[rescue] The other question...need Amiga advice!?!

[Peter Corlett]

Curtis H. Wilbar Jr. <rescue at hawkmountain.net> wrote:
> abuse at cabal.org.uk (Peter Corlett) wrote:
[...]
>> Nope. They have a DB23 (that's right, not 25) connector that contains
>> analogue RGB suitable for a SCART TV. They also have a video output on a
>> phono socket that is in the local standard, i.e. PAL for the UK models.
>> There is also an output suitable for plugging into a TV. Again, for the
>> UK models, this is a UHF PAL-I signal (normally on C36 or thereabouts).

> SCART TV ?

SCART is a 21 pin connector invented by the French for connecting
descramblers to televisions. It's since been adopted across Europe as a
general way of hooking up domestic video kit. Being French, it's weird, but
it does the job :)

Of interest to Amiga owners is that it turns a TV into a RGB monitor, since
SCART provides for analogue RGB signals, plus composite sync. It also
happened to appeared on the Commodore-badged (which were really just
Phillips) video monitors (so you could just add a VCR and watch TV on it if
you so desired.)

> Wouldn't older VGA monitors (I have a real old NEC for instance that I
> built a cable for syncing with upright video game signals (NTSC rate))
> sync to that ?

Yes, it sounds like you have one of the few true multisync monitors that
will work with the Amiga. The NEC rings a bell.

[...]
>> There is a small adaptor shipped with the A4000 that converts the DB23
>> video to HD15 suitable for plugging a VGA monitor into. It's no more than
>> a bit of TTL though, and won't magically make the machine output VGA -
>> this requires said software hack.
> This is what I've seen used before. but it would allow a monitor that
> could sync to those low frequencies to lock on and work, wouldn't it ?

Yes. I had such a monitor (before the magic smoke escaped) and it worked as
you would expect.

>> Unless I'm mistaken (and I'm still too scared to look in the junkbox :),
>> I believe I have about thirty of said DB23 connectors that are of
>> absolutely no use to me at this time.
> If they are not specific to PAL, and they are "global", I wouldn't mind a
> couple... I'm sure they would come in handy some day... some day I plan to
> have an Amiga ? I'm sure other list members probably would want one
> too....

They're just connectors, and are standards-neutral. The port it goes into
provides analogue RGB, digital RGBI, separate H&V plus composite sync, plus
power and clock signals. Basically, it's every video signal the Amiga has.

[...]
>> Well, yeah, that's the easy bit. If all else fails, you merely need a PSU
>> that provides +5v, +12v and -12v. A standard AT supply can easily be
>> modified to do this.
> that's about what I thought... I have some bricks that do all those
> voltages as well... they probably generate enough current, and if not an
> AT or ATX supply could easily do this.

There's almost certainly something on Aminet showing you how to do this. See
http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/~aminet/hard/hack/ for a pile of other hardware
hacks you can build.

[...]
>> Pretty much *every* game expects a PAL display . They mostly boot the OS
>> out of the way and program the video hardware directly assuming PAL - the
>> developers have never seen a NTSC Amiga.
> Are you saying prety much every game expects a PAL display ?

Is there an echo in here? ;)

> What about games sold in North America and other NTSC standard countries ?

I would assume that the game is standards-neutral, that it's been hacked to
NTSC, or they're grey imports and the buyer is expected to manage a PAL
display somehow.

The Amiga was immensely popular in Europe for games, the North Americans
mostly missing out on the fun. I'm not sure there are any other NTSC
countries where the Amiga was anything like popular.

[...]

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