A2024 monitor experiences?
Wolfgang von Hansen
I'd like to know if it's worth buying an A2024 monitor. If you can answer
one or more of the following questions, please write me a mail.
I don't have the time to read news every day ;-). If somebody is interested
in the answers, please write me a short mail and I will send you all the
letters that I have received (if they are worth to be remailed ;-).
* How is the A2024 connected to the Amiga?
* What resolutions are available? Under which chip set/KS versions?
* Is the picture really non-interlaced? How is it anyway?
* I've heard, that the A2024 is quite slow with highspeed motion on the screen.
How about textscrolling?
* Is it incompatible to some software? Which?
Has anybody experiences with PasTeX and the A2024?
* Can the A2024 handle graphics with more than four colors?
Do they look allright?
* Are there any known hardware bugs? (remember the 1084 :-( )
* If you own a A2024, would you buy it again? Why? Why not?
* If you do not own a A2024, why didn't you buy one? ;-)
Thanx 4 ur help, Wolfgang
Christian Sarrasin
> * How is the A2024 connected to the Amiga?
The A2024 is connected through the standard RGB interface that comes with
every Amiga, making it usable on any model, which is real cool!
> * What resolutions are available? Under which chip set/KS versions?
The resolutions are mainly the ones that are available with ks1.3, that is:
(all screen-dimensions Pal, non-interlaced): LowRes (320x256), LowRes Inter-
laced (320x512), HiRes (640x256) & HiRes Interlaced (640x512).
These modes are even available on a vanilla a500. The 2024 doesn't support
interlace very well though (maybe you can add a few (typically about 10)
horizontally, but that's all. Also, while the interlacer is on, the monitor
struips a few lines (1-2 pixel wide) from the bottom of the screen. I think
this appears with all desinterlacers anyway.
Plus there is one special resolution, which is - I believe - twice the HiRes
size: (1280x1024). However, such a screen size will require quite some
chip-mem (so you will need at least a 1Meg Agnus), and the screen-refresh
rate is quite slow (since it has four times the HiRes size in surface).
You may choose a higher refresh rate at CPU-performance expense. Anyway,
this mode is IMHO too large to work with, unless your applications supports a
real *huge* font. The refresh speed is also quite a problem...
> * Is the picture really non-interlaced? How is it anyway?
The picture is 100% uninterlaced. The 2024 has a kind of desinterlacer
internally. The picture is quite stable, and look good.
> * I've heard, that the A2024 is quite slow with highspeed motion on the
> screen. How about textscrolling?
That's true: the monitor (or is it the desinterlacer? - ask a techie) has a
special "hi-remanescence" display which displays the pixels longer than
casual ones. This allows for a display that really doesn't flicker (even less
than a Mac b&w screen IMHO). A drawback is that every moving objects on the
screen seems to leave a trail behind them, as you move them fast. This
unfortunately includes text scrolling, which can be quite painful to look at
indeed! When scrolling through a file with MuchMore for instance, I have to
stop the text scrolling to be able to read what's just appeared.
> * Is it incompatible to some software? Which?
> Has anybody experiences with PasTeX and the A2024?
In its normal modes, it is totally transparent to the systems, so it works
with each piece of software that other monitors do. In the very HighRes mode,
you might notice some incompatiblities, mainly with softs that cannot handle
such a large screen. I use it quite often with PasTeX, and it works like a
charm...
> * Can the A2024 handle graphics with more than four colors?
> Do they look allright?
No, they definitely do not look alright, and that can be real annoying. The
2024 has four true greytons, and several "parasit" ones. Anyway, the colors
have to be set in a pretty special ways, in order to be displayed right by
the 2024. Standard 1.3 colors are alright, but standard 2.04 aren't :-( If
you have 2.04, you can try the palette preference editor, and use the 2024
preset to see what the best colors for 2024 actually look like... ugly! ie:
if you have two monitors connected to your Amiga (I have a 1950 and a 2024
connected to my 3000), and you want to switch back and forth... you'll also
have to switch colors, which can get real annoying...
> * Are there any known hardware bugs? (remember the 1084 :-( )
Once again, I am no tech guy, but I have had it for about 2 years and it seems
to work alright... However, it has started developping a strange behaviour
recently making kind of "glitches" (ie: the image suddenly disappears and then
quickly comes back). I think this is due to hot weather, but I can't be sure
anyway, it *is* annoying, and if someone knows a remedy against this, i'd be
*real* glad to hear about you!
> * If you own a A2024, would you buy it again? Why? Why not?
When I first bought my 2024, I only had a 500 with 2 megs (1 chip), and NO
flicker fixer. That was what decided me for the 2024. I could really not stand
the flicker of the interlaced modes, and yet I wanted to use my Amiga for
other things than games (ie: dtp with PageStream). The 2024 was really perfect
at that time, especially given the extremely poor quality of 1084 & clones.
Now that I have a 3000 (with integrated flickerfixer), well things look
different. However, I use the 2024 much more than the de-interlaced 1950, since
its display is definitely better and less tiring (it also has one inch more
in the diagonal which is an advantage...)
> Thanx 4 ur help, Wolfgang
Hope this helps! Please, let me know if other people also repport that
"glitches" problem, and if someone gives a remedy!
