Hi there!

I think I've got the same card in the attic somewhere! It's a nice antique, cool for testing purposes.
If you change the Olivetti VGA BIOS to a generic PVGA1A BIOS, it should work.

Tips:
- The Paradise Professional VGA (PVGA1A) is similar to the later WD90C00. Other revisions exist (1B, 1C etc).
- You can try the DOS tools in this thread: Re: 286 USIT Athena PC
- PCem emulates the Olivetti version, too, as "Olivetti GO481".
- It's possible to upgrade it to 512KB max, but that requires piggy-back (stacking the RAMs, modifying a pair of address lines).

Edit: This is also interesting!
WD90C11 and AT&T Model 6300 video mode
Olivetti/Logabax/AT&T/Toshiba 640x400 hi-res graphics mode

Jo22 wrote on 2023-01-29, 17:43:

Hi there! […]
Show full quote

Hi there!

I think I've got the same card in the attic somewhere! It's a nice antique, cool for testing purposes.
If you change the Olivetti VGA BIOS to a generic PVGA1A BIOS, it should work.

Tips:
- The Paradise Professional VGA (PVGA1A) is similar to the later WD90C00. Other revisions exist (1B, 1C etc).
- You can try the DOS tools in this thread: Re: 286 USIT Athena PC
- PCem emulates the Olivetti version, too, as "Olivetti GO481".
- It's possible to upgrade it to 512KB max, but that requires piggy-back (stacking the RAMs, modifying a pair of address lines).

Edit: This is also interesting!
WD90C11 and AT&T Model 6300 video mode
Olivetti/Logabax/AT&T/Toshiba 640x400 hi-res graphics mode

Hi, thank you for answer.
I try DOS tools from first link, and as i expected it won't work with Olivetti VGA bios on this card. In mode select util i cal select only VGA color or VGA mono mode. Other tools report incompatibility of my model with WD VGA
Also i try use 32Kb bios from that tread WD90C11 and AT&T Model 6300 video mode but also does not work.

Can anyone help with original bios file from that card from WD ? (or any 8bit PVGA1A or WD90C00 based)

I don't know how well known fact is, but Matrox MG-108 card is based around WD90C01 and IBM released this:

"Matrox Magnum Graphics Controller MG-104, MG-108 Option/Utility Disk v2.0 (11-23-90, 1.44MB)" :

http://www.walshcomptech.com/selectpccbbs/mg104108.zip

most interesting files (at least to me) on that IBM driver diskette are "Paradise 8514A Adapter Interface" TSRs :

* "WDAI4.exe" (for cards with 512K video RAM)
* "WDAI8.exe" (for cards with 1024K video RAM)

and the demo itself "WDDEMO.exe". I wonder if it works only on those Matrox MG-108 IBM used or on all WD90C0x-based cards. that's why I will be glad if someone of you test (in DOS just run the appropriate WDAI4 or WDAI8 based on the amount of RAM your card has and then run the WDDEMO).

I found the above files, when working on:

https://github.com/86Box/86Box/issues/2968

but if "Matrox MG-108" is compatible with more generic WD90C0x-based cards, then IBM released a lot of other files and drivers for it:

https://ardent-tool.com/video/matrox.html

that might be of interest to owners of such WD90C0x-based cards.

I'll have a look in my personal archives, too.
I'm pretty sure I backup-ed some VGA BIOSes in the past..

Edit: Found. Good luck! 😀 🤞

Ar2r4eg wrote on 2023-01-30, 21:41:

Can anyone help with original bios file from that card from WD ? (or any 8bit PVGA1A or WD90C00 based)

http://vgamuseum.info/index.php/companies/ite … stems-pvga1a-jk

mattw wrote on 2023-01-30, 22:28:

I don't know how well known fact is, but Matrox MG-108 card is based around WD90C01

There's a typo, actually it's WD95C01, from the WD9500 series - https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_western … 5WD9500_3838982
Nothing to do with the PVGA/90Cxx series...

