candle Posted January 7, 2010 Author Share Posted January 7, 2010 if you don't use any antic specific features, then i should recommend disabling dmactl remember, that there is no way to restore default gtia palette once it will be changed, so its better to work on palette entries 1-3 than 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drac030 Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 Presumably the "short" lines are how the condensed text modes are achieved in KMK's memo pad on the distro disk. This, plus some vertical scrolling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 if you don't use any antic specific features, then i should recommend disabling dmactl remember, that there is no way to restore default gtia palette once it will be changed, so its better to work on palette entries 1-3 than 0 So palette 0 is a copy of the system colour scheme? That's what I want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candle Posted January 7, 2010 Author Share Posted January 7, 2010 then set xdl overlay mode to use palette 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 Are these colours indexed the same as the normal Atari colours? 148 for the background gives me a purple screen - not what I'm after. Also, the blank lines which work in Altirra DON'T appear on real hardware... PLUS my VBXE board is playing up again: computer is booting up with a pink screen, picture is jumping all over the place. It may just jump clean out of the window at this rate... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 Are you doing Attribute Map on a normal Gr. 0 or 8 screen? It's possible to substitute PF3 colour over PF2 - got me at first as it gives the illusion that all is not right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 (edited) Candle, how do you reset the VBXE board? The computer - after suffering a fit a few minutes ago - is now booting with with a purple screen with pink text on it. This is the second machine I've had this board in. It couldn't be any better installed or wired up and yet it's still going crazy. I've had less than an hour's use out of the thing in four or five months: the rest seems to have been all troubleshooting. Sorry - exasperated... EDIT: Green wire in DIN had snapped for no reason other than to drive me up the wall. Fixing now. I assume VBXE will be fine when that's done... Rybags: yes - I imagine that's the problem. I will investigate when I get the board working again. Thanks. Edited January 7, 2010 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 (edited) Cable fixed, colours back to normal. Now I'm getting the good old picture drop-outs every few seconds. Seems more pronounced in VBXE's 80 column mode. Can't afford another TV, and I don't have room to set up a second display. So sadly - until I can resolve my VBXE issues one way or another - the LW VBXE project is shelved. I'm not writing software in emulation for hardware I bought but can't even use myself. Candle: any ideas how to solve this? Looking through messages: will try the cap/resistor mod if problem persists... and it is. Totally turned of DMACTL and in hardware, blank line (repeat) instructions are completely ignored. Perplexed. Edited January 7, 2010 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 Installed a cap and variable resistor attached to luma: picture has held up till now so let's hope and pray that's fixed. Still puzzled as to why the blank lines don't work, and why a background colour of 148 gives a navy blue screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 Blank lines: Overlay OFF bit must be set (bit 2) as well as repeat bit (5). Altirra doesn't emulate this behaviour properly. Funny thing about the palette in "TEXTMODE.COM": it looks turquoise in Altirra, but is a perfect match for the GTIA palette on real hardware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+rdemming Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 Yes, I got the programmer, and SS boards are ready I even got lat 15 VBXE2 boadrs at 90% of completion Hi Candle, Did you already finish the last VBXE2 boards? Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candle Posted January 8, 2010 Author Share Posted January 8, 2010 Yes and shippin' them out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+StaxX28 Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 Yes !! make fast mr postman....I cant wait !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+rdemming Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 Yes and shippin' them out Great! Hopefully the mailman is not delayed because of the snowy weather here Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 (edited) Since I appear not to be the only person who's had Hobbes' Time trying to get VBXE to sync with my TV (OK - I know the sync isn't the product of the VBXE board itself, but that's academic), here's the solution which worked for me with my particular TV set (LG M227WD). Sync signal taken from pin 15 of TC4050BP chip just above MMU: 10uf capacitor, minus pin on pin 15 of TC4050BP. Positive terminal of capacitor connected to "outer" pin of variable resistor. "Wiper" (middle) pin of resistor wired to sync out. Other pin of variable resistor wired to ground. Since I'd already removed the RF box, I positioned the resistor as shown in the picture for easy adjustment: It should be noted that I had previously tried the same circuit, but taking sync from LUMA pin of Atari circuit. While that solution also worked, the picture quality when steady was not as good. The opposite might be the case with a different panel. When adjusting the resistor, I found that the picture would shift horizontally at a certain point (perhaps by a few millimetres) before becoming steady. Shimmering was apparent with extreme settings, but I have now found the "sweet spot" where the picture is both steady and clear. The latest problem is a rather greenish cast across the picture, but this set up would be no fun at all without a different surprise every time I switched it on. Edited January 11, 2010 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candle Posted January 11, 2010 Author Share Posted January 11, 2010 Jon, connecting that circuit to Luma signal was something You shouldn't even consider, sice values i've gave You were calculated for signal that is 4Vp-p (its amplitude has 4V), and Sync portion of Luma signal is alread 0.3Vp-p The soley purpose of this circuit was to provide clean SYNC pulse that is compilant with TV standard (meaning 0.3Vp-p) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Jon, connecting that circuit to Luma signal was something You shouldn't even consider, sice values i've gave You were calculated for signal that is 4Vp-p (its amplitude has 4V), and Sync portion of Luma signal is alread 0.3Vp-p The soley purpose of this circuit was to provide clean SYNC pulse that is compilant with TV standard (meaning 0.3Vp-p) OK - thanks for the clarification. I had a good discussion with a knowledgeable friend the other night about waveforms, etc. The signal as it stands will "drop out" maybe once every five or ten minutes, but only for an instant. It's steady 99% of the time. I'll probably end up drilling a tiny hole for the screw on the pot in the back of the case. I've experienced one stock XE which wouldn't sync with the old LG TV which other Ataris and the VBXE machine are fine with, so sync adjustment is probably a useful thing to have in general. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 If you want to have a non-black border colour, I assume you have to enable DMACTL and set the ANTIC background colour? I also assume this means the "border" is tied to the Atari colour palette. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacques Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 flashjazzcat: thank you very much for those clarifications, both here and via priv. message! I'll check if it helps soon! What is exactly the adjustable resistor you use? Type/symbol and min/max value of it's resistance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 It's no problem - glad to help. The resistor has 3296 stamped on the side, and 722C0/W 103 printed on the end. No idea what these numbers mean. I just remembered buying the appropriate variable resistors to modify an s-video cable some months ago and fortunately they were still in the drawer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Not sure about the border, I'd assume yes (uses GTIA). If not the case, then logically I'd assume entry 0 of Palette 0 (normally black). You shouldn't need to enable Antic DMA, just setting COLBAK should fill any non-VBXE area with background colour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Is the colour pot still functional with VBXE installed? If not, the hole in the mainboard would be an ideal place to put my csync adjustment pot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 No bearing on VBXE output, but are you wanting to retain the legacy video system as well, or at least part of it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 (edited) No bearing on VBXE output, but are you wanting to retain the legacy video system as well, or at least part of it? Good question. So the s-video out is still intact with VBXE installed? I've pretty much abandoned it with this machine: the VBXE jack has replaced the 5-pin din. ...Actually it might be cool to replace the 5-pin din and put the VBXE jack where the RF mod used to be once I decide which case to cut a hole in. That way I could preserve both outputs. Edited January 15, 2010 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 We have a bit more leeway with most PAL machines... I just put the VGA jack where the channel selector would otherwise be on an NTSC machine. My monitor port is as default (with chroma added). I reckon it's worth keeping legacy output, especially given how easy it is to get into trouble with wrongly constructed XDLs. Comes in handy having the GTIA-only signal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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