Using Newtek Flyer on A2000

[orb85750]

In order to use a Newtek Flyer on an A2000, does anyone know what the minimum Toaster board needed is?  Also, what other hardware is necessary?  Is there special cabling needed or anything at all to watch out for?  Thanks, -Dave

[rkauer]

 Just the Flyer, the 4000 version of the Toaster (will work, but not able to apply AGA effects) and a 030 + FPU or better.

 Prefer also Workbench 3.1 or better.

[orb85750]

rkauer wrote:
 Just the Flyer, the 4000 version of the Toaster (will work, but not able to apply AGA effects) and a 030 + FPU or better.

 Prefer also Workbench 3.1 or better.

Thanks, but is OS2.1 going to be a problem?  Any thoughts?

[SACC-guy]

The Flyer board connects to the toaster4000 with a flat cable.
Newtek only supported the toaster/flyer up to 3.1.

[orb85750]

SACC-guy wrote:
The Flyer board connects to the toaster4000 with a flat cable.
Newtek only supported the toaster/flyer up to 3.1.

Thanks for the info, but I'm a little unclear.  Are you saying that there is some custom cable that I'll need?  Also, the toaster/flyer is supported UP to 3.1, meaning 2.1 is OK?  

[marcfrick2112]

Hi orb85750,

Well the Toaster-to-Flyer cable is just a 20-cond ribbon cable with IDC connectors on each end. They would be fairly easy to make, if you had the materials.

Otherwise, try to contact Ed Jeffries... (I bought my 4000T Toaster/Flyer/PAR system from him), he might either have spares or can make one for you. ( I asked once about a Sync Strainer, he said he had 2 or 3 sitting in a drawer..  :-)  )

Contact:
Video Lab - Ed Jeffries
6909 Johnson Dr.
Lower-level
Mission, KS. 66202
Phone: 913-403-0045

Edit: Sorry, I can't say if 2.1 would work for the Toaster, I've only used 3.1 and 3.9 with it...

[Jeff]

I have a Toaster 4000 without the 20 pin header and (2) Toaster/Flyer systems which do have it. You might have to find another Video connector board if your Toaster is missing the header. There might still be some help in the Yahoo Video Toaster group.

Good Luck,
-Jeff

[T3000]

-Flyer needs the VT4000 card in order to function. The two cards are cabled together.
-The A2000 needs to have 2meg of chipram, an 030 and as much ram as possible. You will also need plenty of HD for the Toaster environment.
-To hook up an external Flyer drive box, a special cable is needed for the scsi drives. Two video and one for audio. These are dedicated drives. If there is room inside the A2000, standard scsi cables will work.
-A cdrom is also needed to install the Toaster/Flyer software. (floppy disk install is tedious and buggy)
-A TBC for capturing video to the Flyer is also needed.

VT/Flyer FAQ

laterz

[Matt_H]

OS2.1 should be fine. A TBC isn't needed for some modern video sources, IE, composite video out from a DVD player or MiniDV camera.

[SyrTran]

orb85750 wrote:
In order to use a Newtek Flyer on an A2000, does anyone know what the minimum Toaster board needed is?  Also, what other hardware is necessary?  Is there special cabling needed or anything at all to watch out for?  Thanks, -Dave

As has been said, you need a Toaster 4000 card.  The Flyer originally came with a replacement board for the Toaster's BNC connector board, and a 20-pin cable to connect to it.  If you don't have the BNC board, be sure the Toaster you get does (as Jeff pointed out above).

You will need 2MB chip ram.

OS versions 2.1 to 3.1 are what the software was designed for.  If you decide to upgrade to OS 3.1, be aware that it might not leave enough chip ram free, so look on Aminet for utils that move blitter objects to fast ram.

You're going to want a minimum of two hard drives - one video and one audio.  Two video drives gives you better options for editing.  Almost any drives you can get nowadays will be more than enough - 9GB gives you about 1/2 hour video and more audio than you'll ever need.

Also be aware that the Flyer is an 8-bit single-ended SCSI-2 controller.  Most new SCSI drives are 16-bit LVD and will require one or more hardware adapters.  If you'll need an adapter, you might as well find a SCSI-to-IDE adaptor and use PATA drives.  There aren't many adapters that'll allow you to use SATA drives on an 8-bit SCSI chain.