Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!netcom!ergo
From: ergo@netcom.UUCP (Isaac Rabinovitch)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: VGA colors, etc.
Message-ID: <18228@netcom.UUCP>
Date: 6 Dec 90 18:54:38 GMT
References: <6109@crash.cts.com>
Organization: UESPA
Lines: 46

In <6109@crash.cts.com> bill@pro-gateway.cts.com (Bill Long, SysOp) writes:

>I'm an Apple II user and don't keep up with the IBM world to much, and I have
>a question for you IBM people.

>With VGA, how many colors are available, and how many can be on-screen at one
>time?

Depends on the VGA card and the monitor.  If you spend enough, you can
theoretically generate *any* color, since the intensity of the three
colors in a given pixel is infinitely variable.  On such a setup, you
can have 256 colors on screen at once.

If your needs (or budget!) are more modest, one can get a card/monitor
combo that only does 16 colors at once (256 possible) for $300-$400.
In some cases, such low-cost setups can can get more colors, or "super"
(> 640 x 480) resolution, but not both.  The limiting factor is
usually the monitor, not the card.  Read the hardware documentation
carefully before experimenting, since you can damage a monitor by
trying to get more color or resolution out of it than it was designed
to give.  Such damage can happen immediately if you're using a TTL
monitor.  Analog monitors (the only kind you should use with VGA
anyway, and the only kind some VGA cards support) are harder to
damage, so careful experimentation is quite safe, but don't leave a
monitor in a "bad" mode for more than a minute or two.  In particular,
don't try to run an interlaced monitor in non-interlaced mode.
(If you have the "flicker" problem which interlaced monitors are
notorious for, try stepping down the resolution.)

I myself only recently got into VGA myself.  Before I used a Hercules
card, because CGA text mode was unacceptable, and EGA and VGA were too
expensive.  This was a real pain, because so much software assumes you
have at least CGA software compatibility, and often locks up the
machine if you don't.  Also, cheap Hercules clones often destroy their
monitors, and even the good ones will do it if you're careless with
the software.  Now that VGA has come down in price, I think any TTL
video card, even the ones that do both CGA and Hercules, is a bad
buy.

-- 

	ergo@netcom.uucp			Isaac Rabinovitch
	netcom!ergo@apple.com			Silicon Valley, CA
	{apple,amdahl,claris}!netcom!ergo

		THIS STATEMENT IS VERIFIABLY, IRREFUTABLY TRUE!