Santa's come early... A new scandoubler from Individual Computers

[mfletcher]

According to USPS, my card reached NYC on the 14th... hopefully it will be in Chi-town by today, if a couple of Customs officials havent jumped up and down on it first

[Charlie]

Surely my Indivision isn't already FUBAR..!

Ok, earlier this evening I flashed my Indi with the latest update...
...that scr*wed it!
No output - yes I followed the instructions...
...apart from the bit where it says save the default config - wouldn't let me.

So, plugs into telly (has S-Video, so does my A1200), has another go @ flashing & saving - no go!

Next - reflash with the older .bin file - now my Indi is back but the colours are all f*cked-up & I STILL can't save any configs. (Mostly GREEN BTW)

Yes, I've checked it's plugged in correctly. Yes, it was fine before I flashed it...

...what next?

[ppill]

I think the manual mentions a rescue floppy image available at Jens' site. Maybe try that.

[Charlie]

Thanks ppill

Phew! All good now - sometimes this Amiga ownership really isn't funny...
...one minute all is good, the next you're pooing yourself.

My Indivision is working fine again...
...what did I do wrong? Nothing seemingly - All I've done since my past panicked post is flash & re-flash my Indi until it took - which it did, finally.

Hmmm, if this is 'par for the course' I think I'll only flash my Indivision if the update is something major - my ageing ticker can't take this too often, I wonder how many flashes the Indi is good for anyway...

[Rixa]

I'm still having some ghosting at sharp edges. Took the board out, wiped Lisas pins with IPA like someone suggested, then when I put it back I pushed it as much as I could. Didn't help.

It's not a big problem, mostly just makes it annoying to hear everyone else praising how flawless their image is. It's nothing like what I'd expect from a loose fit of the board, for example like what ant512 got in comment #247. It's more analog in nature, like what a cheap and crappy VGA cable would do. And thats what I'm suspecting at the moment.. but it'd have to be the ribbon cable because I didn't have this before. I tried moving it around in case its picking up interference, but that didn't affect the picture at all.

Don't really know what more I could do about that.

Meanwhile, any tips about modifying the upper RF shield? Should I take out the entire section that sits under the hard disk caddy, or can I do with something less than that? I'm not very comfortable with modifying it and not even sure what tools to use.

[Charlie]

Hi Rixa

Most annoying problem you're having there. Mine's working v.well (when it's not scarring the poo out of me!)

RF shield:
Speaking for myself I've never seen the point - remove the whole upper half: More room, fewer cut fingers.

Image quality:
Like you to me it sounds like 'ringing' of the analogue signal somewhere along the cables...
...If my Indi's ribbon is causing no issues to me & your VGA cable has given no trouble in the past I wonder if it's possible you're just 'plain unlucky' & you've got a combination of lengths that is promoting the reflecting of signals - cable length = exact multiple of signal wave-length or some-such...
...maybe a different length VGA cable will do it..?

I suppose you could try wrapping the ribbon-cable with a grounded sheath or put one of those 'ferrite doughnuts round it if it does prove to be interference.

Regards.

*Edit*
Another thought:
What resolution(s) is your Amiga running & what kind of monitor are you using?
Could it be your monitor is making a hash of scaling the Amiga's output..?
For instance, if you have a TFT does the situation improve if you use a screen mode nearer the native aspect-ratio of said TFT?

[Zedrick]

(long time lurker, first time poster. Hello!)

Originally Posted by Rixa

Unlike many others I'm a bit disappointed at the image quality - I'm having some ghosting on the right side of sharp vertical edges. Wondering if there is a bad contact somewhere.

...

If only I could get rid of that ghosting somehow.

I had the exact same problem. Or, well, to make a short story long: to begin with I also had the "damn card won't stay in place"-problem, it was totally impossible to get the "click" on my normal a1200, but eventually I managed to get it to stick in another 1200 with a wooden kitchen... thing, and a lot of force.

However, I still had ghosting and some flickering + blue blocks next to some text (red on black background for example). Tried 3 different monitors and two different cables, and was about to give up.... When I suddenly realized that I had tried that other vga-cable only once, with the original 1200. So, 15 minutes ago I gave it one final chance with a new cable, and.... voila! Perfect picture. So I bet/hope that's your problem.

Edit: Just to clarify, the vga-cable that caused ghosting etc has never given me problems before, and words fine with a normal PC - no issues there. So changing cable, even if the one you have now if "fine", is definitely worth a try.

[Rixa]

@Charlie:
I'm using a CRT, so it's not an issue with scaling. I pretty much use only PAL and NTSC screenmodes.

@Zedrick:
Glad to hear I'm not the only one with issues and that a fix may exist. Unfortunately my VGA cable is integrated into the monitor so I can't well just try another one. Sigh.

