Sophia 2 preorder thread

[iguanaman3]

On 2/22/2024 at 5:17 AM, Simius said:

In fact, it was not my free decision, but forced by circumstances. Long story short - PayPal threatened me that if my sales revenue to US exceeded $600, I would have to deal with the US IRS. This is to result from the American Rescue Plan. I don't understand why, since I'm not an American citizen, but for some reason PayPal felt it necessary to inform me about this. Recently, while dealing with official matters, I had to testify whether I am not a United States taxpayer. Very strange. They didn't ask if I paid taxes in Papua New Guinea, New Zealand or Côte d'Ivoire, only in the US. This doesn't look good. Maybe they secretly want to make Poland the 51st overseas state of the US?   

I believe that only means that they are required to notify the IRS by law. Ebay does the same. Notifying does not mean the gestapo is coming to your door and I do not think you are required to pay US taxes on that income. They may notify Polish authorities but that is all. 

Edited March 13 by iguanaman3

[Simius]

13 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

We have already spoken on this, but while it is technically possible to wire up all of the outputs physically, the Sophia doesn't output all of them at the same time. You have to use the configuration program on the Sophia to select which outputs are active. So while you could sacrifice the space along the back where the controllers are stored to handle it all, you would still have to run a config program each time you want to change outputs. And of course, you have to use either RF or the current active output in order to see what you are doing when you change it over.

 

So yes, it can do all of those, but is designed to only select one output method to use and essentially stick with that.

 

 

 

To be clear - the Sophia has three outputs - standard GTIA output (luma/chroma), analog output (RGB or YPbPr to choose in config) and digital (DVI). All three available at the same time. It means you can have the image on even four screens simultaneously, including TV set via RF (if you didn't remove the modulator). 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

6 hours ago, Simius said:

 

To be clear - the Sophia has three outputs - standard GTIA output (luma/chroma), analog output (RGB or YPbPr to choose in config) and digital (DVI). All three available at the same time. It means you can have the image on even four screens simultaneously, including TV set via RF (if you didn't remove the modulator). 

Interesting..that was not the experience I was getting with the 2 I've installed. The first one was for DVI output and that did work, but when I went to test other outputs I couldn't get anything until I used the 5200 version of the config utility to switch over to those first. 

 

The 2nd install I did was also in a 5200 and that client specifically wanted component YPbPr output. I had nothing on those until I used RF to switch over to component output on the 5200 config utility. At that point it came active. So I'm not sure if there is some difference in the 5200 configured Sophias or I was just unlucky with the 2 I've been tasked with installing?

 

Even it it can do all of the outputs at the same time, there really isn't room on the back of the 5200 for all of that including a UAV (Where the composite signal from it might be needed for RGB c-sync). That is unless you install the outputs using the controller storage section and I'm not personally a fan of that since I prefer to leave that section empty and able to be used for controller storage as intended.

 

 

[Simius]

On 3/13/2024 at 3:20 PM, valthonis said:

Is this a service you still offer?  I haven't purchased the Sophia, but I would love to get mine setup with DVI, Component, and RGB (I have a spare 3d printed SNES style AV connector that could be used for the RGB)

There are many cables on the market. DVI-Component: https://superssset.live/product_details/52766791.html

You can also use a splitter cable: https://www.amazon.com/CGTime-Wyse-DVI-I-Splitter-Cable/dp/B07KXSSQFM and then a VGA to RGB-HV cable: https://www.elecbee.com/en-3035-vga-to-rgbhv-rca-connector-cable-hd15-male-to-5-rca-male-connectors-12-feet-long

Links are examples. You can find better - cheaper and/or closer. 

 

 

Edited March 15 by Simius

[valthonis]

On 3/15/2024 at 4:29 AM, Simius said:

There are many cables on the market. DVI-Component: https://superssset.live/product_details/52766791.html

You can also use a splitter cable: https://www.amazon.com/CGTime-Wyse-DVI-I-Splitter-Cable/dp/B07KXSSQFM and then a VGA to RGB-HV cable: https://www.elecbee.com/en-3035-vga-to-rgbhv-rca-connector-cable-hd15-male-to-5-rca-male-connectors-12-feet-long

Links are examples. You can find better - cheaper and/or closer. 

 

 

 

So to confirm, the Sophia does route the analog RGB/SYNC to the analog pins of the DVI connector?  (C1 through C5 I believe based on the docs) (and just like a normal DVI-I with the digital and analog signals)
That analog should be 15khz that I could get a DVI to VGA and then VGA to SCART adapter to connect to my RetroTink for RGB?

Edited March 17 by valthonis

[woj]

2 hours ago, valthonis said:

So to confirm, the Sophia does route the analog RGB/SYNC to the analog pins of the DVI connector?  (C1 through C5 I believe based on the docs) (and just like a normal DVI-I with the digital and analog signals)
That analog should be 15khz that I could get a DVI to VGA and then VGA to SCART adapter to connect to my RetroTink for RGB?

Yes, in general, though I am not sure what a VGA to SCART converter does, so I actually made my own cable directly from DVI to SCART, that worked beautifully, you just need to turn on the correct settings in Sophia config program.

 

Connecting the Sophia's RGB signal from a DVI connector to RetroTink is kind of totally pointless though, why not DVI to HDMI directly?

