multi sync Monitor.

Hans

chris@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu (Chris Peck) (05/18/88)

The EGA wonder does work with a mono monitor & it does emulate both
CGA and EGA color modes (converting to a grey scale).  I used to use
mine with a mono all the time (until I bought a multi-sync).  In fact
that's the main reason I bought the ega wonder (since I couldn't afford
an EGA/multisync monitor at the time)...
-chris
-- 
chris@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu    Chris Peck
chris@bingvaxb.bitnet		    SUNY Binghamton, NY
--Now, who do think is REALLY responsible for this???--

nather@ut-sally.UUCP (Ed Nather) (05/19/88)

In article <6856@watdragon.waterloo.edu>, kkcheng@crocus.waterloo.edu (M.L.T) writes:
> someone told me that I must use an EGA monitor because
> EGA Wonder will not work with a monochrome monitor.  Is it true?
> 

It is not true.  I am using an ATI board called the EGA Wonder with an IBM PC
and an Amdek monochrome monitor.  Works like a champ.

-- 
Ed Nather
Astronomy Dept, U of Texas @ Austin
{allegra,ihnp4}!{noao,ut-sally}!utastro!nather
nather@astro.AS.UTEXAS.EDU

howard@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu (Howard Lem) (05/24/88)

In article <6856@watdragon.waterloo.edu> kkcheng@crocus.waterloo.edu (M.L.T) writes:
>In article <553@4gl.UUCP> honzo@4gl.UUCP (Honzo Svasek) writes:
>>ATI makes a wonderfull EGA card, the EGA Wonder. It emulates EGA color
>>modes on a monochrome monitor. This works very well, but only under DOS.
>> ....
>
>Correct me if I am wrong, I thought only the ATI Graphic Solution will emulates
>EGA color modes on a monochrome monitor but not the EGA Wonder.  I want to buy
>the EGA Wonder card and use a monochrome monitor (until I have money to buy an
>EGA monitor), and someone told me that I must use an EGA monitor because
>EGA Wonder will not work with a monochrome monitor.  Is it true?
>

EGA Wonder does work a mono monitor.  I'll got the ATI EGA wonder card in
my AT-clone with a mono monitor (DataTrain V232).
-- 
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              11 King's College Rd.
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Telephone: (416) - 978 - 4310 {work}
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