Frank,

The older style monitors which had a nine pin connector
were analog devices.  With the advent of the VGA monitor
(or maybe it was the short-lived EGA), the wiring was boosted to
a 15 pin connector and became a digital signal.

In the pre-VGA/EGA world, the video card had to convert
the digintal data into the three primary colors and output
analog signals to the monitor.  Now that conversion
circuitry is built inside the monitor.

The DRIVER that you are talking about has existed for
monitors since the beginning days of windows for all monitors, both
analog and digital.

In simplistic terms, a driver is the "go-between" that "pre-conditions"
or formats the data for a specific hardware device, whether it is a CD,
monitor, printer, or whatever.

Jim Meagher

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank R. Brown" <[log in to unmask]>

> I've seen several references on this list to 'monitor drivers'
> (as distinct from 'video cars drivers').   What are these?
>
> All the monitors I've seen have a power cord that plugs
> into the wall socket, and a video-signal cable that plugs
> into the video card.  I always assummed that the video
> cable carrires only analog signals.  So where would
> 'monitor drivers' come into the picture?

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