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Orchid Technology 640x480x256

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First post, by Grzyb

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Around 1994, I encountered this image file...
no idea about its origin - perhaps a drivers disk of some graphics card?
I've found it again on the modern web, unfortunately destroyed by lossy compression.
Anybody has the original version?

orchid.jpg
Filename
orchid.jpg
File size
45.06 KiB
Views
409 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

Nie tylko, jak widzicie, w tym trudność, że nie zdołacie wejść na moją górę, lecz i w tym, że ja do was cały zejść nie mogę, gdyż schodząc, gubię po drodze to, co miałem donieść.

Reply 1 of 4, by dominusprog

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I believe Orchid made sound cards.

Duke_2600.png
A-Trend ATC-1020 V1.1 ❇ Cyrix 6x86 150+ @ 120MHz ❇ 32MiB EDO RAM (8MiBx4) ❇ A-Trend S3 Trio64V2 2MiB
Aztech Pro16 II-3D PnP ❇ 8.4GiB Quantum Fireball ❇ Win95 OSR2 Plus!

Reply 2 of 4, by Grzyb

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dominusprog wrote on 2023-11-13, 18:29:

I believe Orchid made sound cards.

Yes - graphics, sound, and memory cards.
I suspect the image I'm looking for came with a graphics card, though - the "640x480x256" suggests some graphics demo, or diagnostics?

Nie tylko, jak widzicie, w tym trudność, że nie zdołacie wejść na moją górę, lecz i w tym, że ja do was cały zejść nie mogę, gdyż schodząc, gubię po drodze to, co miałem donieść.

Reply 3 of 4, by Grzyb

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Success!
Found the original image.
But still wondering where it came from - any idea?

orchid1.gif
Filename
orchid1.gif
File size
141.97 KiB
Views
167 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

Nie tylko, jak widzicie, w tym trudność, że nie zdołacie wejść na moją górę, lecz i w tym, że ja do was cały zejść nie mogę, gdyż schodząc, gubię po drodze to, co miałem donieść.

Reply 4 of 4, by mkarcher

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Grzyb wrote on 2023-11-13, 18:59:

I suspect the image I'm looking for came with a graphics card, though - the "640x480x256" suggests some graphics demo, or diagnostics?

Many SVGA cards came with driver disks that included drivers for common DOS applications, and some refresh rate setup and mode test tool. It sounds very likely that this image was presented when you tested whether the 640x480 256 color mode works on your monitor at the currently configured refresh rate.

DOS Days has some info on Orchid graphics cards. I noticed that they made an "improved PGA clone". The prime resolution of the PGA is 640x480x256, which fits perfectly to that image file. This might also explains why we don't see 800x600x16 versions of it, as the PGA only supported this one resolution (and CGA-type resolutions in CGA compatiblity mode).

You might be able to contact Greg Marshall, a designer of the Orchid PGA card (see https://wa-chur-ed.com/looking-back/ ) to ask whether the image was included with the Turbo PGA.

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