From: ajlindem@kiowa.ucs.indiana.edu ("Andy Lindeman")
Subject: REPOST:  ET4000 Driver comparison
Keywords: et4000, Tseng, Diamond
Reply-To: ajlindem@ucs.indiana.edu
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 19:47:29 GMT

This is a repost from 2 or 3 months ago.  I haven't changed anything.  If  
any new drivers have come out since then, let me know (I haven't found  
any...)  Andy


Well, it's only about three months after I promised them, but here's the  
results I got from testing all the drivers I found for boards based on the  
Tseng et4000 chipset.  I tested them on my Gateway 386/33 with a Diamond  
SpeedStar using PC Magazine's Windows Benchmarks and Texas Instruments'  
WinTach.  (They can be found on cica under /util as winben25.zip and  
wintach.zip.)  I only tested the 256 color drivers in 800x600 mode!  I was  
very careful to ensure that I tested them under the same conditions (i.e.  
I quit afterdark, Dr. Watson etc...)  About 50 people sent me an email a  
while back that they would also like the listing from PC Magazine's  
Benchmark "Advanced" tests.  If any of you that want them (they are 4  
pages each!), just send an email to me.  When I started, only version 2 of  
the PC Mag benchmarks was out, and the "Winmark" test was not included  
until version 2.5.  The tests from version 2 are (I think) the same as the  
"Advanced" in version 2.5.  So I went back with 2.5 and did the "Winmark"  
test (which is a subset of the advanced.)  I did not do the Advanced tests  
on all the non-turbo drivers, since these drivers are most likely the same  
exact code.  (These advanced tests take 20 minutes to do per driver!!)   I  
had problems with the Turbo Windows driver, (off of spdstar6.zip) it kept  
crashing my system repeatedly!  (I also got weird lines, especially when I  
opened DOS applications.)  So the numbers from that driver might not be  
correct.  One other thing: the drivers off  of et4turbo.zip and  
et4win31.zip make the text under icons in program manager bold!  Now, for  
my opinion on what is best:  I like the Colorview ET4Turbo drivers.  There  
were 4 fast drivers but the ones off spdstar6.zip gave me problems and the  
ones off et4turbo.zip and et4win31.zip had ugly bold text underneath the  
icons in Program Manager.  I would like to thank all the people who  
pointed out to me these drivers and an especially big "thanks" to Simon  
Bernstein for going through lots of trouble to FTP the Boca drivers to me!   
If anybody has any other drivers that work on Tseng 4000 based boards, let  
me know and I
on Usenet in the last 3 months, I haven't been netting since middle July  
so let me know. Well, here are my findings:


ZIP Name    Distributed by              drivers dated  oemsetup.inf
bocasx31    Boca		        3-1-92         4-16-92
et4-w31	    Tseng Labs                  3-1-92         3-1-92
et4cview    Trident (Colorview)         5-27-92        6-18-92
et4turbo    Tseng Labs ?                4-16-92        4-16-92
et4win31    Compuadd BBS                4-16-92        4-16-92
spdstar6    Diamond (w/Turbo drv)       3-1-92         4-13-92
sswin31	    Diamond                     3-1-92         3-31-92
stbwin31    Powergraph (Ergo)           5-21-92        5-21-92
w31et4	    Microsoft                   3-10-92	       4-1-92

Note: all drivers except these can be found in the /drivers/video on  
ftp.cica.indiana.edu
bocasx31 on /upload
et4turbo on /upload/SEPT92
et4win31 on /upload
the drivers above will probably be placed in /drivers/video soon!

Drivers included:
ZIP Name:	Driver Name:
bocasx31	SXVGA  			A:a, B:a, C:c, D:d
et4-w31		ET4000			A:a, B:a, C:c, D:d
et4cview	Colorview		A:a, B:a, C;c, D:d
et4cview	Colorview ET4TURBO	A:256, B:256, c:256
et4turbo	ET4000			A:a, B:a, C:c, D:d
et4turbo	ET4Turbo		A:256, B:256, C:256
et4win31	ET4000			A:a, B:a, C:c, D:d
et4win31	ET4Turbo		A:256, B:256, C:256
spdstar6	SpeedStar		A:16,32768 B:16,32768 C:d
spdstar6	Turbo Windows		A:256, B:256, C:256
sswin31		SpeedStar		A:b, B:b, C:c, D:d
stbwin31	Powergraph (Ergo)	A:b, B:b, C:c, D:d
w31et4		ET4000			A:256, B:256, C:256

Key:
A: 640x480    B: 800x600     c: 1024x768       D: 1280x1024
a: 16,256,32768,655355 colors  b: 16,256,32768 colors  c: 16,256 colors   
d: 16 colors
Note: all drivers 800x600 and up have both large and small fonts

PC Magazine's Windows Benchmark results (Winmark test)
Zip Name:	Driver Name:		Winmark Speed	
bocasx31	SXVGA			1899975
et4-w31		ET4000			1888103
et4cview	Colorview		1894756
et4cview	Colorview ET4TURBO	2595017
et4turbo	ET4000			1884325
et4turbo	ET4Turbo		2607422
et4win31	ET4000			1882686
et4win31	ET4Turbo		2578828
spdstar6	SpeedStar		(no 256 color drivers)
spdstar6	Turbo Windows		2513272
sswin31		SpeedStar		1878316
stbwin31	Powergraph (Ergo)	1878034
w31et4		ET4000			1874246

WinTach results:
Zip Name:    Driver Name:   WinTach  Word-     CAD    Spread-   Paint
                            Overall  Processor /CAM   Sheet
bocasx31     SXVGA          2.84     1.18      3.28   3.43      3.56
et4-w31	     ET4000         2.87     1.18      3.31   3.43      3.56
et4cview     Colorview      2.86     1.18      3.28   3.43      3.53
et4cview Colorview ET4TURBO 3.05     1.21      3.34   3.68      3.96
et4turbo     ET4000         2.86     1.21      3.28   3.43      3.50
et4turbo     ET4Turbo       3.04     1.25      3.40   3.62      3.90
et4win31     ET4000	    2.87     1.18      3.25   3.46      3.56
et4win31     ET4Turbo       3.06     1.25      3.37   3.65      3.96
spdstar6     SpeedStar      (no 256 color drivers)
spdstar6     Turbo Windows  3.04     2.03      2.96   3.36      3.84
sswin31	     SpeedStar      2.86     1.18      3.25   3.46      3.56
stbwin3 Powergraph (Ergo)   2.87     1.18      3.28   3.46      3.56
w31et4       ET4000         2.86     2.28      3.28   3.46      3.53


Andy Lindeman
ajlindem@ucs.indiana.edu