Getting "double-duty" out of something like a monitor is very gratifying in
situations where space is limited, but even in those cases where I've gotten
fixed-frequency beasties to work beautifully, it's been a disappointment. I
got a friend a Photon board with BIOS modifications to suit the Sony GDM
1950, which I'd carefully adjusted and converged so its characters were
crisp and sharp, yet there were interactions that didn't work out right.
For example, and I don't know why this was, the monitor worked very well in
DOS text mode (vga mode 3) and looked like a million bucks in
1280x1024x256-color mode in WIndows, yet when I wanted to use a
floppy-port-interfaced tape drive, the thing fell apart. It just didn't
work quite right. It takes years to get all the things working together,
and the folks who build these cards have to get them all. It's not worth
their while to custom up a BIOS for each and every required sync pattern out
there.
Unless you need a given monitor because you have the accompanying hardware
with which it was designed to work, it's not worth your while to make it
work on a PC. The easiest way to get some auxilliary use out of it is as a
second, Windows-or-game-dedicated monitor, so it only has to display the
resolution at which it works most easily.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: Adrian Graham <agraham_at_ccat.co.uk>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 01, 2000 5:17 AM
Subject: RE: Back to the A1097C monitor again
> Dick wrote:
>
> > Take a close look, think about it, and see if you'd rather do
> > that than just
> > letting it sit with the hardware it's supposed to go with.
>
> ATM I just haven't got the time to dedicate to that sort of project. Even
> when my gf and little one go to the US this week (she's a US citizen) I've
> got 110 other projects to do including a new bathroom! At least I'm in the
> museum room proper though, unfortunately I've discovered I've got enough
> stuff to fill it 3 times over! This means I've got to rent storage
> space.......
>
>
Received on Tue Aug 01 2000 - 08:48:00 BST