Amiga.org user Dragster was kind enough to write a small review of the new Delfina Flipper.
Hello folkz. A bit late (I've been busy at work), but here it is, the delfina flipper ed. small review.
After having the board for almost two weeks now I can say I'm very pleased with the general quality of the product.
Software installation: The board comes with two floppy disks. One of the has MUi3.8 user installation that you need to run the preferences, delfx and delfload in case you don't have it already installed (who wouldn't have it installed these days anyway???), the other disk contains AHI installation with drivers for the delfina, a programming environment for developers and the Delfina programs mentioned avobe. Installation was quite easy and flawless, there are separate installers for the delfina programs and AHI, however the included AHI version is not the latest, so, after installing you have to download latest AHI version from AHI's site or aminet (I think latestAHI version has just been uploaded to aminet by Martin B.) and replace the files manually to have the latest AHI revision installed. The other programs are installed easily and fast as they're very y small and you can install them anywhere you want. The installar also add a line to the user-startup so that the board gets initialized at every boot: DelfMem >NIL: (This program is also installed in your delfina dir where you install the rest of the programs, inside a bin: dir).
Included with the board are the usual programs that are included with the other older delfina models. These programs are: DelFX, a program to apply real time effects using the DSP, another program called DelfPrefs to set different preferences for the board: Input settings (volume, gain, mixing), and output settings (gain, volume). mix boost, etc. The program also lets youknow if with the config settings you're playing with you cause sound "clipping". The volume for inputs, output can be set by channel, so you can have a different volume level set for each. The third proggy included is delfload that graphically shows the usage of the board (basically the DSP I believe) and it's interesting to know that with most mp3 (128KHz ones) the usage level is around 54-56 % and 61% with 320 KHz mp3 files.
Connecting the board to the Amiga (physical installation): As it's already known, the delfina flipper can be connected to a clock port (ZIV's, Indiviaudl Computers boards' clock ports and 26 pin ports and amiga 1200 native clock port), so I connected it to the clock port of my VAR I/O card. Ypu have to fix the board somewhere inside the computer and isolate it so that it can't touch any metal part or other card, etc. The "manual" clearly specifies how to connect the included cable, I can say it's almost fool proof hehe. So, my board sits inside the computer (Power Tower-ed) and it's isolated with bag-like plastic. Obviously you have to fix the board somewhere inside the computer too, for this I used two small "plastic belts" usually used to fix cables, etc. The board has 2 small holes you can use to fix it whereever you think it's ok. As I mentioned in my previous post, there's no backplate with the board alone, this one will be included with the flipper interface when it comes out.
Now the software part: Up to know, every single program (mostly those on aminet) made for the delfina boards work. I've been able to play mp3 files with amplifier, Amiga Amp (using MHI driver from aminet), DelfMpeg, etc. Sound quality is quite good, you can have the board connected to your stereo at max volume and you won't hear anything (no noise). I ihavent tried other programs like SoundFX (which btw, it's not inclued with the board, contrary of what I've read for other delfina models by petsoff which were suposed to include a full version of this program).
Problems so far: Well, after entering the world of sound cards for the Amiga, as always, there are some problems just to make the life more interesting for us Amiga users
. I noticed that when you play anything thru the delfina or play mp3 files with or without the DSP, the serial connection on my Var I/O suffers a serious slowdown, so serious that I can't even download email. I started to wonder what's causing this so I contacted Jens S. regarding this issue. He stated that the board does not interfere at all with the Var I/O serial connection so I contacted the author of Delfmpeg.device Michael Henke who has been very helpful and willing to solve this problem, he's been seccessful to solve the problem with his programs, now I can surf the internet and play mp3 at the same time with his programs (delmpeg.device is used in Amiplifier to decode mp3 using the on board DSP) but the problem persists even if you play something with AmigaAmp or any other program with or without the DSP... so, I guess it's something to do with the delfina library (Michael Henke also experiences this problem but he has a Delfina 1200). Another problem is that if you set the Mixer gain for line1, line2 or CDROM in DelfPrefs above the "mute" value, a high freq. sound comes out from the delfina, something that does not seem to be normal but I still need to do more tests and ask Jens S. to know if this is something expected or not.
Well, that's it for now. I might not cover every aspect of the board, but at least I hope I can give you an idea of how good it is so that you can make your own decision wether it's worth buying or not.
Cheers
Dragster
