XGA208 - Windows XGA/XGA-2 Display Driver

XGA208.ZIP Windows 95/98 XGA/XGA-2 Display Driver (Apr 2008)
XGA208NTB.ZIP Windows NT Miniport Driver Rel. B
XGA2UTIL.ZIP XGA Utilities, System info, DOS

Content by Unal Z (original mirrored HERE). Edited by Major Tom.


Introduction

XGA208 is a major improvement of the XGA206 display driver for the IBM XGA and XGA-2 display adapters. XGA208 enables coprocessor support for graphics operations at 16 colors and adds several new high resolution display modes up to 1600x1200 on the XGA-2 display adapter.


Release Notes

The XGA208 driver for Windows 95/98 introduces for the first time the 800x600 and 832x620 screen resolutions with 256 and 64K colors (High Color) on the original IBM XGA display adapter. These new XGA modes are supported driver-worldwide only by the XGA208, which is a truly remarkable and unique achievement.

XGA208 successfully passed Microsoft's Display Compatibility Test.

The XGA208NTB Windows NT Video Miniport Driver for the XGA/XGA-2 display adapters is intended to provide the video hardware interface services for the Windows NT XGA display driver. The XGA208 miniport supports all display modes as listed above and implemented by the XGA208 Windows 95/98 driver. However, the Windows NT XGA driver selects only the 256 color modes, apparently because it is not designed to support and work with 64K colors (High Color) modes.

The main benefit of using XGA208 on Windows NT are thus the higher refresh rates. The XGA208 Windows NT display driver is currently under development.

The XGA2UTIL package contains XGA Video and System Information utilities, indispensable for understanding resource conflicts and obtaining detailed MCA device information.


Extended Graphics Modes

The IBM XGA and XGA-2 adapters do not contain built-in or BIOS-selectable Extended Graphics Modes. Such modes must be individually programmed by setting some 60 hardware registers to computed mode parameters. Under the DMQS (Display Mode Query and Set) mode of operation on the XGA-2, display mode parameters are read from a specific monitor definition file which was usually supplied by IBM or the monitor vendor. XGA208 does not implement or support the DMQS mode of operation and no monitor definition files are necessary.

The XGA-2 display adapter is a completely programmable device, while the XGA is limited by the fixed PEL rates. XGA208 uses manually computed monitor timings, or display mode settings, which require assumed monitor specifications. EIZO FlexScan T56S was used as a reference monitor. All XGA208 display modes do not require any adjustment on the EIZO FlexScan T56S. Your monitor, however, may eventually need some adjustment.

The XGA208 mode timings differ from the XGA206 timings, you may experience a change in the viewing comfort when you upgrade to XGA208. Display modes with resolutions above 1280x1024 are of course intended for the newer LCD monitors.


Supported Resolutions and Color Depths

The following table lists the specifications of the supported XGA208 display modes for the IBM XGA-2 Display Adapter. Video mode numbers above 160 designate the XGA208 non-VESA display modes. Where a specific monitor type is given, the mode is optimized for this specific monitor to provide the best viewing results on it.

