Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!xanth!nic.MR.NET!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!leah!rpi!batcomputer!cornell!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!nichols+ From: nichols+@andrew.cmu.edu (David Nichols) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: VGA questions Message-ID: Date: 26 Jan 89 19:04:27 GMT Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 31 In-Reply-To: I have some questions about VGA boards and monitors. 1) I'm interested in lots of text lines (50+). Some of the boards advertise 60-line modes while some only claim 43-lines. Yet I have seen references by some writers to the "50-line mode that all VGA boards support." What's the scoop here? My guess is that the modes the manufacturers advertise are the BIOS modes, and that any of the boards can be set into 50-line or so modes by appropriate setting of the VGA registers (at least for the register- compatible cards). Is this guess correct? 2) My current favorites for monitors are the Nec Multisync II and the Sony 1302. Both are advertised as handling 560 lines. What happens when you flip your board into 800x600 mode? Do 40 lines get trashed? Does it work at all? Or does everything work fine because the monitor specs are conservative? 3) I thought someone mentioned in this group that the Sony 1302 was great, but avoid the 1302A. Why? According to the Sony person I talked to, the difference is that the 1302A has vertical auto-sizing circuitry added, which seems like a win to me. I'm mostly interested in the questions, but if folks want to send recommendations on super-VGA boards and monitors, I'll be grateful for them as well. Of course, I will summarize and post any responses I get. David Nichols Arpa: nichols+@andrew.cmu.edu or David.Nichols@andrew.cmu.edu Usenet: uunet!andrew.cmu.edu!david.nichols (maybe, I don't understand Usenet)