Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!attctc!chasm From: chasm@attctc.DALLAS.TX.US (Charles Marslett) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: Vga Boards, and Seiko's new monitor Summary: Do you really want to pass all the tests? Keywords: vga,graphics,windows,video-7,stb,wonder,fastwrite,monitor,seiko Message-ID: <8530@attctc.DALLAS.TX.US> Date: 5 Jul 89 07:14:02 GMT References: <2565@PEDEV.Columbia.NCR.COM> <[304.1]comp.sys.ibm.pc;1@vpnet.UUCP> <1685@netcom.UUCP> Organization: The Unix(R) Connection, Dallas, Texas Lines: 44 In article <1685@netcom.UUCP>, gatesl@netcom.UUCP (Lee Gates) writes: > > I have seen the article, and the only board which passed all the tests > was the RVGA II board from Rennasance(sp?). The board has 256k on it, and > isn't expandable, but it does all the modes up to 800x600x16. As I recall > the board is quite fast, and can be bought for around 270$. I have never felt very good spelling the R... word either ;^), but a point to consider is whether you want to pass all the PC Labs tests. I work for a company that builds VGA cards, and one of my main tasks is to determine if we will gain or lose sales by passing such tests -- for example, if you are using a "register compatible" VGA chip on your board some programs, like Word Perfect, will not run properly either stand alone or under Windows 386 if the chip is configured to pass the vertical blank test. This is the test the IBM VGA adapter board fails to pass. Another problem area arises if you permit switching to video modes 2 or 3 from monochrome modes (again, the PS/2 VGAs do allow this, and the adapter board does not) -- if you do, several programs (including the Zenith editor BSE) will no longer run in monochrome mode. So, do you run compatibly with the PS/2 (and have problems with non-MCA computers) or do you limp along with IBM's adapter card (and mimimize the limitations, while failing several tests). We also deliberatly fail one of PC Labs' cursor emulation tests: they require that you match exactly IBM's emulation of CGA cursors, even when the IBM emulation makes no sense (the cursor sits exactly on top of the monochrome underline, so if the cursor is moved over an underlined character it completely disappears...). That particular test ruffles my feathers more than I like to admit. Do they want my CGA emulation to flash the screen while scrolling, too? > lee > -- > gatesl@netcom.uucp Anyway, be careful you really want what you ask for... =========================================================================== Charles Marslett STB Systems, Inc. <== Apply all standard disclaimers Wordmark Systems <== No disclaimers required -- that's just me chasm@killer.dallas.tx.us <== soon to be attctc.dallas.tx.us I think