VOGONS


First post, by musicforlife

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

I have this early 8-bit VGA card called Paradise Pvga. It contains dip switch settings for:

- Switch 1 Monitor Type. ON: Multi frequency, OFF: Standard VGA
- Switch 2 VGA Mode Switching Style. ON: PS/2 Style - All modes available on all monitors, OFF: PC/AT Style - color on color, mono on mono
- Switch 3 Not used - Set to OFF
- Switch 4 (Not VGA Plus) 8bit vs 16bit AutoSense. ON: Auto sense 8/16bit BIOS access, OFF: Force 8bit BIOS access

I know that in early days when VGA just came, they manufactured several multisync monitors in order to be fully compatible with all the available options from digital rgbi to analog vga to handle varying setup changes.

I have 14" multisync CRT hence I'm tempted to use the Multisync option in the card but since there's no documents available about what it actually does, I am all the time wondering: What is the actual signal (vertical & horizontal sync amount) it outputs? Also are there any benefits to use multisync option instead of standard 31Khz VGA? I mean, if multisync monitors like mine can handle standard VGA, then why to include such option in first place?

I have also seen multisync monitor option in Tseng ET3000AX combo cards and many other early cards and I wonder does their multisync signal differ from each other?

Also, in paradise card the second switch says " ON: PS/2 Style - All modes available on all monitors, OFF: PC/AT Style - color on color, mono on mono". What does this actually mean???