shedevil@portia.Stanford.EDU (Annie) (11/01/90)
Ok, now I have the weirdest hybrid system, sort of. Here's my PRE-window
experience:
I'm running a Tandon 286. I have an Amdek Color 600 monitor, which is
technically CGA, and a clone of some IBM monitor, I forget which model
although the number "5102" is stuck in my head for some reason.
It is being driven by a Genoa 5400 vga card.
Now, you will just have to take my word for this, which many don't:
the resolution and performance I am getting from this monitor is beyond
CGA. If I want to I can set it down to CGA, which I have to for a bridge
tutor I have, but I am running alot of things in VGA mode, including
some gif stuff I have. My smooth and jump utilities work as well, and thus
I have absolutely NO jitter when I scroll, etc.
Obviously I am not complaining! It's great, and even the Amdek people
and the Genoa people dis-beleived me <or thought I was nuts, or something>.
Anyway, THEN I get windows. Which works fine. But windows apparently
<according the MS after 1/2 hour on hold long distance to their
wonderful support line> will only run in black and white on a CGA.
I tried setting it up as a true VGA, just to see what happened, and I got
AMAZINGLY terrific resolution...I mean, this baby worked its heart out
and gave me the most amazing screen, AND COLOURS! But in triplicate
(i.e there were 3 windows logos, all in a row, on the screen,a nd some
horizontal interference). I tried all the drivers too, not just the
Genoa ones...ALL of 'em. I figured what the heck, this is such a weird
system, who knows WHAT might work! :-D
Well, nothing did. But I bet, given my systems willingness to emulate
some higher form of life then CGA, I can somehow do SOMEthing to get
some colour up on this screen.
Any suggestions?
--
<*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*>
Anne (She Devil) Mitchell - Stanford Law - BBS: 415-497-5291,1200,N,8,1
No disclaimer necessary as this is *my* account, and besides - nobody
would ever accuse anyone else of having these opinions anyway!spolsky-joel@cs.yale.edu (Joel Spolsky) (11/01/90)
In article <1990Oct31.172813.19152@portia.Stanford.EDU> shedevil@portia.Stanford.EDU (Annie) writes: > > blah blah blah about weird video cards > PLEASE! The whole reason we set up c.w.m.programmer was so that real windows programmers (yes, we exist) could talk about windows PROGRAMMING, without listening to everybody droning on about their novel K-mart CGA/Super VGA video cards. Please do not post messages about things that do not have to do with programming windows to this newsgroup. Please do not post here because you think that it will increase the chances that a wizard will read it and answer, if your question doesn't have to do with programming in windows. If this goes on we should moderate this newsgroup. -- Joel Spolsky spolsky@cs.yale.edu Silence = Death
shedevil@portia.Stanford.EDU (Annie) (11/01/90)
>If this goes on we should moderate this newsgroup. > >-- >Joel Spolsky >spolsky@cs.yale.edu Silence = Death Perhaps you SHOULD! This to me seems very much like a problem that is likely going to require some kind of *programming* patch. That is why I pointedly posted it here. If this is to be an exclusive group then yes, it should be moderated, or perhaps it should even be a mail-group. -- <*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*> Anne (She Devil) Mitchell - Stanford Law - BBS: 415-497-5291,1200,N,8,1 No disclaimer necessary as this is *my* account, and besides - nobody would ever accuse anyone else of having these opinions anyway!
bcw@rti.rti.org (Bruce Wright) (11/10/90)
In article <1990Nov1.054715.21925@portia.Stanford.EDU>, shedevil@portia.Stanford.EDU (Annie) writes: > > >If this goes on we should moderate this newsgroup. > > > >Joel Spolsky > >spolsky@cs.yale.edu Silence = Death > > Perhaps you SHOULD! This to me seems very much like a problem that is > likely going to require some kind of *programming* patch. That is why > I pointedly posted it here. I think Joel's response was a bit rude (at least the way he expressed it), but your response in this article leads me to believe that you don't understand the problem with your video card very well. There is a good chance (not certain, but a good chance) that a Windows driver exists for your video card, especially since it appears to be not too distant from the CGA/EGA/VGA family. Windows 3.0 drivers exist for all sorts of oddball video systems, including the DEC Rainbow (which is about as un-IBM-PC-like as you can get in terms of its video structure). If such a driver does exist, then this newsgroup is not a good place to look for it; most of the people who read it are going to be Windows programmers, and while they may be more familiar _as individuals_ with available Windows hardware and software than most readers of comp.windows.ms, there are many _fewer_ of them. In addition, most probably still read the other newsgroup. So your question would get much more exposure (and a higher probability of finding the required driver) on the other newsgroup. On the other hand, if NO driver exists for your hardware, then building one (even using an existing one as a starting point) is likely to be a MAJOR undertaking. It's not something that anyone is likely to be able to do by a "patch" over the network. Windows video device drivers are significant undertakings; if you want to go this route then you would have to spend significant amounts of time and $$$, and you would almost certainly have to find some company that would build this driver to order. I'd be surprised if the cost for this could be measured in four figures - it would be cheaper to get a new PC unless you already have a lot of the old ones that you don't want to dispose of yet. Or, alternatively, not using Windows: the older software should continue to work, if rather less fancy than Windows versions. In summary, you'd be more likely to find what you're looking for in comp.windows.ms, or possibly misc.jobs if you are _really_ a glutton for punishment. If it actually comes down to a programming problem, it's just too big to be answerd over the network news. Bruce C. Wright