Two-Page Display for PC Q&A

Q: Is the TPD-PC compatible with Windows 95?

A: No. The TPD-PC is not Windows 95 compatible, and there are no plans to upgrade the software to make it so.

Q: After installing the Radius TPD-PC video card into my computer and with no other cards installed, I either don't an image on my screen at startup or my computer doesn't start at all. What's wrong?

A: The Radius TPD-PC video card is a VGA-compatible video card and as such requires that you do not have any other VGA or VGA-compatible video cards installed. If your computer has a built-in video system, it must also be disabled. Most computers which offer a built-in video system offer configuration options to disable the built-in video via dip switches or jumpers located on the computer's motherboard. Consult your computer's documentation or contact the computer manufacturer for details on how to disable built-in video on your computer if this is applicable. If you do not have another video card installed in your computer and still do not get any video at startup, make sure that either the Radius Two Page Display or a VGA-compatible display is properly connected to the Radius TPD-PC video card, that the power is turned on, and that the contrast and brightness are rotated fully clockwise.

Next, make sure that the dip switches on the Radius TPD-PC video card are correctly set up. There is a bank of 4 switches located on the TPD-PC video card. Looking at the front of the card with the video connector on the right hand side, this bank of switches should be located on the far left hand side of the card. Switch 1 is reserved and should always be in the Off (down) position. Switch 2 should be turned On (up), unless you have a monochrome display connected to a non-VGA monochrome video adapter in your computer, in which case you should set this switch to the Off (down) position. Switch 3 is reserved and should always be in the Off (down) position. Switch 4 is used to tell the TPD-PC video card what type of slot it is plugged into. If it is plugged into a 16-bit ISA expansion slot, this switch should be in the On (up) position. If it is plugged into an 8-bit ISA expansion slot, this switch should be in the Off (down) position. An easy way to tell what type of slot is being used is to look at the expansion slot. If it has 2 spaces for the card to plug into, it is a 16-bit expansion slot. 8-bit expansion slots offer only 1 space and take up about half as much space in your machine. Most computers today offer 16-bit ISA expansion slots. Some other computers may offer 16-bit expansion slots along with a few 8-bit only ISA expansion slots so as not to use as much space on the motherboard. The TPD-PC video card may be plugged into either type, however we highly recommend using one of the 16-bit ISA expansion slots.

Finally, some computer systems which were designed after the TPD-PC interface offer extremely fast bus speeds which may be too fast for the TPD-PC design to operate correctly. In this situation, you may also experience errors such as several beeps at startup indicating no video system is installed. If your computer offers a way to change the bus speed, you may be able to work around this problem. Your system may offer this as an option via jumpers or dip switches on the motherboard. Some systems also offer this as an option via a configuration program when your computer first starts up. If this option is only available via a configuration program at startup, you will have to remove the Radius TPD-PC video card and either install another type of VGA card or turn on the built-in video system if one is available. Consult your documentation of your computer system for specific details on how to access this option for bus speed if one is available. Once this option is found on your computer system, we recommend configuring the bus speed for 8MHz operation.

Q: When starting Microsoft Windows, I get garbage or no video on my VGA screen. Why?

A: Check the connection of your VGA display and make sure that it is properly connected to the TPD-PC interface. Make sure the VGA display is turned on and that the brightness and contrast knobs are adjusted fully clockwise. If the VGA monitor is the only monitor being used or if the Radius Two Page Display is turned off, make sure that you are using VGA type drivers within Microsoft Windows or your application. Radius TPD-specific drivers will only work on the Radius TPD. If you have a VGA display connected to the TPD-PC interface and do not have the Radius TPD connected, or if the Radius TPD is turned off, you should have the video driver for "VGA" selected from your Windows Setup configuration utility. To access this utility, go to the "WINDOWS" directory in MS-DOS and type the word SETUP. This will launch the Windows Setup utility and allow you to select a VGA display driver. Only one display may be used at any given time when connected to the TPD-PC interface. When the VGA display drivers are selected, only the VGA display will be active. The Radius TPD will only be active when the Radius TPD drivers are selected.

Q: Why do I get garbage or no video on my Radius TPD when starting Microsoft Windows?

