Book 8088 discovery and modification thread

[Betamax80]

Apparently I need to find the stick I was using w/ the ISA cards then.

If you can find that one it would be a good verification step. Nobody has actually said what type of flash chips it likes.
I also believe that a bit like the CF cards if you can find one as small as 512mb it would be helpful - I got hold of an old EA promotional one on ebay.

 

[sorphin]

If you can find that one it would be a good verification step. Nobody has actually said what type of flash chips it likes.
I also believe that a bit like the CF cards if you can find one as small as 512mb it would be helpful - I got hold of an old EA promotional one on ebay.

Tried multiple different thumb drives from diff mfgrs.. no change. Guess I'll switch to my oddball LPT<->SD adapter, since that works, albeit slow too (not that the CH375 is fast), it consistently worked for me on the Tandy.

 

[Betamax80]

Tried multiple different thumb drives from diff mfgrs.. no change. Guess I'll switch to my oddball LPT<->SD adapter, since that works, albeit slow too (not that the CH375 is fast), it consistently worked for me on the Tandy.

So I missed something I think. Did you write SDLPT v1.1? It's distributed as one of two drivers by this person - its an odd arrangement, you physically change a jumper over depending on if using the NC100SD or SDLPT driver.

 

[sorphin]

So I missed something I think. Did you write SDLPT v1.1? It's distributed as one of two drivers by this person - its an odd arrangement, you physically change a jumper over depending on if using the NC100SD or SDLPT driver.

See my prior post where I linked to the SD/LPT thread/device I'm referring to. I didn't write any driver.. I built one of the things (see picture) referenced in that link.

 

[GizMo79]

Hello everyone, I just joined because I bought a book8088 version 2.0 and I'm having some issues. As soon as it arrived, I flashed a new 27c512 with BIOS v1.0.3 taken from here http://vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=2123 then I cleaned up the hard disk a bit. I tried to install the Italian version of Windows 3.0, but in VGA, it shows a black screen. However, it works in EGA with 16 colors. I then started testing games, and many show strange or faded colors, or they resemble CGA colors even though I'm in VGA mode. Often, the game's image goes beyond the frame. So, I downloaded VGA test software, and it seems that when VGA modes are invoked, they all show a black screen. I wrote a sample program with TurboC that uses BIOS calls to draw the screen, and I always get a black screen. The VGA mounted inside the book8088 has a Cirrus Logic GD5428 chip with 256k of VRAM. I believe the video BIOS is buggy, or they haven't implemented the code for the operation of practically all VGA video modes. Programs (games) that access the hardware directly seem to work, although they then display strange colors (here's a photo of Commander Keen 4

https://imgur.com/HlBqqY8

). Can you tell me if there's a way to solve these problems? I was also thinking of installing a copy of FreeDOS; could I encounter problems with program functionality?

 

[GizMo79]

I have read the whole discussion but it is not clear to me whether the black screen problems are due to the Realtek controller of the LCD display or to the VGA bios. If they were due to the LCD display controller not locking to 60Hz, wouldn't it be possible to change the VGA frequency? I have ancient memories of little programs that managed to do this.

 

[ajacocks]

Welcome to the forum @GizMo79 .

Based on previous discussion and testing, it seems that the "VGA" is closer to EGA in the modes that it supports. The black screen likely indicates that the LCD itself isn't the issue, much more likely the firmware isn't actually generating output.

- Alex

 

[GizMo79]

playing with some utilities I managed to crash the VGA, and in that situation the screen showed a "no signal" message... I believe that when the screen remains black the card is sending a signal but the LCD monitor cannot display

 

[GizMo79]

in fact, however, using a test software that allows me to force the video card like ega I can pass all the tests, the problems are those games or programs that automatically detect the card as VGA and then don't work, there is a way to cheat programs to believe that there is an EGA in the system, even though it would be nice if it worked like VGA...

 

[Plasma]

Hello everyone, I just joined because I bought a book8088 version 2.0 and I'm having some issues. As soon as it arrived, I flashed a new 27c512 with BIOS v1.0.3 taken from here http://vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=2123 then I cleaned up the hard disk a bit. I tried to install the Italian version of Windows 3.0, but in VGA, it shows a black screen. However, it works in EGA with 16 colors. I then started testing games, and many show strange or faded colors, or they resemble CGA colors even though I'm in VGA mode. Often, the game's image goes beyond the frame. So, I downloaded VGA test software, and it seems that when VGA modes are invoked, they all show a black screen. I wrote a sample program with TurboC that uses BIOS calls to draw the screen, and I always get a black screen. The VGA mounted inside the book8088 has a Cirrus Logic GD5428 chip with 256k of VRAM. I believe the video BIOS is buggy, or they haven't implemented the code for the operation of practically all VGA video modes. Programs (games) that access the hardware directly seem to work, although they then display strange colors (here's a photo of Commander Keen 4

https://imgur.com/HlBqqY8

). Can you tell me if there's a way to solve these problems? I was also thinking of installing a copy of FreeDOS; could I encounter problems with program functionality?

Those colors in Commander Keen look correct to me. The screen is just very washed out, so that light red is closer to pink.

I won't beat a dead horse, but let's just say the Book 8088 is not a well engineered computer...

