From: shurr@cbnews.cb.att.com (larry.a.shurr)
Subject: Diamond lack-of-SpeedStar woes (was: svga card for os/2)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus, OH
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 18:59:33 GMT

In article <YzLLAMAS.92Dec11124201@itd.itd.nrl.navy.mil> llamas@itd.nrl.navy.mil writes:
}I am looking for a fast and well supported svga adapter to use with OS/2.  I
}am currently using a Diamond Speedstar on a 386/33 clone.  Diamond's support
}policies towards OS/2 are not particularly good, and the board itself is very
}slow when used with OS/2 (I am using the generic 800x600x16 driver).  Can
}someone recommend a fast svga board (or accelerator) with a good set of OS/2
}2.0 drivers?  Thanks.

I, too, am disappointed with Diamond's poor attitude towards OS/2.  It's
absurd for this board to be so slow, especially considering that Diamond's
Binar-written, Diamond-tweaked "Turbo" drivers for Windows are pretty
quick.  

I await materials from Radius concerning their ISA-based XGA-2 board.  I've
been hoping that this board will be affordable (from what I hear, it won't
be cheap, so I'm hoping for affordable).

I understand that official :-) rumor now has it that the upcoming OS/2 
"refresh" will have more drivers for more video boards.  If true, this
will include, hopefully, accelerated boards such as S3.  Thus, it may
be best to wait until then before making a decision... though any & all
Diamond boards are out of the running unless they change their attitude.

I was pleased with Diamond's willingness to provide the Turbo drivers for
free what with Binar selling the WinSpeed drivers for $79, so I was 
surprised at their apparent blow-off of OS/2.  I answered their survey,
and while they may have just been trying to be clever and nothing more,
it seemed to me that the wording of their questions was a little too cute
and not necessarily suggestive that we could take it seriously.

I realize that the they wouldn't want to spend a lot of money on a small
market, but is OS/2 still just a small market?  Or have they stopped 
selling SpeedStars and I'm stuck with a dead-end card?

Not long ago, someone posted in this newsgroup that they had a diagnostic
program which told them that their Diamond SpeedStar was running in 8-bit
mode even though the card was plugged into a 16-bit slot.  If true, it
might explain why the Diamond SpeedStar is so slow.  Does anybody know if
such a diagnostic program is generally available?

I have checked to make sure I didn't commit a bonehead error and plug my
SpeedStar into an 8-bit slot... I didn't, it's definitely in a 16-bit
slot.  I will recheck the contents of the original SpeedStar driver
diskette I received from Gateway 2000, hoping I will find something
helpful there.  I now formally ask the net if anyone knows how to 
determine if the Diamond SpeedStar is operating in 8 or 16 bit mode and 
what to do about it if it's running in 8-bit mode -- there don't seem to 
be any jumpers or switches for forcing 16-bit operation that I can make 
out from the sketchy documentation I received.

Another bit if info:  While applying the speedup tweaks to the DOS
settings for windowed VDM's which have been posted to this newgroup,
I found that moving the supposedly non-functional display update 
interval slider all the way to the right (setting 600) does provide
a measurable, though not dramatic increase in scrolling speed.

Hoping for useful information and thanking you for all help to date,
Larry
-- 
Larry A. Shurr (las@cbnmva.att.com) speaking only for myself.
Norman, listen carefully.  I am lying.  Are you sure your circuits are
registering?  Your ears are green.  Logic is a little bird singing in a
meadow.  Logic is a wreath of pretty flowers which smell bad! - Mr. Spock
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware