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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: dougal on December 18, 2011, 04:57:14 PM
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I really miss my A4000T. It had a CSMKII 68060 @ 50Mhz, 128MB ram and a Picasso IV. OS3.9 looked amazing and was so fast it was unbelievable. And i went and bloody sold it :(
Remembering that before i had (and sold) my A4000T i did have OS3.9 installed in my older A1200 with a Blizzy 1230MKIV and 64 or 128mb ram and it was ok, i said to myself, i now have an Apollo 1240 (040 @ 28Mhz) and 16mb of ram, so OS3.9 should be ok.
So i installed it. And it looks disgusting. horrible. Ugly. I was used to it running on my A4KT at 16 million colors, 1024x768 and flicker free on a 17" VGA monitor so now seeing it running at 256 colors using the AGA chipset and using the pal screen modes its just horrible. If i set a higher res it flickers like mad and is still ugly.
So, what are my options? Is towering my only option here?
I am not buying a Blizzard PPC & Bvision because i can't afford it.
Would it cost a lot if i had to tower it ? I imagine i would need a PCI busboard, a keyboard adapter and some sort of PCI graphics card which can offer Picasso 96 modes and also native Amiga modes through the same cable (like Picasso IV).
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As far as I know your only option is indeed towering the thing and have a mediator or as such. That said maybe it's cheaper to get yourself an A4000 and trade in the A1200 with the Blizzard.
I use magicwb with OS3.1 on the A1200/030 . Using 3.9 with multiscan screenmode makes it slow.
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If you tower your A1200 and add a Mediator then you can use cheap 2nd hand 1MB or 2MB ViRGE cards which (In my experience) worked just as good as my Cybervision643D.
Also, if you get an Indivision AGA you can have some large screen modes or even widescreen. The speed isn't impressive compared to RTG and you're limited to 256 colours, but it is better than nothing.
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There's also the option of the less-pricey Zorro II busboards, I had a towered 1200 with one of those (forget which, exactly) and I stuck a Picasso II in it. The only problem with those is they're tougher to find, and you're still spending a good amount of money on the ZII video board.
The Indivision is actually decent at high res with low color modes, won't match 16.7 million of course but it might be the most realistic option.
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There's also the option of the less-pricey Zorro II busboards, I had a towered 1200 with one of those (forget which, exactly) and I stuck a Picasso II in it. The only problem with those is they're tougher to find, and you're still spending a good amount of money on the ZII video board.
The Indivision is actually decent at high res with low color modes, won't match 16.7 million of course but it might be the most realistic option.
I have got a DCE Scanmagic (without flicker fixer).
Is it possible that there are any screen modes (maybe i can download them) that can offer a nice flicker free high resolution ?
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I have got a DCE Scanmagic (without flicker fixer).
Is it possible that there are any screen modes (maybe i can download them) that can offer a nice flicker free high resolution ?
I doubt it. The Indivision is (apparently) a lot more than just a standard SDFF which is how Ratte managed to write the monitor drivers for it.