European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 22, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A Home front How to screen monitors before yours Jerry Kidder he most important link Between you and your computer is the Monitor. It is what you stare at hour after hour. If the Monitor Isnit the right one for the Job you Are doing All the Central processing units memories and disk drives in the world can to make it belter. Arc there differences you May ask Many is the answer. Not Only Are there differences in the Monitor types and display standards but there Are also differences in the Quality of monitors within the same standards. Lets Start by discussing the different graphics standards for the personal computer and what each Means. The Resolution of each display is Given in picture elements pixels. This Means that the. Display is made up of Points on the screen and these Points Light up to make up the display. An example would be 640x350. That translates to 640 Points across the screen and 350 Points Down the screen. The text cell is the size of the character. An example would be 9x14. Nine dots across and 14 dots Down in the beginning there was the monochrome computer fans read All about it Jack Warner everybody who uses a computer was a beginner once and some people Are Content to stay pretty much on that level. They be got better things to do than sit around Reading about computers All the time. Others however Are bitten by the Bug and before Long they graduate to higher Levels and need to seek information from the myriad of books and magazines clogging the Market. Here Are some Worth trying a if you want to thoroughly understand the operating system that drives ism and compatible machines get Van Wolverton so running  when you finish that and your appetite is still not sated pick up the sequel a Quot supercharging  both books arc published by Microsoft press and they Are eminently readable even for the fledging user. A if you have a macintosh the Best general Book is a macintosh Bible Quot edited by Arthur Naiman and published by Goldstein amp Blair. It is a Well written compendium of advice criticism and useful tips for which the publishers in an attempt to overcome the out dating syndrome provide free updates that you glue into the Back cover. A there Are magazines published for users of display adapter mad. This had no provisions for graphics except for the use of special text characters to draw boxes lines and so on. The Hercules monochrome graphics adapter Imga was then developed to add graphics capability. This was All still in Black and White but allowed individual dots to  onto the screen at the place the program wanted them. This allowed the creation of pictures cartoons whatever the user wanted to draw. The Resolution for Imga is 720x348 in the text Mode with a text cell of 9x14. The text a computers layout is 80 characters across the screen by 25 lines Down. The Imga is Good for work with word processing and other programs where clarity of the characters is needed. It is also one of the lowest priced choices. The color graphics adapter Cha was introduced at the same time As the monochrome adapter. It has two modes of operation text and graphics. It will display a maximum of four colors from a palette of 16 hues. The Resolution of the Cha is lower than the Imga 640x200 in the text Mode and the text cell is Only 8x8. It also has a Tow Cost but is not particularly suited for text work. The enhanced graphics adapter Ega has a higher Resolution than Cha and More colors. Ega has several modes of operation 17 but in the text Mode the Resolution is 720x400 with with a text cell of 9x 16. The layout is the same As Imga. Because of the additional colors and the higher Resolution Ega is excellent for both text and graphics. Ega boards Are downward compatible with Cha. This Means that they will support programs that Call for Cha Mode. The video graphics array via is one of the latest entries into the d display adapter Field. Via has a variety of display modes and not counting the super via can display Resol or Lions up to 640x480 with i 6 colors or even More colors at lower resolutions. The text Mode is the same As Ega. It is also downward compatible with Ega and Cha. Of course there Are variations to the above standards. Some of the newer higher priced entries into the display Field can support resolutions of 124gx 1024 and even higher. Each of the display adapters listed support monitors built to the standards which match the adapters. There arc differences in the Quality of the monitors and these differences can Best be judged by having two different monitors of the Standard Side by Side and allowing your Eye to make the final Choice. We Wilt continue with the displays and monitors next Lime and try to define some of the terms associated with monitors. Jerry Kojder is a computer technician at the stars and stripes every computer. The most popular and by far the Best for users of ism and compatibles is pc Magazine. It does periodic overviews of virtually every available program within a certain genre a word processors for instance or databases and stays on top of technical developments. Its writing style is a lot lighter than most. A the Best macintosh Magazine is Mauser although As the Mac has caught on in the corporate world the Magazine has deteriorated. It is even More full of cardboard pages pullouts and other awkward Nesses than pc Magazine and its layout seems to have been deeply influenced by music videos. # for those interested in Good computer entertainment try computer gaming world Magazine. Cow started up in the first computer Boom in the first half of the last decade and it had its l frn mul or a lot of Competition. It was badly edited wretchedly designed and miserably written but it survived and the reason it survived and seems to be flourishing today is that it never failed to take its readers seriously. Its reviews generally provide an honest assessment of software and it has found some specialist writers a for instance people with Strong military backgrounds review military simulations. A the Best non specific computer Magazine is byte but it is also extremely sophisticated and i generally read it Only for Jerry Pommel let a column. Its the Best piece of w rating you re going to find in anybody a computer Magazine and while its sometimes very technical it never fails to be entertaining. Co service. Most Bock 5 Ami mag a me s a Ai Labia at stari Nervd stripes bookstores july 22, 1990 sunday c Page