DOS display problem on X31

[jtt3011]

I like Thinkpads .............. used to have a 240, and now got an A22m and an X31.

I also like building loudspeakers, and I have a freq response analyser I built from a kit, umpty-tump years ago. Wonderful piece of kit; it's controlled by an MSDOS program via an ECP parallel port. And it has worked on every PC and laptop I've had over the last 15 years (quite a few) ....................... except for the X31. So I'm not 'appy .................... because the analyser and the X31, together, make for a perfect and portable marriage, which I can take into the garden - minimising sound reflections, when I'm testing a loudspeaker. 'cept that I can't, because they won't work in harness.

Problem is the video display, on which some text lines, and the displayed graph traces, are fuzzy, to the extent that the results are unusable. I've tried every combination of resolution, frame rate, colour depth, or whatever, for the ATI M6 graphics processor, with no change to the displayed results.

Now, I know it's possible to get a clear display, as I've achieved it by using DosBox on the X31. But DosBox has no facility to handle a parallel port, and the community of gamers that produced it, profess they have no interest in extending it to drive a parallel port, as few old DOS games require it. I've also tried using a USB - Parallel convertor on the A22m, to see if the analyser might work with, say, an Asus E, but no luck there either, as the control commands don't seem to be getting through to the analyser. The display would be OK, because my son has an Asus E, and he's loaded and run the control program with no display problems. But the Asus has no parallel port.

There also seems to be no alternative video driver availble for the X31, except that produced explicitly for IBM by ATI. ATI are said not to produce, or release, a generic driver for their grahics processors; they only supply dedicated versions to OEM's. I have tried to contact ATI with questions about the problem, but with no useful result.

Incidentally, the A22m uses an ATI graphics prcessor: the Radeon, and that has no probem ..............

The analyser controls the video display via a Borland BGI (Borland Graphics Interface) routine: EGAVGA.BGI, produced by Borland for use with their compilers, and having done umpteem Google searches I've found no other BGI driver that works (at all) with the analyser control program.

Sorry about the length, but previous enquiries have always come back with suggestions I've already tried, so I've set out the ones I can remember.

Any other ideas gratefully received!

Thanks

JohnT

[sojourner]

I do not have an answer to the dilema presented, but a thought; when I needed my T41 to interface with a serial port on various electronic devices (VMC control, misc. radio hobby interfaces etc.) it too presented a dilema ... which others in the forums addressed but could not provide a solution.

In this case it was merely finding the *RIGHT* USB to serial adapter (in your case, not trying a USB-parallel adapter, but trying many)!

Oddly enough the only adapters which provided FULL (old style / real type) serial communications were some early model units, and I bought a number of different ones before finding the right one! So PERHAPS finding the RIGHT converter is a solution for you. Not all adapters are created equal !!!
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BTW, wish I could help regarding graphics and the X31. The T41 here does very poorly with an essential DOS calendar program. Certain characters are garbled, not readable, will not work in a window at all. Maybe something inherent in newer graphics chips?

[mazzinia]

There are various versions of the ati drivers and all the generic ones will work on the x31 (except for the newer ones where the support for older gpu has been dropped).

I don't remember if the M6 is a 7000 or 7200 or 7500, but is worth to simply go to the amd website and download the drivers...

An alternative would be trying the omegadrivers.

[jtt3011]

Thanks for the replies.

I've tried the Omega driver(s), but either they didn't work, or they didn't make any difference - can't remember which. I also tried some of the other AMD/ATI drivers listed ('undreds of them, it seemed) which looked as though they might be appropriate, but they all caused the install routine to squawk that they wouldn't work with my graphics. P'rhaps I'll have another look.

The comment about the USB convertor does look interesting. I bought the one I've got from Maplin, a couple of weeks ago. It is spec'd as bidirectional to IEEE 1284 (1994), but doesn't mention ECP, so I wonder if there's a later spec that does. I also note that Dabs offers a convertor that specifically includes ECP in the handling attributes, which makes me wonder even more. I was able to test the Maplin item without disturbing its packaging .......... p'rhaps I'll take it back and have a go at the Dabs item!