🚀 go-pugleaf

by: palmerc@abulafia.b21.ingr.com (Christopher M. Palmer):
> I was reading one of John Dvorak's columns in a PC magazine where he
> was discussing the joys and pitfalls of running OS/2.  In an
> annoyingly offhand remark, he says that OS/2 doesn't like Trident
> ET4000 SVGA cards.  I am about to purchase a system that has a Trident
> ET4K card in it.  While I am buying the machine to run Windows, I
> would like to keep my OS/2 options open.  What is this mysterious
> incompatibility problem?  Is it just a scarcity of OS/2 drivers, or is
> there something deeper?

2 problems for the general public, but not a problem for anybody
with internet access or a modem to call the Atlanta BBS:

1)  Newer cards go out of synch when the out-of-the-box OS/2
	is installed and you open up a full screen dos or
	os/2 command line session.  I don't know which new cards
	these are; a noname ET4000 card I bought in June works
	fine.  A fix is available on hobbes.nmsu.edu, and
	software.watson.ibm.com.

2)  Lack of drivers (actually a problem for all SVGA cards, at first).
	No ET4000 drivers come with OS/2 as you buy it; you have
	to download beta's from hobbes.  The current 1024x768x16 driver
	works great, but doesn't support seamless windows or some graphics
	modes in a window yet.  The current 256 color drivers are
	incredibly slow (although no longer discolored)... try
	using 16 colors for the WPS and 256 for Windows sessions.

Hopefully, both of these problems will be fixed in the (insert season)
CSD.  But if you know what you're doing, you can get it working
now.  Ask on comp.os.os2.misc if you have trouble... there are 3 or
4 other patches that everyone should have (swapfile, blkico, etc.),
all of which are on watson or hobbes, and presumably at Atlanta.

JMC
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