Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 15:05:17 -0500
Message-Id: <199903032005.PAA29711@envy.delorie.com>
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From: DJ Delorie <dj AT delorie DOT com>
To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
In-reply-to: <3.0.6.32.19990303125211.0093f100@pop.globalserve.net> (message
	from Paul Derbyshire on Wed, 03 Mar 1999 12:52:11 -0500)
Subject: Re: silly question (I read the FAQ first).
References: <Pine DOT SUN DOT 3 DOT 91 DOT 990223183439 DOT 13729F-100000 AT is>
 <j6g6rFAyDt02Ew2R AT xemu DOT demon DOT co DOT uk>
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Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com


> Hm. Any way to tell which mine is?

If your monitor supports more than one resolution, it's a multisync
and doesn't have the "problem" that old monitors have.  Actually, most
old single-res monitors don't have that problem either.  I suspect
it's because too many people went "really?" and blew up the old ones
just to see if it happened :-)

> Also, is this stuff for real? Or have you been watching too much
> Star Trek?  :-)
> 
> (Phase lock, resonant coil... or maybe Star Trek borrows their
> techno-words from the video screen technology jargon?)

Actually, the ST editors rely on real physics whenever possible, to
lend an air of authenticity to their shows.  Terms like "phase locked
loop" and "resonance coil" have been around for a long time in
electronic hardware circles.  A phase locked loop is when two
oscillators (in this case, the horizontal drive circuit in your
monitor and the digital counter in your VGA card) are running at the
same frequency and in phase, because there's a feedback circuit that
compares the two and adjusts one of them to keep them in sync.  A
resonance coil is a tuned circuit that will greatly amplify one
particular frequency (because the circuit happens to resonate at that
frequency, much like a tuning fork) while partially blocking all other
frequencies.