petersja@debussy.cs.colostate.edu (james peterson) (06/22/91)
Readers of this Newsgroup may recall my earlier rantings about getting PCNFS, Word 5.5, Windows 3.0, QEMM, and Advanced Telnet to run on a 1988 ATT WSG 6386 machine using a 3C501 card. In brief, the problem was that Advanced Telnet (supplied by SUN to work with PCNFS under Win3) was not working with the TimerCriticalSection=5000 line in the system.ini file (I would simply get a blank screen in the window and the PC would lock), though it *would* work for a short while without that line (said to be essential by SUN) in the system.ini file. Too, I was having trouble getting Word 5.5 to work from inside Windows, it would either give me a colorful flickering screen right away or when I attempted to exit the Word5.5 Application to get back into Windows (and also locking the PC). I should report that I have yet to solve any of these problems but have eliminated enough other things (which is not to say I haven't overlooked something) to now very much suspect the video driver supplied with the ATT PC. This is, as I said, a 1988 ATT 386 machine (20 MHz, I think) with EGA graphics. Really an Olivetti. It uses the VDC 750 video controller. There is a diskette supplied with the machine containing alternative video driver files said to be there to be used "with Windows." But this was clearly intended to be used with an earlier version of Windows, inasmuch as two files ( the .lgo and .grb files) needed by Windows 3.0 are *not* supplied on the disk. Microsoft sent me a copy of a technical memo concerning problems using Windows with this particular machine, and recommending an update of of the Video driver. This report includes a ATT BBS number and suggests it can be had free off the BBS. I don't have dialout capabilities here without going through a great deal of trouble. I called ATT Technical Support and asked for an update of the driver. Once they learned I was not on maintenance, I was told that the only way I could get the driver was to speak with a technical person at a rate of $200 an hour. That is, of course, insane. My question to the net (finally) is: Any suggestions as to 1) how to get this driver for less than $200. 2) How to get my existing windows driver to work in enhanced mode without the grb and lgo files. 3) Any other solutions, perhaps unrelated to the video I may have overlooked. James sends. -- james lee peterson petersja@CS.ColoState.edu dept. of computer science colorado state university "Some ignorance is invincible." ft. collins, colorado (voice:303/491-7137; fax:303/491-2293)