What is this weird RGB adapter ?

[xaccrocheur]

Hi all

On a A4000 that I bought on ebay, the C= 1942 monitor that came with it was plugged via an adaptor that, being sans digicam, I'll try to describe here :

It looks quite familiar, one could even think it's only a DB23=>DB15 adapter.
It's made of silver plastic, steel lookalike.
It sports a nive C= Logo, followed by "390682-01" embossed on one side, and nothing apart from a funny looking "4 leaf clover-like" logo on the other.

Inside, the DB23 ('Miggy side) is of the brand & type "LEOCO DG-23SL", soldered to a mini PCB w/ only one big chip, a 2x7 legs "Goldstar GD74HCT08, 9321 Korea" and a small green capacitor. Oh, and the (Leoco too) DB15 connector, and that's it.

I'm really wondering what this (the Goldstar chip) does, as it seems to come as standard, I mean bundled w/ the 4K and the C= monitor, maybe allowing to plug something else, but...

...What ? :-?


On a slightly, but not totally OT note, I'm also wondering, but this does not really need an answer : How long will it take for the technlology to come to allow hobbyists to design & produce complex PCBs of the "Amiga" Generation ?
I'm not talking about those uber-intricate 0.13µ mazes that are modern PC (&AOnes, for that matter) MoBos, but the "plain" green ones that we know & love, yes, complete with processors, I really talking home (well, at least garage) foundry ? Well OK, maybe not the Processors.
And I'm really talking about mini-companies, that would have the ability to deliver what is now only possible for quite big firms.

In fact, I'd like to know : Is PhaseIV still in business ? If not, how come that every Amiga retailer left has PIV boards in stock ? Apart from Elbox, who does Amiga68K HardWare as of now ?

I (& I'm quite everything but HW specialist) can think of a lot of reasons why the above sci-fi like scenario will never happen, the first being the bad ratio between the cost and the demand. But althought the latter is not likely to increase, the first will obviously (I'm not thinking about Motorola CPUs but everything else on the board, CIAs, RAM, various electronics that could maybe be then "simplified", ie : several old components (AGA comes to mind) in a single cheap chip) , least I like to think that way, lower..?

And I'd only like it very much, that's why I mentioned it. One can dream, they only hurts themselves  :boohoo:  :getmad:  :crazy:

[_ThEcRoW]

I have always thought that a entire amiga system could be designed on fpga. The custom chips, should be able to reproduce in a fpga chip, as well as the 68k processor, so it is't a dream at all. It could be possible, only needs a person that could do that. Look at the c-0ne(an fpga based commodore64 primarily, among other platforms).

[xaccrocheur]

_ThEcRoW wrote:
(...)Look at the c-0ne(an fpga based commodore64 primarily, among other platforms).

Yes ! The C1, I forgot about the C1 ! That's quite exactly what I had in mind : A complete, say 1200, 66MZh '060, loads of fast RAM, AGA (well I'm not sure about this, and ideally it should have much better graphic capabilities) in a compact package. I don't remember though : Is the C1 really crammed in *one* chip ? Do you have a link please ? I remember thinking at the time : What, that girl (Jerri, IIRC) never saw even an A500 ? What's with the C64 ?
Mind you, I never saw one, but for what I know, it was a hell of a computer. Did she choose it because it was simpler to reproduce that a Amiga ? Maybe a licence issue ? I'd really like a link to this project.

Oh, and about my (RGB/VGA?) adapter ?

[68020]

I had one of those RGB adapters for my Commodore 1942 connected to an A1200.. worked great.

I think those adapters are for an Amiga video port to VGA monitor connector.. Don't know what they're really called though.

[vic20owner]

I have no idea, but I owned one once. It's just a typical converter but for a specific need..not sure what that need is.  It didn't work on my a1200, and I ended up bypassing it by solding past it.  No idea what it was originally intended for.

[Doobrey]

xaccrocheur wrote:
Oh, and about my (RGB/VGA?) adapter ?

Commodore Sync Dongle/VGA adapter ?

[xaccrocheur]

68020 wrote:
I had one of those RGB adapters for my Commodore 1942 connected to an A1200.. worked great.(...)

1942 ! And not 1260 (I'm not in front of the monitor now, but that's not an excuse) ! My mistake, I edited the original post. Sorry & Thank you.

@Doobrey : Yes, that's exactly that. Revs differ, but that is the thing. You rule, as very often.

In fact, I'm really asking because this is another weak link in my amiga Setup : Should this thing break, could I replace it ?

I'm sure this has been addressed a huge # of times, but I'll ask again to make sure and to please everybody 8-) Can somebody confirm that the only solution, to allow an amiga to display *everything* that comes out of the standard RGB port on a *VGA monitor, is to put a scan doubler, or a flicker fixer (Is there a difference, or is this two names for the same thing ?) in between the two ?

Thank you very much for those patient answer to really simple questions. I really like this forum, just so all you Amigans know. We need a smiley that says "respect", I searched, did'nt find any.

[Zac67]

Isn't that a 1960? Never heard of a 1260...

[xaccrocheur]

You're right, I edited it, but I'm still not sure between 1942 & 60 (sorry, the whole 4000 setup is in another town right now :evil: ) what I'm sure of is that this is a 14" screen, that can do 800x600. I remember having an old 15Hz Atari monitor, that was the "replica" of the C= 1024.

Well, this C= monitor I'm trying to identify, can do exactly the double in res, than the Atari one, that BTW I throwed away in working condition last spring cleaning, because I'm a moron. :boohoo: Moving on.

Another question witch will, I'm sure, strike you with its "never asked before" feeling : What PC types of monitor can I hope to connect, assuming that on this machine (4040D, 3.1 ROMs, unexpanded, apart from the SCSI), I don't care about fullscreen games ? Is a LCD screen even remotely conceivable ?

Thank you again

PS : I found the c-one site, and I'm even more impressed than when I saw it in late 2003, and did not had the know-how to fully appreciate the thing.

When you look at the c64 crowd, you can't help but think that this computer must have been really great. And to fuel such projects as the C-one, a platform must be really both powerful and inspiring.

Damn, this machine, and I don't use the word lightly, has Full modern expandability, modular HW to a point never reached before (AFAIK), while retaining the specs of the original machine, to the point of real Hardware compatibility !? (You can put a genuine 6502 in it) and expands to the practicable limits (16bit audio!  8 Stereo voices, up to 128Mg for samples&instrs !) is a dream to expand (2 A1200 compatible clock-ports ! Up to two PCI connectors (factory-stuffed only one, dunno what that means) :crazy: possible rear panel

This must be the most astonishing, incredible, beyond-human computer project (all categories included, hard & soft, and this one is heavily both) I have ever seen, the likes of Linux, UAE, AROS, and nothing else that I can really think of right now. This small team has all the respect that I can give to carbon-based living entities right now.

:pint: :pint: :pint: :pint: :pint: :pint: :pint: :pint:

I'm kidding, 8 is one too much

[vic20owner]

I figured it out... the 23pin->15pin VGA dongles which have a pcb in them are buffered.  The purpose is to reduce the amount of load on the port so that it doesn't think it has a genlock conncted and then drop the sync.  Just an improved adapter for use with genlocks.

At least thats what I read on a website...somewhere...

[c64_d0c]

good info
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