mike@vort.uucp (Mike Nemeth) (12/20/90)
here is all the information i've been able to accumulate concerning
the NEC MGE.
based on my experience, and information that i've received from others,
i do not recommend this board as anything other then a platform for
running pre-canned software. it's expensive, and development tools/
information for UNIX are not available.
if you want to develop applications for the 34010, there are a
number of other 34010-based boards that are cheaper. shortly, IBM
is expected to crank out XGA, and of course what IBM makes, so maketh
the clones, so there's another route to high-rez video.
details follow, those not interested 'n' now...
i bought a MGE-256 because it was reasonably cheap (at the time) for
a 34010-based board, and it was recommended in BYTE magazine (yeah,
i know, mistake)
i was interested in getting a TIGA driver for the board and doing
graphics. i called NEC to get an Xwindows driver, and they directed
me to GSS (Oregon), who sell the following:
- various flavours of DGIS drivers, including a X windows DGIS
driver for ISC 386/ix.
- a MSDOS development kit.
after virtual-years of phone calls, i determined that GSS will not
sell you a UNIX development kit, although they said they have one,
saying that they are too "into" doing stuff for Windows to bother
about a UNIX development kit. they won't even give/sell/trade the
source for the "bounce" demo. no hints, no pointers, no data available.
making the best of a bad situation, i purchased GSS's DGIS-based X
windows driver for ISC 386/ix 3.2.0.2 (1024*768 rez, 256 colors), so
at least i could see GIF files the way they were intended to be seen.
the driver works fine EXCEPT for not understanding that a Logitech bus mouse
has a middle button. GSS, have you fixed this yet? it's only been 6 months.
here are the telephone numbers of various NEC-flavoured BBS's:
NEC Users Group Bulletin Board NEW number: (603) 878-2567
this is fairly useless for UNIX users. the BBS itself gives you
a couple of minutes of advertisements for worthy causes before
you can determine what's available on it.
official NEC BBS: (508) 635-6328
better, but still nothing much for UNIX users. poking around
on it, i discovered the following file:
Archive: J:\FILES\GRAFOPTS\VIDCARD.ZIP
GB-1SPEC.TXT 7680 Imploded 57 3247 06 Dec 90 13:10:04 8241F672
SPEC_MGE.TXT 5821 Imploded 67 1891 12 Dec 90 11:46:30 0F920D0E
TSMGE.TXT 531 Imploded 45 288 15 Nov 90 12:00:00 EF88E398
DGISWIN.TXT 2356 Imploded 49 1188 27 Nov 90 10:01:10 F93F8CBB
CATALOG.TXT 3885 Imploded 63 1410 12 Dec 90 11:51:40 36D11BA2
the following are the contents of "catalog.txt":
***
Following is a composite of the publications available through the NEC
network fax. This information can be faxed out to individual or multiple
customers. If you are a reseller, we recommend that you obtain a copy for
yourself, and also have a copy sent to your customer. It is also an
option to have multiple documents sent at the same time.
gb-1spec txt Specifications GB-1 Video Card
spec_mge txt Specifications for the Multisync Graphics Engine Boards
tsmge txt Troubleshooting Information - Multisync Graphics Engine Board
dgiswin txt MGE DGIS 3.0 / Windows 3.0 WIN.INI information
the following are the contents of "spec_mge.txt":
MODEL #: MGE-AT 16 $ 999.00
MGE-AT 256 $ 1,499.00
MGE-MCA 16 $ 999.00
MGE-4A $ 499.00
MGE-PMA $ 199.00
MODEL NAME: Multisync Graphics Engine
DESCRIPTION: The NEC Multisync Graphics Engine video graphics controller
is a video card designed with flexibility in mind. It will
default in boot-up mode to standard 640 by 480 analog VGA, and
also offers hi resolution modes of 800 by 600 and 1024 by 768
for software that is supported via device drivers. With the
1024 x 768 resolution configuration program included with the
graphics board, the Multisync Graphics Engine is optimized for
the NEC line of Hi Res monitors, but can be easily customized
with software to function optimally with other manufacturers
monitors.
The Multisync Graphics Engine comes in three versions.
1. MGE-AT 16 -Multisync Graphics Engine for 16 bit bus AT type
computers. Displays 16 colors in Hi res.
2. MGE-AT 256 -Multisync Graphics Engine for 16 bit bus AT type
computers. Displays 256 colors in Hi res.
3. MGE-MCA 16 -Multisync Graphics Engine for Micro Channel PS/2
type computers. Displays 16 colors in Hi res.
SPECIFICATIONS:
VGA Specifications:
BIOS:
Chips and Technologies VGA chip set.
Memory:
768k DRAM
Hi Resolution Specs. :
Graphics Processor:
Texas Instruments TMS34010 -50MHz
Memory:
MGE-AT 16 - 512k VRAM
MGE-AT 256 - 1Mb VRAM
MGE-MCA 16 - 512k VRAM
Resolutions:
800 x 600
1024 x 768 (interlaced)
1024 x 768 (non interlaced)
Memory Map:
VGA - A000 - C7FF
I/O 0x3C6 - 0x3C9
Hi Res - I/O 0x1CC - 0x1CF
0x1D0 - 0x1D8
Power Consumption:
MGE-AT 16 - 16 Watts @ +5 Volts
(54.608 BTU/Hr)
MGE-AT 256 - 18 Watts @ +5 Volts
(61.434 BTU/Hr)
MGE-AT 16 - 16 Watts @ +5 Volts
(54.608 BTU/Hr)
Limited Warranty:
1 Year Parts, 1 Year Labor
Upgrade from 16 to 256 color:
MGE-AT 16 ----> MGE-AT 256
($ 499.00 upgrade, board
FEDERAL EXPRESSED to NEC and turned
around in one day with
upgrade.)
