Copyright 1997,1998 Tomi Engdahl
NOTE: This document is very much under construction !
To determine the resolution when working in Windows 95, follow these steps:
Depending on your graphics card and driver, you may have a tab at the top of your Display Settings screen that says "refresh." If you click on this, you can see your current refresh rate.
However, in many instances, you may not have this tab as an option. If this is the case, in the Settings screen where you saw your computer resolution, click on the button that says "Change Display Type." A screen will appear that tells you your "adapter type." This is the type of graphics board your computer has. If you contact the manufacturer of your board, either by phone or on the internet, you should be able to find out what refresh rate you are using.
First thing is to check if any of the ready made monitor types or the refresh rates matches your monitor settings. You then selects the correct resolution and right refresh rate and that's it. The monitor selecting can be done using the following procedure:
For finding the correct setting you might need for you particular RGB monitor you need to use calculator to calculate if the screen setting are what the monitor wants (calculate horizonal refresh rate from resolution and refresh rate etc.) and sometimes you need some experimenting to test which setting works best.
If you want to configure your Windows to a specific refresh rate then you should read the Implementing Custom Refresh Rates in Windows 95 article from http://microsoft.com/hwdev/devdes/refresh.HTM. I have not tested those tricks described at the document.
I have read the following Win95 tips from usenet news but I have not tested them myself (so be warned that there can be errors in them): One possibility is to modify the monitor refesh rates by editing the Windows95 settings. At least in Win95 version v4.00.953 (osr2) has refresh rate settings for all graphics adapters. Another option is to do the same manually by editing the windows driver configuration file monitor*.inf which can be found at c:\windows\inf directory. Try to find your own graphics controller from those configuration files and you can try to modify it's settings. After you have made the changes change your display type to to basic VGA and then back to your normal graphics adapter and the new refresh rates should be then updated to your drivers. If everything went right you gan get the refresh rate you want.
; MONITORS.INF ; ; This is Setup information file for monitors ; supported in the Windows 95 retail product. ; ; Copyright (c) 1994-1995, Microsoft Corporation [version] LayoutFile=layout.inf signature="$CHICAGO$" Class=Monitor Provider=%MS% SetupClass=BASE [DestinationDirs] DefaultDestDir = 11 ; LDID_SYS monitor.infs.copy = 17 ; LDID_INF ; Base Install Sections ;------------------------------------------------- [BaseWinOptions] MonitorBase [MonitorBase] CopyFiles=monitor.infs.copy [monitor.infs.copy] monitor.inf monitor2.inf monitor3.inf monitor4.inf [SysCfgClasses] Monitor, %Unknown.DeviceDesc%,MONITOR,4,%MonitorClassName% ; Default to "Unknown Monitor"
; C:\WINDOWS\INF\SUNMON.INF: ; INF Data for SUN GDM-20D10 Monitor 20" [version] Class=Monitor Signature="$CHICAGO$" Provider=%Mfg% [Manufacturer] "%Mfg%"=Mfg [Mfg] %SUN%=SUN, Monitor\SUN [SUN] DelReg=DEL_CURRENT_REG AddReg=SUN.AddReg [DEL_CURRENT_REG] HKR,MODES HKR,,MaxResolution HKR,,DPMS HKR,,ICMProfile [SUN.AddReg] ; for H = 81.1 KHz and V = 76 Hz , fastest: HKR,"MODES\1280,1024",Mode1,,"81.1,76,+,+" ; for H = 71.7 KHz and V = 67 Hz , alternatively, works also good: ; HKR,"MODES\1280,1024",Mode1,,"71.7,67,+,+" HKR,,MaxResolution,,"1280,1024" [Strings] FileName=SUNMON.inf Mfg="SUNMON" SUN="SUN GDM-20D10 20-inch Monitor"Exampleline:
[VS_8.Add] HKR,"MODES\1280,1024",Mode1,,"30.0-64.0,50.0-90.0,+,+"
The INF file which comes with Windows 95, provides configuration information such as resolution and refresh rates for many monitors. If all your hardware is Plug-and-Play, and your monitor is in the INF file that with your version of Windows 95, the monitor will be detected automatiocally, or you can select your monitor through the Display Properties diaglog box.
If your monitor is not listed in your current INF file, then an updated INF file must be downloaded and installed.
Some graphics card drivers have extra options to more configure the card option than what Windows 95 normally allows.
Graphics cards from Matrox (Millenium, Mystique, Millenium II) have exceptionally good configurability options in their graphics cards and they can be quite easily configured to send out picture at almost any refresh rate that a monitor would want it. Information how to configure Matrox cards under Windows 95 can be found at http://www.matroxusers.com/ and at http://www.hut.fi/Misc/Electronics/circuits/vga2tv/matrox_tv.html.
If your graphics card drivers do not support free user configurability then you can try if Scitech Display Doctor program from Scitech Software Inc can provide you the settings you need. Scitech Display Doctor support very many VGA chipsets and allows free user configuration of sync and refresh rates. Scitech Display Doctor is a commercial program but you can download a 21 day trial version from Scitech Software Web Site and see if it solves your interfacing problems.