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- GXE /Windows 95 Support and Policy Statement
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-
- To Number Nine GXE Customers
- In response to the rapidly growing demand for support under
- Windows 95, Number Nine wishes to make known the following
- policies and issues regarding our GXE series of graphics
- accelerators and Windows 95. Customer support and satisfaction
- is a top priority at Number Nine, and our goal is to make our
- users' migration to more advanced technology as painless as
- possible.
-
- No HawkEye for GXE Users Under Windows 95
- First, Number Nine must regrettably announce that we will not be
- providing our HawkEye suite of display control utilities for our
- GXE line of graphics accelerators under Windows 95. We are aware
- of the growing number of users migrating to Windows 95, and we
- understand and sympathize with the importance of moving to more
- advanced operating systems. Unfortunately, however, we cannot
- extend support for this older, 32-bit product line to include
- Windows 95 while Number Nine continues to drive the advancement
- of graphics technology and deliver market-leading products.
-
- Fortunately for GXE users, this policy is mitigated by the fact
- that the most commonly used features available in HawkEye have
- been integrated into Windows 95 itself. Under Windows 95, GXE
- users can still have access to key features such as resolution
- exchange, allowing users to switch display resolutions on the
- fly, and color depth changing, enabling users to change from 16
- million colors to 256 colors without restarting their computer.
-
- The key HawkEye feature that GXE users will not have available to
- them under Windows 95 is Number Nine's "virtual desktop"
- resolution setting. To have this innovative feature available in
- Windows 95, GXE users must upgrade to one of Number Nine's newer
- products (see upgrade policy below). GXE users should also be
- aware that these boards are not compatible with Microsoft's new
- "plug-and-play" standard, making the move to one of our more
- advanced products even more compelling.
-
- Refresh Rate Utility
- To supplement the display control features within Windows 95,
- Number Nine is providing a refresh rate utility on disk, which
- will enable users to adjust the monitor refresh rate. Many GXE
- users have identified this as an important feature, as Windows 95
- sets the display to a low refresh rate at startup.
-
- Setting the Refresh Rate:
- The Refresh.exe utility is found on the PowerPac diskette
- that shipped with your card.
-
- GXeRefresh Version 1.02.00
- Usage: refresh [Hres=Refreshrate] [Hres=Refreshrate]...
- Where: Hres can be
- 1280 or 1024 or 800 or 640
- and RefreshRate can be
- 60 or 70 or 72 or 76 Hz
-
- Copy the refresh program into the root directory of your
- hard drive. Then start in MS-DOS mode via the F8 key menu
- options and run the program by typing refresh followed by
- the resolution and refresh rate. For example:
-
- refresh 1024=76
-
- You may copy this line into your autoexec.bat file and the
- program will set this rate automatically when you boot the
- computer. You can also piggyback rates for different
- resolutions (see above).
-
- Known Windows 95 Incompatibilities
- Outside the scope of the HawkEye feature set, we understand that
- certain GXE users have encountered the following problems under
- Windows 95.
-
- GXE & Windows 95 Installation
- GXE users may encounter a system hang when loading Windows 95
- over Windows 3.1 without deinstalling GXE/HawkEye drivers first.
- Please follow the instructions below to circumvent this problem:
-
- Restart the computer in "Safe Mode" by hitting the F8 key
- when you see the words "Starting Windows 95..." Then
- choose "Safe Mode" from the resulting menu choices.
-
- To erase HawkEye drivers from the system, delete the
- following files:
- in the root directory -- number9
- in the Windows directory -- hawkeye.ini
- in the Windows\System directory -- gxe.drv
- Delete the entire Number9 directory under the Windows
- directory
-
- Next, edit the win.ini file in the Windows directory and
- remove the text "c:\Windows\number9\hawkeye.exe" from the
- "load=" line.
-
- Then edit the system.ini file in the Windows directory.
- Look for a section that is headlined: [#9 GXE] and delete
- that section. Next, look for the following lines that may or
- may not need to be edited. If they read something different
- than what is shown here, edit them to reflect these changes.
