v053qgzj@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (David M Snyderman) (11/11/90)
Hello all! I just called Gateway 2000 for a 386sx system this morning and they gave me two options for a video card. 1) A "diamond scan" (?? never heard of it??) that is supposedly fast and can accept up to 1 meg of memory. 2) An ATI Wonder card with 512K of memory. Supposedly, according to the salesman, slower than the diamond scan and with a disadvantage of less memory, too. I chose the ATI-- because I had heard of it and thought it was more of a standard than the diamond scan. Did I make a mistake? Should I have gone with the faster/higher memory capacity card? Is there anyone out there with an ATI who is unhappy with it? Both cards can operate up to super VGA (800x600) and higher modes (1024x768). I realize that there aren't any real standards at these resolutions. Suggestions, anyone? Thanks. David M. Snyderman V053QGZJ@UBVMSD
hd7x@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (11/13/90)
In article <45534@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>, v053qgzj@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (David M Snyderman) writes: > Hello all! > I just called Gateway 2000 for a 386sx system this morning and they gave me > two options for a video card. > > 1) A "diamond scan" (?? never heard of it??) that is supposedly fast and > can accept up to 1 meg of memory. > > 2) An ATI Wonder card with 512K of memory. Supposedly, according to the > salesman, slower than the diamond scan and with a disadvantage of less > memory, too. > > I chose the ATI-- because I had heard of it and thought it was more of a > standard than the diamond scan. > Did I make a mistake? Should I have gone with the faster/higher memory Well, the ATI, I believe, has been around longer, but I seem to remember PC Magazine saying a few months back (when they reviewed VGAs) that they had received a prerelease version of a card called the "Diamond" VGA that was faster than anything they had seen, including the ATI. If this is indeed the case, perhaps Diamond is a good deal. Also, the 1 MB video RAM allows 1024x768x256 to be attainable. In my opinion, standardization of these super-VGA modes is not really an issue, since the only programs that use such modes are Windows programs, and the VGA manufacturer usually provides a driver for Windows. -Sanjay Aiyagari (hd7x@vax5.cit.cornell.edu)
userNQNF@mts.ucs.UAlberta.CA (unknown) (11/17/90)
>> I chose the ATI-- because I had heard of it and thought it was more of a >> standard than the diamond scan. >> Did I make a mistake? Should I have gone with the faster/higher memory > >Well, the ATI, I believe, has been around longer, but I seem to remember PC >Magazine saying a few months back (when they reviewed VGAs) that they had >received a prerelease version of a card called the "Diamond" VGA that was >faster than anything they had seen, including the ATI. If this is indeed the >case, perhaps Diamond is a good deal. Also, the 1 MB video RAM allows >1024x768x256 to be attainable. In my opinion, standardization of these >super-VGA modes is not really an issue, since the only programs that use such >modes are Windows programs, and the VGA manufacturer usually provides a driver >for Windows. > >-Sanjay Aiyagari (hd7x@vax5.cit.cornell.edu) ATI has a whole pile of drivers for their cards. If you need any help in getting a driver for anything, give ATI a call and they can probably arrange or find it. They apparently have a new VGA Wondercard that is a lot faster than usual, and I heard that they offer an upgrade option for older cards (for around 150 Canadian). Perhaps give ATI a call or letter to confirm this. Although you may already have the faster version. ATI already has drivers for some various CAD packages for their new Wondercard. Dale Ulan- Comp Eng student- U of Alberta
baer@uwovax.uwo.ca (11/19/90)
