From: shurr@cbnews.cb.att.com (larry.a.shurr)
Subject: Tseng SVGA - still trying (was: New TSENG LABS drivers)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus, OH
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 17:22:01 GMT
Keywords: NEW TSENG LABS DRIVERS

In article <hatton.716173370@cgl.ucsf.edu> hatton@socrates.ucsf.edu (Tom Hatton) writes:
>lrj@cs.cornell.edu (Lew Jansen) writes:
>>hatton@socrates.ucsf.edu (Tom Hatton) writes:
>>> [The "new" ET4k drivers] are OS/2 1.3 version drivers patched to work with
>>>OS/2 2.0, and thus are not an improvement on the Orchid beta drivers...
>>  Whether they're old or new, on my machine they are a DEFINITE
>>improvement.  [Orchid drivers didn't work well with his generic et4000].
>>  However, the 800x600 "new" (old) 60Hz driver seems to be working
>>fine so far.  I can pop in and out of full-screen DOS or OS/2 windows...

I wish I could.

>There seem to be a variety of problems getting various "ET4000" cards to
>work properly with particular card/monitor combos. Diamond seems to be
>problematic, for instance, and people with Orchid cards have had problems
>with the Orchid drivers, ironically enough. 

Hmmm... My Diamond Speedstar (non-HiColor) definitely fits the "problematic"
description.  The Orchid drivers (proii4 & proii8) work ok on my Gateway
2000 386sx though the 256 color drivers are little slow and the colors are
off.  I've been using the 1024x768x16 driver.  WPS and OS/2 full screen,
OS/2 window, and DOS window worked fine.  DOS full screen and WINOS2 full
screen are not so great.  I switched to the generic et4000 drivers and am
using the 1024x768, 60Hz driver which I patched using BEAV for smaller
icons.  The results appear nearly identical to the 1024x768x16 Orchid
driver.

An alt-home from a DOS window brings me to a full screen of total hash.
Another alt-home restores me to the WPS desktop in good order.  After 
starting a full screen session (DOS or OS/2), this improves from garbage
to... wierd.

When I start a full screen DOS session, it looks fine.  If I alt-home or
alt-esc, I end up back at the desktop appropriately, but when I alt-home
the window back to full screen or select a full screen DOS session I
switched away from, the display is distorted.  It's like the horizontal
sync timing is off a bit -- the beam coms back on a moment before it's 
been restored to the left margin.  That's with a 25 line display.  With
a 50 line display, I have two flickery copies of the screen combined
with the horizontal sync timing still lookiing a bit off.  I can clear
these problems up temporarily by entering the appropriate mode commands,
but the next time I switch away and come back, the problem will be back.

I haven't tried to change the display driver for WINOS2 yet, so it's still
at 640x480x16 and as with DOS, it look fine when initially started, but
switch to the WPS desktop and back again and it looks... wierd.  the
display is "squished" vertically.

As I've read this thread today, I noticed that some people have run
VMODE in a DOS session.  In order to get 1024x768x60Hz non-interlaced
in DOS, I have to run VMODE, but I haven't done that in a VDM.  Maybe
I need to do that and rerun SVGA ON.  What do you think?  I think I'm
going to try it this weekend.  Is there anything else I should try?

BTW: I have the the fx3 version of the VSVGA.DLL fix installed.  I 
also have the patch BVHSVGA.DLL (I think I spelled that right) as well
as a number of other non-video patches thanks to ftp-os2.nmsu.edu.  I'm
happy to say that I havn't experienced any trap 2's, 5's, or E's lately.

Regarding seemless Windows: as I understand it, there are no drivers
available for me to to this with my Speedstar in SVGA mode, at present.
Also, I'm still running the generic et4000 drivers and cannot run WINOS2
in a desktop window -- I should be able to do this, right?  Though not 
necessarily with these converted 1.3 drivers (right?).  They have to be
real 2.0 drivers to do that (right?).

In previous et4000 threads, I've read that IBM's CSD will include et4000
drivers.  I hope that they will have 1024x768x16 & 1024x768x256 versions
(I know! I know! I'm crazy run 1024x768 on a 14'' monitor, but I'm near-
sighted and don't seem to have trouble reading it.  Still, I've seen some
larger monitors at 1024x768 and I agree that it's better.  I would like 
to get one - $$$$$$!).

Regards, Larry
-- 
Larry A. Shurr (las@cbnmva.att.com or att!cbnmva!las) speaking only for myself.
EOR (end-of-ramble)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc