summary of information about the NEC MGE

Mike Nemeth mike at vort.uucp
Thu Dec 20 13:49:13 AEST 1990


here is all the information i've been able to accumulate concerning
the NEC MGE.

based on my experience, and information that i've received from others,
i do not recommend this board as anything other then a platform for
running pre-canned software. it's expensive, and development tools/
information for UNIX are not available.
 
if you want to develop applications for the 34010, there are a
number of other 34010-based boards that are cheaper. shortly, IBM
is expected to crank out XGA, and of course what IBM makes, so maketh
the clones, so there's another route to high-rez video.


details follow, those not interested 'n' now...



i bought a MGE-256 because it was reasonably cheap (at the time) for
a 34010-based board, and it was recommended in BYTE magazine (yeah,
i know, mistake)

i was interested in getting a TIGA driver for the board and doing
graphics.  i called NEC to get an Xwindows driver, and they directed
me to GSS (Oregon), who sell the following:

	- various flavours of DGIS drivers, including a X windows DGIS
	  driver for ISC 386/ix.

	- a MSDOS development kit.

after virtual-years of phone calls, i determined that GSS will not
sell you a UNIX development kit, although they said they have one,
saying that they are too "into" doing stuff for Windows to bother
about a UNIX development kit. they won't even give/sell/trade the
source for the "bounce" demo. no hints, no pointers, no data available.

making the best of a bad situation, i purchased GSS's DGIS-based X
windows driver for ISC 386/ix 3.2.0.2 (1024*768 rez, 256 colors), so
at least i could see GIF files the way they were intended to be seen.
the driver works fine EXCEPT for not understanding that a Logitech bus mouse
has a middle button. GSS, have you fixed this yet? it's only been 6 months.


here are the telephone numbers of various NEC-flavoured BBS's:

NEC Users Group Bulletin Board NEW number: (603) 878-2567

this is fairly useless for UNIX users. the BBS itself gives you
a couple of minutes of advertisements for worthy causes before
you can determine what's available on it.


official NEC BBS: (508) 635-6328

better, but still nothing much for UNIX users. poking around
on it, i discovered the following file:

Archive:  J:\FILES\GRAFOPTS\VIDCARD.ZIP

GB-1SPEC.TXT      7680  Imploded   57       3247  06 Dec 90  13:10:04 8241F672
SPEC_MGE.TXT      5821  Imploded   67       1891  12 Dec 90  11:46:30 0F920D0E
TSMGE.TXT          531  Imploded   45        288  15 Nov 90  12:00:00 EF88E398
DGISWIN.TXT       2356  Imploded   49       1188  27 Nov 90  10:01:10 F93F8CBB
CATALOG.TXT       3885  Imploded   63       1410  12 Dec 90  11:51:40 36D11BA2

the following are the contents of "catalog.txt":

***

Following is a composite of the publications available through the NEC 
network fax.  This information can be faxed out to individual or multiple 
customers.  If you are a reseller, we recommend that you obtain a copy for 
yourself, and also have a copy sent to your customer.  It is also an 
option to have multiple documents sent at the same time.

gb-1spec txt  Specifications GB-1 Video Card
spec_mge txt  Specifications for the Multisync Graphics Engine Boards
tsmge    txt  Troubleshooting Information - Multisync Graphics Engine Board
dgiswin  txt  MGE DGIS 3.0 / Windows 3.0  WIN.INI information


the following are the contents of "spec_mge.txt":


MODEL #: MGE-AT 16             $   999.00
         MGE-AT 256            $ 1,499.00  
         MGE-MCA 16            $   999.00 
         MGE-4A                $   499.00
         MGE-PMA               $   199.00

MODEL NAME: Multisync Graphics Engine

DESCRIPTION: The NEC Multisync Graphics Engine video graphics controller
             is a video card designed with flexibility in mind.  It will
             default in boot-up mode to standard 640 by 480 analog VGA, and
             also offers hi resolution modes of 800 by 600 and 1024 by 768 
             for software that is supported via device drivers.  With the 
             1024 x 768 resolution configuration program included with the
             graphics board, the Multisync Graphics Engine is optimized for 
             the NEC line of Hi Res monitors, but can be easily customized 
             with software to function optimally with other manufacturers 
             monitors.