MGE-MCA 16 -----> 256 Color board
(Purchase MGE-4A daughter board.
$ 499.00 from a retailer. Snap
daughter board into slots on board)
Pinouts:
15 Pin
Mini D-Sub
Female Signal
---------- ------
1 Red Video
2 Green Video
3 Blue Video
4 Ground
5 Ground
6 Red Ground
7 Blue Ground
8 Green Ground
9 No Connection
10 Ground
11 Ground
12 No Connection
13 Horizontal Sync
14 Vertical Sync
15 No Connection
DRIVERS:
Software Support-
|- AutoCAD Ver. 9
| AutoCAD Ver. 10
| AutoCAD Ver. 10/386
|
| Microsoft Windows 286
| Microsoft Windows 386
| Microsoft Windows 3.0
|
| Microsoft Flight Simulator Ver. 3.0
FREE DRIVERS |
OFF THE --| WordPerfect Ver. 5.0
NEC BBS | WordPerfect Ver. 5.1
| Ventura Ver. 1.1
1-708-860-2602 | Ventura Ver 2.0
|
| GEM Ver. 3.1
|
| CGI
| DGIS
|- TIGA
The NEC BBS can be contacted via modem at 1-708-860-2602
2400/1200/300
8 data bits
1 stop bit
NO parity
OPTIONAL DRIVER
IBM OS/2 Ver. 1.1 / 1.2
- NEC Part Number
MGE-PMA
(Multisync Graphics Engine Presentation Manager Accelerator)
Allows OS/2 to be used in Hi Res 1024 by 768
with optimized speed improvements.
Retail Price- $ 199.00
** For Authorized Dealer/Servicer Locations Contact ..1-800-388-8888
** For Hi Res Graphic Card Technical Support Contact ..1-800-366-3632
Ext. 1221
***
this is the contents of the file "tsmge.txt"
***
MGE Troubleshooting (Addendum to page 41 in "Comprehensive User Manual")
Symptom Possible Cause Solution
------- -------------- --------
Video screen shows up Video card set for Composite Remove jumper JP1
in green hues. Sync on Green. on the AT card,
or JP3 on the
MicroChannel card.
***
the following are the contents of the file "dgiswin.txt"
***
When the MGE is installed for Hi Resolution with MS Windows 3.0, the
driver is initialized through the WIN.INI file. The following is the
format followed for adding sections to your WIN.INI file for DGIS.
Optimized settings:
[DGIS]
Dithering=1
DitherSize=1
NumFonts=5
Fill=2
Palette=0
Dithering can be set to either 1 or 0.
1 Sets the dithering attribute on, and 0 sets the attribute off.
Setting "Dithering" for 1 allows for cleaner, more accurate gradient fills.
DitherSize can be set to either 1 or 0. 1 Sets the DitherSize to a 4x4
matrix dither, and 0 sets it for an 8x8 matrix dither block.
8x8 seems to be cleaner.
NumFonts determines how many fonts are buffered on the MGE.
It is not recommended to buffer more than 5 fonts, there will be a
distinct speed degradation noticed.
Fill determines what graphic environments will supply the fill
attributes to the polygon fills. 0 allows for DGIS fill, 1 for GDI,
and 2 for GDI for all polygon fills.
2 seems to work the smoothest and quickest.
Palette will either allow Windows to use the Windows Palette Manager
which only allows for a 16 color palette if it is set to 1, or by
choosing Palette=0, Windows selects the palette manager on the MGE
which will allow for the 256 color saturation of the MGE 256 card.
** NOTE: **
When the Palette=0 is enabled WINDOWS 3.0 uses the palette on the MGE board
itself. You will encounter some changes. For example your Icons on the
program manager will become a different hue. To rectify this you will
have to select each icon, select FILE menu and Properties. Just press
<ENTER> in the PROPERTIES window, and that will reinitialize the icon
color for the new palette selected.
This new palette also confuses the PAINT program that comes with
WINDOWS 3.0. One can place the palette setting for (1), reboot the
system, execute Windows, and execute PAINT. Choose COLORS menu and
save the palette as default.pal and exit PAINT. Change the WIN.INI
file back to the PALETTE=0 and reboot the system. PAINT will come up
with a pastel palette again, just choose COLOR menu and GET COLORS.
Select the DEFAULT.PAL and you will have the original palette again.
***
from installing the DGIS Xwindows driver into my 386-box, i have
gleaned the following:
- the driver has the following routines: open, close, read, write, ioctl,
init
- it is a character device, and it controls hardware
- it does not do DMA
- the driver doesn't have an interrupt handling routine
- start I/O addr = 0x1cc, end I/O addr = 0x1da
- the code for the bounce demo has been stripped (thanks guys!)
that's it. pretty barren huh?
conclusion:
you now know just about as much about this thing as i do. if you're
thinking of buying one, my advice is don't bother. high-end video
is a given these days, and there are cheaper 34010-based boards
around.
> From: calgary!apple.com!uunet!motcsd!lance
> Beaver Computer in San Jose has announced a $495 32010-based card.
> Say no more!
th-th-that's all folks!
--
Vort Computing is a non-profit organization, but i didn't plan it that way...
Mike Nemeth Vort Computing ...calgary!vort!mike
Witt's End BBS (403) 237-0501 2400/9600bps 9,N,1,"bbs"