STB Pegasus / Pegasus VL24+
STB Systems Pegasus series was introduced in 1993, and were STB's flagship graphics cards in 1993, able to display at up to 1600 x 1280 resolution.
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Released | June 1993 |
Bus | VESA Local Bus | |
Chipset | S3 86C928 | |
Standards | Hercules, CGA, EGA, VGA | |
Memory | 2 MB or 4 MB of VRAM | |
RAMDAC | ||
Ports | 15-pin DSUB and BNC (analogue video out) | |
Part # | PEGASUS | |
FCC ID | - | |
Price | At launch: $799 (2 MB), $999 (4 MB), Jun '94: $849 (list price), Oct '94: $595, Nov '94: $559 | |
See Also | Horizon, PowerGraph VL-24, 1280 Graphics System |
They were sold to a number of OEMs, including Austin Computer Systems who shipped it in their top of the line "The Works" System.
Board Revisions
I don't have any information on board revisions for the Pegasus cards.
Competition
In the Media
"STB Systems speeds true color graphics.
S3 enthusiasts looking for high-end color support in a VESA local-bus configuration will have two options from STB Systems next month. The Pegasus VL24+ with 2MB of video RAM will list for $799; the Pegasus VL24+ with 4MB of VRAM will cost $999. The 2MB version supports 65,000 colors at resolutions as high as 1,024 by 768; the 4MB board supports 16.7 million colors at resolutions as high as 1,024 by 768."
InfoWorld, 17th May 1993
S3 enthusiasts looking for high-end color support in a VESA local-bus configuration will have two options from STB Systems next month. The Pegasus VL24+ with 2MB of video RAM will list for $799; the Pegasus VL24+ with 4MB of VRAM will cost $999. The 2MB version supports 65,000 colors at resolutions as high as 1,024 by 768; the 4MB board supports 16.7 million colors at resolutions as high as 1,024 by 768."
InfoWorld, 17th May 1993
"The STB Pegasus VL ($849) may be comparably priced with boards that are based on 64-bit silicon, but its 32-bit technology doesn't have the horsepower to complete with these products. The STB Pegasus performed at or near the bottom on virtually all of our tests, and its software suite is modest compared with those found in most of the other boards in this roundup. These factors make the STB Pegasus a poor choice for most graphics-intensive applications.
Built around S3's 32-bit 86C928 fixed-function accelerator chip, the STB Pegasus comes with 4MB of dual-ported VRAM. The 928 provides a hardware cursor and a range of raster and vector features that accelerate commonly used Windows operations such as BitBlts, pattern copies and fills, linear addressing, and point-to-point line drawing. But our tests revealed that the chip's 32-bit internal data path and data path to memory can't keep up with newer 64-bit chips.
The STB Pegasus's Winstone and Graphics WinMark scores were the lowest of all the VL-bus boards tested. Discrete tests with Adobe Photoshop and CorelDRAW supported the WinMark showing - with the STB Pegasus placing last on two out of three tests.
No card escaped our usability and mainstream applicatin tests unscathed. The STB Pegasus, however, crashed earlier than most and was unable to open a DOS window with the test programs loaded. AutoCAD performance was slightly better. Pegasus ships with Panacea's TurboDLD Classic driver, which provides both protected-mode AutoCAD ADI applications and a display-list driver. While the STB Pegasus still lagged behind most of the other boards, at least it wasn't the slowest. Under DOS, the STB Pegasus placed fourth out of eight VL-Bus graphics cards.
The board itself is solidly constructed and includes a VGA pass-through connector and a three-plug BNC adapter - a nice feature that reduces noise in the video signal. Installation is a multistep process. A simple DOS program selects video modes, monitor type, fonts, and color depth. But the installation program does not offer presets for specific monitors - valuable features that save time during installation. During testing, we couldn't save our configuration to the on-board EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable ROM) and had to reconfigure each time we rebooted. STB Systems confirmed this and reported that it had fixed the problem.