-- Christian.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"This ain't the Planet of Sound" -- Pixies
\\\ Stay tuned for more Rock'n'Roll ///
Christian Sarrasin (sarr...@eldi.epfl.ch || sarr...@disuns2.epfl.ch)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lothar Fritsch
:
: I'd like to know if it's worth buying an A2024 monitor. If you can answer
: one or more of the following questions, please write me a mail.
: I don't have the time to read news every day ;-). If somebody is interested
: in the answers, please write me a short mail and I will send you all the
: letters that I have received (if they are worth to be remailed ;-).
:
: * How is the A2024 connected to the Amiga?
To the normal Amiga video port. But it uses the digital RGB pins to transmit
some data to the monitor.
: * What resolutions are available? Under which chip set/KS versions?
All normal Amiga resolutions *WITHOUT* Overscan! The monitor begins to behave
strange with overscanned pictures.
Additionally there is a 1008x1024 4 color mode. You get a disk with a new
graphics , exec & intuition.library that can be load to RAM. So the Workbench
and any software that works on workbench (and allows you to drag it's windows
to any size) can use the resolution. Boy, it really looks like a workstation.
Under Kickstart 2.0 the 2024 is supported by the workbench.
The 2024 is the only reasonable monitor for Amiga unix if you need high
resolution and don't want to buy the Tiga card.
: * Is the picture really non-interlaced? How is it anyway?
Yep,no interlace. The cost: slower picture refresh rates. Some 2024 aren't
adjusted very good, but if you own a screwdriver ... :-)
: * I've heard, that the A2024 is quite slow with highspeed motion on the screen.
It is definitive NOT made for displaying animation.
: How about textscrolling?
As Amigas have a slow textscrolling -> not a problem.
:
: * Is it incompatible to some software? Which?
2 Problems:
- default overscan screens
- a palette that ends up in a grey screen on the 2024
: Has anybody experiences with PasTeX and the A2024?
As PasTex opens its own lace/nolace screen, it works as long as you don't have
a workbench that is too much in overscan.
: * Can the A2024 handle graphics with more than four colors?
: Do they look allright?
Gngngn ... it just displays 4 gray scales. In LoRes / Ham it looks cruel. You
need an additional color monitor for viewing graphics.
: * Are there any known hardware bugs? (remember the 1084 :-( )
Nothing happend to my 2024 yet.
: * If you own a A2024, would you buy it again? Why? Why not?
Well, as i have an A2000 and no flickerfixer, AND the 2024 is about 350 DM in
Germany .... YES. As I have a stock color monitor, games & color gfx are no
problem. I made an adapter cable for connecting both monitors at the same time
and it works.
If I had an A3000 or a flickerfixer, I would think about getting one of these
17" Multiscan-Color-Thingies that are about 1400 DM, as I had the chance to
see WB 2.0 in color in 672x580 recently ... it looks great!
Lothar
--
Lothar Fritsch, Student der Universitaet des Saarlandes, Fachb. Informatik
e-mail: fri...@fsinfo.cs.uni-sb.de phone: (ger) 06821-72562
"You don't have to sleep to see nightmares." - (Anne Clarke)
Winfried.Krueger
>vha...@ipfp.bau-verm.uni-karlsruhe.de (Wolfgang von Hansen) writes:
>>: Has anybody experiences with PasTeX and the A2024?
>As PasTex opens its own lace/nolace screen, it works as long as you don't have
>a workbench that is too much in overscan.
You can have the PasTeX previewer on its own A2024 screen (1008x1024)
without any problems: looks great because the whole page is on the screen
and you can still read everything.
>Lothar
winnie.
Heinz Wrobel
>Plus there is one special resolution, which is - I believe - twice the HiRes
>size: (1280x1024). However, such a screen size will require quite some
It's 1008x800 with NTSC and 1008x1024 with PAL.
>chip-mem (so you will need at least a 1Meg Agnus), and the screen-refresh
>rate is quite slow (since it has four times the HiRes size in surface).
>You may choose a higher refresh rate at CPU-performance expense. Anyway,
>this mode is IMHO too large to work with, unless your applications supports a
>real *huge* font. The refresh speed is also quite a problem...
Note: This is only the update rate of the display's contents i.e the text
you have on screen. The display _refresh_ rate is 50/60Hz PAL/NTSC.
I use it with a CGTimes 30 for screen titles and a courier 18 for text.
Really nice for programming!
>-- Christian.
--
Heinz Wrobel, Edotronik GmbH (ECG018)
FAX +49 89 850 51 25 / TEL +49 89 850 25 20 (HOME!&VOICE, sometimes...)
Path: cbmvax.commodore.com!cbmehq!cbmger!edohwg!heinz
"It's good to have a mouse, it's faster if you can do without one..."
"He who doesn't develop with an A2024 doesn't know about font independent
user interfaces..."
Dale Luck
>It's 1008x800 with NTSC and 1008x1024 with PAL.
>
Actually the monitor can do 1024x800 60hz with WB2.0 and ECS chips. Thats
the default the X11 uses. At 50hz it is 1024x1024. Hopefully in the next
release of WB they fix this so you get an extra 16 columns.
Dale