             The Multisync Graphics Engine comes in three versions.
             
            1. MGE-AT 16 -Multisync Graphics Engine for 16 bit bus AT type
                          computers.  Displays 16 colors in Hi res.

            2. MGE-AT 256 -Multisync Graphics Engine for 16 bit bus AT type
                           computers. Displays 256 colors in Hi res.

            3. MGE-MCA 16 -Multisync Graphics Engine for Micro Channel PS/2
                           type computers.  Displays 16 colors in Hi res.


SPECIFICATIONS:

     VGA Specifications:

         BIOS:
                   Chips and Technologies VGA chip set.
         Memory:
                   768k DRAM

     Hi Resolution Specs. :

         Graphics Processor:
                   Texas Instruments TMS34010 -50MHz

         Memory:
                   MGE-AT  16 - 512k VRAM
                   MGE-AT 256 - 1Mb VRAM
                   MGE-MCA 16 - 512k VRAM

         Resolutions:

                    800 x 600
                   1024 x 768 (interlaced)
                   1024 x 768 (non interlaced)

         Memory Map:
                   VGA -  A000 - C7FF
                     I/O  0x3C6 - 0x3C9
 
                   Hi Res - I/O  0x1CC - 0x1CF
                                 0x1D0 - 0x1D8

         Power Consumption:

                   MGE-AT  16 - 16 Watts @ +5 Volts
                                (54.608 BTU/Hr)
                   MGE-AT 256 - 18 Watts @ +5 Volts
                                (61.434 BTU/Hr)
                   MGE-AT  16 - 16 Watts @ +5 Volts
                                (54.608 BTU/Hr)
         
         Limited Warranty:
         
                   1 Year Parts, 1 Year Labor

         Upgrade from 16 to 256 color:

                   MGE-AT 16 ----> MGE-AT 256

                  ($ 499.00 upgrade, board
                   FEDERAL EXPRESSED to NEC and turned
                   around in one day with 
                   upgrade.)

                   MGE-MCA 16 -----> 256 Color board

                  (Purchase MGE-4A daughter board.
                   $ 499.00 from a retailer.  Snap
                   daughter board into slots on board)
         
         Pinouts:

          15 Pin
        Mini D-Sub
          Female             Signal
        ----------           ------

            1                Red Video
            2                Green Video
            3                Blue Video
            4                Ground
            5                Ground
            6                Red Ground
            7                Blue Ground
            8                Green Ground
            9                No Connection
           10                Ground
           11                Ground
           12                No Connection
           13                Horizontal Sync
           14                Vertical Sync
           15                No Connection

DRIVERS:

Software Support-

               |- AutoCAD  Ver.  9
               |  AutoCAD  Ver. 10
               |  AutoCAD  Ver. 10/386
               |     
               |  Microsoft Windows 286
               |  Microsoft Windows 386
               |  Microsoft Windows 3.0
               |
               |  Microsoft Flight Simulator Ver. 3.0
FREE DRIVERS   |
  OFF THE    --|  WordPerfect  Ver. 5.0
  NEC BBS      |  WordPerfect  Ver. 5.1
               |  Ventura  Ver. 1.1
1-708-860-2602 |  Ventura  Ver  2.0
               |
               |  GEM Ver. 3.1
               | 
               |  CGI
               |  DGIS
               |- TIGA


The NEC BBS can be contacted via modem at 1-708-860-2602
                                          
                                           2400/1200/300                             
                                             8 data bits
                                             1 stop bit
                                             NO parity


OPTIONAL DRIVER

IBM OS/2 Ver. 1.1 / 1.2   
- NEC Part Number
                MGE-PMA
               (Multisync Graphics Engine Presentation Manager Accelerator)

     Allows OS/2 to be used in Hi Res 1024 by 768 
     with optimized speed improvements.

