[comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware] Trident 8900b 1024x768 problem..

s870694@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au (Alfred Porziella) (05/30/91)

Has anyone ever used a Trident Video card at 1024x768?
I have used it with both a Qume 835 and a CTX monitor and the results
are poor to say the least.

The text (in windows) looks 'fuzzy' and distorted to the point
that it cannot be seriously used at this resolution....

The card type is: TVGA E6-100C Ver 1.41 (1Mbyte Installed).

Any help would be appreciated.

Alfred Porziella.
s870694@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au

s64421@zeus.usq.EDU.AU (house ron) (05/31/91)

s870694@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au (Alfred Porziella) writes:

>Has anyone ever used a Trident Video card at 1024x768?
>I have used it with both a Qume 835 and a CTX monitor and the results
>are poor to say the least.

>The text (in windows) looks 'fuzzy' and distorted to the point
>that it cannot be seriously used at this resolution....

>The card type is: TVGA E6-100C Ver 1.41 (1Mbyte Installed).

I have a Trident 8900 card.  I am nearly satisfied with it.  The resolution
is excellent, and the colours good.  I use a Compucon monitor.
My problem is that one program (FRACTINT) sometimes leaves little 8-bit
vertical strips the wrong colour.  It is either incompatible software
or a bung memory chip.  Does anyone else know whether FRACTINT is
supposed to work on this chip in this mode?

--
Regards,

Ron House.   (s64421@zeus.usq.edu.au)
(By post: Info Tech, U.C.S.Q. Toowoomba. Australia. 4350)

nyet@nntp-server.caltech.edu (n liu) (06/01/91)

s64421@zeus.usq.EDU.AU (house ron) writes:

>s870694@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au (Alfred Porziella) writes:

>>Has anyone ever used a Trident Video card at 1024x768?
>>I have used it with both a Qume 835 and a CTX monitor and the results
>>are poor to say the least.

>>The text (in windows) looks 'fuzzy' and distorted to the point
>>that it cannot be seriously used at this resolution....

All three (Hyundai, CTX, NEC 3D) monitors i've seen don't get the interlacing
quite right with my 8900. A few other cards do MUCH better at 1024x768, but
the Trident's is pretty useless except plain graphics (with not a whole lot
of horizontal lines:).

>I have a Trident 8900 card.  I am nearly satisfied with it.  The resolution
>is excellent, and the colours good.  I use a Compucon monitor.
>My problem is that one program (FRACTINT) sometimes leaves little 8-bit
>vertical strips the wrong colour.  It is either incompatible software
>or a bung memory chip.  Does anyone else know whether FRACTINT is
>supposed to work on this chip in this mode?

Does this happen when flipping between the menu and the graphics? If it does,
you have to put the line
textsave=save
in your sstools.ini or command line, since the some of Trident's bios is
kinda brain-damaged, and you have to tell Fractint to explicitly save off
the graphics screen to memory. (RTFM for more info). This is v15.1.
This seems to cure the problem for me, although swapping between the menu
and fractal takes a tiny bit more time..

hope this helps.

nye

tgoose@eng.umd.edu (Jason Garms) (06/07/91)

In article <1991May30.043049.23478@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au>, s870694@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au (Alfred Porziella) writes:
> Has anyone ever used a Trident Video card at 1024x768?
> I have used it with both a Qume 835 and a CTX monitor and the results
> are poor to say the least.
> 
> The text (in windows) looks 'fuzzy' and distorted to the point
> that it cannot be seriously used at this resolution....
> 
> The card type is: TVGA E6-100C Ver 1.41 (1Mbyte Installed).
> 
> Any help would be appreciated.
> 
> Alfred Porziella.
> s870694@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au

I have used the Focus Technology board which uses the Trident 8900 chipset
and have been plenty pleased.  Perhaps it is the monitor that you are using.
I have been less than happy with many monitors on the PC's.  Even the Sony
1304 monitor which is supposed to be very good is a little fuzzy.  I am now
using a new Hitachi monitor which is VERY sharp.

Jason Garms
tgoose@eng.umd.edu