Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version VT3.3 7/10/84; site vortex.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!vortex!lauren
From: lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein)
Newsgroups: net.micro.pc
Subject: Re: Monochrome Graphics Boards
Message-ID: <356@vortex.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 13-Jul-84 00:05:34 EDT
Article-I.D.: vortex.356
Posted: Fri Jul 13 00:05:34 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 14-Jul-84 14:00:38 EDT
References: <122@cbhydra.uucp>
Organization: Vortex Technology, Los Angeles
Lines: 14

I know why the STB graphics+ won't work on an Amdek monitor.  And it's
a bad sign (for the STB, not for the Amdek).  The IBM monitor has
no concept of a real sync rate; it tries to lock onto whatever is
fed into it.  Unfortunately, if you feed in "obscure" scan rates
(like the STB does [they don't admit this except in the hard
to obtain STB internal tech reference] you can damage the IBM monitor.
Badly.  On the other hand, the Amdek has a genuine phase-locked loop
sync system, that prevents the monitor from going bonzo when faced
with strange scan rates.  Of course it won't lock onto those rates, but
that's how it protects itself.  Indications are that long-term use
of the STB board in monochrome graphics modes with an IBM monitor could
drastically shorten the lifetime of the monitor itself.

--Lauren--