DigiView / DigiDroid owners needed

[a_petri]

Dear Amigos,

is there anyone of you in possession of a Digi-Droid (a color filter changer accessory for the NewTek DigiView video digitizer)?

I would like to know the wiring of the cable that goes between the Digi-Droid and the Amiga joystick port.

(I've acquired an external genlock / video mixer box, manufactured by some long-gone German company, that claims to contain a color splitter which can emulate the Digi-Droid, but I don't have the appropriate cable so the DigiView software still tells me that I have no Digi-Droid...)

Thank you very much in advance

Andras Petri

Sorry for Negro-bumping this thread. I have the same
questions, but found already some few answers.
The thread starter seems to be still active here.
Is there still interest too, to find a solution?

Stefan

I also want to build my own DigiDroid. Ten years ago, I lent the Genlock you already mentioned. It was a nice thing if you connected a (colo(u)r) video cam.
But my intention was, and still IS, to scan a color picture with a black'n white camera.
The Genlock wasnt mine and I thought I'll get an DigiDroid from ebxy- so I didnt open
the Genlock to have a look at it.

Last days, I got a Sirius Genlock ;-)
You may check the files appended.
I bet the shorted pins 4 and 6 is for the
software, recognizing the presence of
a hardware.
I do not own the cable between Amiga (Joystick Port 2) and Genlock.
I HOPE, it is one by one connected.

Inside the Genlock both pins go to a quad NOR IC.
On the same IC pins, there is a pull up resistor, keeping
the inputs on high level.

So far so good.
Somebody any idea(s) what the hell...
I would use an arduino and a servo to
build my own DigiDroid. But how they
told the DigiDroid R / G / B via ONE wire???

Any suggestions welcome!!!

Stefan

[a_petri]

Please be patient - I'll dig out my device from the garage, open it and check what it does with the port signals.

Meanwhile, my idea is that the communication between the Digi-Droid and the mouse/joystick port surely requires *two* signals. One is an output signal that tells the Digi-Droid to start rotating the filter wheel, and one is an input signal that tells the computer that the filter did a 120-degree rotation.

The input signal must be on pins 4+6, as you've discovered. The output signal, I reckon, should be on pin 5 or pin 9 (these two pins of the Amiga mouse/joystick ports can be programmed for output).

The protocol itself, I think, would be something very simple:
output signal goes HIGH
-> DigiDroid's motor starts turning
-> filter wheel reaches the "best" position for a specific color
-> one, two or three bumps or notches on the wheel close (or open) a microswitch
-> input signal gives one, two or three pulses (positive or negative)
-> a short time after the first pulse, output signal goes LOW
-> motor stops.
Or something like this.
Of course I may be wrong, but I believe that this is not very far from the real one.


Regards

Andras Petri

Well, my expection is, the pins 4 n' 6 are the amiga output / genlock input.
There is no need for a genlock to give feedback to the Computer, so it should be
The Computers output? On the other hand, the connection cable can cross the
lines/pins. Please keep also in mind, the NOR IC Pins are definitly "input".
I will test the Amiga outputs with an Oszilloskop.

Please let's stay in contact ;-)

Stefan

I'd like to mention an input of 5505dieter
from a1k.org. He claims, the appended picture
is the pinout of the Genlock / Splitter cable.
I could not verify it yet, but it's the only source
we have anyway :-)
I thought it isa good idea to collect all informations
in one thread.

To be continued...

Stefan