Georg Braun's A2320-AGA project

[Nlandas]

Has anyone built an A2320-AGA Scand Doubler/Flicker Fixer? Apparently, this project takes the A2320 and makes it 24-bit AGA compatible by using two Amber chips. It sounds like a great video card for my A4000 but I don't have the ability/time to make one. I see some suppliers listing Amber chips for sale?

old commodore

I see only a few prototypes were done because of lack of parts; Were there other parts that are hard to get now?

A2320AGA

I'd be willing to pay a hardware geek enough money to make one for me and himself.

[Jeff]

I contacted George and he has no interest in making any more of these or offering any more information other than what is on the web site.

I inquired about making some of these and basically it comes down to this. The board uses very small VIA's and must be redesigned in order to be produced by most circuit board manufacturers. I finally found one company to do this and (2) bare boards were quoted at almost $100.00 including shipping.

Secondly in addition to the Amber chips you need the rest of the Amber circuitry (special ram, ect)from 2 Amiga 3000's to make just 1 board. You will meet with some resistance from the community for just this reason alone.

Overall it's a very cool project but when you add it all up it isn't very practical. That said I do have enough DEAD 3000 parts to make 1 board. If you have some bare boards made count me in for one depending upon the cost.

Good Luck,
Jeff

[Evillord68]

I think it is the best Flickerfixer for the Amiga 4000.
The photo on the AmigaHardware page is from me.
They are only 2 working cards are existing.
One card have Georg and one is my card.

We used parts from defective A3000 Motherboards.

Greetings

Jürgen

[Jeff]

Can you refer us to a place that can make the bare boards? I have enough parts from (2) dead A3000's myself.

Thanks,
Jeff

[Evillord68]

I think the boards was made at http://www.pcb-pool.com/

[alexh]

Evillord68 wrote:
I think it is the best Flickerfixer for the Amiga 4000.

It appears equal in capabilities and probably quality to the ARXON/CompServe  Scandoubler and the Petsoff Dblscan 4000.

All 3 are fully 24-bit (AGA) scandoublers.

[AmiDude]

All 3 are fully 24-bit (AGA) scandoublers.

Don't forget about the CompServ AGA ScanDoubler II.
It's also a FlickerFixer and 24-bit.

CompServ ScanDoubler II (1)

CompServ ScanDoubler II (2)

[alexh]

The CompServ AGA ScanDoubler II description reads like it has physical jumpers for some settings.

Jumpers the other cards do not need because they detect and change automatically?

I dont own one, but it sounds like you have to physically change jumpers if you want to use 15KHz, 48KHz or 64KHz modes.

If true, it sounds like a major PITA to me - switching jumpers when you want to use special modes.

It could just be that these are debug registers to switch off certain features if there is a problem.

Maybe under normal operation you have them all ON and you can use any mode just like the others?

If they were just for debug, why are they in the manual?

If anyone has the English manual or reads German and can translate better than Babelfish, then maybe we could tell?

[AmiDude]

I dont own one, but it sounds like you have to physically change jumpers if you want to use 15KHz, 48KHz or 64KHz modes.

I use the CompServ ScanDoubler II with my A4000,
and don't worry...all screen displays are shown
automatically. So you don't have to change jumpers.

It could just be that these are debug registers to switch off certain features if there is a problem. Maybe under normal operation you have them all ON and you can use any mode...

Yes, they're just debug registers.

[keropi]

I had an arxonII and sold it!!! I never got it to display OK with my A4000, perhaps the previous owner messed with the jumpers  :-x
for me the little plain Arxon sd is the best, I even have a spare one! you just plug it and it works perfect!

[Nlandas]

Jeff wrote:
I contacted George and he has no interest in making any more of these or offering any more information other than what is on the web site.

I inquired about making some of these and basically it comes down to this. The board uses very small VIA's and must be redesigned in order to be produced by most circuit board manufacturers. I finally found one company to do this and (2) bare boards were quoted at almost $100.00 including shipping.

Secondly in addition to the Amber chips you need the rest of the Amber circuitry (special ram, ect)from 2 Amiga 3000's to make just 1 board. You will meet with some resistance from the community for just this reason alone.

Overall it's a very cool project but when you add it all up it isn't very practical. That said I do have enough DEAD 3000 parts to make 1 board. If you have some bare boards made count me in for one depending upon the cost.

Good Luck,
Jeff

I would pay $150USD in a heartbeat for a quality 24-bit video slot flicker fixer for my A4000. I don't want to take parts away from A3000 users necessarily but I could really use this solution or another viable one.

Do you have the website address for the project so that I can get a parts list? I'm curious how much the parts would cost on top of the $100 for the bare boards.

-Nyle

[Nlandas]

Jeff wrote:
Can you refer us to a place that can make the bare boards? I have enough parts from (2) dead A3000's myself.

Thanks,
Jeff

If you go and get bare boards ordered let me know, I'll send you the $$$ for one and scrounge for old dead A3000s.

Sorry, A3000 users but this would make my A4000 viable for me for the long run.

-Nyle

[alexh]

I have found a source (in the USA) of unused 390538-03 AMBER chips.

Unfortunately they are a bit on the expensive side.

1 to 4 qty. are $15 ea.
5 to 9 qty. are $13 ea.
10 to 35 qty. are $12 ea.

Shipping to Europe (any quantity) is $18

Let me know if you SERIOUSLY want any and I'll put you in direct touch with the vendor.

[Nlandas]

alexh wrote:
I have found a source (in the USA) of unused 390538-03 AMBER chips.

Let me know if you SERIOUSLY want any and I'll put you in direct touch with the vendor.

Maybe if Jeff gets some of the bare boards from some place, I'll take you up on the offer. 8^)

-Nyle

[Jeff]

I am going to request a quote from the PCB-Pool folks above. I'll let you know the price when I receive it from them. I may order an extra if they are reasonable, however I have no desire to sit on a number of boards. I only have parts for one or two myself.

Jeff

[EDIT] pcb-pool quotes start out at 56 Euro for a basic board and over 100 Euro per board if you want silkscreen and soldermask. That puts me out. The other place I received a quote from had to modify the layout to be able to produce it with their equipment and couldn't guarantee it would work so I passed on that.

Let me know if anyone does a short run of these for a better price. I may be in for 1 or 2 bare boards. Here is a link to the original page with the schematic, parts list, and brd file.
Georg Braun's A2320-AGA Page