Grzyb wrote on 2023-01-31, 11:27:

Ar2r4eg wrote on 2023-01-30, 21:41:

Can anyone help with original bios file from that card from WD ? (or any 8bit PVGA1A or WD90C00 based)

http://vgamuseum.info/index.php/companies/ite … stems-pvga1a-jk

I try that bios. It's 64Kb but half fill of zero's. I Write it to 32Kb flash but card don't show image. Out of range on monitor, system booting in background. Same situation with any combinations of switches.
And that bios for PVGA1A-JK, on my card PVGA1A

Try also these - http://vgamuseum.info/index.php/companies/ite … -systems-pvga1a

Though I think any should work, "JK" only means the package type...

Grzyb wrote on 2023-01-31, 12:09:

There's a typo, actually it's WD95C01, from the WD9500 series - https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_western … 5WD9500_3838982
Nothing to do with the PVGA/90Cxx series...

thank you, It seems until now I always confused those two with one another. So, WD9500 series is the one that is 8514A clone!

Jo22 wrote on 2023-01-31, 09:32:

I'll have a look in my personal archives, too.
I'm pretty sure I backup-ed some VGA BIOSes in the past..

Edit: Found. Good luck! 😀 🤞

Hi, thank you. I try both files ftom archive. both not wotking with that card 🙁
I think we need to unpack the original and your files and see what the differences are there. And there is a suspicion that these files are from -JK chip, in HEX they are very similar to what I downloaded for -JK

Ar2r4eg wrote on 2023-02-01, 09:56:

Jo22 wrote on 2023-01-31, 09:32:

I'll have a look in my personal archives, too.
I'm pretty sure I backup-ed some VGA BIOSes in the past..

Edit: Found. Good luck! 😀 🤞

Hi, thank you. I try both files ftom archive. both not wotking with that card 🙁
I think we need to unpack the original and your files and see what the differences are there. And there is a suspicion that these files are from -JK chip, in HEX they are very similar to what I downloaded for -JK

Ah, I see. Too bad. I'll have a look at my physical card collection.
I do own a few EPROM programmers, too. Maybe I can do make some backups/dumps manually.
That would be more reliable than dumping the VGA BIOS in a PC, anyway. 😀

Grzyb wrote on 2023-01-31, 14:19:

Try also these - http://vgamuseum.info/index.php/companies/ite … -systems-pvga1a

Though I think any should work, "JK" only means the package type...

That BIOS work ! YES !!! i write 32Kb file and got a picture !
I try switch to CGA mode - screens are attached.

That card have no EGA mode.
In CGA mode done with compatibility test, right palette but corrupted fonts.

PS I use that drivers, thanks

Jo22 wrote on 2023-01-29, 17:43:

- You can try the DOS tools in this thread: Re: 286 USIT Athena PC

VGA1024 util not work.
Guys , thank you so much for your help!

Afaik, on a real CGA card running in graphics mode, the text font inside of the PC BIOS is used.

That's because the CGA text font stored in the EPROM on the CGA card is not accessible via PC/CPU.
So the PC BIOS must use its own "duplicate" of a CGA font (which isn't necessarily the same as the one on the CGA card).

On a VGA card, this might be different, not sure. Depends on the VGA BIOS: Whether or not it overrides the CGA graphics routines inside the PC BIOS.

That's possible, if the BIOS is copyied into RAM by the PC during boot (Shadow Memory).

Jo22 wrote on 2023-02-01, 17:14:

Afaik, on a real CGA card running in graphics mode, the text font inside of the PC BIOS is used. […]
Show full quote

Afaik, on a real CGA card running in graphics mode, the text font inside of the PC BIOS is used.

That's because the CGA text font stored in the EPROM on the CGA card is not accessible via PC/CPU.
So the PC BIOS must use its own "duplicate" of a CGA font (which isn't necessarily the same as the one on the CGA card).

On a VGA card, this might be different, not sure. Depends on the VGA BIOS: Whether or not it overrides the CGA graphics routines inside the PC BIOS.

That's possible, if the BIOS is copyied into RAM by the PC during boot (Shadow Memory).

Thank yot for answer. When test i use DOS 7.1 from Win98 setup. After i install clear MS-DOS 6.22 problem with fonts is gone !