[comp.windows.ms] Video 7 bug in Codeview for Windows

mmshah@athena.mit.edu (Milan M Shah) (09/19/90)

Since the topic was brought up by someone other than myself, I feel
inclined to recount my experience with Video 7 and their SVGA (Shit
VGA) cards.

Company where I did some contract work this summer has a good mix of
Northgate Elegance/33, AST Premiums/33, and any number of compatibles.
Most have Video 7 1024i in them. They all have the same problem - if 
you try to use Codeview for Windows (and therefore have a second mono
card in your system), your VGA screen will go black and white. Bad.
Bad. Bad.

I have tried n number of compatible mono cards, an original Hercules
card, and an original IBM PC MDA card (yes, the original one). Same
problem on all machines. No can debug.

I took up the matter with them 2.5 months ago, and have since dealt
with a trio of programmed droids names Dave, Angela, and Roger. Very
smart machines, they are - they can tell exactly when you are away 
from your desk, call back, and leave the message "We are aware of the
problem - a solution will be available in 2 to 3 weeks". 

On most machines, even the standard VGA driver that comes with Win 3
does the same thing. We tried a Paradise 1024i and, as a control, a
PS/2 with built in VGA. Of course, they worked flawlessly. The Paradise
worked in all VGA and SVGA modes.

As far as I am concerned, the Video 7 1024i is not fully IBM compatible
(note that it screws up even in standard VGA mode). I want a full 
refund. The new drivers do not work. In fact, they come with no 
documentation and only with a Windows program called V7setup. You 
guessed it - V7setup dies when you try to run it in either Real,
Standard, or Enhanced mode. Their first promise to me was given on or
about the 1st of June. I believe several 2-3 week periods have elapsed.

But I cannot get past Dave-Angela-Roger. So, I ended up purchasing a
Paradise 1024i, one for company, one for myself, and have half a mind to
include code in my programs that detects a Video 7, tells the user to
get a Paradise/other, and then quits.

Moral: GO WITH PARADISE.

Milan
I don't work for any of the companies mentioned above...

aaron@jessica.stanford.edu (Aaron Wallace) (09/20/90)

In article <1990Sep18.194810.2713@athena.mit.edu> mmshah@athena.mit.edu (Milan M Shah) writes:
>Since the topic was brought up by someone other than myself, I feel
>inclined to recount my experience with Video 7 and their SVGA (Shit
>VGA) cards.

>Most have Video 7 1024i in them. They all have the same problem - if 
>you try to use Codeview for Windows (and therefore have a second mono
>card in your system), your VGA screen will go black and white. Bad.
>Bad. Bad.
>
>I have tried n number of compatible mono cards, an original Hercules
>card, and an original IBM PC MDA card (yes, the original one). Same
>problem on all machines. No can debug.
>

Were the Video 7 cards running in 8 or 16-bit mode?  I'm not even sure if this
can be configured on them, but they may have to be in 8-bit mode to work with
other 8-bit cards that reside in the same address space.  Mono cards and VGA
cards tend to share the B000 space.  And, as a good article in PC Mag stated,
what happens is that the 16-bit card says send the data in 16-bits, even if 
it's intended for the 8-bit card.  Some cards sense when there could be a
conflict and auto-set themselves to 8-bits (maybe Paradise does?), and this
addressing conflict isn't a problem with MCA (PS/2 VGA)...

Just a hunch...

Aaron Wallace

pfeifer@hpavla.AVO.HP.COM (Mark Pfeifer) (09/20/90)

/ hpavla:comp.windows.ms / aaron@jessica.stanford.edu (Aaron Wallace) /  1:09 pm  Sep 19, 1990 /
In article <1990Sep18.194810.2713@athena.mit.edu> mmshah@athena.mit.edu (Milan M Shah) writes:

>Most have Video 7 1024i in them. They all have the same problem - if 
>you try to use Codeview for Windows (and therefore have a second mono
>card in your system), your VGA screen will go black and white. Bad.
>Bad. Bad.
>

The official response from Video-7 is that this is a bug in the drivers that
they know about and are working on now.  They put my name on a waiting list
to be notified when new drivers become available.

							Mark

karl@ficc.ferranti.com (Karl Lehenbauer) (09/21/90)

In article <16980012@hpavla.AVO.HP.COM> pfeifer@hpavla.AVO.HP.COM (Mark Pfeifer) writes:
>The official response from Video-7 is that this is a bug in the drivers that
>they know about and are working on now.  They put my name on a waiting list
>to be notified when new drivers become available.

The latest drivers on the Video-7 BBS (look in the "miscellaneous" download
area) do not have this problem.
-- 
-- uunet!ficc!karl	"jackpot: you may have an unnecessary change record"
   uunet!sugar!karl						-- v7 diff