How can I get 16-bit color enabled on this 486?

[Sukhoi]

I bought a 486 DX4-100 for real cheap, but I can't get anything higher than 256 colors enabled on it. It's running Win95A. Currently there's a 1 MB ISA video card in it, and it's using whatever driver Windows came with. Any ideas? I'd like to run atleast 640x480 16-bit. It's currently running 800x600 256 colors, and I can't remember if 1 MB of video RAM is enough to run 800x600 16-bit.

When I go into the Windows display setup, the best color choice is 256 colors. No 16-bit or anything higher listed. Is there anyway I can get 16-bit listed, since the video card should be able to handle it?

 

[TravisBickle]

"You can't flog a dead horse"

 

[EMAN]

I doubt it can do 16 bit colors.\

It probably came with a svga card.

 

[Petro89]

A 1 meg vid card is capable of 800x600 at 16 bit. Make sure you have selected the correct monitor in the display settings. If you don't know the exact make, just pick the standard svga monitor. That should do the trick.

 

[Workin']

Yeah, like Petro89 said, but the video card driver also has to support 16 bit color. Contrary to his advice, however, if the driver you are using is one of the Windows "generic" drivers like Standard SVGA, they don't support more than 256 colors. You'll have to figure out what kind of card you have and see if you can find device-specific drivers for it somewhere.

<< &quot;You can't flog a dead horse&quot; >>

Sure you can. Actually, a good way to learn anatomy is to dissect corpses, and it's even more educational to try and revive them! Just plugging together new parts doesn't teach you a heck of a lot most of the time.

 

[Sukhoi]

<< A 1 meg vid card is capable of 800x600 at 16 bit. >>



Yeah, I thought I remembered reading that somewhere.



<< Yeah, like Petro89 said, but the video card driver also has to support 16 bit color. Contrary to his advice, however, if the driver you are using is one of the Windows &quot;generic&quot; drivers like Standard SVGA, they don't support more than 256 colors. You'll have to figure out what kind of card you have and see if you can find device-specific drivers for it somewhere. >>



Yep, it's using the Windows generic SVGA driver currently. I found the correct drivers for the card (it's a Trident TVGA8900C if I remember right), so I'm going to install them tonight and see if it helps at all.

However, I did read somewhere that 1 MB cards with 8-bit color output do exist, so I guess I may still be limited to 256 colors. Hopefully the drivers will do the job though.

 

[Workin']

If you need to figure out how much memory a certain res. and color depth require, just do some math -

H x V x BPP/8388608 = MB of video memory required (8388608 is the number of bits in 1 MB - 1Mb = 2^20 bits, 1MB = 8Mb)

so, 800x600 at 16 bit color needs 0.9155 MB or 937.5 kB

edited for spelling....

 

[Sukhoi]

Hmm, I still have a problem.

I installed the correct drivers, which did enable 16-bit and 24-bit color. But 16-bit (haven't tried 24-bit) doesn't work correctly. I've been trying to do 640x480 16-bit which will fit in the RAM fine, but when Windows loads up the whole screen has a light purple color, and everything looks strange. Does the same thing in 800x600 16-bit.

Is this most likely to me actually having a 1 MB but only 8-bit video card, or is it possibly the monitor? Right now I'm using some no-name 14&quot; monitor.

Here's two little pieces of info...I don't know if they mean anything though. On the back of the monitor it says &quot;Super VGA Color Monitor&quot;. Does that mean it should support 16-bit color? Also when my computer boots up and the video initilization screen show up (the screen right when you turn the computer on), it says Trident VGA video card, not SVGA. Does this mean I probably have an 8-bit video card? But it wouldn't make any sense to put 1 MB of video RAM on an 8-bit card, right? If it is only 8-bit, that means the video card could run 1024x768 just fine...kind of odd when 14&quot; monitors were standard.

Tomorrow I'm going to try switching monitors to see if that does anything. Hopefully it will.

BTW, thanks for that formula too.

 

[Workin']

It could be the monitor - higher color depths increase the horizontal refresh rate (not the 60-85Hz vertical rate), so it may be out of range for your monitor.

Or maybe your card doesn't support that color depth. 1MB can be used for higher reolutions at low color depths for things like CAD work, so I guess it's possible.

 

[Sukhoi]

Well, I've figured it out. It is the monitor that's causing the problem.

I booted up the 486 in 256 colors 800x600. I loaded up the VNC server, and connected from my C433. I opened up a pic, and it was in 256 colors.

Then I enabled 16-bit color on the 486, turned off the monitor, and rebooted. I connected to the VNC server again from my C433 and opened up the same pic. And amazingly, it was in 16-bit color! I didn't know there were any Super VGA monitors that didn't do 16-bit color, but I guess I have one.