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- Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.misc
- Path: sparky!uunet!gumby!destroyer!gatech!taco!dspascha
- From: dspascha@eos.ncsu.edu (DAVID SCOTT PASCHAL)
- Subject: Re: Dual monitor question
- Message-ID: <1992Sep2.152301.29969@ncsu.edu>
- Originator: dspascha@c00015-118dan.eos.ncsu.edu
- Lines: 55
- Sender: news@ncsu.edu (USENET News System)
- Reply-To: dspascha@eos.ncsu.edu (DAVID SCOTT PASCHAL)
- Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
- References: <1992Sep2.093238.1@cortex>
- Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 15:23:01 GMT
-
-
- In article <1992Sep2.093238.1@cortex>, mboucher@cortex.prospect.com (Mike Boucher) writes:
- |> Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.misc
- |> Path: taco!gatech!destroyer!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!cortex.prospect.com!mboucher
- |> From: mboucher@cortex.prospect.com (Mike Boucher)
- |> Subject: Re: Dual monitor question
- |> Organization: Cortex Corporation, Waltham, MA, USA
- |> Message-ID: <1992Sep2.093238.1@cortex>
- |> Lines: 21
- |> Sender: news@ctr.columbia.edu (The Daily Lose)
- |> Date: Wed, 2 Sep 92 10:32:38 GMT+5:00
- |> X-Posted-From: cortex.prospect.com
- |> X-Posted-Through: sol.ctr.columbia.edu
- |>
- |> In Message-ID: <ANDERS.92Sep2113154@ipcsun1.his.se>, Anders Eklund writes:
- |>
- |> >I have a question about dual monitors. I'm going to use it when I
- |> >debug my programs in both DOS and Windows environments and I use
- |> >Borland C++ 3.1 & AF. My question is about what kind of graphics I can
- |> >use or mix? Can I use two SVGA graphic-cards? I heard someone said
- |> >that one of the cards must be a CGA card, but he didn't seem to know
- |> >much about anything, so I was not convinced.
- |>
- |> I tried having two SVGA monitors on my 486/33. I got the same image on both
- |> monitors. Our resident PC guru said something along the lines of they have
- |> the same "address", and you couldn't have them both. So I went out and got a
- |> $29 monochrome card and it works fine.
- |>
- |> good luck.
- |>
- |> Mike
- |> --
- |> Mike Boucher mboucher@cortex.prospect.com
- |> Cortex Corp "Don't take life too seriously, you'll never
- |> Waltham, MA, USA get out of it alive!"
- |>
-
- Hi. That's correct that you can't use two EGA or (S)VGA cards at the same
- time. Originally there were two video cards -- the CGA and MDA. They were
- designed to be used separately or together, because the CGA's I/O port base
- address was 3Dxh and its regen buffer address was 0B8000h, and the MDA's
- port base address was 3Bxh and its regen buffer address was 0B0000h. The EGA
- and (S)VGA are able use any CGA- or MDA-compatible text or graphics mode using
- the same port and buffer address, so for example you could have a VGA using
- CGA modes and at the same time be using an MDA, or you could have a VGA using
- the MDA text mode (or the EGA monochrome-compatible graphics mode) and at the
- same time use a CGA. However, the reason you can't mix EGA or (S)VGA cards
- in the same computer is that they utilize certain ports in the 3Cxh range,
- and in their native graphics modes the video buffer is located at 0A0000h.
- This can't be changed, so you can't double-up these cards unless you use a
- specially-designed card that uses totally different port and buffer address
- and specially-written software or video drivers that support it.
-
- Tschuess,
- David Paschal
-