It's my only monitor, but I'll take the computer somewhere and test it with other monitors and cables to see if that's the problem. Thanks!

[TheCorfiot]

@charlie.

mmmm, I know what you mean by one minute all working the next Frrrrttt.
Unfortunately thats the Miggy for you.
Regarding updating the Indivision, I agree with you in that only "major" updates will be flashed, felt uncomfortable enough flasing v1.1.

@rixa

I think charlie is spot on regarding reflections, you will probably find another monitor OK, What to do about it If it's a captive cable I'm not sure but you could try making a custom shielded cable for the Indivision Output.
Regarding The shield... Ok this topic will probably cause a bone of contention among people but as an engineer, I must state that the A1200 was designed with it in place (mainly to meet higher german EMI standards / FCC). You may find without the shield your miggy can radiate more & interfere with other devices, random crashes may also occour due to pickup by the miggy from other devices, ex mobile phones, Wireless devices etc.

I did cut my shield & refitted it, I used a sharp heavy duty pair of scissors & used the punched holes as a means of creating the cut out. watch the sharp edges & ensure you blunt any points with pliers or suitable tools.

To see my shield cut out visit my profile photo album & look at the A1200 restoration project.

Now whether cutting & refitting the shield was pointless I don't know but I followed Jen's recomendation that it should be refitted. It also calmed my OCD

Regards
TC

[Rixa]

Looks like you took quite a bit of the shield off, I was hoping to make do with less. The only obviously exposed conductive parts are where the VGA connector and the chip mount are soldered.

I don't have a shield here to compare to your photos, but I'm curious as to why you've taken away so much from left of the ROM chips?

[TheCorfiot]

@rixa


I Cut enough in preparation for an IDE Express which will be going in at a later date.
& then got carried away a little bit

TC

[jabsy]

Originally Posted by T_hairy_bootson

Mine should be arriving sometime this week or next week from Amigakit, damn geography.

Mine turned up today. It'll be months before I get time to fit it....

My MMC Replay also turned up, I'm sure that will get a flogging tomorrow.

[T_hairy_bootson]

Mine still hasn't arrived and I pre-ordered on the first day. I really hope it wasn't lost.

[NovaCoder]

Originally Posted by T_hairy_bootson

Mine still hasn't arrived and I pre-ordered on the first day. I really hope it wasn't lost.

Phone the post office and check it's not sitting there for you. Did you order with a tracking number? If so you can phone the head office (Auspost) and they can find out where it is. The last thing I ordered from the UK got stuck in customs for a few days.

[gklinger]

My two appear to be sitting in customs. ARGH. Fat lot of good they're doing anyone there.

[T_hairy_bootson]

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

Phone the post office and check it's not sitting there for you. Did you order with a tracking number? If so you can phone the head office (Auspost) and they can find out where it is. The last thing I ordered from the UK got stuck in customs for a few days.

Royal mail: Your item, posted on 12/09/08 with reference XXXXXXXXX has been passed to the overseas postal service for delivery in AUSTRALIA.


Australia Post:
Summary Report
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Your enquiry has resulted in no details being found for this item.

[NovaCoder]

Sorry to hear that Mr Bootson, hope it turns up soon!

Just a quite note to say that I've now got mine installed and working.

I had a few issues getting it clipped on as my IDEExpress adaptor was getting in the way so I had to remove it first. Even then I didn't manage to get the nice 'click' but it seems to be on ok.

Video quality is excellent with no ghosting or other issues (using an old 19" CRT). I'm currently running WB in 640x512 interlaced with no flicker. When I get the time I'll try and flash the sucker and install the latest version of HighGFX. I only got the chance to try a single AGA game (Pinball Fant) and it was very impressive, I can now read all the text clearly for the first time

I need to change it so it runs a 50hz to fix the scrolling in games.

Still need a solution for the mounting bracket...

[jabsy]

Originally Posted by T_hairy_bootson

Royal mail: Your item, posted on 12/09/08 with reference XXXXXXXXX has been passed to the overseas postal service for delivery in AUSTRALIA.


Australia Post:
Summary Report
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Your enquiry has resulted in no details being found for this item.

Take no notice of the tracking, mine said "no details" every day and still does now even tho it's been delivered...

[X-ray]

Noob question: can you still get output on the Amiga's RGB port (to run two screens, one TV and one VGA, same display)?

[TheCorfiot]

Originally Posted by X-ray

Noob question: can you still get output on the Amiga's RGB port (to run two screens, one TV and one VGA, same display)?

Oh Yes, But Interlaced modes will flicker & a TV will NOT display HighGFX modes.

TC