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From: kirchner@uklirb.UUCP (Reinhard Kirchner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Mono-monitors at colour-adapters ?
Keywords: CGA,EGA,VGA,Monochrome
Message-ID: <5003@uklirb.UUCP>
Date: 12 May 89 07:50:36 GMT
Organization: University of Kaiserslautern, W-Germany
Lines: 33

Hello,
recently an interesting question arised, for which I could not find
an answer in the magazines or in any book. The problem:

How can a monochrome monitor be used at a colour adapter ?

and the rationale behind: How to run programs which insist on CGA, EGA, VGA-
 colour if you only can afford a mono-monitor.

Till now I see the following possibilities:

1. Buy or build some kind of 'three-colour-output-to-one-video-input-converter'
   which should consist of some resistors and which transforms the colour
   signals to a shade of grays. If the monitors syncs this could work.

2. Use the mono-monitor at a hercules adapter and convert by software.
   I have seen such converters for CGA->hercules, but not for EGA or VGA.
   Are those existing or for some ( which ) reason impossible?

3. Some intelligent graphic adapter could do the conversion by itself.
   I know that VGA-adapters my drive mono-monitors, but
   - does this work even if the software uses a colour mode or must the
     software use the VGA-mono-mode ?

   Is there any adapter known which does the conversion for CGA and EGA ?

This topic may be of interest for many readers, so please send your opinions
to this newsgroup.

Thanks to anybody who is going to respond.

R. Kirchner
Univ. of Kaiserslautern, Germany