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- Diamond Viper Windows 95 Display Drivers README.TXT
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-
- Release Notes
- --------------
- This is version 2.24 of the Windows 95 driver for the Viper Series. This is an
- accelerated driver. This driver currently supports the following Diamond Viper
- display adapters:
-
- Viper Pro VIDEO
- Viper Pro PCI & VLB
- Viper SE PCI & VLB
- Viper PCI & VLB
-
- Driver Installation Procedure
- -----------------------------
- If you are Installing Windows 95 for the first time.
-
- 1. If you have a PCI-bus Display Adapter the Plug&Play manager will recognize
- the Weitek Chipset and during installation you may be asked to select the
- drivers for your display card (If not asked then choose VGA and refer to the
- next Procedure). There is usually a list of several driver installation
- options, including buttons for "Default", "Standard VGA" etc.
-
-
- 2. Choose the "Manufacturer Supplied Drivers" option in the window and then the
- Have Disk button. Insert the diskette containing the Drivers (e.g. the diskette
- in A: drive) and enter the location of the driver diskette e.g. A:\ (if the
- diskette is in that drive)
-
-
- 3. Choose the appropriate option that matches the description of the card in
- your system and click on OK.
-
- The drivers will be installed and you will be returned to the main Settings
- window where you can select your preferred resolution and color depth. After
- you have selected a mode you will be asked if System can be restarted. Restart
- the system and enjoy !
-
-
- If Windows95 is already installed with VGA (or other, or previous version)
- display drivers
-
-
- 1. The Help File WTKCPLX.HLP has now been expanded to provide driver
- information and support in installing the Driver. To run the file open the
- Folder for the Driver\Directory the file is located in and double-click on the
- Help File and follow the instructions detailed in "Driver Installation".
- or,
-
- 1. Open the Control Panel folder and choose the Display Icon or, Using the
- mouse, right-click on an empty space in the main Desktop Window and choose
- Properties.
-
- N.B. If, upon entering the Display Setting dialog, a window should appear
- claiming that the detected Display Adapter configuration is in error, do not
- click OK instead click on Cancel and proceed to step 2.
-
- 2. Change Display Type. Normally Windows will ask that the card be re-detected
- using the "Add New Hardware" wizard. By selecting Cancel you can avoid this
- unnecessary and lengthy process.
-
- 3. Click on the Settings tab and then click on the button Change Display Type.
-
- 4. You should first select the Monitor Model to match your system if this is
- already done skip to the next step.
-
-
- 5. Click on the Change button in the Adapter Type window and then the Have
- Disk button.
-
- Insert the diskette containing the Drivers (e.g. the diskette in A: drive)
- and enter the location of the driver diskette e.g. A:\ (if the diskette is in
- that drive)
-
- 6. Choose the appropriate option that matches the description of the card in
- your system and Click on OK.
-
-
- The drivers will be installed and you will be returned to the main Settings
- window where you can select your preferred resolution and color depth. After
- you have selected a mode you will be asked if System can be restarted. Please
- answer No if you have a VESA Bus card, and proceed immediately to the Device
- Manager window to select the resources configuration of the card.
-
-
- Card Compatibility
- ------------------
- Diamond Viper/Pro/SE PCI :
-
- The latest driver now provides a fix for the long-standing problem of
- motherboards with PCI Burst-Write mode support. The "Support Burst PCI" option
- in the Control Panel Extension's Card Options window allows support for the
- P9100 on newer PCI motherboards which do not have options for disabling burst
- write from the BIOS. This feature is enabled by default on installation. This
- feature is enabled via the SYSTEM.INI file entry :
-
- [display]
- BurstModeFix=1
-
-
- Diamond Viper VLB :
-
- The latest driver now provides Plug&Play support for setting the Base Memory
- Address for the Linear Window. This is now set automatically by during
- installation, however it may be changed from within the Device Manager (System
- in Control Panel) window. Select the resources configuration of the card.
-
-
- All Cards :
-
- During the initial installation process (and before the system has restarted
- with the new drivers) the amount of memory on the card is unknown and so the
- range of available modes is deliberately reduced by the driver to avoid
- mistakes. Not all the resolutions available to your card will be selectable.
- During first-time installation you must select one of the available modes, and
- allow the system to restart before your higher resolutions and color depths
- will become available.
-
-
-
- Driver Usage Notes
- ------------------
-
- Using the Weitek CPLX utility :
-
- After system restarts with the new drivers, and the next time you open the
- Display Properties window from Control Panel (or by right-clicking over an
- empty spot on the Desktop and selecting Properties), you can enter the utility
- by choosing the window tab titled WeitekPower.
-
- This is the Display Properties Control Panel Extension (CPLX) for supporting
- the Display Drivers. Using this utility you can select a preferred Refresh
- Rate, Monitor Sync and adjust Monitor Alignment, dynamically changing the Size
- and/or the Position of the visible screen. Additionally you can change the
- default settings of your card to improve performance in certain application
- types, or enable the special features of your card.
-
- Context Sensitive help is supplied through-out this utility. You can get pop-up
- help on any control, or setting, by right-clicking with the mouse on that item.
- Additionally Windows95 also provides a Help Tool, the ? button at the top right
- of the window. Click this button and then select the control that you wish to
- learn more about.
