VESA and Geos w/256 colors
Adrian Harvey
> The problem is Geoworks only made these drivers compatable with VESA
> technoloy. You have to have a VESA video card which requires VESA bus
> architecture on you motherboard (I think), OR you need a TSR that will
> fool an application like GWE 2.x into thinking you have one of these cards.
> (if I am wrong in any of this please correct me)
I'm afraid you are completely wrong here, though it's a reasonably
common mistake. VESA VBE (Video Bios Extentions) have *ABSLOUTELY
NOTHING* to do with VESA local bus (VLB). Other than coming from the
same standards board they have about as much relation to each other as
ISO film speeds do to ISO quality certification! I try to encorage
people to call them VBE and VLB, as this avoids the whole mess entirely.
VESA VBE provides a standard way to access "super" VGA modes, which
prior to VBE were largely proprietry and non-standard (though they often
provided windoze drivers for them.) The VBE TSRs do not so much 'fool'
an application as actually provide the VBE services, translating any VBE
calls made by an application into equivelent (proprietry) calls to the
video card itself.
> The problem I am having is (because I have an old card) I don't know which
> TSR I need to work with my card. I have looked at all the .EXE's and
> .COM's in a file called vesadrvs.zip but none of them seem to do the
> trick. Plus I have no clue *what* exactly I am supposed to do with these
> various files. When I run VESATEST.EXE (which came with the drivers) I get
> either a "no VESA hardware" type message or I get a table of data that is
> crypic to say the least. It *looks* like there is a 800x600x256 vga VESA
> card installed, but when I run GW the test screen is unreadble.
>
> Maybe I am leaving out some importaint step? Does the output of
> VESATEST.EXE really mean anything, what exactly? Is there anyone else out
> there as lost as I am?
AFAIK vesatest just tells you, in human readable form, the result of a
'available modes' VBE call. If you don't have VBE, either on your card,
or through an emulation TSR, then you will get a message to that effect
(as you have discovered.....)
If the VESA TSR provided with the drivers doesn't work for you, try
getting the UNIVESA program (I can't remember where from, but SIMTEL
should have it, or try archie) It autodetects cards, works well, and
many claim superiority over even the card specific TSRs. Most games and
such which support SVGA simply support VBE and provide UNIVESA these
days... (eg: SimCity 2000)
> FYI: The video card is a TVGA-8916 (Trident 8900 chip) with 1Mb onboard
> and is capable of 1024x756x256 because I saw it do it in Windoze (wretch).
> I would be happy with just 800x600x256 tho :)
These are certainly common enough. I see no reason why UNIVESA would
not work here.
Good luck, I hope this information helps,
Adrian
--
| Adrian Harvey (Harv...@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz) | Windows? |
| (Adr...@mu.sans.vuw.ac.nz) | Just Say NO! |
|Geopublish:- Shareware DTP & MORE! ftp:arginine.umdnj.edu/pub/geos/publish/*|
Aslam Hassan
>
>> FYI: The video card is a TVGA-8916 (Trident 8900 chip) with 1Mb onboard
>> and is capable of 1024x756x256 because I saw it do it in Windoze (wretch).
>> I would be happy with just 800x600x256 tho :)
In article <nRcRmyWC...@mu.sans.vuw.ac.nz>,
Adr...@mu.sans.vuw.ac.nz (Adrian Harvey) wrote:
>
>These are certainly common enough. I see no reason why UNIVESA would
>not work here.
>
>Good luck, I hope this information helps,
> Adrian
>
Thanks, Adrian for the info. I did download that TSR and try to use the 256
color driver with GEOS 2.XX. It refuses to work in any mode except
1024X756X256. I am already using bifocals...there is no way I can use that
resolution. If GEOWORKS was so bent on a releasing hardware-level VESA
compliant driver, perhaps they should have done us all a favor and specified
which video card to use <sigh>. Some day (maybe) GEOWORKS will get their act
together.
Aslam Hassan
William Tanksley
:Thanks, Adrian for the info. I did download that TSR and try to use the 256
:1024X756X256. I am already using bifocals...there is no way I can use that
I know what you mean-- I think there may be something wrong with Trident's
VESA compatibility. It affects me too, although my card has the extensions
on it.
:resolution. If GEOWORKS was so bent on a releasing hardware-level VESA
:compliant driver, perhaps they should have done us all a favor and specified
:which video card to use <sigh>. Some day (maybe) GEOWORKS will get their act
:together.
Lighten up. If you were so bent on your card working with Geos, you
would've done some research to see that Trident isn't. Same with me. Sigh.
Someday I'll get my act together. Maybe.
