Amiga 500 compatibility question
Spurious - Z.L.O.
and I have a few questions. I used to live in Europe before I moved to N.
America, and from over there I brought some Amiga 500 games. I'm almost
positive that those games were available only to the European market (e.g.
Virocop, Ruff'n'Tumble, etc...). My questions are:
1. Is it possible to run games on it which I brought over from Europe (I
suspect not)?
2. If the answer to the 1st question was no, then what would be the easiest
and most efficient way in order for me to play those European games here in
Canada?
Thanks.
Christian Link
On Sun, 05 Aug 2001 00:43:44 GMT, "Spurious - Z.L.O."
<master...@ninjaclan.com> wrote:
>I'm about to purchase a used North American Amiga 500 system here in Canada
[...]
>1. Is it possible to run games on it which I brought over from Europe (I
>suspect not)?
I admit I'm no expert in these PAL/NTSC things, and especially not on
AMIGA systems, but as far as I know, most "PAL" games would work on
NTSC machines. The ones that don't, usually are ones that use the
additional screen lines, and I haven't seen many of them (Most run in
320X200, anyway). I doubt if the actual timing should be a problem,
though.
And if, _maybe_ switching the machine into PAL mode would do the trick
(I just don't know if this just affects the screenmodes, or if it also
changes the timing).
>2. If the answer to the 1st question was no, then what would be the easiest
>and most efficient way in order for me to play those European games here in
>Canada?
If the answer really is now, which I doubt but want to leave to the
more experienced US AMIGA users around here, you may solve your
problem by simply buying a PAL AMIGA and running it via a suitable
transformator. Most Commodore RGB monitors can display both modes,
anyway, whether you buy them in the states or in Europe.
Uh well, I hope I haven't written total crap now... As I said, I never
had to mess with PAL vs. NTSC problems on the AMIGA, I admit.
Greetings,
Chris.
mykrowyre
had a bios option to run PAL or NTSC. Most games worked fine on the 500
except that the display might hang off the bottom of the screen a little.
This could be fixed with a PAL loader program which would correct the minor
problems between PAL and NTSC as far as software went... I even used the PAL
version of Imagine 3d on my 500 and 1200.
-tom
Jukka Aho
> 1. Is it possible to run [PAL] games on [an NTSC Amiga 500]
The early Amigas (i.e. the oldest A500's, A1000's and A2000's)
had been hardwired to do either PAL or NTSC.
The more recent ones - the models with an ECS or AGA chipset -
could change the mode programmatically, but were still jumpered
to boot up in either PAL or NTSC. (It was also possible to upgrade
the olders models to have this capability, by changing the Agnus
chip on the motherboard to a newer version.) Some people built a
switch over the jumper block so they could flick it to either
PAL or NTSC setting at the boot time.
The other way to get around the video standard problem was to use
special bootblock loaders or other utilities which let you change
the mode before actually booting the game.
The newest models (with ECS/AGA chipset _and_ Kickstart 2.01 or
newer) have a boot up menu where one can set the video mode
according to his preferences.
* * *
So, it's generally possible, but the easiest way to do it depends
on your particular configuration and needs. The PAL games will
usually run on an NTSC machine even without changing the mode,
but if they use the full PAL resolution (256 scanlines instead
of 200), the lower part of the screen will get chopped off.
Also note that in order to run PAL modes, you probably need to use
a video monitor (such as C=1084) instead of a TV set, since most
NTSC TV sets do not sync to PAL's 50 Hz.
You can get more information by asking the same question in the
comp.sys.amiga.* newsgroups. This newsgroup is mostly about the
8-bit Commodore machines, not Amigas.
-- znark
Local H/BCI/R64/SYS
news:9kqcjt$mt8$1...@tron.sci.fi...
> "Spurious - Z.L.O." <master...@ninjaclan.com> wrote:
>
> > 1. Is it possible to run [PAL] games on [an NTSC Amiga 500]
>
>
> So, it's generally possible, but the easiest way to do it depends
> on your particular configuration and needs. The PAL games will
> usually run on an NTSC machine even without changing the mode,
> but if they use the full PAL resolution (256 scanlines instead
> of 200), the lower part of the screen will get chopped off.
>
(since most games are interrupt-based to allow smooth scrolling) then you
might have some slowdown, similar to C64 games.
> Also note that in order to run PAL modes, you probably need to use
> a video monitor (such as C=1084) instead of a TV set, since most
> NTSC TV sets do not sync to PAL's 50 Hz.
