VGA

[Tom Yager]

In article <[24e8a1d8:98]un.unix.i386 at tronsbox.UUCP>, tron1 at tronsbox.UUCP (K.J.Jamieson) writes:
> 
> 
> 
> Who lonows of a good, compatible VGA card for ISC 2.0.2?
> 
> I need one that will do 800x600 in 256 colors, and is fully compatible.
> 
> Any Ideas???
> 
There are lots of them, but forget about 256 colors. 386/ix's Xvga server
will only do 16 colors on any EGA or VGA card, no matter what the board
is capable of pumping out.

As for 800x600, that's a very common enhanced resolution, and is available
on just about all VGA cards.

If you REALLY want 256 colors in that resolution (to use with (ick) DOS, say),
you need a board with 512K of memory. Orchid, Paradise and others make them.
I use the Orchid, myself, and like it a great deal because it supports a
1024x768 interlaced mode. As far as I know, the combination of this type
of VGA adapter and the Seiko CM-1430 (or compatible) monitor is the
cheapest way to hit that resolution in color. Also, if you're lucky enough
to have a MultiSync kicking around, this card will do non-interlaced
1024x768 and 800x600 as well. Oh, and one other thing: For the "dual
frequency" monitors like the CM-1430, the Orchid card has an 800x600
interlaced mode which displays as a slightly smaller window at the Seiko's
1024x768 scan frequency.

Now, before you all start responding with "my board does that, too" messages,
you should be aware that all boards that use the Tseng Labs chipset can
have this capability. The Orchid board comes with some incredible DOS-based
demos. Anybody who's afraid of interlace should fire up the demos and
watch. You haven't lived until you've seen their digitized orchid 
at 800x600x256. Nice.

I spoke with some people at ISC while researching an article (a review of
386/ix X11 for Byte's October issue). The consensus was that they had
no immediate plans to do a 256-color VGA server. Why? First, because they
weren't aware that there was any demand for it. Second, the performance
penalty would be EXTREMELY high. Those of you who are using X11 on a VGA
now probably know most of its limitations, and it's only moving (maximum)
four bitplanes around. Imagine how much slower it would be if it had to
move twice that! You have to decide if you really, really want it. If
you do, and you can give ISC some good reasons, perhaps you should let
your marketing rep know next time you speak with them. I let them know
my purpose for wanting 256-color VGA support. If enough other people
call in with compelling reasons (missing out on all those GIF images
of naked women doesn't qualify), maybe they'll do it. On the other
hand, they may hold out for 8514.

(ty)

-- 
+--Tom Yager, freelance technical writer-----------------------------------+
|  ARPA: tyager%maxx at m2c.m2c.org (preferred) -or- tyager at apollo.com        | 
|  I speak only for myself     "Are we blind to the truth, or assigned to  |
+--believe it? Only the wise will know."-----------------------------------+