- [boot]
- display.drv=pnpdrvr.drv
- 386Grabber=vgafull.3gr
-
- [386enh]
- display=*vdd, *vflatd
-
-
-
-
- Then Restart Windows 95, Click the Start Button, Select
- Settings, then Control Panel.
- Double Click the "Display" Applet icon
- Select the "Settings" tab, Select "Change Display Type"
- button
- Click the "Change" button for Adapter Type
- Click the "Show All Compatible Devices" for a full
- listing
- Then select "Number Nine Visual" under Manufacturer and
- "Number Nine GXE (S3) under model. Then Click "OK"
-
- This should fix the hanging problems.
-
- GXE PCI Customers
- Number Nine has discovered an incompatibility problem with the
- PCI versions of the company's GXE product line under Windows
- 95.The graphics screen is corrupted when you move program icons
- around the screen.The problem can be worked around by changing
- the System Performance Graphics Setting to "Basic Acceleration"
- See instruction below. We are currently working on a solution to
- fix this problem in the driver. We will keep you up to date on
- the progress and availability of this fix.
-
- Changing Graphics Settings to Basic Acceleration
- Click the "Start" Button
- Select "Settings", then "Control Panel"
- Click on "System" applet icon
- Select "Performance" tab, then click "Graphics" Button
- Slide the "Hardware Acceleration Slider" to "Basic
- Acceleration Function"
- Click "OK", then "Close"
- Click "Yes" to restart your computer now.
-
-
- GXE VLB & ISA Customers - Resolution Support
- Users of Number Nine's VLB and ISA versions of #9GXE 4MB under
- Windows 95 will not be able to display the following resolutions
- and color depths at the indicated color depth:
- 1280x1024 at 16-bit color
- 1600x 1200 at 8-bit color
- 1152x 870 at 8 and 16-bit color
- All other resolutions and color depths supported under Windows
- 3.1 are available under Windows 95.
-
-
- Upgrade Path for Number Nine's GXE Users - Move Up to 64-bits of
- Performance
- Number Nine Visual Technology has implemented an aggressive and
- unprecedented support policy for all current users of the
- company's GXE product line. Beginning immediately, Number Nine
- is offering all users of its GXE graphics accelerators an
- inexpensive upgrade path to one of the company's newer products,
- 9FX Vision330, the 9FX Motion531, and the 9FX Motion771. For a
- fraction of the suggested retail price of these new products, GXE
- users can easily migrate from 32-bit technology to the company's
- newest high-performance 64-bit architecture.
-
- This aggressive new upgrade policy comes in response to the large
- volume of users moving to Microsoft's new operating system,
- Windows 95. In order to fully take advantage of the increased
- functionality and performance under Windows 95, users will need
- one of Number Nine's 64-bit graphics accelerators. All of Number
- Nine's new products support HawkEye for Windows 95, the company's
- suite of graphics control utilities that has been feature-
- enhanced and performance-optimized for Windows 95.
-
- Customers with ISA-only machines will not be able to utilize this
- upgrade option, as the new products are available only in VLB and
- PCI versions. However, Number Nine's compelling new upgrade
- options make it an ideal time for ISA customers to upgrade their
- machines and inexpensively integrate state-of-the-art 64-bit
- graphics acceleration.
-
- Pricing for upgrades is as follows:
- To migrate to a: The upgrade cost
- will be:
- 9FX Vision330 1MB VLB or PCI $ 89.00 +
- shipping
- 9FX Vision330 2MB VLB or PCI $129.00 +
- shipping
- 9FX Motion531 1MB VLB or PCI $129.00 +
- shipping
- 9FX Motion531 2MB VLB or PCI $159.00 +
- shipping
- 9FX Motion771 2MB VLB or PCI $209.00 +
- shipping
- 9FX Motion771 4MB VLB or PCI $299.00 +
- shipping
-
- All upgrades will be made through Number Nine's direct sales line
- (1-800-GET-NINE). Customers' existing GXE boards must be returned
- to Number Nine to receive upgrade pricing. GXE board serial
- numbers are required to place upgrade orders.
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