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Author Topic: Improving the graphics capibality of an A1200  (Read 2829 times)

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Offline DBAlexTopic starter

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Improving the graphics capibality of an A1200
« on: May 29, 2008, 11:39:15 AM »
Hi,

So, I have a standard A1200 with a Blizzard Mark III 030 @ 50mhz with a 50mhz FPU and 16mb RAM, the max that it can take is 32mb which I will be upgrading to.

But I also want to upgrade the graphics capibality, at the moment i'm running on a TV at 640x256, which isn't ideal as you can probably understand.

So I want to know what the best way to get better graphics (bigger screenmodes essentially)

There are many options, some expensive (Tower, Mediator, Voodoo) and some cheap(er) (RGB -> VGA Adapter, RGB -> Scart + Bigger TV/Flat TV)

Now, I just wondered, is going all out for a tower actually worth it, It would end up costing £210 (£70 for EZ Z4 Tower + £140 for Mediator 1200LT4... The cheapest option for both) and I would only be left with an 030 machine with maximum 32mb... It would be better than AGA I suppose, but not ideal. If I had an 040 or 060 and more RAM I wouldn't think twice, but is a mediator really worth it on an 030?

I would be paying £210 and potentially more (for cards, right angled PCMCIA adapter) and would only be left with basically a slow amiga but with better graphics...

Thanks for any help, I'm really undecided at the moment, I don't use the Amiga for games really which might sway me to go for a RGB -> VGA adapter and just use any VGA monitor (Does that work in Super72, DblPal etc?)...

One last question, does anyone know if Prism2 PCI WiFi cards work in a mediator with the prism2.device drivers off-of Aminet?

Cheers, Alex.  :-D
Machines:
- A1200, Blizzard 1260 w/ 64MB RAM, 1.2GB HD, PCMCIA WiFi, AGA w/ RGB Adapter, OS3.9
- Pegasos I, G3 600Mhz, 512MB, Radeon 9200se, 80GB HD, AmigaKit WiFi Card, MOS 1.4.5
- Mac Mini, G4 1.5ghz, 512MB (1GB Soon), Radeon 9200 64MB, 80GB HD, OSX 10.5 (Leopard)
- PCs, Laptops... *yawn*... :D
 

Offline DBAlexTopic starter

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Re: Improving the graphics capibality of an A1200
« Reply #1 on: May 29, 2008, 02:47:04 PM »
@wurzel

I  mainly use the miggy for Web stuff, so IRC, Email, MSN (Through jabber transports), IBrowse (with images and javascript turned off usually). And also programming, StormC V3.0 (C & C++).

I probably would like to do some image editing etc if I had better graphics... Would TVPaint be fast enough on an 030 + Mediator? Thats a program I like using on WinUAE... :-D
Machines:
- A1200, Blizzard 1260 w/ 64MB RAM, 1.2GB HD, PCMCIA WiFi, AGA w/ RGB Adapter, OS3.9
- Pegasos I, G3 600Mhz, 512MB, Radeon 9200se, 80GB HD, AmigaKit WiFi Card, MOS 1.4.5
- Mac Mini, G4 1.5ghz, 512MB (1GB Soon), Radeon 9200 64MB, 80GB HD, OSX 10.5 (Leopard)
- PCs, Laptops... *yawn*... :D
 

Offline DBAlexTopic starter

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Re: Improving the graphics capibality of an A1200
« Reply #2 on: May 29, 2008, 02:53:16 PM »
Quote
@ Wurzel

I have driven a few automatic cars, and never hope to have to again. Automatic cars are for people not capable of using gears properly


Lol, My thoughts too but I didn't want to upset him...  ;-)
Machines:
- A1200, Blizzard 1260 w/ 64MB RAM, 1.2GB HD, PCMCIA WiFi, AGA w/ RGB Adapter, OS3.9
- Pegasos I, G3 600Mhz, 512MB, Radeon 9200se, 80GB HD, AmigaKit WiFi Card, MOS 1.4.5
- Mac Mini, G4 1.5ghz, 512MB (1GB Soon), Radeon 9200 64MB, 80GB HD, OSX 10.5 (Leopard)
- PCs, Laptops... *yawn*... :D
 

Offline DBAlexTopic starter

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Re: Improving the graphics capibality of an A1200
« Reply #3 on: May 29, 2008, 05:38:45 PM »
Quote
Quote:

    I probably would like to do some image editing etc if I had better graphics... Would TVPaint be fast enough on an 030 + Mediator?


I believe that drawing will be fast enough, but image manipulation like blur filters etc, will not be fast because it's CPU dependent.


Ok, But how slow, i'm sure it can't be any slower than applying filters on an 030 in AGA... I would probably only be resizing pictures and possibly adding some basic effects so it  probably would be ok... Of course I could just do them on this laptop instead!

 :-)
Machines:
- A1200, Blizzard 1260 w/ 64MB RAM, 1.2GB HD, PCMCIA WiFi, AGA w/ RGB Adapter, OS3.9
- Pegasos I, G3 600Mhz, 512MB, Radeon 9200se, 80GB HD, AmigaKit WiFi Card, MOS 1.4.5
- Mac Mini, G4 1.5ghz, 512MB (1GB Soon), Radeon 9200 64MB, 80GB HD, OSX 10.5 (Leopard)
- PCs, Laptops... *yawn*... :D