I apologize, I have to confess a small mishap happened to me in my last capture. 🙁
The neon sign was blinking and I didn't notice that it was in the wrong state. I'll do better next time.
Speaking of the portable, I just found an old advertisement for the Compaq Portable 286.
It's available at http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/mob … ing/18/343/1658
Unfortunately, it says little about the internal graphics hardware.
It says: "the same monitor shows high-resolution text as well as graphics"
Which I believe could be a reference to anything from an MGA(HGC)/CGA combo card to
a custom "Super CGA" graphics hardware as found in Toshiba T3100, Olivetti M24 and AT&T 6300.
These were quite popular choices in PC emulator boards for Atari ST (PC-Speed) and Amiga (ATonce).
I'm speaking under correction now, but I believe they were supported in MS Quick-Basic 4.x.
The other matches of the search engine gave results for the Compaq SLT/286,
which is also a portable, but one of an entirely different type, made in '88
(laptop-style, VGA graphics, rechargeable battery).
Perhaps, if SammyFox is lucky, the Compaq has an old diagnostics tool on the hard disk.
Something like SI by Symantec/Central Point, CheckIt! by TouchStone or MSD from MS-DOS 5/6.
This way, we could make sure what graphics hardware is in charge (maybe it was upgraded ?)
derSammler wrote:Jo22 wrote:Well, as Vile pointed out, Sierra made better use of Composite CGA. 😀
But even they couldn't hide the color interferences. [..]
On SammyFox' pictures however, it's not - it's almost razor-sharp. So this can't be composite video output.
VileRancour wrote:BTW, comparing to DOSBox isn't very trustworthy because:
- The composite emulation in 'vanilla' DOSBox is rather inaccurate, eve […]
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BTW, comparing to DOSBox isn't very trustworthy because:
- The composite emulation in 'vanilla' DOSBox is rather inaccurate, even the one in current SVN.
The latest composite CGA code (huge thread on top of the Patches board) gives much better results.
- Since we're talking about composite, results will vary quite a bit even on real displays.
Internal filtering (especially in LCD TVs) can cause text to appear either less or more smudgy than you'd expect.
I admit that DOSBox wasn't the ideal choice, maybe PCem or another precise emulator would have been more accurate for this comparison. 😊
Without period-correct hardware it is hard to tell what a system was really capable of.
Sadly, I don't have the things required at hand. The CGA card I do have isn't very, uhm, faithful in terms of colours.
And even more importantly, I do lack a classic NTSC monitor for testing.
I do have a modern CRT TV set whitch is multi-norm (PAL/NTSC;50/60Hz),
but that's neithersubsitute for a blurry low-end TV set with CVBS-input, nor a high-end video monitor with comb-filters.
VileRancour wrote:Also, what sort of EGA card can plug into "an old LCD TV" just like that? 😉
Good point! 😀
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In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel
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