 

[GizMo79]

yet the colors in text modes and viewed from a monitor test in EGA mode look nice and bright. For example, is there a way to start commander keen by forcing EGA mode?

 

[Betamax80]

playing with some utilities I managed to crash the VGA, and in that situation the screen showed a "no signal" message... I believe that when the screen remains black the card is sending a signal but the LCD monitor cannot display

Hi, I've posted a lot about this issue and found the same issues.
I've managed to get PETSCII Robots to run in 320x200 256-colour VGA mode but definately for Windows 3.0, and most DOS apps with a graphics mode, I've had no success at all using VGA modes, only EGA.
I think that the firmware on the Realtek controller was thought to be the issue - but now finding out that the LCD itself is a TTL model, so it wasn't designed for this task at all

 

[Eudimorphodon]

I think that the firmware on the Realtek controller was thought to be the issue - but now finding out that the LCD itself is a TTL model, so it wasn't designed for this task at all

Most cheap/small LCDs like that are “TTL”, there’s nothing inherent about how the LCD works that’s going to prevent it from displaying VGA; it inherently can’t do EGA or CGA either, it’s all on the Realtek chip to translate incoming signals to the one and only physical mode any LCD panel like that supports.

Does anyone know what the actual physical specs of the LCD are? The only reason I could see for *not* supporting 640x480 on it is if the LCD has less than 480 lines of vertical resolution, but I don’t think panels of that size come in resolutions less than 800x480 or so.

 

[GizMo79]

I think if there are VGA signals and it was the LCD display controller that failed I could see the presence of the signals with an oscilloscope. I remember many years ago I owned an adapter that allowed you to connect a VGA output to a Scart input, there was a .com file that modified the VGA frequencies and then all the programs worked in that way... If the display controller has problems of this type can perhaps be solved via software, but I have not been able to find such programs on the internet today.

 

[GizMo79]

Hi, I've posted a lot about this issue and found the same issues.
I've managed to get PETSCII Robots to run in 320x200 256-colour VGA mode but definately for Windows 3.0, and most DOS apps with a graphics mode, I've had no success at all using VGA modes, only EGA.
I think that the firmware on the Realtek controller was thought to be the issue - but now finding out that the LCD itself is a TTL model, so it wasn't designed for this task at all

I think this is wrong, the LCD is driven by the realtek chip, the signals that enter it from the VGA are analogue. I saw next to the realtek chip a small 8pin smd chip, perhaps a serial eeprom, it could be the controller firmware, maybe the problem is in that firmware there...

 

[Betamax80]

I have been sent a replacement for a dead pixel. The screen is in a metallic casing and no makings apart from a string of numbers on the ribbon connector and a QC sticker.

 

[Betamax80]

Most cheap/small LCDs like that are “TTL”, there’s nothing inherent about how the LCD works that’s going to prevent it from displaying VGA; it inherently can’t do EGA or CGA either, it’s all on the Realtek chip to translate incoming signals to the one and only physical mode any LCD panel like that supports.

Does anyone know what the actual physical specs of the LCD are? The only reason I could see for *not* supporting 640x480 on it is if the LCD has less than 480 lines of vertical resolution, but I don’t think panels of that size come in resolutions less than 800x480 or so.

I'm sorry, I should have done a web search perhaps.
I say the term TTL and thought serial data and then onto the idea of it being a terminal display.

 

[Eudimorphodon]

I say the term TTL and thought serial data and then onto the idea of it being a terminal display.

Yeah. In this case “TTL” just means the interface uses simple binary on/off electrical levels relative to a common ground, as opposed to more sophisticated protocols like LVDS. Ultimately it’s makes no difference what the scaler chip can do with it. It’s pretty clear the scaler in this machine is all screwed up.

 

[Betamax80]

Yeah. In this case “TTL” just means the interface uses simple binary on/off electrical levels relative to a common ground, as opposed to more sophisticated protocols like LVDS. Ultimately it’s makes no difference what the scaler chip can do with it. It’s pretty clear the scaler in this machine is all screwed up.

I agree with that.
It does a very odd thing about trying to scale the EGA modes - Win 3.0 does scale to fill the screen in 640x350... I feel like that was the focus of this person.... if any changes were made to whatever the Realteks come with in the first place.

 

[GizMo79]

I have conducted additional tests, and I've used TurboC for assistance (sorry, but I struggle with assembly language). I am confident that the issue is not with the VGA. Using this table and this code

#include <graphics.h>
#include <conio.h>
int diam = 10;
int x = 10;
int y = 10;
int gd = VGA, gm = 1;

void main()
{
initgraph(&gd, &gm, "");
setbkcolor(BLACK);
for(x=20; x < 640; x+=5)
{
setcolor(WHITE);
circle(x,y,diam);
setcolor(BLACK);
circle(x,y,diam);
if(x==630 && y == 10) { y = 340; x = 10; }
}
closegraph();
}

I have verified that all video modes with a height not exceeding 350 pixels are functional.

Table: https://home.cs.colorado.edu/~main/bgi/doc/detectgraph.html

For instance, VGA mode 1 works, mode 2 displays a black screen, and even in MCGA mode 5, it goes black as well. Therefore, the issue lies with the LCD panel controller, which does not handle frames with a height of 480 pixels.
However, it's strange because panels of this kind usually don't have issues even when receiving HDMI signals...