[valthonis]

42 minutes ago, woj said:

Yes, in general, though I am not sure what a VGA to SCART converter does, so I actually made my own cable directly from DVI to SCART, that worked beautifully, you just need to turn on the correct settings in Sophia config program.

 

Connecting the Sophia's RGB signal from a DVI connector to RetroTink is kind of totally pointless though, why not DVI to HDMI directly?

I'm using an old CRT with component inputs, so I'm using a RetroTink RGB SCART adapter to component.  I could just use the component out on the Sophia, but I already have a massive SCART switch so I'd rather not add another switch for component. 
Any pictures of your cable and/or any progress pictures of creating it?

[woj]

13 minutes ago, valthonis said:

Any pictures of your cable and/or any progress pictures of creating it?

Not really, it's a cable, what I did was I bought a chipo DVI to VGA cable (mostly because solder DVI connectors are not really that accessible and expensive, at least for my location), chopped off the VGA plug and mated the wires with a SCART plug, together with a mini-jack stereo cable to hook up to my stereo output from Atari.

[marty01a]

Hello,

 

I would like to order 1 piece Sophia 2 for my Atari 800 XE to the Czech Republic. Thank you very much.

[Beeblebrox]

13 minutes ago, marty01a said:

Hello,

 

I would like to order 1 piece Sophia 2 for my Atari 800 XE to the Czech Republic. Thank you very much.

PM simius

[madgitty]

I would like one please 130xe

[+scorpio_ny]

Hi @madgitty,

 

If you live in the US or Canada, you can order directly from the Brewing Academy

https://thebrewingacademy.com/products/sophia-2-dvi-output-gtia-replacement

[Simius]

14 hours ago, madgitty said:

I would like one please 130xe

See PM

[+Teleprompter]

Very, very happy and worth the wait for me.  Thanks @Simius!  Here's a supportive video I made on the install and comparisons with the Medusa which I still like 

 

[+MacRorie]

1 hour ago, Teleprompter said:

Very, very happy and worth the wait for me.  Thanks @Simius!  Here's a supportive video I made on the install and comparisons with the Medusa which I still like 

 

That is a very nice video.  Really shows the difference! (and the fact that we were in there for a wee bit as well doesn't AT ALL impact my evaluation  )

 

-M

 

-M

 

[+Teleprompter]

1 hour ago, MacRorie said:

That is a very nice video.  Really shows the difference! (and the fact that we were in there for a wee bit as well doesn't AT ALL impact my evaluation  )

 

-M

 

-M

 

Lol, sorry I didn't mention more on TBA but I did put all the ordering details in the description and I made certain to leave the shipping labels on the box for all to see :-)  TBA is awesome and love Simius for this.  Thanks for checking out the video.

[+MacRorie]

2 minutes ago, Teleprompter said:

Lol, sorry I didn't mention more on TBA but I did put all the ordering details in the description and I made certain to leave the shipping labels on the box for all to see 🙂 TBA is awesome and love Simius for this.  Thanks for checking out the video.

To be clear. I was not complaining at all!  The exact opposite, really, everything you did was PERFECT, I was saying that your mentions were great and did not at ALL impact my glowing evaluation   Seriously, a really good video.  

[pseudografx]

My installation (done by a friend) turned out great. I was worried that miniHDMI might not fit in the RF hole, but it did. 🙂

Some photos and screenshots below.

Edited 18 hours ago by pseudografx

[Stokestack]

That's tidy! Not a fan of sub-full-size HDMI ports, but that does provide a non-destructive solution without a dangling wire. So your friend desoldered and removed the original RF jack? I haven't even opened up my 800 and Sophia kit yet.

[pseudografx]

17 minutes ago, Stokestack said:

That's tidy! Not a fan of sub-full-size HDMI ports, but that does provide a non-destructive solution without a dangling wire. So your friend desoldered and removed the original RF jack? I haven't even opened up my 800 and Sophia kit yet.

Yes, non-destructive modification was the idea. He removed the RF modulator and put the miniHDMI board in its place. Required drilling into the Atari PCB though to secure the tiny board in its place.

P.S.: There's already a hole in the right side case from back in the time, which is now used for stereo output and switches related to that.

Edited 15 hours ago by pseudografx

[Dantaipan]

On 3/17/2024 at 12:32 PM, valthonis said:

 

So to confirm, the Sophia does route the analog RGB/SYNC to the analog pins of the DVI connector?  (C1 through C5 I believe based on the docs) (and just like a normal DVI-I with the digital and analog signals)
That analog should be 15khz that I could get a DVI to VGA and then VGA to SCART adapter to connect to my RetroTink for RGB?

Here is what I do for analog RGB; cut ribbon cable 1-6 and run appropriate connections to an 8-pin mini-din. Plug a SCART cable into that and I can run it either to a retrotink or RGB monitor. For some reason I couldn't get a good sync signal from Sophia so I am grabbing it off the UAV. That could just be a quirk with my machine. For me, even when displaying on a modern display I prefer the analog RGB because I can get what to my eyes is a more accurate aspect ratio on a 16x9 monitor (RGB RT5X left, DVI right).

Edited 15 hours ago by Dantaipan