[comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware] ET-4000 EVGA card questions

torvalds@cc.helsinki.fi (03/05/91)

I'm the happy owner of a SVGA-board called Enhanced-VGA (no manufacturer
name anywhere) using the ET-4000 chip with 1MB video memory. I've got
two questions I'd like to have answered, and this group seems to be my
best bet:

1 - Any problems with a 11MHz IO-clock? I've a 33MHz 386 and am
currently running the bus at 8.33 MHz, but 11 would be nice if I can be
sure not to burn out anything (rams on the card are 100ns, any problem
with them at 1024x768x256 and additional cycles for updating?). I have
seen posts claiming (well one post) that et4000 can go 11MHz according
to some manual - anything on this special board?

2 - The updated manual I've gotten has bios-programming information (set
mode etc), but is there any way I could get a hardware-level programming
guide (electronically and free :-). I've got FTP-access. Anybody?

advTHANKSance		torvalds@cc.helsinki.fi		Linus Torvalds

bernd@actisb.UUCP (Bernd-Gunter Nitzler) (03/07/91)

In <1991Mar4.230809.5416@cc.helsinki.fi> torvalds@cc.helsinki.fi writes:

>I'm the happy owner of a SVGA-board called Enhanced-VGA (no manufacturer
>name anywhere) using the ET-4000 chip with 1MB video memory. I've got
>two questions I'd like to have answered, and this group seems to be my
>best bet:

I have also a 'no name' SVGA with the ET-4000 and 1 MB and a special
sync-Chip which translates the old MDA, CGA and EGA-Frequencies to
VGA (70 Hz, 31/35 kHz)

>1 - Any problems with a 11MHz IO-clock? I've a 33MHz 386 and am
>currently running the bus at 8.33 MHz, but 11 would be nice if I can be
>sure not to burn out anything (rams on the card are 100ns, any problem
>with them at 1024x768x256 and additional cycles for updating?). I have
>seen posts claiming (well one post) that et4000 can go 11MHz according
>to some manual - anything on this special board?

There should be no problem. I had run my card several weeks with 16.5 MHz
IO-clock and had never a problem. I used both 100 ns and 80 ns Chips.
Now I'am using 11 MHz because my new IDE-Drive does not boot securely
with 16.5 MHz and there is no problem since 2 months.

Hope this helps.

Bernd.
-- 
Bernd-Gunter Nitzler         VoiceNet: 49 / (30) 8 84 44-224
ACTIS in Berlin GmbH         UUCP from USA:               pyramid\
Kurfuerstendamm 65                from elsewhere: mcvax!unido!tub!actisb!bernd
D-1000 Berlin 15, Germany