Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tank!ncar!ames!amelia!roelofs
From: roelofs@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (Ender Wiggin)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2
Subject: Re: 256 colors on VGA
Message-ID: <6463@amelia.nas.nasa.gov>
Date: 1 Jun 90 22:25:24 GMT
References: <WEISS.90Jun1094038@toucan.lcs.mit.edu>
Reply-To: roelofs@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (Ender Wiggin)
Distribution: comp
Organization: University of Chicago
Lines: 18

weiss@theory.lcs.mit.edu (Paul G. Weiss) writes:

>I am running OS/2 V1.2 with a VGA card and monitor.  However, when I
>do DevQueryCaps on the display device I learn that only 16 simultaneous
>colors are supported.  Am I mistaken or does the VGA allow 256 colors?
>If so, is it the driver that only supports 16 colors?  What must you
>do to get 256 colors in a PM window?

Standard VGA only supports 16 colors in 640 by 480 (400? whatever...) mode;
it supports 256 colors in 320x200 mode, but PM doesn't support this mode.
If you have a superVGA board *and driver* (or 8514/A board, which is more-
or-less the same thing), then you can have lots of resolution and lots of
colors, but not otherwise.  The 29 May issue of PC Magazine comments on
this in the Environments column about multi-threaded display processing.

On a related issue:  anyone know if the ATI VGA Wonder card comes with a 
PM driver for either the 800x600x256 mode or the 1024x768x16 mode (preferably
both)?  As of a couple months back it only came with a Windows/386 driver....