Brenton, at 13:09 on Sun, Aug 07 1994, you wrote to Bill Grimsley ...

BV> No, I didn't miss it. I just didn't want to reply to it. :)

BG> Oh, fair enough.  At least you're honest.  ;-)

BV> If nothing else I do *try* to be honest.

In that case, you'll never get a job with Microsoft (or IBM, or Novell...)

BG> So who writes these drivers, and why are they so bad?

BV> Some are written by Panacea , others are written by Diamond.

The ones I sourced for OS/2 do appear to have been written by Diamond
themselves, but there are different versions according to the ROMs, and my
ROMs have already been upgraded from 1.xx to 2.xx (2.31 from memory) since
the card was originally purchased new.

BV> Hard to explain why they are so bad. They just stuff up and 
BV> don't display things properly. FOr example, in WinWord you get 
BV> stuff that you can't see if it is close to the border of the 
BV> screen. Lot's of little annoying things.

I'm actually quite happy with the 800x600x256 resolution that I prefer,
except the native font is not particularly pleasing to my eye, yet I don't
know how to change it (if indeed I can).  This is only in FS or windowed
OS/2 and DOS text sessions, BTW - the WPS is just fine, as it uses IBM's
ATM fonts.

BV> Would I recommend a Diamond Video card to anyone ???
BV> Depends on wether I'm selling mine or not :)
BG> Jeeze, are you the John Rich of LOCSYSOP or what!  ;-)

BV> John Rich ?

Long explanation if you don't get that echo, but basically, he's an
importer of cheap HS modems, and against all rules and regulations, he
persists in posting prices, commercials etc., even though he has been
officially banned from AUST_MODEMS (twice!).  Much consternation indeed.

BG> absolutely screams, but I'm just not happy with the driver support, 
BG> and I don't where to obtain later ones.  Diamond have a BBS in the 
BG> US, but I'm loath to waste several bux on an ISD call unnecessarily.

BV> So, send them a fax with your Sportshoe. Tell them the revision of 
BV> your ROM as well and they might send you a new BIOS and driver set. 

Good idea.  Most US companies appear to be quite helpful in the area of
customer relations (we could learn from them over here), so it certainly
can't hurt.

BV> I've had a few updates sent from them which included new BIOS chips 
BV> but by the time they arrived, I had sold the card and the new owner 
BV> hadn't complained.

Did they make a nominal charge, or require the original EPROMs back ??

BV> I'd offer to let you use my fax number for a reply, but if you 
BV> were to do that it would be recognised. No doubt the support guy 
BV> would say, "Fuck me dead, that Vettoretti bloke has gone and 
BV> bought another one . He must be a sucker for punishment" :)

Jeeze, they might even give you a freebie for your troubles then!  No
problem, I can always use mum's or dad's fax number (or a neighbour's, for
that matter), so that's the least of my problems.

BG> Never mind, I'll persevere with it for a while, but it may just 
BG> be too early a model card to be all that great under OS/2 (the 
BG> book doesn't even mention OS/2, BTW), although by all accounts, 
BG> under Windows 3.1 it is extremely fast.  Big fucking deal - I 
BG> don't run Win31

BV> You shouldn't have a problem. Any generic S3 801/805 drivers 
BV> should work. 

Is that right?  I'll check the latest Hobbes and see what I can scrape up. 
Mind you, changing video drivers manually under OS/2 is a fiddly process,
as several DLLs are locked when the system is running, so the old boot disk
is required for some DLL replacements - a nasty trap for the unwary.

 BV> In fact, I think IBM have used the 801 or 805 chip in some of their 
 BV> on-board VGA setups so you should be able to get some support direct 
 BV> from IBM. You may need to chase Diamond if a BIOS update is required 
 BV> though.

Thanks for the tips.  I'll get the ball rolling immediately.

BG> I still have the ET4000 card just in case though.  ;-)

BV> After the S3 it will seem much slower though.

Yeah, I'm afraid you might be right.  I always thought the ET4000 was quite
fast, but the Diamond is noticeably faster under OS/2, and under Win31
there's no comparison at all; it's blindingly quick.

 BV> PS. Everything in my place is breaking down at the moment. 

How _is_ your flu, BTW ??  ;-)

 BV> My Philips VCR has developed a problem whereby the color stuffs
 BV> up until it has warmed up. It is only visible when watching TV
 BV> stuff and tapes seem to be okay even if the unit is not warm.

Clarify please.  Do you mean via the VCR's tuner through the CTV's RF
input, or are you using direct AV input from the VCR to the TV.  This is
quite important, as it eliminates a lot of suspect circuitry.

 BV> The symptoms on-screen are hard to describe but some stations
 BV> are all black and white while others show a few bands of color.

Yet tapes definitely PB with colour quite OK at all times ??

 BV> The color seems to come up after about 20-30 minutes. Any ideas ?

Yep, but it depends upon exactly how you have your VCR's tuner configured
through the TV (Sony monitor, is it not?).  There are a couple of
possibilities, but the manner in which you're using your system will
determine which area is most likely to be the problem, and once that's
determined, I can tell you how to fix it (hopefully).  ;-)

One thing you can try immediately:  On the rear RHS of the VCR, there is a
3-position slide switch (I think) which says COLOUR/AUTO/BW (maybe not in
that order).  This switch overrides the VCR's colour-killer if set to
COLOUR.  If that solves the problem, you can either simply leave it like
that, or I can tell you what to do next.

Keep me informed.

Regards, Bill

--- Msgedsq/2 2.2e