:Aslam Hassan
-Billy
Lee Bailey
video drivers avialable to us (free) that will allow us to display 256
colors on in Geos 2.x. We also have a third resolution choice (1024x756)
which we didn't have before.
The problem is Geoworks only made these drivers compatable with VESA
technoloy. You have to have a VESA video card which requires VESA bus
architecture on you motherboard (I think), OR you need a TSR that will
fool an application like GWE 2.x into thinking you have one of these cards.
(if I am wrong in any of this please correct me)
The problem I am having is (because I have an old card) I don't know which
TSR I need to work with my card. I have looked at all the .EXE's and
.COM's in a file called vesadrvs.zip but none of them seem to do the
trick. Plus I have no clue *what* exactly I am supposed to do with these
various files. When I run VESATEST.EXE (which came with the drivers) I get
either a "no VESA hardware" type message or I get a table of data that is
crypic to say the least. It *looks* like there is a 800x600x256 vga VESA
card installed, but when I run GW the test screen is unreadble.
Maybe I am leaving out some importaint step? Does the output of
VESATEST.EXE really mean anything, what exactly? Is there anyone else out
there as lost as I am?
FYI: The video card is a TVGA-8916 (Trident 8900 chip) with 1Mb onboard
and is capable of 1024x756x256 because I saw it do it in Windoze (wretch).
I would be happy with just 800x600x256 tho :)
--
______________________________________________________________________________
Lee Bailey | E-Mail: off...@crl.com
User of Geoworks Ensemble instead of M$ Windoze
Try the demo at ftp://arginine.umdnj.edu/pub/geos/publish
or ftp://ftp.mcs.com/mcsnet.users/jbarr/GeoPublish
Aslam Hassan
>a-ha...@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Aslam Hassan) wrote to all:
>:Thanks, Adrian for the info. I did download that TSR and try to use the 256
>:color driver with GEOS 2.XX. It refuses to work in any mode except
>:1024X756X256. I am already using bifocals...there is no way I can use that
In article <44n0jd$l...@sdcc12.ucsd.edu>,
wtan...@sdcc15.ucsd.edu (William Tanksley) wrote:
>I know what you mean-- I think there may be something wrong with Trident's
>VESA compatibility. It affects me too, although my card has the extensions
>on it.
>
>:resolution. If GEOWORKS was so bent on a releasing hardware-level VESA
>:compliant driver, perhaps they should have done us all a favor and specified
>:which video card to use <sigh>. Some day (maybe) GEOWORKS will get their
act
>:together.
>
>Lighten up. If you were so bent on your card working with Geos, you
>would've done some research to see that Trident isn't. Same with me. Sigh.
Well, Billy, maybe I need to lighten up :-)...but, my card is not a Trident
(see previous posts on the topic). And as far as research goes, I do not
think it is wise to spend money on hardware to ensure compatibility with
software that is, at best, a niche market. Clearly there are situations which
may demand that be the case as in very high end graphics-intensive
applications. By doing what GEOWORKS has done, they have thrown another
obstacle (IMO) in the path of those still wanting to use GEOS.
Aslam Hassan
>
>Someday I'll get my act together. Maybe.
>
>-Billy
William Tanksley
:>:which video card to use <sigh>. Some day (maybe) GEOWORKS will get their
:>:act together.
:>Lighten up. If you were so bent on your card working with Geos, you
:>would've done some research to see that Trident isn't. Same with me. Sigh.
:Well, Billy, maybe I need to lighten up :-)...but, my card is not a Trident
Sorry about that-- I've done it again. I didn't mean that to sound that
harsh. I was intending to point out the fact that GW can only do so much
research and then it's up to the hardware. My card's VESA is incompatible
with almost everything-- I've never before seen anything that had trouble
with 800x600x256, but even the driver that was written by the company for
the specific card didn't work in windoze (in hicolor mode).
:(see previous posts on the topic). And as far as research goes, I do not
:think it is wise to spend money on hardware to ensure compatibility with
:software that is, at best, a niche market. Clearly there are situations
:which may demand that be the case as in very high end graphics-intensive
:applications. By doing what GEOWORKS has done, they have thrown another
:obstacle (IMO) in the path of those still wanting to use GEOS.
I can't see how an additional driver could count as an obstacle, even if I
personally couldn't use any of it. It IS a feature, and does work for quite
a few.
Also, I don't plan my budget on what others will buy, but on what I'll buy.
:Aslam Hassan
MStyles
Hum, I set the system font size to either medium or large (I can't
remember
which) and everything looks GREAT on my 15" monitor. Did you set the
font size at the same place in Prefrences? My screen only shows small,
medium, and large.
Mark Stevens