Picasso 96 / GBAII++ issues

[wazza]

I have built a system recently as follows:

Checkmate 1500+ case
A500+ main board
TF536 accelerator
Indivision ECS V2
GBAII++ graphics card in the Zorro adapter provided with the Checkmate case

I am running Kickstart 3.1 which seems to provide by far the best performance with the TF536.

Everything is running nicely in Workbench with the graphics card providing high resolutions at a nice responsive speed, until I do either of the following:

- Try to set a picture as Workbench background in a P96 screen mode.

- Load IBrowse

Either of the above actions crashes the system resulting in a guru, then a red screen upon reboot (after the TF536 has done its flashing colour initialisation thing) and have to cold boot to get the system going again.

I don't have much knowledge of RTG as I've only ever owned the wedge systems in the past. Any clues as to what is going wrong here please?

[indigolemon]

When it gurus, what error code are you getting? 8000 000B by any chance?

[wazza]

Originally Posted by indigolemon

When it gurus, what error code are you getting? 8000 000B by any chance?

No, I am actually getting two different codes.

When I try and set wallpaper, it gives me error 8000 0003

and when trying to load IBrowse, error 8000 0025

[wazza]

I also should perhaps have added that, when I try either of these things in a native screen mode, they work OK.

[utri007]

What kind of picture? IFF or JPG? What datatypes you are using?

[wazza]

I converted them to 32 colour IFFs on an image converter on the PC. They load fine on a High Res Interlaced screen on the Amiga so I had assumed that it wasn't an issue with the file format. The crash only happens on a P96 screen mode.

[E-Penguin]

I have pretty much this set up, I'll see if I can find time to play this evening.

Which version of P96 are you running?

[E-Penguin]

Looks like I'll need to wait for my new PSU. I'm having problems turning the damned thing on at the moment.

[wazza]

Originally Posted by E-Penguin

I have pretty much this set up, I'll see if I can find time to play this evening.

Which version of P96 are you running?

Thanks! I am running the version of P96 as purchased from Individual.

I haven't had much time to try messing with this recently but I'm inclined to start again with a fresh install of WB3.1. This one has newicons installed but I've noticed that now, when I switch back to a native screen mode, the icons are graphically corrupted when I click on them.

[Thomas Richter]

Originally Posted by wazza

- Try to set a picture as Workbench background in a P96 screen mode.

Which picture.datatype? Note that the original picture.datatype that came with 3.1 is completely unable to handle high-color or true-color screens. Please upgrade to 3.1.4, it's picture.datatype can handle this case fine.


There is a replacement coming with P96, though it is really behind the version from 3.1.4, and it is essentially not maintained.

[wazza]

Originally Posted by Thomas Richter

Which picture.datatype? Note that the original picture.datatype that came with 3.1 is completely unable to handle high-color or true-color screens. Please upgrade to 3.1.4, it's picture.datatype can handle this case fine.


There is a replacement coming with P96, though it is really behind the version from 3.1.4, and it is essentially not maintained.

I have done a fresh install of the classic workbench ADVSP pack which appears to come with picture datatype v42. I can now get the classic workbench wallpaper to display OK in the P96 screenmodes without crashing. However, trying to load my own wallpaper still crashes the system, so I assume there is a problem with the files I've created.

I have also noticed that, after I've installed the P96 package, if I go back to a native screen mode like Hi Res Interlaced in Workbench using the Indivision ECS v2, the icons appear all corrupted (I think the classic WB installation is using newicons).

I have purchased 3.1.4 and I've tried it before on this machine but it seems that the TF536 performs optimally on WB3.1 after running CPU FASTROM. I've tried an installation of 3.1.4 using MUFASTROM (as the CPU command no longer includes the fastrom option) but the overall performance is just not the same. I do remember Stephen Leary saying that the card works best with 3.1. I think maybe I'm just trying to use a combination of various bits of hardware that don't play nicely together.

[Thomas Richter]

Originally Posted by wazza

I have done a fresh install of the classic workbench ADVSP pack which appears to come with picture datatype v42.

Use the one that comes with 3.1.4. Really. I mean it.

Originally Posted by wazza

I can now get the classic workbench wallpaper to display OK in the P96 screenmodes without crashing. However, trying to load my own wallpaper still crashes the system, so I assume there is a problem with the files I've created.

Hard to say. In which format are they? If it is ILBM, you also need the ilbm.datatype from 3.1.4.

Originally Posted by wazza

I have also noticed that, after I've installed the P96 package, if I go back to a native screen mode like Hi Res Interlaced in Workbench using the Indivision ECS v2, the icons appear all corrupted (I think the classic WB installation is using newicons).

Are you using some hack to move the icons to fast RAM? Don't do that. Or use the "Native" driver from Aminet. Again, this works for 3.1.4. Not for 3.1 which cannot move icons to another memory. Avoid FBLIT.

Originally Posted by wazza

I have purchased 3.1.4 and I've tried it before on this machine but it seems that the TF536 performs optimally on WB3.1 after running CPU FASTROM. I've tried an installation of 3.1.4 using MUFASTROM (as the CPU command no longer includes the fastrom option) but the overall performance is just not the same.

The two commands are, however, essentially doing the same on a hardware level, so there is something else wrong. Does this card have autoconfiguring fast RAM? If not so, you better add the memory in ENVARC:MMU-Configuration *and not* by some obscure command in the startup-sequence.

[wazza]

Originally Posted by Thomas Richter

Use the one that comes with 3.1.4. Really. I mean it.


