Posts by Warty

I acquired a Dell 2001FP, switched from A2000 to A3000, and also swapped in a thicker (computer-to-monitor) RGB cable. Something in there seems to have diminished the ghosting a bit. Not perfect, but better. (and a ton better of course than native A3000 VGA output)

Sorry it took a while to get back. Had some "old computer" problems there.

I chucked the old config and started again. This solves the "it never gets to 1280x1024 mode" issue, but it feels very blurry/ghosty. Not sure how to describe it. Looking at it close up through a phone camera, it looks like some anti-aliasing/interpolation stuff going on, which is what I'm trying to avoid.

I am attaching the current config file. I also took some snaps with the phone, to show on a pixel level what I'm seeing. This monitor is new to me (but not new!), so I'm not that familiar with it, but it seems to regularly display an OSD message about auto-adjusting, when the Amiga switches resolutions. So I'm not sure if the monitor is to blame here, or my config, or something else. If I have to hunt down a different monitor for the integer scaling, I'm happy to do that.

So what I was trying to explain is this:

- assume a PAL resolution, laced, 640x512.

- overscan shows:

- min size, text size, graphics size: 640x256

- maximum size: 724x283

- physical screen resolution 1280x1024

Is the screen still going to end up getting scaled? Because 724x566x2 is greater than 1280x1024, so monitor scales it? OTOH, you can see from the pic that the monitor doesn't really display any overscan in WB. But it looks like scaling?

In a 320x200 game, the overscan appears to be shown, because the "main" part of the screen is always shifted down and left from the upper/left corner, with the right part of the screen cut off. In 320x200 mode, it doesn't look ghosty/blurry/fuzzy to me. I'd love that same crispness at the 640x400 sizes.

IndivisionECSv2.conf.txt

I have an ECS v2 in an A2000. I've had many merry challenges with getting it configured, most of which related to a Vizio 1920x1080p TV which really was picky and basically unfriendly. I switched to an 800x600 TV I had around, and things worked fine with that. I picked up a 1280x1024 monitor today, because I want to get integer scaling of the pixels, no interpolation. 1280=640*2, and 1024=512*2, so in (my) theory, PAL mode should be workable with integer scaling, and no blurry pixels.

BUT... it's not doing what I think it should be doing, and I'm not sure why. (and yes, I have read that v2 doc like 50 times, hehe. You do fun stuff when you have only black screen, and no way to get video out, including using the old 'say' command as a kind of printf)

OS: 3.1.4

firmware: 2.5 (11/20 version)

First off: i'm not getting black screens, I always get a screen.

But in all tests, it won't use the "Pre 1280x1024" VGA mode. It will show (in the overlay) a 1024x768 mode is being used.

I've tried NTSC and PAL modes, and have reduced overscan to 640x200 / 640x256, thinking that having anything more than 256 lines is going to make it scale up to more than 1024, and thus force it or maybe the monitor to start interpolating pixels. But I'm not convinced I understand how overscan works.

test indivision mode 1:

min: 200, max 243. current: 242. Now why is it 242, if NTSC is 640x200, and I have reduced text and graphics overscan to 640x200?

VGA mode selected: Pre 1280x1024 60hz

VGA mode shown in overlay in testing (with NTSC: his res laced selected): 1024x768

Test indivision mode 2: pre 640x512 PAL

min: 286, max: 287, current 242 (in NTSC at the moment)

Anyway... does anyone have a ScreenMode/Overscan/Indivision config combination that would do what I want, which is 1280x1024 integer scaled workbench?

Ok Jens, thanks.

I want to preface this with 2 facts:

1. I haven't used an actual RTG board in 25 years, and can't remember if this happened at the time or not. I also have forgotten everything about using them. So, RTG newbie.

2. I don't have a physical RTG board available, so all I have is UAE.

I am running 3.1.4, on a vaguely Amiga 2000 like setup in UAE. Last week I copied the WB drive and UAE config, and installed P96 driver (and updated again this week to pick up the recent fixes). Here's what i'm seeing, color-wise:

• With a 256 color screen, and having changed NOTHING ELSE, the window background color and accent color for gadgets (not sure what this was in EN, I've got spanish up for testing, but something like "dark borders"), are not what is selected in the Palettes prefs.
• If I open the Palette prefs and change "Bordes oscuros" to various colors, and then back to the dark gray, it will actually change colors. I exit with Save.
• The next time I reboot, it will still show dark gray in Palette, but OS will not be using it. Can rejigger a bit and get it back, but have to do this after every reset. Note that you can't just select another color, then jump back. Seems to take a few tries for some reason.
• I haven't tried same trick with the window (background) color yet, but possibly it's the same behavior.

Screenshot: RTG/P96 3.1.4 on left, no RTG driver on right, 8 color OCS screen mode.

Are all the P96 drivers equal? Would one be a better choice for UAE use?

Maybe some of the names defined by the library were changed at some point? eg, from P96CheckBoards.c:

Maybe the "G" was removed at some point? They appear to be P96RD_NumberOfBoards, P96BD_BoardName, etc. now.

I'm getting a linker error when compiling P96-aware code. I only get this with VBCC, with Bebbo's GCC cross-platform chain it compiles just fine. I'm kind of tearing my hair out over this (which isn't good, considering the available stock of that commodity). I've tried copying the various includes and whatnot into the VBCC/ndk39/Include/ etc folders; I've tried plopping a p96 folder down in vbcc/p96, and using -I and -L in the vbcc config.

Thanks for the update. I like the approach. I think I'll go try to hibernate for a few months.

First off, I know this isn't recommended, but a friend loaned me his ACA500+ to play with, and I've been trying it out with my (US/NTSC) Amiga 1000. Hooking it directly to the A1000 meant it really wouldn't start up but 1 in 20 times, and would frequently freeze up a few minutes after it started, it if did make it to start up. But here's the fun part: putting a SupraDrive 4x4 side car between the ACA500 and the A1000 made it stable. Starts up every time. Stays up. I got the idea from reading an instruction from some other supplier from 1990 or so, about their product being more reliable when it went A1000 + ram expansion + the vendor's product. Anyway, in case that helps anyone....

But... there are hints here and there about an Amiga 1000-specific version of the ACA500+. This google translated one for example:

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ACE1k is in the planning phase. Small Race with the Quartz Maker: I'd like to hold the first proof-of-concept board in hand when the special parts I need to generate a synchronous 28MHz clock externally for the A1000 . ACE1k gives the A1000 the most necessary upgrades: Memory (max 8M), Kickstart and (if an Agnus is put on it and the adapter is used to the internal Agnus) also 1M or 2M Chipram. A Zorro-style 100-pin slot can accommodate a Buddha or an ACA2000. The X-Surf-500 can also be plugged without ACA2000.

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1 or 2 MB chipram?? Yeah. SOOOO want that. Can you share any further about the ideas for the design? Sounds like it's early on. Is it going to be in the A1000 case or in a vertical case alongside? (With zorro style slot I guess it's external). Front-facing CF card slots? Comes with a case? rear-facing ethernet port?

Sounds amazing!!!