Subject: Re: dec5000 question
To: Lord Isildur <mrfusion@uranium.vaxpower.org>
From: Tom Ponsford <tponsford@theriver.com>
List: port-pmax
Date: 11/11/2002 11:31:17
This was posted on comp.sys.dec not too long ago.
Of course not all monitors dec made are listed here and not all framebuffers
listed here are supported by NetBSD. Still its pretty useful.
Also useful for Turbochannel alphas too.
__________________________________________________________
A recent posting requesting some info on the DS5000 prompted me to go ahead
and post the info I put together a while back. So here it is.
Mike
DEC Monitor Specifications
Following are listed the specs for some of the common DEC monitors that are
finding their way into the hobbyist area.
The specs were taken from the following DEC manuals:
EK-VR290-IN-002 (1985); EK-VR299-IN (1989); EK-VR319-TC-001 (1991);
EK-VR320-IN-001 (1990); EK-VRT16-TC-001 (1991); EK-VRT19-TC-001 (1991);
ER-VRT19-OP-002
--------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
---------------
Monitor Overview
Resolution Frequencies
Model Horiz Vert Horiz - Khz Vert - Hz
-------- ------ ---- ----------- ---------
VR299 1024 x 864 54.054 60
VR320-CA 1280 x 1024 70.66 66.47 *
VR320-DA 1280 x 1024 77.13 72.56 *
VRT19-DA 1280 x 1024 70.7 66.5 (aka Sony
GDM-1960)
VRT19-HA ** 1280 x 1024 77.1728 72.5562 (aka Sony
GDM-1961)
* The VR320 manual states that the monitor can operate at either 66 or
72 Hz,
and is preset to match the machine prior to shipping. The manual also
says to
contact DEC Customer Service (yeah, right) if a change is needed. If DEC
set it to 66 Hz they stamped 'CA' after 'VR320-' on the ID tag, if set to
72 Hz they stamped 'DA'. DEC set it to 66 or 72 Hz using a slide switch
that is inside the monitor. The switch is clearly marked 66 & 72 Hz, just
set it to the desired position.
** The VRT19-HA will operate at either 66 or 72 Hz vertical refresh.
VR290 - 19" Color - See VR299
VR297 - 16" Color - See VR299
VR319-CA - 19" Mono - See VR320-CA
VR319-DA - 19" Mono - See VR320-DA
VRT16-DA - 16" Color - See VRT19-DA
VRT16-HA - 16" Color - See VRT19-HA
The monitors with a suffix (CA, DA, & HA) are considered Northern Hemisphere
versions. For the down-under folks the suffixes are C4, D3, D4, & H4
instead.
--------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
---------------
VRT19 - 1280 x 1024
VRT19-DA VRT19-HA
Pixel Clock: 119.843 Mhz 130.825 Mhz *
Pixel Period: 8.344 ns * 7.643 ns *
Horizonital Pixels
Horiz Freq: 70.7 Khz 77.1728 Khz
Horizontal Period: 14.1441 us * 1696 12.9656 us
Active Video: 10.68 us 1280 9.7853 us
Blanking Interval: 3.465 us 416 3.1802 us
Front Porch: 258 ns 32 244.6 ns
Sync Pulse: 1335 ns 160 1223.2 ns
Back Porch: 1873 ns 224 1712.4 ns
Vertical Lines
Vert Freq: 66.5 Hz 72.5562 Hz
Vertical Period: 15.035 ms 1063 13.7824 ms
Active Video: 14.485 ms 1024 13.2768 ms
Blanking Interval: 551.62 us * 39 505.6584 us *
Front Porch: 42.432 us * 3 38.8968 us *
Sync Pulse: 42.432 us * 3 38.8968 us *
Back Porch: 466.7553 us * 33 427.8648 us *
* These values were calculated as they are not list in the manuals.
--------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
---------------
VR320 - 1280 x 1024
The specs for the VR320 are only slightly different than those for the
VRT19,
and most of that appears to be rounding differences. Since I have the
manual,
I thought would include it here for completeness.
