A1200 bad video with C= 1942
 

Hi guys,

Looking for some help getting my A1200 to play nicely with my newly acquired 1942 monitor -

I've installed the drivers and can view the various standard PAL and flicker-free-interlace resolutions, it's just that the colour is pale, and the image is small and off to the side.

I get a really clear, colourful full-screen splash screen from the Indivision ECS if I plug it into my A2000 so I'm pretty sure the monitor is good, but I just can't find any settings to get a colourful, contrastive image from the A1200.

I'm using a home-made RGB to VGA adapter made from this guide (picture attached).

Can you please post pictures of the image on the 1942?
This monitor is the best one for A1200, really...

Yeah it's beautiful, that's why I'm trying to get it running!

Will try to post pics shortly.

Photos attached. These are a fair representation of the colour difference between the 1942 and the 1084.

Like I said I'm pretty sure the monitor is good because I can get a clear splash-screen off the Indivision ECS (bright white, red, green and blue, dark blacks) but the 1200 looks all washed-out.

The official methodology for the 1942 is to set up NTSC or PAL to your satisfaction using the hardware controls (the dials under the front panel) and then to adjust the other screenmodes (Dbl, Multiscan, etc.) using Overscan prefs.

If you can’t get the 1942 to match the 1084 in hardware then there may indeed be something wrong with it. It’s a strange monitor in that the display properties in 15KHz modes are different from the properties in VGA modes (on mine, it’s almost impossible to set it so that I can switch between NTSC and Multiscan without needing to fine tune the hardware dials). In other words, the VGA side of the monitor may be working but the 15KHz side may need repair :(

I suppose it's possible, but the colour is the same regardless of whether I'm using the 15Khz modes or the 31Khz modes.

It's just odd that the 1942 doesn't have a 'colour' adjustment knob like the 1084...

That's a good sign, then.


I thought it did but I checked again and you're right. I must have been thinking of one of my 1084s (one of the later ones that looks just like the 1942).


The best thing I can suggest at this point is that you try a different adapter, if for no other reason then to rule it out as a possible point of failure.

Working! :spin

I noticed in the manual that the 1942 VGA plug has a ground wire that was not in the schematic I was following, so I added one to my self-made adapter and lo-and-behold: a perfect picture!

Now I just need to get the right drivers so I can position the productivity resolutions properly....

Happy times :D

Hooray!


As I alluded earlier, the official setup leaves much to be desired if you plan on switching between 15KHz and VGA-like modes. I remember playing with Overscan prefs and MonEd to try to improve things, but eventually I just decided to stick with plain NTSC and PAL.


(The official driver disk is intended for 3.0 systems and contains the same versions of drivers/programs that eventually shipped with 3.1, so it's not useful if you already have 3.1+.)

My experience with the 1942 was also that twiddling the knobs all the time was rather tedious. I ended up mainly running it in a single mode.

There seems to be an updated driver on Aminet that has better control over screen position in prefs which I'm going to give a try.

Do overscan and screen position settings get saved along with screenmodes?

Yes, all prefs editors have a save button.

Sweet.

And just in case anyone other than me ever hooks an A1200 up to a 1942 again - "1942patchAGA" on Aminet will setup the monitors so you don't have to adjust the screen position when swapping between resolutions.

Oh, and never start a scentence with 'and'.