In article <1926@mts.ucs.UAlberta.CA>, userNQNF@mts.ucs.UAlberta.CA (unknown) writes: >>> I chose the ATI-- because I had heard of it and thought it was more of a >>> standard than the diamond scan. >>> Did I make a mistake? Should I have gone with the faster/higher memory >> >> In my opinion, standardization of these >>super-VGA modes is not really an issue, since the only programs that use such >>modes are Windows programs, and the VGA manufacturer usually provides a driver >>for Windows. >> >>-Sanjay Aiyagari (hd7x@vax5.cit.cornell.edu) > > ATI has a whole pile of drivers for their cards. If you need > any help in getting a driver for anything, give ATI a call and they > can probably arrange or find it. They apparently have a new VGA > Wondercard that is a lot faster than usual, and I heard that they > offer an upgrade option for older cards (for around 150 Canadian). > Perhaps give ATI a call or letter to confirm this. Although you may > already have the faster version. > Dale Ulan- Comp Eng student- U of Alberta I agree with Dale Ulan, to the point of suggesting that the availability of drivers can be a critical issue for many users. I bought a very cheap 800 x 600 VGA 16-bit VGA card last year on the dealer's promise that appropriate drivers (I was looking for some CAD drivers and also for OS/2 drivers) would be "forthcoming". Never happened. The dealer agreed to take the old card in as a trade-in for a more expensive card with better drivers and a BBS line from which I could download new drivers developed in the future. If you only want drivers for Windows 3.0 and never expect to upgrade (even to Windows 3.1 or 4.0, whenever these come out), fine -- but even at that check the diskette that comes with the card to make sure the drivers are there. But if you're worried about being "widowed", it might be an idea to go with a "name brand" Super VGA card (criterion: how long has the company been in business? what sort of upgrade support does it provide?) -- though admittedly in this business nothing is perfect and even big companies can go out of business. Finally, if you're prepared to stick to standard VGA resolution (640 x 480), then special drivers are almost never necessary and there's no issue (pick any old cheap VGA card you want). --------------------------------------------------------------------- Douglas Baer, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada N6A 5C2 Internet: BAER@UWO.CA Bitnet: BAER@UWOVAX
jdi@postgres.uucp (John Irwin) (11/20/90)
In article <1990Nov12.232157.969@vax5.cit.cornell.edu> hd7x@vax5.cit.cornell.edu writes: >In article <45534@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>, >v053qgzj@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (David M Snyderman) writes: >> >> I chose the ATI-- because I had heard of it and thought it was more of a >> standard than the diamond scan. >> Did I make a mistake? Should I have gone with the faster/higher memory > >... >In my opinion, standardization of these >super-VGA modes is not really an issue, since the only programs that use such >modes are Windows programs, and the VGA manufacturer usually provides a driver >for Windows. Unfortunately standardization is very much of an issue, mainly because the current generation of cards aren't! That is, software that is set up to use Super VGA (outside of Windows) must have a driver for every supported video card. Thus I've found it's much better to get one of the higher selling cards, even if they aren't as fast, snazzy, or whatever. Of course, I tend to use software that runs SVGA outside of Windows. If you are running only one or two applications check and see what cards those applications support, perhaps the Diamond is supported. (Your mileage may vary). In the software mix that I'm using, Video 7, Paradise, and ATI seem to be the most commonly supported cards. -- John
wjw@eba.eb.ele.tue.nl (Willem Jan Withagen) (12/04/90)
Please help me!
Last month I was in Singapore, were I bought a ZyCOM-16 VGA card. I thought
that I made sure that all software was delivered with it. But nope!
When I came home the packed disk only contained the zipfile with drivers.
It did not contain any of the programs mentioned in the manual.
So as you can guess, I'm a little desperate.
I there anybody on the net who can get me these programs, prefably by either
ftp or Email. (Even mail would be nice, but slow)
The names of the programs I'm looking for would be like:
setvid.{com,exe}
zy*.{com,exe}
Thanks in advance,
Willem Jan
Eindhoven University of Technology DomainName: wjw@eb.ele.tue.nl
Digital Systems Group, Room EH 10.10 BITNET: ELEBWJ@HEITUE5.BITNET
P.O. 513 Tel: +31-40-473401
5600 MB Eindhoven The Netherlands