From jce at seasip.demon.co.uk Fri Aug 17 16:01:23 2012 From: jce at seasip.demon.co.uk (John Elliott) Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2012 00:01:23 +0100 (BST) Subject: [GEM Development] LongGEM is looooooong Message-ID: One of the drivers in GEM that I've never been able to test is for an 'MDSI Genius' card. Tonight I tried patching support for this card into a PC emulator, and running GEM (and Windows 1) with the results. - GEM/2 desktop - Windows 1.04 According to reviews, the card could also do other tricks; it could superimpose MDA-style text on the graphics output, and do a dual-head sort of display with MDA text in the top half of the monitor and CGA graphics in the bottom. But without any documentation or its DOS driver (VHRBIOS.SYS), how it did those will remain a mystery. Such information as I have managed to glean is at . -- John Elliott From lproven at gmail.com Fri Aug 17 16:14:30 2012 From: lproven at gmail.com (Liam Proven) Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2012 00:14:30 +0100 Subject: [GEM Development] LongGEM is looooooong In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On 18 August 2012 00:01, John Elliott wrote: > One of the drivers in GEM that I've never been able to test is for an > 'MDSI Genius' card. Tonight I tried patching support for this card into > a PC emulator, and running GEM (and Windows 1) with the results. > > - GEM/2 desktop > - Windows 1.04 > > According to reviews, the card could also do other tricks; it could > superimpose MDA-style text on the graphics output, and do a dual-head sort of > display with MDA text in the top half of the monitor and CGA graphics in the > bottom. But without any documentation or its DOS driver (VHRBIOS.SYS), how > it did those will remain a mystery. Such information as I have managed to > glean is at . Very nifty! Both the device & getting support for it working. Kudos. How did you emulate it, just out of interest? -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884 From jce at seasip.demon.co.uk Fri Aug 17 16:24:13 2012 From: jce at seasip.demon.co.uk (John Elliott) Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2012 00:24:13 +0100 (BST) Subject: [GEM Development] LongGEM is looooooong In-Reply-To: from "Liam Proven" at Aug 18, 2012 12:14:30 am GMT Message-ID: > Very nifty! Both the device & getting support for it working. Kudos. > > How did you emulate it, just out of interest? By starting with the PCE source tree , making a copy of the MDA device, and tinkering with it until it produced the right sort of graphics mode. I did something similar for the Wyse WY-700 a few years back (to test the GEM 1280x800 mono driver); that patch actually ended up in PCE, and has since been greatly improved by someone with access to the original documentation. -- John Elliott From lproven at gmail.com Fri Aug 17 16:36:26 2012 From: lproven at gmail.com (Liam Proven) Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2012 00:36:26 +0100 Subject: [GEM Development] LongGEM is looooooong In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On 18 August 2012 00:24, John Elliott wrote: > >> Very nifty! Both the device & getting support for it working. Kudos. >> >> How did you emulate it, just out of interest? > > By starting with the PCE source tree , > making a copy of the MDA device, and tinkering with it until it produced > the right sort of graphics mode. I did something similar for the Wyse WY-700 > a few years back (to test the GEM 1280x800 mono driver); that patch actually > ended up in PCE, and has since been greatly improved by someone with access > to the original documentation. Truly remarkable. Well, one again, my respects! -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884 From rob at midworld.co.uk Fri Aug 17 19:36:10 2012 From: rob at midworld.co.uk (rob at midworld.co.uk) Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2012 03:36:10 +0100 Subject: [GEM Development] LongGEM is looooooong In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20120818023609.GW29974@meurglys.midworld.co.uk> On Sat, Aug 18, 2012 at 12:36:26AM +0100, Liam Proven wrote: > On 18 August 2012 00:24, John Elliott wrote: > > > >> Very nifty! Both the device & getting support for it working. Kudos. > >> > >> How did you emulate it, just out of interest? > > > > By starting with the PCE source tree , > > making a copy of the MDA device, and tinkering with it until it produced > > the right sort of graphics mode. I did something similar for the Wyse WY-700 > > a few years back (to test the GEM 1280x800 mono driver); that patch actually > > ended up in PCE, and has since been greatly improved by someone with access > > to the original documentation. I actually have a WYSE 700 sitting at my mother's house (long story). It is retrievable if you want to poke actual hardware at any point. It's probably in a lot of ways one of my favourite screens I've used, certainly my favourite CRT. I'd still be using it if I had anything to plug it into that could take the card / had drivers for it. Rob From lproven at gmail.com Sat Aug 18 07:32:15 2012 From: lproven at gmail.com (Liam Proven) Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2012 15:32:15 +0100 Subject: [GEM Development] LongGEM is looooooong In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On 18 August 2012 00:01, John Elliott wrote: > One of the drivers in GEM that I've never been able to test is for an > 'MDSI Genius' card. Tonight I tried patching support for this card into > a PC emulator, and running GEM (and Windows 1) with the results. > > - GEM/2 desktop > - Windows 1.04 > > According to reviews, the card could also do other tricks; it could > superimpose MDA-style text on the graphics output, and do a dual-head sort of > display with MDA text in the top half of the monitor and CGA graphics in the > bottom. But without any documentation or its DOS driver (VHRBIOS.SYS), how > it did those will remain a mystery. Such information as I have managed to > glean is at . Mind if I repost this to the ClassicCmp mailing list, by the way? I think they might enjoy it. Will remove email addresses if desired. -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884 From jce at seasip.demon.co.uk Sat Aug 18 08:48:25 2012 From: jce at seasip.demon.co.uk (John Elliott) Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2012 16:48:25 +0100 (BST) Subject: [GEM Development] LongGEM is looooooong In-Reply-To: <20120818023609.GW29974@meurglys.midworld.co.uk> from "rob@midworld.co.uk" at Aug 18, 2012 3:36:10 am GMT Message-ID: > I actually have a WYSE 700 sitting at my mother's house (long story). > It is retrievable if you want to poke actual hardware at any point. > It's probably in a lot of ways one of my favourite screens I've used, > certainly my favourite CRT. I'd still be using it if I had anything to > plug it into that could take the card / had drivers for it. Thanks for the offer. I think I've got too much obsolete hardware in my house as it is, at the moment :-) -- John Elliott From jce at seasip.demon.co.uk Sat Aug 18 08:49:12 2012 From: jce at seasip.demon.co.uk (John Elliott) Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2012 16:49:12 +0100 (BST) Subject: [GEM Development] LongGEM is looooooong In-Reply-To: from "Liam Proven" at Aug 18, 2012 3:32:15 pm GMT Message-ID: > Mind if I repost this to the ClassicCmp mailing list, by the way? I > think they might enjoy it. > > Will remove email addresses if desired. Go ahead. And my email address is in enough places that I don't see much point in suppressing it. -- John Elliott From lproven at gmail.com Sun Aug 19 03:59:36 2012 From: lproven at gmail.com (Liam Proven) Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2012 11:59:36 +0100 Subject: [GEM Development] LongGEM is looooooong In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On 18 August 2012 16:49, John Elliott wrote: >> Mind if I repost this to the ClassicCmp mailing list, by the way? I >> think they might enjoy it. >> >> Will remove email addresses if desired. > > Go ahead. And my email address is in enough places that I don't see much > point in suppressing it. Cheers! And I thought you might say that. :?) -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884