💾 Archived View for uscoffings.net › retro-computing › systems › Tandy › t › everxega.txt captured on 2022-06-04 at 00:47:00.
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Here is the info regarding using the Everex Micro-Enhancer Series EGA boards in the 1000 SX or TX. ALL 3 MODELS WILL FIT AND WORK IN THE SX OR TX. BUT NOT ALL SOFTWARE WILL RUN ON THEM. Read on..... Everex makes 3 EGA boards in the Micro-Enhancer series, as of this writing (Oct 1988): EV657-1 - Also called Micro-Enhancer II. Max resolution 800 x 600. Auto-switching cannot be disarmed. Mode switching software is provided. Hercules emulation can be disarmed. VGA emulation is through external software (supplied with the board). Has parallel port that can be disabled. It does not come with font software. I understand that Everex's font replacement software requires the autoswitching to be turned off to work properly. Autoswitching can be jumpered for NMI, IRQ2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7. Comes with several high resolution drivers. About $175.00 from the mail order places. EV659 - Max resolution 640 x 480. Auto-switching can be disarmed (this model is newer and has one more dip switch than the EV657-1). Hercules emulation can be disarmed. VGA emulation is built into the BIOS. Comes with software containing 22 EGA fonts, and to provide mode switching that can be included in batch files. Has parallel port that can be disabled. Autoswitching can be jumpered for NMI, IRQ2, or IRQ3 (I'm not sure if it can be set to other IRQ's). Comes with several high resolution drivers. About $140.00 from the mail order places. EV659A - Identical to EV659, except it has no parallel port. About $125.00 from the mail order places. Everex has written drivers for the following programs: Lotus 123 AutoCadd Symphony WordPerfect 5.0 Generic Cadd Level 3 & DotPlot Framework II Quattro Turbo C Turbo Pascal Sprint GEM 3.0 Ventura Publisher Windows I purchased the EV657-1, to get the 800 x 600 mode for Generic Cadd Level 3. This 800 x 600 driver displays Generic CADD Level 3 properly, even though my Multisync II is only supposed to do 800 x 560. In fact I understand that this driver was written with the NEC Multisync II as their test monitor. I only noticed one glitch after installing this board; The control-alt-delete combination didn't re-boot the machine properly. I thought this was due to running the autoswitching on the NMI interrupt. However, after experimenting I found that the culprit was SMWCLOCK.COM, which was copied directly from disk included with my SmartWatch. When I got the DOS Upgrade for my TX (version 3.20.22 - it's free!), I replaced all of the DOS programs on my hard disk with the new programs, but somehow I missed the fact the there was an SMWCLOCK.COM program on the DOS upgrade disk. It seems that this program was also updated, the new version is dated 10/16/87. Once I replaced SMWCLOCK.COM, everything works properly. (The SX also has a similar upgrade available - the upgrade provides support for EGA) The only programs I can't get to work on this setup are Microprose's F-15 Strike Eagle, (I don't know what version, but I bought it in 1986), and the Tandy version of Flight Simulator, version 030000.212 (also bought in 1986). Both of them drive the monitor crazy. I don't know if they would work with a standard EGA monitor, or with the EV659 that allows you to disarm the autoswitching. But they will not work with the EV657-1 and the Multisync II. (After all, I am using this as business computer!) The PFS Professional Series, all of the text based programs I've tried, and of course, Generic Cadd Level 3, work great. And the difference between the 640 x 480 and 800 x 600 modes in Cadd, is remarkable. Some of these Everex drivers are not included on the disks packaged with the boards, but can be downloaded from the Everex Bulletin Board. The Generic Cadd drivers are available from Generic Software. Call Everex for Details. To install one of these boards, find the video/interrupt switch block next to the expansion slots on the SX or TX motherboard. Turn switch #1 to off. Install the board with all of the jumpers in the default positions (NMI and all), and you're all set. Set the dip switches to fit your particular setup. If you get one of the versions with the parallel port, be sure to dis-arm it or it will conflict with the SX/TX built-in printer port. Good Luck. Rich Doig I updated this file in November, 1988 to remove the references to a program named SAVENMI, which I uploaded last October. It turns out that this program wasn't doing what I though it did, and didn't do anything for this board. (It also screwed up Generic DotPlot). I recently saw a model EV659-1 listed in some ads. I suspect that this is the EV659 updated to 800 x 600 resolution, probably when existing stocks of the EV657-1 ran out.