After you set up the hardware, a separate program installs the Windows drivers. The program configures resolution, color depth, and font size. Unlike most other graphics cards, the STB Pegasus had a Windows installation program that retains only 8 custom settings out of more than 50 possible options. So, for example, if you don't select the 1,600-by-1,200 resolution, 256-color, large-font driver during setup, you can't select this configuration at a later time without separately installing the driver, which requires the original installation disks.
The STB Pegasus offers Windows resolutions of up to 1,600-by-1,200 in 8-bit color, which is higher than what several competing products offer. But the STB Pegasus doesn't offer the range of software features required for desktop publishing or similar graphics applications - lacking, for example, a virtual desktop with panning and zooming and form of color calibration.
The STB Pegasus is a victim of the generation gap, at both the chip and software levels. Outperformed, outfeatured, and overpriced, it's difficult to see a niche that it fills. STB expects to announce two new boards with 64-bit graphics accelerators around the time you read this. We expect these boards to supercede the 86C928-based STB Pegasus."
PC Magazine, 28th June 1994
Built around S3's 32-bit 86C928 fixed-function accelerator chip, the STB Pegasus comes with 4MB of dual-ported VRAM. The 928 provides a hardware cursor and a range of raster and vector features that accelerate commonly used Windows operations such as BitBlts, pattern copies and fills, linear addressing, and point-to-point line drawing. But our tests revealed that the chip's 32-bit internal data path and data path to memory can't keep up with newer 64-bit chips.
The STB Pegasus's Winstone and Graphics WinMark scores were the lowest of all the VL-bus boards tested. Discrete tests with Adobe Photoshop and CorelDRAW supported the WinMark showing - with the STB Pegasus placing last on two out of three tests.
No card escaped our usability and mainstream applicatin tests unscathed. The STB Pegasus, however, crashed earlier than most and was unable to open a DOS window with the test programs loaded. AutoCAD performance was slightly better. Pegasus ships with Panacea's TurboDLD Classic driver, which provides both protected-mode AutoCAD ADI applications and a display-list driver. While the STB Pegasus still lagged behind most of the other boards, at least it wasn't the slowest. Under DOS, the STB Pegasus placed fourth out of eight VL-Bus graphics cards.
The board itself is solidly constructed and includes a VGA pass-through connector and a three-plug BNC adapter - a nice feature that reduces noise in the video signal. Installation is a multistep process. A simple DOS program selects video modes, monitor type, fonts, and color depth. But the installation program does not offer presets for specific monitors - valuable features that save time during installation. During testing, we couldn't save our configuration to the on-board EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable ROM) and had to reconfigure each time we rebooted. STB Systems confirmed this and reported that it had fixed the problem.
After you set up the hardware, a separate program installs the Windows drivers. The program configures resolution, color depth, and font size. Unlike most other graphics cards, the STB Pegasus had a Windows installation program that retains only 8 custom settings out of more than 50 possible options. So, for example, if you don't select the 1,600-by-1,200 resolution, 256-color, large-font driver during setup, you can't select this configuration at a later time without separately installing the driver, which requires the original installation disks.
The STB Pegasus offers Windows resolutions of up to 1,600-by-1,200 in 8-bit color, which is higher than what several competing products offer. But the STB Pegasus doesn't offer the range of software features required for desktop publishing or similar graphics applications - lacking, for example, a virtual desktop with panning and zooming and form of color calibration.
The STB Pegasus is a victim of the generation gap, at both the chip and software levels. Outperformed, outfeatured, and overpriced, it's difficult to see a niche that it fills. STB expects to announce two new boards with 64-bit graphics accelerators around the time you read this. We expect these boards to supercede the 86C928-based STB Pegasus."
PC Magazine, 28th June 1994
Setting it Up
I have no information on setting up the Pegasus VL.
Downloads
Operation Manual Get in touch if you can provide this missing item! |
Original Utility Disk Get in touch if you can provide this missing item! |
ROM BIOS Get in touch if you can provide this missing item!, |
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