Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!wuarchive!texbell!attctc!chasm
From: chasm@attctc.Dallas.TX.US (Charles Marslett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: 132 columns by 50 lines
Summary: All (almost all?) VGAs do 132 column differently
Message-ID: <10874@attctc.Dallas.TX.US>
Date: 7 Jan 90 14:57:08 GMT
References: <9001012012.AA20667@cie.uoregon.edu>
Organization: The Unix(R) Connection, Dallas, Texas
Lines: 31

In article <9001012012.AA20667@cie.uoregon.edu>, kevins@CIE.UOREGON.EDU writes:
> This is a simple question, but since I don't yet have a VGA
> (but will very soon), can I set up my screen to display
> text in 132 columns and 50 lines long?
>  
> Anyone with a understanding of this wanna comment?

I always want to comment (even without any understanding of the issue!).

Many of the VGAs that support 800x600 also support 132 column modes -- some
only on multisync monitors, and a few even on fixed frequency monitors (the
fixed frequency support requires a dot clock > 40 MHz, so these usually
support 1024x768, unless they use a video chip that can't handle 512K of
video buffer RAM).

STB (the company I work for) and most of the other vendors of Tseng Labs based
cards use the Tseng Labs EVGA set of video modes for 132x25, 132x28 and 132x44.
To get 132x50 you need to write your own register values.  On the other hand,
C&T has a standard 132x50 mode that (I believe, but it's been a while since I
updated the 132 column code ;^) STB supports on both its C&T based and Tseng
based cards -- and probably on the AutoVGA (Cirrus based) as well.

Your best bet is to check the documentation on the card first and just watch
for the phrase "132-column text on fixed frequency monitors" and the presence
of a mode number for a 132x50 text mode.
>  
> -Kevins

Charles Marslett
STB Systems, Inc. <-- apply all standard disclaimers
chasm@attctc.dallas.tx.us