A: If you do not have a VGA or TPD driver selected from the Microsoft Windows 3.1 setup utility, the Radius TPD may not show you a correct image. If you have both a Radius TPD and a VGA display connected to the TPD-PC video card, the VGA monitor will be the active screen by default and the Radius TPD will remain blank until the Radius TPD drivers are installed. To properly set up the Radius TPD , you must run the Radius installation program for Windows. This program is named "TPDINST.EXE" and is located in the WIN30 directory on the Radius diskette. To execute this program, insert the Radius installation diskette in drive A and then go to the file menu in the Program Manager and select "Run". Then type in "A:\WIN30\TPDINST". This will execute the installation program for the Radius TPD drivers. The next selection will ask which drivers to select from a list. We highly recommend selecting the Radius TPD Real Mode drivers for use with Windows 3.1. This selection will not limit Windows 3.1 to operating in real or standard modes, however the Radius Real Mode drivers will operate much better than the Radius Enhanced Mode drivers when running Windows 3.1 in the Enhanced Mode. Once this display driver is installed from the Radius installation program, upon restart of Microsoft Windows 3.1, the Radius TPD will then be the active display and the VGA display will be blank. If you do not have a VGA type display connected and the Radius TPD is the only monitor connected, you should have the driver for "VGA" selected in the Microsoft Windows 3.1 Setup utility. To access this utility, go to the "WINDOWS" directory in MS-DOS and type the word SETUP. This will launch the Windows Setup utility and allow you to select a VGA display driver. This will set the Radius TPD to operate in VGA mode at 640x480 resolution with 16 shades of gray. If you install the Radius TPD drivers, the Radius TPD will operate at 1280x960 resolution in black and white monochrome.

Q: When using Microsoft Windows 3.1, I get occasional garbage on the screen, occasional general protection faults which point to the Radius display drivers, or Windows occasionally quits to DOS without any warning. What causes this?

A: The last revision of the Radius TPD drivers are version 1.2 and were designed specifically for use with Microsoft Windows 3.0. You can check this revision by looking at the RadiusWare label on the front of the diskette or by looking at the white label on the back of the diskette. We have found that these drivers may also be used with Microsoft Windows 3.1. To use these drivers with Microsoft Windows 3.1, you must run the Radius installation program each time you wish to use the Radius TPD mode. If you switch between VGA and Radius TPD drivers, you should rerun the Radius installation program each time you wish to use the Radius TPD mode. Also, the driver we recommend using with Microsoft Windows 3.1 is our Real Mode driver. This will not effect the operation of Microsoft Windows 3.1 or it's enhanced mode capabilities but is merely a different display driver which we have found to be more stable in the Microsoft Windows 3.1 environment. The Radius TPD installation program is named "TPDINST.EXE" and is located in the WIN30 directory on the RadiusWare diskette. To execute this program, insert the RadiusWare installation diskette in drive A and then go to the file menu in the Program Manager and select "Run". Then type in "A:\WIN30\TPDINST". This will execute the installation program for the Radius TPD drivers. The next selection will ask which drivers to select from a list. Again, we highly recommend selecting the Radius TPD Real Mode drivers for use with Microsoft Windows 3.1. This selection will not limit Windows 3.1 to operating in real or standard modes, however the Radius Real Mode drivers will operate much better than the Radius Enhanced Mode drivers when running Windows 3.1 in the Enhanced Mode. Once this display driver is installed from the Radius installation program, upon restart of Microsoft Windows 3.1, the Radius TPD will then be the active display and the VGA display will be blank.

Q: Why doesn't my Windows application not work properly with the TPD driver selected but works fine with the VGA display driver selected. Items are either missing on the screen or are shown incorrectly as solid black or solid white.

A: The Radius TPD drivers are monochrome black and white only. Some Microsoft Windows applications require that you have at least 16 levels of gray or color. If you have a problem of this nature, we recommend contacting the manufacturer of the application you are using and confirm that the application will operate in a monochrome black and white display mode or a VGA mode with 16 shades of gray. If the application does not support a VGA mode and requires 256 or more colors or 256 shades of gray, it will not work with the Radius TPD system. If the application requires at least 16 shades of gray, VGA mode must be the selected Windows driver and the Radius monochrome black and white high resolution drivers will not be compatible with your application.

Q: According to the users manual for the Radius TPD-PC interface, I should be able to type MODE MONO from the MS-DOS prompt to switch between my TPD and my other display. This does not seem to work correctly.

A: The Radius TPD-PC interface card is a VGA standard card and may not be used with other graphic type video cards. The Radius TPD-PC video card can be used with a Monochrome Display Adapter such as those following the Hercules MDA standard. If the monochrome display adapter offers VGA, EGA, or CGA graphic modes, these display modes must be disabled on that video cards. You should refer to the documentation or contact the manufacturer of this type of display adapter for details on how to disable the graphics modes. The graphics modes for the TPD-PC video card should not and cannot be disabled. If you have two displays connected to the TPD-PC video card, the Radius TPD will always remain blank until Microsoft Windows or another application is loaded which is using the Radius TPD drivers. In this configuration the VGA compatible display will always be the active screen until the Radius TPD drivers within Microsoft Windows or your application are loaded. The Radius TPD-PC video card does not offer a feature to switch between the two displays from the MS-DOS prompt.

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