tron1@tronsbox.UUCP (K.J.Jamieson) (08/16/89)
Who lonows of a good, compatible VGA card for ISC 2.0.2? I need one that will do 800x600 in 256 colors, and is fully compatible. Any Ideas??? **************************************************************************** * " Salad isn't food, salad is what food eats. " The Zen Monk ALF * * "My thoughts claim no responsibility for my body" * * * * UUCP: tron1@tronsbox.UUCP uunet!mimsy!oddjob!clout!ddsw1!tronsbox!tron1 * * * * Sysop, the Penthouse ]I[ BBS * * (201)759-8450 (201)759-8568 * ****************************************************************************
tyager@maxx.UUCP (Tom Yager) (08/17/89)
In article <[24e8a1d8:98]un.unix.i386@tronsbox.UUCP>, tron1@tronsbox.UUCP (K.J.Jamieson) writes: > > > > Who lonows of a good, compatible VGA card for ISC 2.0.2? > > I need one that will do 800x600 in 256 colors, and is fully compatible. > > Any Ideas??? > There are lots of them, but forget about 256 colors. 386/ix's Xvga server will only do 16 colors on any EGA or VGA card, no matter what the board is capable of pumping out. As for 800x600, that's a very common enhanced resolution, and is available on just about all VGA cards. If you REALLY want 256 colors in that resolution (to use with (ick) DOS, say), you need a board with 512K of memory. Orchid, Paradise and others make them. I use the Orchid, myself, and like it a great deal because it supports a 1024x768 interlaced mode. As far as I know, the combination of this type of VGA adapter and the Seiko CM-1430 (or compatible) monitor is the cheapest way to hit that resolution in color. Also, if you're lucky enough to have a MultiSync kicking around, this card will do non-interlaced 1024x768 and 800x600 as well. Oh, and one other thing: For the "dual frequency" monitors like the CM-1430, the Orchid card has an 800x600 interlaced mode which displays as a slightly smaller window at the Seiko's 1024x768 scan frequency. Now, before you all start responding with "my board does that, too" messages, you should be aware that all boards that use the Tseng Labs chipset can have this capability. The Orchid board comes with some incredible DOS-based demos. Anybody who's afraid of interlace should fire up the demos and watch. You haven't lived until you've seen their digitized orchid at 800x600x256. Nice. I spoke with some people at ISC while researching an article (a review of 386/ix X11 for Byte's October issue). The consensus was that they had no immediate plans to do a 256-color VGA server. Why? First, because they weren't aware that there was any demand for it. Second, the performance penalty would be EXTREMELY high. Those of you who are using X11 on a VGA now probably know most of its limitations, and it's only moving (maximum) four bitplanes around. Imagine how much slower it would be if it had to move twice that! You have to decide if you really, really want it. If you do, and you can give ISC some good reasons, perhaps you should let your marketing rep know next time you speak with them. I let them know my purpose for wanting 256-color VGA support. If enough other people call in with compelling reasons (missing out on all those GIF images of naked women doesn't qualify), maybe they'll do it. On the other hand, they may hold out for 8514. (ty) -- +--Tom Yager, freelance technical writer-----------------------------------+ | ARPA: tyager%maxx@m2c.m2c.org (preferred) -or- tyager@apollo.com | | I speak only for myself "Are we blind to the truth, or assigned to | +--believe it? Only the wise will know."-----------------------------------+