diff --git a/context/pod-hardware.md b/context/pod-hardware.md
index f22f418..fff6e25 100644
--- a/context/pod-hardware.md
+++ b/context/pod-hardware.md
@@ -184,6 +184,46 @@ All cockpit surfaces are bit-plane MASKS over ONE shared `SVGA16` pixelBuffer: `
 byte; `Heat`=0x4000, `Mfd2`=0x0400, `Comm`=0x8000, `Mfd1`=0x0100, `Mfd3`=0x1000; `Eng1-3` =
 engineering-mode alt planes; `overlay`=0x00C0 (shares the sec surface). See [[gauges-hud]]. [T2]
 
+## ⭐ THE RGB SPLIT — how ONE VGA port drives THREE mono MFDs (decoded 2026-08-06) [T0 engine source + T1 authentic pod config]
+The five monochrome MFDs are NOT five video outputs. Each VGA port's **R, G and B analog lines
+are split to three separate monochrome monitors**, and the software puts a different MFD in each
+colour channel of one shared palettized framebuffer. Mechanism, end to end:
+
+1. **Every surface is a bit-plane + a CHANNEL.** `content/GAUGE/L4GAUGE.CFG` (the authentic 1996
+   pod config) configures each port as `configure(idx, port, rotation, bitMask, clut, COLOUR, palette)`:
+   | port | panel | mask | clut | channel |
+   |---|---|---|---|---|
+   | `Comm` | upper right | 0x8000 | clut2 | **red** |
+   | `Mfd2` (Engineering) | upper centre | 0x0400 | clut2 | **green** |
+   | `Heat` | upper left | 0x4000 | clut2 | **blue** |
+   | `Mfd1` | lower left | 0x0100 | clut1 | **red** |
+   | `Mfd3` | lower right | 0x1000 | clut1 | **green** |
+   | `sec` (+`overlay` 0x00C0) | secondary/radar | 0x003F | clut0 | **rgb** (full colour, rotation 270 — the physically ROTATED portrait CRT) |
+   `Eng1/2/3` are the engineering-page twins of Mfd1/2/3: same monitor, second bit-plane, switched
+   by `reconfigure(...)` giving one plane the channel and the other `blank`.
+2. **The channel assignment is literally a palette write.** `L4GraphicsPort::BuildSecondaryColor`
+   (L4VB16.cpp) walks the palette entries owned by the port's bit group (`BitWrangler(byteMask,8)`)
+   and writes ONE component: `RedChannel -> triplet->Red`, `GreenChannel -> ->Green`,
+   `BlueChannel -> ->Blue`, `AllChannels -> the whole triplet`. `BlankColor` blanks the group
+   (`BlankPalette()`), which is how a page swap silences the plane it replaces. The
+   `*TransparentZero` variants skip colour 0 so zero reads as transparent for that group.
+3. **So the DAC output carries three independent pictures**, one per analog line, and the splitter
+   hands each line to its own mono monitor. Three MFDs per VGA port; the pod's two MFD ports are
+   the **1280x480 "horizontally spanned" surface** (2 x 640x480 halves) the Displays section
+   describes — clut2 = the upper row (Comm/Mfd2/Heat), clut1 = the lower row (Mfd1/Mfd3, blue
+   spare). The radar rides its own port in real colour.
+
+**Why this matters for the port [T2]:** our modern path renders each surface as its own
+mono-tinted window on its own Windows display (see §MFD PANELS ON REAL HARDWARE), which is right
+when every panel has its own output. **On splitter-wired glass it is wrong** — three monitors
+would share one Windows display and each would show only its channel's share of a single tinted
+image. Driving original splitter hardware needs a CHANNEL-COMPOSITE mode: extract three planes
+into ONE 640x480 RGB image with pure (255,0,0)/(0,255,0)/(0,0,255) tints, one window per VGA
+output. `SVGA16::ExpandPlaneToBGRA` already does the per-plane extraction with a tint, so the
+composite is a small addition. OPEN: which way Nick's crash cart is wired (Windows shows three
+separate 640x480 displays there, which suggests per-panel outputs via the Trigger 6 USB adapter,
+not a splitter) — settle it by eye before building.