-
- If unsure you can use "Use Adapter Defaults" which usually selects 60Hz, the
- driver default refresh rate.
-
- If you have already installed a Monitor Type in the System Properties then you
- can choose "Auto-Detect best match", which will use the Adapter Capabilities,
- Monitor Capabilities and possibly DDC (supported cards only) to determine the
- optimum Refresh Rate setting.
-
- Note, that Auto-Detect will try to use Refresh Rates up to 120Hz if it sees the
- specification of the Installed Monitor can support that high, at the selected
- Resolution.
-
- You can use "Apply To All Modes" to unilaterally enforce a particular refresh
- rate however this is not recommended and can easily result in choosing a
- refresh rate that is either too low for the smaller resolutions or too high
- possibly exceeding the Monitor's max. bandwidth.
-
- Additionally you can associate a particular refresh rate, sync-polarity and
- monitor alignment with a mode using the option : "Apply To This Mode". Every
- time you return to the resolution/color-depth it will restore the preference
- you saved.
-
- Note, that the Refresh Rate Preference and Monitor Adjustment is saved
- separately for each mode (resolution and color-depth) and does not carry over to
- any other modes since the modes are all stored individually by Windows, your
- preferences are also stored individually together with the mode.
-
- Enhancements to driver release 2.24 :
-
- An additional control is added to allow options for the Video Power including
- enable/disable and selecting the quality, performance and style of the video
- playback. Some early versions of the chips require to be run at a slower speed
- so there is a default Clock Speed with options for higher spec. parts. If
- artifacts or disturbances to the video playback are discernible try scaling
- back to a lower clock speed.
-
- DirectDraw : The driver now provides Hardware Video Acceleration for P9100
- cards with the P9130 chip (VideoPower) in 16bpp, 24bpp and 32bpp modes. The
- driver will accelerate video in any application using DirectDraw e.g. Microsoft
- DirectVideo, ActiveMovie and XingMPEG Player 3.0.
-
- Resolutions/Refresh Rates : Additionally checks are made on the installed
- Monitor's maximum horizontal scan rate in order to determine acceptable
- resolutions/refresh-rates. It is important that you select the correct monitor
- type before using "Auto-Optimal" setting from the Control Panel. Failure to do
- so may result in defaulting to 60Hz. Numerous new modes are included for
- cards/monitors that can support them, Refresh Rates of 60, 66, 70, 72, 74, 75,
- 80, 90, 100, 120 Hz are available in many resolutions.
-
-
- Known Issues
- ------------
-
- Windows95 VDD-bug : On VLB and some early PCI systems the BIOS setup needs to
- have Shadow BIOS for the VGA Adapter region (C0000~C7FFF) set to Write Protect,
- if available. This problem is noticeable if you open a DOS session Full-Screen
- then press <ALT><ENTER> to return to Windows and again <ALT><ENTER> to return
- to DOS Full-Screen. If the system then locks-up or gives a Blue Screen
- fatal-error message this means that the Card's VGA BIOS has been overwritten
- and you must either enable Shadow Write Protect, or altogether disable Video
- ROM-BIOS Shadowing. This problem is caused by the Windows95 VDD and cannot be
- corrected in future drivers.
-
- Windows95 PnP-bug : Changing cards or moving the location of a PCI-slot Card
- can result in a detection error. Windows may report an Adapter Configuration
- Error and require re-detection using the Hardware Wizard. This is a problem in
- Windows itself, to avoid wasting time in re-detection we recommend you press
- Cancel, when asked to re-detect, and then manually reselect the Display
- Card using Change Display Type.
-
- Winstone 96/97: You may encounter errors running Winstone on some systems.
-
-
- Contacting DIAMOND
- ------------------
-
- Diamond can be reached through a number of ways:
-
- DIAMOND - U.S.A.
- Postal Service : Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc.
- 2880 Junction Avenue
- San Jose, CA 95134
- Voice (Main): (408) 325-7000
- Voice (TechSppt): (408) 325-7100 [M-F 5-7; Sat 8-4 Pacific]
- FAX (Main): (408) 325-7070
- FAX (TechSppt): (408) 325-7171
- BBS (to 14400): (408) 325-7080
- BBS (to 28800): (408) 325-7175
- WWW: http://www.diamondmm.com
- FTP: ftp://ftp.diamondmm.com
- e-mail: techsupt@diamondmm.com
-
-
- DIAMOND - Europe
- Postal Service: SPEA Software GmbH, a Diamond Multimedia Company
- Moosstr.18b
- 82319 Starnberg, Germany
- Voice (Main): +49-8151-2660 (Germany)
- +44-1189-44440 (UK)
- Voice (TechSppt): +49-8151-266 330 (Germany)
- +44-1189-4444 44 (UK/English)
- +44-1189-4444 33 (UK/French)
- FAX (Support): +49-8151-266 331 (Germany)
- BBS (to 28800): +49-8151-266 333 (Germany)
- +44-1189-4444 15 (UK)
- BBS (ISDN, x.75): +49-8151-266 334 (Germany)
- CompuServe: GO SPEA
- WWW: http://www.diamondmm.de
-
- All product names listed are trademarks or copyrights of their
- respective owners.
-
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- Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. (c) 1993-97, All Rights Reserved
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-