Retail Price- $ 199.00

** For Authorized Dealer/Servicer Locations Contact ..1-800-388-8888
** For Hi Res Graphic Card Technical Support Contact ..1-800-366-3632    
                                                         Ext. 1221

***

this is the contents of the file "tsmge.txt"

***

MGE Troubleshooting (Addendum to page 41 in "Comprehensive User Manual")

Symptom                  Possible Cause                  Solution
-------                  --------------                  --------

Video screen shows up    Video card set for Composite    Remove jumper JP1
in green hues.           Sync on Green.                  on the AT card, 
                                                         or JP3 on the 
                                                         MicroChannel card.

***

the following are the contents of the file "dgiswin.txt"

***

When the MGE is installed for Hi Resolution with MS Windows 3.0, the
driver is initialized through the WIN.INI file.  The following is the
format followed for adding sections to your WIN.INI file for DGIS.

Optimized settings:

[DGIS]

Dithering=1
DitherSize=1
NumFonts=5
Fill=2
Palette=0

Dithering can be set to either 1 or 0.
1 Sets the dithering attribute on, and 0 sets the attribute off.
Setting "Dithering" for 1 allows for cleaner, more accurate gradient fills.

DitherSize can be set to either 1 or 0.  1 Sets the DitherSize to a 4x4
matrix dither, and 0 sets it for an 8x8 matrix dither block.
8x8 seems to be cleaner.

NumFonts determines how many fonts are buffered on the MGE.
It is not recommended to buffer more than 5 fonts, there will be a
distinct speed degradation noticed.

Fill determines what graphic environments will supply the fill
attributes to the polygon fills.  0 allows for DGIS fill, 1 for GDI,
and 2 for GDI for all polygon fills.
2 seems to work the smoothest and quickest.

Palette will either allow Windows to use the Windows Palette Manager
which only allows for a 16 color palette if it is set to 1, or by
choosing Palette=0, Windows selects the palette manager on the MGE
which will allow for the 256 color saturation of the MGE 256 card. 

** NOTE: **

When the Palette=0 is enabled WINDOWS 3.0 uses the palette on the MGE board
itself.  You will encounter some changes.  For example your Icons on the
program manager will become a different hue.  To rectify this you will
have to select each icon, select FILE menu and Properties.  Just press
<ENTER> in the PROPERTIES window, and that will reinitialize the icon
color for the new palette selected.

This new palette also confuses the PAINT program that comes with
WINDOWS 3.0.  One can place the palette setting for (1), reboot the
system, execute Windows, and execute PAINT.  Choose COLORS menu and
save the palette as default.pal and exit PAINT.  Change the WIN.INI
file back to the PALETTE=0 and reboot the system.  PAINT will come up
with a pastel palette again, just choose COLOR menu and GET COLORS.
Select the DEFAULT.PAL and you will have the original palette again.

***

from installing the DGIS Xwindows driver into my 386-box, i have
gleaned the following:

- the driver has the following routines: open, close, read, write, ioctl,
                                         init

- it is a character device, and it controls hardware

- it does not do DMA

- the driver doesn't have an interrupt handling routine

- start I/O addr = 0x1cc, end I/O addr = 0x1da

- the code for the bounce demo has been stripped (thanks guys!)

that's it. pretty barren huh?


conclusion:

you now know just about as much about this thing as i do. if you're
thinking of buying one, my advice is don't bother. high-end video
is a given these days, and there are cheaper 34010-based boards
around.

> From: calgary!apple.com!uunet!motcsd!lance
> Beaver Computer in San Jose has announced a $495 32010-based card.
> Say no more!

th-th-that's all folks!

-- 
Vort Computing is a non-profit organization, but i didn't plan it that way...
Mike Nemeth     Vort Computing   ...calgary!vort!mike
Witt's End BBS  (403) 237-0501   2400/9600bps 9,N,1,"bbs"



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