+
 ## MFD PANELS ON REAL HARDWARE — the bring-up path (2026-08-06) [T2 local / T4 on-pod]
 Nick's crash cart (pod hardware + Chrome Remote Desktop on a burner account) is the first chance
 to drive the real panels. **The 1995 display path is NOT the way in.** That rig spanned the five
diff --git a/scratchpad/pod/fs.py b/scratchpad/pod/fs.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ecb16cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scratchpad/pod/fs.py
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+"""Browse the VWE/firestorm gitea repo (read-only) without cloning 10GB."""
+import base64, json, subprocess, sys, urllib.request
+sys.stdout.reconfigure(encoding='utf-8', errors='replace')
+_out = subprocess.run(["git","credential","fill"],
+    input="protocol=https\nhost=mysticmachines.com\n\n",
+    capture_output=True, text=True, cwd=r"C:\git\bt411")
+_c = dict(l.split("=",1) for l in _out.stdout.strip().splitlines() if "=" in l)
+AUTH = "Basic " + base64.b64encode((_c["username"]+":"+_c["password"]).encode()).decode()
+B = "https://mysticmachines.com/api/v1/repos/VWE/firestorm"
+
+def api(p, t=120):
+    r = urllib.request.Request(B+p, headers={"Authorization": AUTH})
+    return json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(r, timeout=t))
+
+def ls(path=""):
+    try:
+        return api("/contents/" + urllib.request.quote(path))
+    except Exception as e:
+        return []
+
+def raw(path, t=120):
+    r = urllib.request.Request(B+"/raw/"+urllib.request.quote(path), headers={"Authorization": AUTH})
+    return urllib.request.urlopen(r, timeout=t).read().decode("utf-8","replace")
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    cmd = sys.argv[1]
+    if cmd == "ls":
+        for e in sorted(ls(sys.argv[2] if len(sys.argv)>2 else ""), key=lambda x: x["type"]+x["name"]):
+            print(f'  {e["type"]:4} {e.get("size",0):>9} {e["path"]}')
+    elif cmd == "cat":
+        print(raw(sys.argv[2])[:int(sys.argv[3]) if len(sys.argv)>3 else 4000])
+
+def subtree(path, recursive=True):
+    """Full file list under a directory, via its tree sha (avoids the 1000-entry
+    truncation of a whole-repo recursive tree)."""
+    e = api("/contents/" + urllib.request.quote(path))
+    # the dir's own sha comes from its parent listing
+    parent = "/".join(path.split("/")[:-1])
+    name = path.split("/")[-1]
+    for it in ls(parent):
+        if it["name"] == name and it["type"] == "dir":
+            sha = it["sha"]
+            break
+    else:
+        return []
+    t = api(f"/git/trees/{sha}?recursive={1 if recursive else 0}&per_page=99999", t=180)
+    return [(x["path"], x.get("size", 0)) for x in t.get("tree", []) if x["type"] == "blob"], t.get("truncated")
diff --git a/scratchpad/pod/podssh.sh b/scratchpad/pod/podssh.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a09b69f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scratchpad/pod/podssh.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Run a command on the pod (bt411-pod, user 'user') over the tailnet.
+exec ssh -i ~/.ssh/bt411_pod -o BatchMode=yes -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no \
+  -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o LogLevel=ERROR -o ConnectTimeout=10 \
+  user@100.107.167.96 "$@"
diff --git a/scratchpad/pod/runpod.bat b/scratchpad/pod/runpod.bat
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a5476ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scratchpad/pod/runpod.bat
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+@echo off
+REM BT411 pod launch -- runs from the game's content dir in the CONSOLE session.
+REM Started via schtasks /IT so the windows land on the REAL panels (an SSH
+REM session is session 0 with a dummy display and would render nowhere).
+cd /d C:\bt411\BT411_4.11.801\content
+
+REM glass cockpit, per-display windows, POD surface mode (bare 640x480 pictures,
+REM no on-screen button banks -- the cab's buttons are physical), sticky layout
+REM loaded from glass_layout.cfg beside this file.
+set BT_GLASS=1
+set BT_GLASS_PANELS=1
+set BT_POD_SURFACES=1
+set BT_GLASS_LAYOUT=load
+set BT_GLASS_LOG=1
+set BT_START_INSIDE=1
+set BT_LOG=podrun.log
+
+start "" ..\build\Release\btl4.exe -egg MP.EGG