Resolution
XGA-2
Number
Colors
Frame
Hz
Listed
Hz**
Line
kHz
PEL
MHz
Video
Mode
Monitor
Description
640x480 256 75 75 39.4 101 Multisync
640x480 65536 75 75 39.4 111 Multisync
640x480 256 72 72 37.9 101 Multisync
640x480 65536 72 72 37.9 111 Multisync
640x480 256 60 60 31.6 101 Multisync
640x480 65536 60 60 31.6 111 Multisync
680x510 65536 73.7 75 39.4 33.5 160 IBM 9515
800x600 16 98.5 100 61.4 65 102 Multisync
800x600 256 98.5 100 61.4 65 103 Multisync
800x600 16 94.8 95 59.0 62 102 Multisync
800x600 256 94.8 95 59.0 62 103 Multisync
800x600 16 85.1 85 52.8 55.5 102 Multisync
800x600 256 85.1 85 52.8 55.5 103 Multisync
800x600 16 73.6 75 45.7 48* 102 Multisync
800x600 256 73.6 75 45.7 48* 103 Multisync
800x600 65536 73.6 75 45.7 48* 114 Multisync
800x600 65536 72.1 72 44.7 47* 114 Multisync
800x600 65536 69.0 70 42.8 45 114 Multisync
800x600 65536 63.5 60 39.4 39.5 114 Multisync
832x620 256 99.4 100 64.2 70 162 Multisync
832x620 256 95.2 95 61.5 67 162 Multisync
832x620 256 85.2 85 55.0 60 162 Multisync
832x620 256 75.3 75 48.6 53 162 Multisync
832x620 65536 72.3 72 46.1 48* 163 Multisync
832x620 65536 68.2 70 44.0 48* 163 Multisync
832x620 65536 61.1 60 39.4 43 163 Multisync
960x720 256 95.8 95 71.5 90 164 Multisync
960x720 256 84.6 85 63.2 81 164 Multisync
960x720 256 81.4 82 60.8 78 164 Multisync
960x720 256 79.6 80 60.9 84 164 IBM 9515
1024x768 16 84.6 85 67.2 90 104 Multisync
1024x768 256 84.6 85 67.2 90 105 Multisync
1024x768 16 75.0 75 61.1 86 104 IBM 9515
1024x768 256 75.0 75 61.1 86 105 IBM 9515
1024x768 16 70.0 70 56.5 75 104 Multisync
1024x768 256 70.0 70 56.5 75 105 Multisync
1024x768 16 60.0 60 48.4 65 104 Multisync
1024x768 256 60.0 60 48.4 65 105 Multisync
1040x768 256 83.1 85 66.0 90 165 Multisync
1040x768 256 75.2 75 60.6 87 165 IBM 9515
1104x828 256 78.1 78 66.9 96* 166 Multisync
1104x828 256 75.6 75 64.8 93* 166 Multisync
1104x828 256 73.2 72 62.7 90 166 Multisync
1120x840 256 74.5 75 64.8 94* 167 Multisync
1120x840 256 71.3 70 62.0 90 167 Multisync
1160x870 256 69.7 70 62.7 94* 168 Multisync
1160x870 256 66.7 65 60.0 90 168 Multisync
1280x800 256 75.2 75 62.1 102* 169 WIDE Multisync
1280x960 16 69.5 72 68.8 113 16A Multisync
1280x960 16 66.9 70 70.6 116 16A Multisync
1280x1024 16 67.9 75 71.6 120 106 Multisync
1280x1024 16 67.0 70 70.6 120 106 IBM 6091
1280x1024 16 63.4 65 66.9 112 106 Multisync
1280x1024 16 53.1 I 60 58.1 106 106 IBM 9517
1360x1024 16 64.8 65 68.4 120 16B Multisync
1360x1024 16 60.5 60 63.8 112 16B Multisync
1440x900 16 67.0 70 62.4 116 16D WIDE Multisync
1440x1080 16 56.1 60 62.4 116 16C Multisync
1600x1200 16 50.5 50 62.4 128 16E Multisync

*  = Uses high PEL rate. Some XGA-2 adapters may not be able to function without errors. Do not use the mode if you wish to strictly comply with the IBM specifications published in 1992.
** = The refresh rate value which is listed in the Display Applet.
I   = Interlaced

The following table lists the specifications of the supported XGA208 display modes for the IBM XGA Display Adapter. Video mode numbers above 160 designate the XGA208 non-VESA display modes.

Resolution
XGA
Number
Colors
Frame
Hz
Listed
Hz**
Line
kHz
PEL
MHz
Video
Mode
Monitor
Description
640x480 256 64.7 65 31.8 25.25 101 Multisync
640x480 65536 64.7 65 31.8 25.25 111 Multisync
800x600* 16 70.0 70 43.2 45 102 Multisync
800x600* 256 70.0 70 43.2 45 103 Multisync
800x600* 65536 70.0 70 43.2 90 114 Multisync
832x620* 256 64.4 65 41.3 45 162 Multisync
832x620* 65536 64.4 65 41.3 90 163 Multisync
960x720* 256 50.0 I 50 37.4 45 164 Multisync
1024x768 16 44.7 I 45 35.5 45 104 Multisync
1024x768 256 44.7 I 45 35.5 45 105 Multisync

*   = Introduced for the first time with the XGA208 display driver. These mode and color depth combinations are totally absent in the IBM technical specifications. The XGA technical reference specifies 65536 colors only for the 640x480 VGA resolution.
** = The refresh rate value which is listed in the Display Applet.
I   = Interlaced


Acknowledgements

I would like to express my best thanks to Jim Shorney and William R. Walsh for their enthusiastic support and invaluable work in testing the driver and validating the display modes. Special thanks to all members of comp.sys.ibm.ps2.hardware who participated in the discussion with constructive suggestions and opinions through public postings and private mails.

Very special thanks to Peter Wendt for providing the IBM XGA Technical Reference without which the XGA206/208 development would have been virtually impossible.

Authentic user reports and excerpts from the message exchanges are included in the download package.


Known Problems

The XGA208 Windows NT miniport does not currently support full screen DOS modes.

Content created and/or collected by:
Louis F. Ohland, Peter H. Wendt, David L. Beem, William R. Walsh, Tatsuo Sunagawa, Tomáš Slavotínek, Jim Shorney, Tim N. Clarke, Kevin Bowling, and many others.

Ardent Tool of Capitalism is maintained by Tomáš Slavotínek.
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