Original (1990) IBM XGA Drivers \ VOGONS

Original (1990) IBM XGA Drivers

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First post, by slashnet

Posted on 2025-01-08, 09:48

slashnet Offline

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Hello everyone,
I am a vintage software collector, and hope you can help me. I need original IBM XGA drivers for Windows 286 and OS/2 v1.2.
When IBM XGA got released in 1990, they provided two diskettes drivers for different OSes.

Here's a quote, taken from the official IBM website:

Once the card is installed, the appropriate device driver must be installed before the high resolution can be accessed. There are two device driver diskettes that come with the XGA card. The first diskette contains all of the device drivers for DOS, Microsoft Windows 3.0, Microsoft Windows 286 2.1, and AutoCAD Release 10. The second diskette contains support for OS/2 1.2 (OS/2 1.3 ships with an XGA driver).

All the XGA drivers I could find on the net were the newer ones, released in 1992 or later, when Windows 286 became completely obsolete.

Maybe someone still has the original XGA disks.
Thanks!

Reply 1 of 5, by slashnet

Posted on 2025-01-11, 05:43

slashnet Offline

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Ok, finally I've found the first diskette that contains drivers for Windows 286! It is attached.
Still looking for the second diskette (with os/2 v1.2 drivers)

Looking through the forum, I've found a topic about XGA drivers collection, seems like some people have it.
Please, look for the original XGA drivers there! thanks.

Reply 2 of 5, by slashnet

Posted on 2025-01-11, 05:50

slashnet Offline

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And yes, it runs Windows /286 in 1024x768x256 colors!

Reply 3 of 5, by Jo22

Posted on 2025-01-11, 21:17

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Hi, that's good news!
I like Windows 2.x (and 16-Bit OS/2) but XGA was a bit before my time, so I'm afraid I can't help much.
On a bright side, though, OS/2 1.3 was still of relevance in early 90s.
So there's some chance for an OS/2 1.2 XGA driver being stored on an early OS/2 CD-ROM or driver CD-ROM.
Shareware CDs also had an OS/2 directory, often.
Anyway, I'm mainly writing these lines to let you know that there's some interest.
Good luck. 🙂👍

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 4 of 5, by Jo22

Posted on 2025-01-25, 16:23

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Hi again. I was still thinking about this and found a tiny workaround, at least.
There's an VESA driver for the XGA graphics hardware.

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 5 of 5, by dr.zeissler

Posted on 2026-09-27, 08:38

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XGA2 on ISA Bus does not work with software that supported XGA2 on MCA bus like (GWS7,CSHOW,PBPLUS) you can force the XGA2 (ISA) on the PS/2E to accept some 8514/A software by loading the XGA2DOS driver which consumes 43K ram. Then things like PBPLUS4 does work in 1024x768 256colors in 8514/A mode, but it's very slow. The Win30 driver for XGA2 does work on 640x480 256colors, but the 16Bit color-modes are broken. I have to check for the win31 driver though. Thx for the XGA driver for win286, I will try it for the XGA2 on ISA.

EDIT:
Tested the WINV2 xga-driver on my XGA2(ISA) and it did not work. Win2.1 hangs on boot regardless if no option or the ColorPreferred=Y (=640x480 256 colors).

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines

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