Retina Z2 or Picasso 2?

[AmigaPixel]

I have been looking at both these video cards for my A2000. Cybervision 64/3D run too high for me and I don't need the 3D gpu anyway. Can any one give a comparison between the Retina and Picasso II? Are they both compatible with the video toaster? Thanks. :-)

[Flashlab]

Retina is not P96/CGX compatible AFAIK. So Picasso II is the better card I guess.

[AmigaPixel]

Ooopps! wrong catagory! :oops:

[AmigaPixel]

I forgot what "P96/CGX compatible AFAIK" is?

[guru-666]

neither will do anything for the toaster....
the only card the "helps" the toaster/flyer is the picasso IV, to will sd/ff the controll screen so you can use VGA monitor.

[Flashlab]

Picasso96 (P96) and Cybergraphics (CGX) are RTG (RetargeTable Graphics) systems for Workbench. Most software that has been written for Workbench use can then be used with your graphics card. If the card is not P96/CGX compatible then it will only work with software written especially for that board; this will limit its use a lot.

[Ami_GFX]

A Picasso II would be the better card. It has a built in video switcher and better software. Z2 Retinas are kind of interesting anyway and I wouldn't mind putting one in one of my A2000s. And though neither card will display the Toaster control panel, almost everything else should work, either directly or through mode promotion. And since you have an A2000, you can use the mono composite for the Toaster.

And you would need an A4000 tower with 2 video slots for the Picasso IV solution since the Picasso IV needs a video slot for it's scan doubler.

[Tahoe]

guru-666 wrote:
neither will do anything for the toaster....
the only card the "helps" the toaster/flyer is the picasso IV, to will sd/ff the controll screen so you can use VGA monitor.

Only in a 4000T, you would need TWO videoslots to fit both the toaster and the PicassoIV (oops double post) so no go in this A2000.

on-topic: the Picasso IV is a much, much better card. As said before it has much better software support, the Retina is very limited. If I remember correctly the only things working on it are some paint programs...

[BinoX]

Id say the Picasso II is probably the better card of the 2..

The retina uses "RetinaEmu" to do RTG, which seems a little weird to me..

May I ask where you're getting these cards? Whichever one you don't get I may consider for one of my 2000s

[kzin]

I had both of these before, Get the Picasso II. It will speed up your Amiga, not slow it down!

The Retina is slow as, it is not able to map its memory into the Amiga address space, thats the excuse given for the lack of drivers (cgx & P96) a 256 col workbench on this card is slower than AGA.

[A4000_Mad]

My vote is for the Picasso II as well. Mine has been working great in an A4000 for 5 years (or is it now 10 years :-))


:pint:


A4000 Mad

[Brian]

Only thing Retina has going for it is it's short length that can be made to fit inside an A500 expansion case, such as an old GVP HD8, and with a custom expansionport -> zorro converter could make for a nice A500 expansion project.

[AmigaPixel]

 Thanks everyone, it looks like the Picasso II wins then. There is one on Ebay now but I'll have to wait for the next one that comes along.

 So to be clear then, even with the RTG ability the Video Toaster control panel can not be displayed? It sounds like I would have to switch back to native Amiga screens to display the Toaster control panel but use the Picasso for other graphics.

My goal is use my NEC 17" Multisync with the Picasso II and a sync strainer. IS there a way configure all of this? Maybe using a monitor switchbox

Finally AmigaKit is selling a vga adapter for $21.95 but is it Toaster compatible? Darn it I want it all! :-D

[Ami_GFX]

The Picasso II has a built in monitor switcher and all you have to do is connect a cable from the Amiga's RGB port to the Picasso's video in. If you have a monitor that can sync to both 15.75 and 31 khz--such as a commodore 1950--you will be able to display everything on one monitor.

even with the RTG ability the Video Toaster control panel can not be displayed?  

The Toaster operates on broadcast quality NTSC video and locks the Amiga to it. It also disables the separate horizontal and vertical sync signals and uses the composite sync signal on the Amigas RGB port. This is where the sync strainer comes in. It "strains" the composite sync signal and separates the horizontal and vertical sync signals. It doesn't do any scan doubling so the output is still 15.75khz but with separate horizontal and vertical sync. The sync strainer is also tuned to the AGA chipset and doesn't work that well with ECS Amigas--ie A2000, A3000. RTG cards output output 31khz VGA compatible video which is a very different standard than NTSC. There are various solutions to display the toaster on a VGA monitor but none of them are cheap or easy or widely available. If you want a color Toaster dislplay on your A2000, the cheapest solution is a 520 video adaptor and a NTSC monitor.


The VGA adaptor from AmigaKit is just for native Amiga 31khz modes--dblntsc, dblpal and multisync. It won't make a 15.75khz mode vga compatible.

[AmigaPixel]

Yes I will get a A520 adapter, I have been thinking of getting one anyway. It should work with a LCD tv that has a composite jack as long as it can display at 15.75kHz right?

As far as the Multisync it appears to only sync down to 31kHz according to the PDF manual I downloaded. I would think that it is possible to have the Picasso II connected to the Multisync and the A520 attached to a NTSC monitor, and switch to the latter when using the Toaster. By the way is there any chance you go by the username DavidDB on the Newtek Amiga Toaster forum? :-)