The two commands are, however, essentially doing the same on a hardware level, so there is something else wrong. Does this card have autoconfiguring fast RAM? If not so, you better add the memory in ENVARC:MMU-Configuration *and not* by some obscure command in the startup-sequence.

OK, I copied over the picture.datatype from my WB3.1.4 disc and that has stopped the system crashing when I changed the wallpaper or loaded certain software (IBrowse, iGame). Thank you Thomas for the advice!

The TF536 does auto-config the fast RAM. I am not sure what the problem is with the card and OS 3.1.4, but in my experience, the IDE speed is quite slow and software that would require full 50mhz performance, such as ADoom, does not run as nicely. I'm not technically minded enough to fathom out the reasons for this, but I do remember Stephen Leary saying that he does not own or support 3.1.4 and the card was designed with 3.1 in mind.

I will use 3.1.4 on one of my other machines instead. Thanks again for your helpful advice.

[JustPhil]

Hey i have a gbaII++ rtg card that i can't seem to get a display out of.

I installed the picasso 96 drivers making sure I selected the piccolo sd64 driver in particular.
I installed the gbaII++ driver software.
I went into prefs/picasso96 mode and assigned settings to the card.
The driver installers recognise the chip i have on my card.
WhichAmiga recognises the card and how much memory it has.
Sysinfo recognises the card and how much memory it has.
But when i change the screen settings i get nothing, the Denise output goes grey but the rtg never displays anything, I've tried a couple of versions of both drivers and a couple of different monitors but still, nothing.

At this point I'm stuck, I've got nothing everything should be working but it just refuses and I can't come up with a solution any help would be great and frankly a bloody relief at this point.

[Jpor]

Originally Posted by JustPhil

Hey i have a gbaII++ rtg card that i can't seem to get a display out of.

I installed the picasso 96 drivers making sure I selected the piccolo sd64 driver in particular.
I installed the gbaII++ driver software.
I went into prefs/picasso96 mode and assigned settings to the card.
The driver installers recognise the chip i have on my card.
WhichAmiga recognises the card and how much memory it has.
Sysinfo recognises the card and how much memory it has.
But when i change the screen settings i get nothing, the Denise output goes grey but the rtg never displays anything, I've tried a couple of versions of both drivers and a couple of different monitors but still, nothing.

At this point I'm stuck, I've got nothing everything should be working but it just refuses and I can't come up with a solution any help would be great and frankly a bloody relief at this point.

Take a step back here;

Which Amiga Model are you using?

Have you tried the card in another Zorro-II/III slot?

After the driver has been installed you have a GBPA-II/ Picollo SD 64 monitor file in /Devs/monitors ?

When you installed Picasso 96 did you run the setup again to set the monitor settings?

When you went into Picasso 96 To setup screen modes, did you attach the GBPA-II board from the top down menu? Before attempting to attach screenmodes and testing?

All I can say I bought one of these boards recently from an EBay buyer who provided me with a small DVD disc with all the drivers etc and followed the instructions step-by-step. One stumbling block I had was the card wasn’t being detected properly unless I swapped it into a different Zorro slot.
This is on a A1200 using a MicroNik 6860 Rev 5.44 Zorro-II Busboard.

[JustPhil]

I'm using an A2000 with a tf536 accelerator (68030&64mb ram) and Amiga OS 3.1 and I'm guessing you bought your card from the same seller i did (retroguru?) I've followed every step outlined and I've tried a couple of different versions of the drivers, multiple monitors on multiple all the Zorro slots the picture above is the end result of many hours of diagnosis (originally i got no display at all) I'm at the end of my rope here, no matter what I try I can't get this damn thing to work...

[Jpor]

Originally Posted by JustPhil

I'm using an A2000 with a tf536 accelerator (68030&64mb ram) and Amiga OS 3.1 and I'm guessing you bought your card from the same seller i did (retroguru?) I've followed every step outlined and I've tried a couple of different versions of the drivers, multiple monitors on multiple all the Zorro slots the picture above is the end result of many hours of diagnosis (originally i got no display at all) I'm at the end of my rope here, no matter what I try I can't get this damn thing to work...

You might need to change the settings to the screenmodes in Picasso96.

See here;

[ Show youtube player ]

[ Show youtube player ]

My dell monitor works with the presets given. But my Samsung and Panasonic TVs with VGA don’t and you have to change the settings.

[wazza]

Originally Posted by Jpor

My dell monitor works with the presets given. But my Samsung and Panasonic TVs with VGA don’t and you have to change the settings.

I also use my card with a Dell monitor and haven't had any problems with that. I've not tried it on any other screens.

[JustPhil]

This is my current rtg display, the settings are 800 x 600 set at 8 bit colour. Whatever settings i use I get the same thing just with variation in the colours....
Going to try the settings suggested by Jpor, i just realised i refer to a picture that I didn't upload. Sorry new to site.

[Jpor]

Originally Posted by JustPhil

Attachment 73928
This is my current rtg display, the settings are 800 x 600 set at 8 bit colour. Whatever settings i use I get the same thing just with variation in the colours....
Going to try the settings suggested by Jpor, i just realised i refer to a picture that I didn't upload. Sorry new to site.

Which monitor are you using?

Normally when a setting doesn’t work on a monitor I get a menu message off the monitor saying display out of range or something like a blank black screen on testing.

Worth a shot with changing the clock setting on Picasso96. Hopefully those YouTube vids will give you an idea.