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New Atari ST to VGA adapter coming


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On 5/12/2023 at 6:51 PM, DarkLord said:

As for selectable color and mono modes, the UBE switches also have this. Some have a slide type switch

and others, like the Exxos version, require a simple momentary press to change modes.

The ability to switch from color to monochrome/high-res needs to be easy to switch... (not dip switches).  You switch back in forth so often dips would suck.

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On 5/25/2023 at 6:04 AM, TheNameOfTheGame said:

I agree, please no dip switches :).

No dip switches will be on the unit.  It will be a simple 4PDT latching pushbutton switch to go between LOW/MED Color and Monochrome HIGH mode.

 

I will be ordering prototype boards next week.  I have the final design down and already worked out in my PCB software.  I want to work on the ST multiple Video/mouse and audio switch.  So when I order i can order once for combined shipping as it will be cheaper.

 

 

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I received the prototype boards in today, damn that was fast.  DHL was really on the ball as they were just shipped Friday..

 

Here are some photos of the final product, the Prototype works perfectly.

 

support for both LOW/MED Color and HIGH Monochrome mode by using the pushbutton switch.  Adds buffering to the sync signals to stabilize video and uses a sync separator to help with that as well.

 

I am currently designing a 3D printable case and will provide the files to anyone who buys one of these puppies..

 

Remember they required a 15khz supported monitor.  See photos below...

 

These will run between $35-$40 USD + shipping without a case.  you can have yours printed once i finish the design.  Should be next day or so.

 

I have 4 of these I can build right now.  If anyone want's any then PM me.  After that I'll be throwing a pre-order up on my store.

 

Unit:

IMG_1355.JPG.45e8cc25b91524b1e21073dfdcc0efde.JPG

IMG_1356.thumb.JPG.7032cd3ded7a287fcc118f64dbd6ac18.JPG

color:

IMG_1357.thumb.JPG.4afceba1af39765ffaee87aeafc53f43.JPG

IMG_1359.thumb.JPG.9c74535d259ec157f0858b37998ff42f.JPG

Monochrome:

IMG_1360.thumb.JPG.1ac6f25cad9bf30a129b3a12580852c4.JPG

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks to @Shift838 I have my board here and hooked up.  The board is built really well.

 

st2vga.thumb.png.50e1cfbcfff7c5b6b56a8076784d1a4e.png

 

It has a fairly clean image on my Dell SE2722H when the screen has color on it but unfortunately is not the ultimate RGB to VGA solution I was hoping for.  The issue is when Black screens are displayed the vertical lines are still really pronounced.  Here is an example.

 

st2vga_dell.thumb.png.1abf6a7094a54b13602f613bf54669b5.png

 

The picture above was taken in a darkened room so the lines are a little enhanced with my phone camera, but they are still noticeable in normal use.

 

I tried adjusting the pixel clock and phase as suggested by the creator, but that didn't seem to have any effect.

 

This adapter is better than the old one I was using but still needs a little bit of work to be the champion.  I was hoping the buffered picture would have signal cleaning that would eliminate the lines but alas.  Maybe the next revision?

 

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16 hours ago, TheNameOfTheGame said:

The picture above was taken in a darkened room so the lines are a little enhanced with my phone camera, but they are still noticeable in normal use.

 

Is there 'dot crawling' in those lines or are they static?  They look a lot like what infests my 520ST and make it fairly unusable outside of an Atari monitor.

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8 hours ago, TheNameOfTheGame said:

Definitely crawling.  If I look closely at the lines, it's similar to the well-known vertical scroll from the Matrix movie except lines instead of symbols.

That dot crawling vertical striped awfulness is exactly what my 520ST (and another working 520ST motherboard) do.  It's really bad on anything other than an ST monitor, and even there you can see it a bit.  None of my other STs have anything even approaching this level of unacceptable video noise.

 

Luckily RGBtoHDMI solved it for me and it now has perfect output.

 

 

 

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Well, as I mentioned, the pictures above exaggerate it since my camera makes the image "bloom" quite a bit.  It is noticeable in normal usage, but not unusable since it is only bad in totally black screens.  And even with that, this adapter is definitely better than the ST2VGAr4 that I got from Centuriantech with regards to the lines.  Also am using a backup STE since my main STE is out of service atm for recapping and reworking of a couple other issues so when that gets back up and running maybe the situation will be better with it.

 

I guess the only foolproof solution would be something with a framebuffer.  Does the RGB2HDMI use one of those?

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9 hours ago, TheNameOfTheGame said:

It is noticeable in normal usage, but not unusable since it is only bad in totally black screens.

 

Both of the 520STs have the issue to the same degree, and it's bad outside of the Atari monitor.

 

This is the best I could make it look and it's really distractingly bad.  The more contrast that exists in solid blocks of color (and you get that often on these old platforms) the worse it is, Battlezone with it's browns is horrendous looking for example.

 

This picture looks significantly better than it does in real life because of the static nature, and that's supposed to be solid grey...

 

image.thumb.jpeg.a1c4c9d75e0063423329851e7810e0da.jpeg

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