RGB card for IIe
Knut Roll-Lund
I'm considering to buy an RGB/80-columns card for my IIe.
Will a card from USA would work for me in my European Apple IIe?
I think of the frequencies... My IIe is for 50Hz power and outputs a
50Hz signal for video. Americans use 60Hz for power and video. So would
an RGB card from US output 60Hz video in my machine which would be
incompatible with a European monitor?
If this is a problem, would it be possible to modify the card to 50Hz
(by changing a crystal or something like that)?
Knut
David Wilson
The IOU chip in the IIe is responsible for the 50/60Hz video (there are
two different versions of this chip for the IIe with the 50Hz version adding
another 50 black lines at the end of the screen). The main crystal is also
slightly different (14.318 vs 14.25 MHz).
The RGB card will just use whatever frequency the motherboard scans the RAM
at. I have a PAL IIe with a 60Hz IOU chip because I have a Sequential Systems
Meg80z card which could not handle the different refresh pattern and would
not display the first 7 pixels in DHR or 80 column modes.
You are unlikely to have the same problem - I would buy it and try it.
--
David Wilson School of IT & CS, Uni of Wollongong, Australia
Bryan Parkoff
"David Wilson" <da...@uow.edu.au> wrote in message
news:43154c45$1...@news.uow.edu.au...
and 14.318MHz crystal chip. You will need a converter box from 240 volts to
120 volts so you will be satisfied.
I have one power supply with 120 volts/240 volts switch. I connected
power supply to the dryer machine's electrical output which it handles only
240volts while my house uses 120 volts. It works very well.
Bryan Parkoff
Martin Doherty
When you say "European monitor", which monitor are you intending to use?
Do you have an AppleColor 100 RGB monitor (model A9M0308)? As far as I
know, this is the only monitor that will work with the Apple //e
Extended 80-column text/AppleColor adaptor card. This monitor uses
digital TTL RGB signals - you won't get good results if you try to use
an analog RGB monitor like the one sold for the IIGS.
Unfortunately I don't have the manual for this monitor, but the label on
the back says "Model A9M0308, 115 VAC, 60Hz, 1 Amps"
Martin
Bryan Parkoff
"Martin Doherty" <martin....@undisclosed.com> wrote in message
news:WroRe.27$Y86...@news.oracle.com...
Apple //e's RGB card with 80 column? You may know that there are some CGA
Mitsubishi monitor probably work with RGB card, but they can't be certain if
it is TTL or analog signal.
Bryan Parkoff
Martin Doherty
> Are you sure that AppleColor 100 RGB monitor (model A9M0308) will work
> Apple //e's RGB card with 80 column? You may know that there are some CGA
> Mitsubishi monitor probably work with RGB card, but they can't be certain if
> it is TTL or analog signal.
Completely sure, this is the monitor & card I use with my Apple //e. I
did a fair amount of research into this question (mostly through the
comp.sys.apple2.* archives on Google) which led me to my statement that
this is the only combination that will work on a //e ... unless there is
some third party RGB analog card I've never heard of!
Martin
Knut Roll-Lund
I'd like to improve the display of colors a bit, the composite signal
isn't too good even on a modern TV. So presently I use a green B/W
monitor with the IIe in B/W mode.
Knut
Knut Roll-Lund
> "Martin Doherty" wrote in message
I'll try to get a proper AppleColor 100 RGB eventually.
I do realize that this is a digital RGB signals.
I have two monitors that possibly can be used. One is an IBM CGA monitor
and the other is an Olivetti M24 monitor.
Knut
Bryan Parkoff
"Knut Roll-Lund" <kr-...@nogarbage.online.no> wrote in message
news:n--dnaIYO9S...@telenor.com...
If I use Mitsubishi CGA monitor with ISA card, I would require to use an
adapter from DB-9 to Apple //e RGB Card's DB-15. I don't need ISA Card
unless I connect to PC motherboard for testing.
Are you willing to sell one of your two monitors?
Bryan Parkoff
heuser...@freenet.de
>did a fair amount of research into this question (mostly through the
>comp.sys.apple2.* archives on Google) which led me to my statement that
>this is the only combination that will work on a //e ... unless there is
>some third party RGB analog card I've never heard of!
Well, there are the French "Le Chat Mauve"-cards with the product names
"Eve" and "Feline". They have the so-called "Peritel" outputs - which
is the older name of "SCART" - that provides analog RGB.
I have a Feline card that gave (defective now - didn't work in a 60 Hz
motherboard) a crisp picture. There were several problems, though:
- Generally some colors are a bit different when compared with the
composite output.
- The picture is "too blocky" in a lot of games, imho. Color dithering
does not work because of the sharpness - they don't blend into each
other anymore.
- Even worse: The double hires mode is strictly 140x192 - which means
no hires text (the pixels get colored like in a GS). Noticable in for
example Penguin graphics adventures or Dazzle Draw.
When used for the standard 80 character mode the card is great, though.
If you can live with the "height compressed" picture of 50 Hz PAL
Apples...
bye
Marcus
David Wilson
>>I'm considering to buy an RGB/80-columns card for my IIe.
>>Will a card from USA would work for me in my European Apple IIe?
One thing to watch out for - in the NTSC IIe the Aux slot is near the power
supply while on PAL motherboards it is in-line with slot 3. Depending on
the design of the card it is possible for a card meant for one motherboard
not to fit physically in the other.
Bill Garber
> >Knut Roll-Lund <kr-...@nogarbage.online.no> writes:
>>>I'm considering to buy an RGB/80-columns card for my IIe.
>
>>>Will a card from USA would work for me in my European Apple IIe?
>
> One thing to watch out for - in the NTSC IIe the Aux slot is near the
> power
> supply while on PAL motherboards it is in-line with slot 3. Depending on
> the design of the card it is possible for a card meant for one motherboard
> not to fit physically in the other.
How well he knows that. :o)
How are those ram cards, David.
I haven't used yet what I got from
you, but I'm working on it.
ProDOS 8 first, I think. :o)
Bill Garber
Roger Johnstone
There are several analogue RGB cards that work in a IIe. I've got a
Taxan-Kaga RGB IIB card (works in slot 7 of a II or IIe), and there are
the RGB option cards for auxilliary slot memory cards like the Applied
Engineering RamWorks which have both digital and analogue outputs.
--
Roger Johnstone, Invercargill, New Zealand
http://vintageware.orcon.net.nz/
________________________________________________________________________
No Silicon Heaven? Preposterous! Where would all the calculators go?
Kryten, from the Red Dwarf episode "The Last Day"
Knut Roll-Lund
No, sorry, I normally use the CGA monitor with a PC-AT with a Video-7
CGA card. The Olivetti monitor belongs to the M24. It has a DB-25 but it
has the same signals as a CGA card. I think it should also work.
So the Apple might borrow a monitor for some time only. I would want to
have a matching Apple monitor.
BTW the Olivetti M24 is a 16 bit 8086, PC-XT compatible but twice as
fast. The graphics is better than CGA, in some games Tandy mode work. It
was pretty hot before the PC-AT came.
Knut
Knut Roll-Lund
Yes, it is typical.
I have several TRS-80s too, so the older monitor (modified B&W
television) is so blurry that the flickering of access to the video ram
is not very noticeable (nicknamed fuzzograph by someone on
comp.sys.tandy). The Philips monitor I also use is crisp and the
flickering can even be annoying. It is the Philips I now often use with
the IIe (in B&W mode).
Actually many old games are noticeably blocky, probably mostly to save
CPU. We are spoiled with good graphics nowadays. I just played again the
original Myst and its graphics are longer as stunning as they once was...
Knut