Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!xanth!mcnc!rti!bcw
From: bcw@rti.rti.org (Bruce Wright)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms.programmer
Subject: Re: Ok Windows Wizards...help needed with weird CGA/EGA/VGA problem
Summary: Brand X video cards and Windows drivers
Message-ID: <1990Nov10.023527.15749@rti.rti.org>
Date: 10 Nov 90 02:35:27 GMT
References: <1990Oct31.172813.19152@portia.Stanford.EDU> <26995@cs.yale.edu> <1990Nov1.054715.21925@portia.Stanford.EDU>
Organization: Research Triangle Institute, RTP, NC
Lines: 51

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