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From: terry@spcvxb.spc.edu (Terry Kennedy, Operations Mgr.)
Subject: Re: Monochrome on BSDI?
Nntp-Posting-Host: spcvxa.spc.edu
References: <1995Oct18.161037@titan.sfasu.edu>
Sender: news@spcuna.spc.edu (Network News)
Organization: St. Peter's College, US
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 1995 00:19:54 GMT
Message-ID: <1995Oct18.201954.1@spcvxb.spc.edu>
Lines: 32
In article <1995Oct18.161037@titan.sfasu.edu>, z_weeksdj@titan.sfasu.edu (DAN WEEKS) writes:
> I have been looking at getting a machine running BSDI. I was wondering if BSDI
> supports monochrome X sessions. In the intrest of cost and the fact that a
> monochrome monitor will do just fine, I was wonding if anyone knows of any good
> video cards that are monochrome. Or do I just have to get a normal video card
> to get the resolution that I want (1280 x 1078 or 1800 x 1600 if possible) and
> hook a monochrome monitor to it?
There's 3 different color+depth things in X - bitonal, monochrome, and color.
Bitonal is a simple black/white 2 "color value" scheme. Monochrome is a single-
color (usually white, but amber and green are also available) scheme which may
support many shades between "off" and "on". Color adds 2 more colors to the mix
and you still have a number of shades between "off" and "on" for each color.
A VGA card is not bitonal (it supports at least 8 bits/pixel). The card will
support both monochrome and color displays (it is supposed to get this infor-
mation from the monitor connector).
I don't know what X Inside's X server does with a monochrome display, because
I've never see a monochrome monitor that consistently ID'd correctly (the boot
messages would randomly report "color" or "mono").
Also, I have had nothing but bad experiences with monochrome VGA monitors -
they're usually intended for things like file servers where the customer
doesn't want/need graphics, so they have horrible geometry problems, don't sup-
port high refresh rates, have undesirable persistence, etc. By the time you
get a high-end mono VGA monitor (like a Radius) you could have bought a color
one instead.
Terry Kennedy Operations Manager, Academic Computing
terry@spcvxa.spc.edu St. Peter's College, Jersey City, NJ USA
+1 201 915 9381 (voice) +1 201 435-3662 (FAX)