tozz@hpindda.cup.hp.com (Bob Tausworthe) (06/15/91)
Has anybody heard, or had any experience with, the VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) standard for SVGA? Does anybody use it? Have they come up with standards for 1024x768x256 yet? Wouldn't it be nice if application programmers wrote their software to use this standard and then all the card companies had to do was build one VESA driver? Wow! Bob Tausworthe tozz@hpindda.cup.hp.com
bobmon@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (RAMontante) (06/15/91)
tozz@hpindda.cup.hp.com (Bob Tausworthe) <51370017@hpindda.cup.hp.com> : | Has anybody heard, or had any experience with, the VESA (Video Electronics | Standards Association) standard for SVGA? Does anybody use it? Have | they come up with standards for 1024x768x256 yet? | | Wouldn't it be nice if application programmers wrote their software | to use this standard and then all the card companies had to do was | build one VESA driver? Wow! There is a collection of VESA drivers for svga cards in various archives (I found it at SIMTEL20). I use it --- in particular, I run the vuimg GIF viewer under desqview using it. The reason: vuimg works fine with my Paradise-clone svga card alone, but under desqview its higher-resolution modes get very goofed up (desqview doesn't really support 1024x768 modes). With the VESA driver, however, it works fine with desqview. This is at least partly the vuimg driver's problem --- Quattro, for example, doesn't support VESA but its Paradise driver works properly under desqview. Having the VESA driver also installed is not a problem. The VESA driver is supposedly written by Western Digital, the makers of the Paradise chipset. Apparently all the drivers were written by the appropriate card maker. I find this mildly amusing, as the driver displays a startup message with a typo in the name: "VESA Super VGA BIOS Extension v1.00 Copyright (c) 1990 Western Digitial Inc" :-)
liberato@dri.com (Jimmy Liberato) (06/18/91)
tozz@hpindda.cup.hp.com (Bob Tausworthe) writes: >Has anybody heard, or had any experience with, the VESA (Video Electronics >Standards Association) standard for SVGA? Does anybody use it? Have >they come up with standards for 1024x768x256 yet? >Wouldn't it be nice if application programmers wrote their software >to use this standard and then all the card companies had to do was >build one VESA driver? Wow! Yes, just about all software from here on will be VESA compliant. Older boards (assuming they can handle the resolution) will have a software bios extension in the form of a TSR. Newer boards have the VESA bios on chip. More information can be gathered from VESA, 1330 South Bascom Ave, Suite D, San Jose, CA 95128-4502. (408) 971-7525 FAX (408) 286-8988
mig@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Meir) (06/19/91)
In article <ZDJ4PDQ@dri.com> liberato@dri.com (Jimmy Liberato) writes: >tozz@hpindda.cup.hp.com (Bob Tausworthe) writes: > >>Has anybody heard, or had any experience with, the VESA (Video Electronics >>Standards Association) standard for SVGA? Does anybody use it? Have >>they come up with standards for 1024x768x256 yet? > >>Wouldn't it be nice if application programmers wrote their software >>to use this standard and then all the card companies had to do was >>build one VESA driver? Wow! > >Yes, just about all software from here on will be VESA compliant. Older >boards (assuming they can handle the resolution) will have a software bios >extension in the form of a TSR. Newer boards have the VESA bios on chip. >More information can be gathered from VESA, 1330 South Bascom Ave, Suite D, >San Jose, CA 95128-4502. (408) 971-7525 FAX (408) 286-8988 So, which boards are VESA compliant? Which monitors? Does VESA specify 72 Hz refresh at 1024x768? * * * * * * ====================== Meir Green * * * * * * ====================== (Internet) mig@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu * * * * * * ====================== meir@msb.com mig@asteroids.cs.columbia.edu * * * * * * ====================== (Amateur Radio) N2JPG
jwbirdsa@amc.com (James Birdsall) (06/19/91)
In article <51370017@hpindda.cup.hp.com> tozz@hpindda.cup.hp.com (Bob Tausworthe) writes: >Wouldn't it be nice if application programmers wrote their software >to use this standard and then all the card companies had to do was >build one VESA driver? Wow! No offense, but cause and effect are reversed here. Wouldn't it be nice if the card companies had built their cards to use this standard, and then all the programmers have to do is write for one interface, instead of wasting thousands of man-hours writing drivers for every card they could get docs for? Of course, there wasn't a need for a standard until SVGA started to become popular, at which point it was already too late... But still, it's hardly the application programmers' fault that the cards are all different! :) -- James W. Birdsall WORK: jwbirdsa@amc.com {uunet,uw-coco}!amc-gw!jwbirdsa HOME: {uunet,uw-coco}!amc-gw!picarefy!jwbirdsa OTHER: 71261.1731@compuserve.com ================== Kitten: a small homicidal muffin on legs. ================== =========== "For it is the doom of men that they forget." -- Merlin ===========
scottw@ico.isc.com (Scott Wiesner) (06/19/91)
> Does VESA specify 72 Hz refresh at 1024x768?
One of the VESA committees is a monitor timing committee. As far as I
know, they are still trying to come to an agreement on a "fast" refresh
rate. There are groups lobbying for 70, 72, 76, and even higher rates
as being standard.
Scott Wiesner
Interactive Systems
VESA Member