VR320-CA VRT320-DA
Pixel Clock: 119.84 Mhz 130.81 Mhz
Pixel Period: 8.34 ns 7.64 ns
Horizonital Pixels
Horiz Freq: 70.66 Khz 77.13 Khz
Horizontal Period: 14.15 us 1696 12.97 us
Active Video: 10.68 us 1280 9.79 us
Blanking Interval: 3.47 us 416 3.18 us
Front Porch: 267 ns 32 245 ns
Sync Pulse: 1340 ns 160 1220 ns
Back Porch: 1870 ns 224 171 ns
Vertical Lines
Vert Freq: 66.47 Hz 72.56 Hz
Vertical Period: 15.035 ms 1063 13.7824 ms
Active Video: 14.49 ms 1024 13.28 ms
Blanking Interval: 552 us 39 506 us
Front Porch: 42.46 us 3 38.89 us
Sync Pulse: 42.46 us 3 38.89 us
Back Porch: 467 us 33 427.9 us
--------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
---------------
VR299 - 1024 x 864
Pixel Clock: 70 Mhz
Pixel Period: 14.45 ns
Horizonital Pixels
Horiz Freq: 54.054 Khz
Horizontal Period: 18.50 us 1280 *
Active Video: 14.8 us 1024
Blanking Interval: 3.70 us 256 *
Front Porch: 160 ns 12 *
Sync Pulse: 1850 ns 128 *
Back Porch: 1680 ns 116 *
Vertical Lines
Vert Freq: 60 Hz
Vertical Period: 16.667 ms 901
Active Video: 16.0 ms 864
Blanking Interval: 684.5 us * 37
Front Porch: 0 us 0
Sync Pulse: 55.5 us * 3
Back Porch: 629 us * 34 *
* These values were calculated as they are not listed in the manuals.
--------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
---------------
Display Options
In the DEC world, certain monitors only work with certain equipment, for
example the VR299 works with the DECstation 2100/3100.
Then there is the TURBOchannel graphics cards as found in the DECstation
5000
series as well as other machines. This is an attempt to list what monitors
work with which graphic cards. For simplicity's sake, the monitors can be
placed in one of three categories, and that is by the vertical scan
frequency.
The monitors are of one of the following vertical frequencies: 60, 66 or
72 Hz.
Of course there are those monitors (ex: VRT19-HA) that will work at both
66 and 72 Hz. The following table lists the graphics card model, its
vertical output, and a description of that graphics card.
Model Freq Description
-------- ---- -----------
PMAG-AA 72 Monochrome frame buffer
PMAG-B 60
PMAG-C 66 2D graphics accelerator
PMAG-CA 66 2D graphics accelerator
PMAG-D 66
PMAG-DA 66 Low 3D graphics accelerator
PMAG-DC 66 Low 3D graphics plus
PMAG-E 66
PMAG-EA 66 Mid 3D graphics accelerator
PMAG-F 66
PMAG-FA 66 High 3D graphics accelerator
PMAG-JA 66 True color frame buffer
PMAGB-A 60
PMAGB-B 66
PMAGB-BA 66 Smart frame buffer
PMAGB-BC 72 Smart frame buffer
PMAGB-BE 72 Smart frame buffer
PMAGB-DA 72 Low 3D graphics accelerator
PMAGB-EA 72 Mid 3D graphics accelerator
PMAGB-FA 72 High 3D graphics accelerator
PMAGB-JA 72 True color frame buffer
--------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
---------------
Lord Isildur wrote:
> at the chevron, give the command 'cnfg' and see what it say is in the
> machine. The best normal grafix card is the (luckily common) SFB, the
> PMAGB-B. Its a simple 2d accelerated card. The Ultrix X server (X11R5) is
> quite fast on it, even on a 5k200. I ran a 5k200, 80MB, two-headed in X
> for about a year as my daily machine at work.. one SFB/20" trinitron and
> one PMAG-B (note the difference in name) with a VR262 mono. It was a sad
> day when i discovered that that poor machine had sucked up a years worth
> of dust and fuzz from the office floor into it, choked, and cooked
> itself. Since then i've been even more zealous about cleaning dirt out of
> long-running machines (incl. vacuuming them out while they were running :)
>
> I dont know how the X in NetBSD will fare in terms of perfromance.. but
> on a 260, it should be fast enough (well, unless you run gnome or try to
> run mozilla or something..)
>
> happy hacking,
> isildur
>
> On Mon, 11 Nov 2002, Debros, Frederic M.,Md wrote:
>
>
>>first:
>>
>>where would i find the make/model of the graphics framebuffers in my machines?
>>i have 5000/200 and 240 and 260's and want them to run a gui.
>>
>>Fred
>>
>
>