Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!munnari.oz.au!uhccux!larned
From: larned@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Paul Larned)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: 256 colors in Windows 3.0
Message-ID: <9115@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu>
Date: 25 Aug 90 00:56:38 GMT
Reply-To: larned@uhccux.UUCP (Paul Larned)
Organization: University of Hawaii
Lines: 39

Lars Nilsson writes:

>I am seeking display driver to use with ms-windows v3.0 to get 256 colours.

>I have a VGA-card and haven't been able to identify the brand of
>the card 100%  (Docs is without any name at all).

>But, I have this info about my card:  
>  -Paradise chips
>  -BIOS  003056-002 Copyright Paradise System Inc. 1987,1988
>  -Memory 256k
    ^^^^^^^^^^^
>  -Markings 61-60311-008845,OEM8 F000 X6,Made in Ireland,WE 70221 4621.

Unless I misunderstand your description, I believe it is not possible to
see 256 simultaneous colors with a VGA board having only 256K of video RAM.
You will need to upgrade to 512K.

Furthermore, I called Microsoft support to ask about seeing 256 colors
using Windows 3.0.  I had just installed Windows for my Video-7 VRAM card
with 512K using the driver supplied with the program.  However, I didn't
notice any difference from when I was running 3.0 with 16 colors.
Microsoft said that this version of Windows (3.0) does not load the 256
color palette, but that they were hoping at add this feature to newer
versions in the near (unspecified) future.  I asked, well, then, why supply
drivers for 512K VGA boards.  They answered because perhaps some
non-windows applications may be able to load the 256 color palette.  Didn't
make sense to me.  They also suggested that I try loading a program through
Windows which does load the 256K palette, then switching back to Windows,
and that maybe the palette would stay loaded (!)  This didn't work.  A 
friend told me that the only way now to see 256 colors with Windows 3.0 is
to watch carefully during a full installation--when Windows changes to
graphic mode, there is a 256 color display.

If I am in error about this, I would appreciate corrections, since I, too,
am interested in how to get 256 colors from Windows 3.0.

Paul Larned
larned@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu