Booting PAL as default on Workbench...

[th4t1guy]

As some of you can tell, I'm trying to get my Amiga setup just right, and I keep running into stupid problems.

A lot of the hard-drive installable games I have won't run unless the machine is in PAL mode, but holding both mouse buttons down gets annoying after a while.

Is there a way I can get the machine to switch over to PAL automatically when it boots Workbench? I'd prefer to keep the NTSC screenmode for Workbench so I can see everything, but have the machine running in PAL mode so the games load. I tried some program off the Aminet called AmigatoNTSC (it includes one for PAL) but that didn't work.

[thomas]

What kind of Amiga do you have ? An A4000 can simply be changed from NTSC to PAL by changing a jumper on the motherboard. Other AGA Amigas can probably be changed as simple by soldering a small cable between some chips.

Once your Amiga is running in PAL mode, you can still change Workbench to NTSC with the Screenmode program (you need the NTSC monitor driver in Devs/Monitors).

[th4t1guy]

It's a CD32 with the SX-1 expansion. I don't want to do any soldering at all, but I was rather hoping there was something I could stick in the startup-sequence that would take care of things.

[Akira]

thomas, i'm interested in this "hack" for my A1200. do I have to install a switch there or something? would be very handy!

[th4t1guy]

Well, I was looking at CD-100 and noticed there was a program in the startup-sequence called 'PAL', so I copied that over and tried it out- with no success.

My guess is that doing this is a lot harder than I first thought it would be...

[Codetapper]

This should be very easy! If you are running WHDLoad games, you can just add the PAL tooltype to make the game run in PAL mode. If it's non WHDLoad games you should be able to download any one of the many programs on Aminet that switch. Hell, the program to switch is only one line of assembler!

[Akira]

This should be very easy! If you are running WHDLoad games, you can just add the PAL tooltype to make the game run in PAL mode.Well it certainly didn't work for me! I use Productivity mode for Workbench, and unless I booted in PAL mode (even though Productivity is not PAL nor NTSC), many WHDLoad games (Mr. Nutz springs to mind) wouldn't run, and in cases freeze the machine.

Maybe he has a similar prob. I still would like to know how to add a switch to the A1200 to make it boot in PAL automatically.

[adolescent]

Maybe he has a similar prob. I still would like to know how to add a switch to the A1200 to make it boot in PAL automatically.

Ahem, RTFM... ;) From the Amiga 1200 Hardware FAQ:


Q. Is there an internal jumper on the A1200 to set it to default to PAL or NTSC video?


A. No, but if you're really motivated, you can rig this up. My thanks to Tetsuo Oda and Byron Montgomerie, who provided the information that connecting pin 41 of the Alice custom chip to ground causes the A1200 to default to NTSC, while pulling this pin high (disconnecting it from the motherboard and connecting it to +5V through a 4.7k resistor) will make the default power-up state PAL. I would point out that making a modification like this on a surface-mount chip is difficult at best, and you may end up needing an expensive motherboard replacement, or, at worst, a dead A1200 that needs an expensive replacement motherboard available. In most cases, using the boot menu (obtained by pressing both mouse buttons on power-up or reset) to switch to PAL is sufficient. However, with some games, the hardware patch will be necessary to insure proper timing (changing to PAL via the boot menu might make a 50 Hz game run at 60 Hz timing, or vice versa).

[Akira]

Ahem, RTFM... ;) From the Amiga 1200 Hardware FAQ:Where would that FAQ be anyway?

Thanks for that, seems like I won't be trying it!

[Paul]

Where would that FAQ be anyway? Here: ;)

http://wonkity.com/~wblock/a1200/a1200.html (http://wonkity.com/%7Ewblock/a1200/a1200.html)

Edit: link added to EAB's FAQ.

[th4t1guy]

Well, the PAL tooltype has fixed most of my problems (never even knew this thing existed! Thanks!).

There's still a few games with problems, but I'll see if I can find a different version.