bose@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (11/23/89)
I have a Vram VGA card on a DELL 25Mhz 386. Some windows programs crashes windows and returns the dos prompt. These same programs run fine on a AST 386 with a Paradise VGA card. Has anyone experienced this. I would appreciate any pointers. -bose
dan@rna.UUCP (Dan Ts'o) (11/27/89)
In article <134000003@iuvax> bose@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu writes: >I have a Vram VGA card on a DELL 25Mhz 386. Some windows programs >crashes windows and returns the dos prompt. These same >programs run fine on a AST 386 with a Paradise VGA card. I have a Zenith 386/16 with a VRAM running Windows 386. Noticed that doing gradient fills in Micrografix Designer always caused problems and often crashes. I found out that there is a newer Windows 386 driver for the VRAM, available on the Video7 BBS (415)-656-0503. Perhaps the new driver might fix your problems too. On a slightly different topic: here are my two experiences with 1024x768 VGA cards running Windows 386. The VRAM works great, and after the new driver, seems, for the moment bug-free. A cheaper deal is the ATI VGA-Wonder. For 50% less money, the ATI is quite a good card and the Windows 386 driver seems to be bug-free. However: 1) it is interlaced, rather than non-interlaced, at 1024x768. I haven't noticed bad flickering problems in 98% of the apps I use. I don't think that for most people, that this is a serious problem. It is also good in that it allows you to use a cheaper monitor. I have been using the NEC 3D with good results. 2) the ATI is considerably slower than the VRAM, when running Windows 386. This drawback can be serious. I estimate that window redraws are as much as 5X slower than the VRAM. It can be very annoying. Another bonus of the ATI is the builtin mouse port, which saves a serial port. For the VRAM, I'm using the NEC Multisync Plus monitor, which is $200-3000 more than the NEC 3D (at $850). The bottom line: for an extra $500 the VRAM+Multisync Plus gives you faster performance, non-interlace display, but no mouse port. Otherwise the ATI+3D is a cheap, good way to go. So much for now... Cheers, Dan Ts'o 212-570-7671 Dept. Neurobiology dan@rna.rockefeller.edu Rockefeller Univ. ...cmcl2!rna!dan 1230 York Ave. rna!dan@nyu.edu NY, NY 10021 tso@rockefeller.arpa tso@rockvax.bitnet