>
Not all 1084's will display PAL. I used to have one (a 1084S actually) that
wouldn't sync no matter what I did. I tweaked the v-hold, nothing. But, the
1084 (non-stereo) that I have now syncs perfectly. I like the way the A3000
handles it, with it's 15KHz and 31KHz outputs...it's nice to use a VGA
monitor and have access to all modes.
MagerValp
JA> The more recent ones - the models with an ECS or AGA chipset -
JA> could change the mode programmatically, but were still jumpered
JA> to boot up in either PAL or NTSC.
Actually my OCS kick 1.3 A500 could also change between PAL and NTSC,
so this feature was introduced in some OCS revision.
--
___ . . . . . + . . o
_|___|_ + . + . + . . Per Olofsson, konstnär
o-o . . . o + Mage...@cling.gu.se
- + + . http://www.cling.gu.se/~cl3polof/
Jukka Aho
> Actually my OCS kick 1.3 A500 could also change between PAL and
> NTSC, so this feature was introduced in some OCS revision.
I believe this feature was linked to the Agnus chip revision.
Some late KS1.3 A500's already had the "Obese" Agnus installed
at the factory, even though they didn't have the rest of the
ECS chipset. I had one of these machines before I traded it
for an A3000.
The "Obese" Agnus had a specific pin for jumpering the machine
to boot up in either PAL or NTSC mode by default. It was also
possible to change the mode programmatically, on the fly. I
believe these features weren't there in the earlier revision
of the same chip, the "Fat Agnus".
Another new feature in the "Obese" Agnus was the capability of
addressing 1 MB CHIP RAM. The machine was not configured in the
1 MB CHIP mode at the factory since KS1.3 A500s only had 512K
memory installed on the motherboard. If you, however, had the
512K memory expansion card installed in the trapdoor, you could
change into the 1 MB CHIP mode simply by moving a jumper on the
motherboard.
As soon as I learned about these "hidden" features, I drilled
two holes in the case and installed switches for both the PAL/NTSC
bootup-time video mode selection and the 1MB CHIP vs. 512K CHIP +
512K SLOW memory configuration options.
-- znark
MagerValp
JA> Another new feature in the "Obese" Agnus was the capability of
JA> addressing 1 MB CHIP RAM. The machine was not configured in the 1
JA> MB CHIP mode at the factory since KS1.3 A500s only had 512K memory
JA> installed on the motherboard. If you, however, had the 512K memory
JA> expansion card installed in the trapdoor, you could change into
JA> the 1 MB CHIP mode simply by moving a jumper on the motherboard.
Yeah, I did that. Didn't have a soldering iron, so I had to superglue
a piece of tin over the jumper. Worked just fine though :)
Ville Jouppi
wrote:
>Hi,
>
>On Sun, 05 Aug 2001 00:43:44 GMT, "Spurious - Z.L.O."
><master...@ninjaclan.com> wrote:
>
>>I'm about to purchase a used North American Amiga 500 system here in Canada
>
>[...]
>
>>1. Is it possible to run games on it which I brought over from Europe (I
>>suspect not)?
>
>I admit I'm no expert in these PAL/NTSC things, and especially not on
>AMIGA systems, but as far as I know, most "PAL" games would work on
>NTSC machines. The ones that don't, usually are ones that use the
>additional screen lines, and I haven't seen many of them (Most run in
>320X200, anyway). I doubt if the actual timing should be a problem,
>though.
True, most pal games run in NTSC screenmodes, although they have pal refresh
rates -> empty area on the bottom of the screen.
>And if, _maybe_ switching the machine into PAL mode would do the trick
>(I just don't know if this just affects the screenmodes, or if it also
>changes the timing).
Switching an Amiga to PAL mode makes it a PAL machine, switching to NTSC makes
it NTSC. I'm afraid the software can't change the RF-modulator or the CVBS
out, so those will still be your original NTSC or PAL.
Also keep in mind that pre-ECS Agnuses can't switch between NTSC and PAL as
well as ECS and AGA chipsets can.
>>2. If the answer to the 1st question was no, then what would be the easiest
>>and most efficient way in order for me to play those European games here in
>>Canada?
>
>If the answer really is now, which I doubt but want to leave to the
>more experienced US AMIGA users around here, you may solve your
>problem by simply buying a PAL AMIGA and running it via a suitable
>transformator. Most Commodore RGB monitors can display both modes,
>anyway, whether you buy them in the states or in Europe.
Yep, my answer to this is buy an American PSU somewhere and get yourself a
1084 monitor + cable to connect this to the Amiga. You're set.
--
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