Setting up Picasso II

[blakespot]

I just got a Picasso II to go with my A2000 '060.

I installed two driver disks from web download - recent vers. I see three Picasso II entries for each res in ScreenModes. base, HiColor, and TrueColor.

Whenever I pick a mode, it jumps to that mode and shows just a grey screen. Doing passthru from Indvision ECS. Passthru works.

What is my issue with just grey screen?

Thanks!



bp

[amiga-penn-wchester]

you have a vga cable from the Pic II to a VGA monitor?

[utri007]

Donwload picasso96 and install it. Read docs, you need to attach screenmodes to graphicscard, with settings program.

[Ami_GFX]

A lot of the preset screen modes that come with Picasso 96 and earlier versions of the Picasso software are designed for 90s CRT monitors. If you have a newer monitor, you will have to tweak the display frequencies. Standardized VESA screen modes are a good starting point.

[blakespot]

So, I attached the screenmodes to the card via Picasso96Mode in SYS:Prefs after install. That seems to have worked - it found modes that it claimed were not suitable for the card and I told it to erase them. The modes it found seemed indeed not likely to work on the card.

Testing the modes left, it shows the test image fine thru the PII card on my 19" Sony Trinitron CRT. I think the screensaver kicking in even is in a PII mode. I save, reboot.

When I pick a PicassoII mode in ScreenModes, it still just gives me a grey or white screen. It shows on both the 1084 and the Sony attached to the Amiga, so it's showing a ECS mode. This is not the same result as the black screen with warning about sync out of range generated by the Sony when I feed it a test mode with too low a scanrate. It's just not kicking in the PII mode.

I installed Picasso96 from Aminet. Seems to have gone fine. All files seem to be in place.

Any ideas? Thanks.




bp

[danbeaver]

I'm sorry but I'm confused by your wording of the problem. As I read it you get a test screen out of the picasso2 card on a VGA monitor, but after saving it the screen mode is lost on reboot.

You  could also be saying when displaying a P2 screen the ECS screen is grey/white which is of normal. If you could be more clear as to the screens, the video output and which monitor is connected to what, one could offer more help.

[danbeaver]

On re-reading, you are getting a P2 test screen in Picasso96, but the modes does not show up in the normal Prefs:ScreenMode program? If it is the latter, then there is a monitor file issue  where the Amiga is either not storing Picasso96 info properly or the information is not available to the Prefs:ScreenMode program after reboot

[blakespot]

On re-reading, you are getting a P2 test screen in Picasso96, but the modes does not show up in the normal Prefs:ScreenMode program? If it is the latter, then there is a monitor file issue  where the Amiga is either not storing Picasso96 info properly or the information is not available to the Prefs:ScreenMode program after reboot

This is the scenario.



bp

[danbeaver]

Are you using "LoadMonDrvs" in your Startup-sequence" or the older list then execute code?   This would be the same as double-clicking on the correct monitor icon in the Devs:Monitor folder. Once P96 has saved the monitor file in Devs:monitors you can go in and check it; there are guides online to fine-tune it (in the Icon part of the Right-A + I info of the monitor icon). You should have the list of stored properties. You can check for the Devs:Picasso96 file (I can't make sense out of it, but make sure it is there. The Libs: directory should also have a Libs:Picasso96 folder with the card definitions ~ "PicassoII.card"" or the like. If all of the data is in place, check to see if there are ENVARC/ENV Listings for the P96 program. Then if all is present, your should see your new P96 / PicassoII screen modes on running Prefs:Screenmodes

[blakespot]

So I can confirm, the test screens in Picasso96Modes and the screensaver that kicks in with inactivity run in RII modes. But not the PicassoII screenmodes listed in Prefs SCreenModes. They are listed, and the PicassoII monitor file looks ok as far as its attribs.

All other files are in place. Do I need LoadMonDrv? I dbl-clicked on the PicassoII mon file before choosing screenmode for PII and it made no diff. Oy.


bp

[zipper]

Check the modes if their vertical frequency (refresh rate) fits your monitor specs - what's your monitor and which refresh rates does it support?

[blakespot]

Check the modes if their vertical frequency (refresh rate) fits your monitor specs - what's your monitor and which refresh rates does it support?

They fit. It's a 2005 or so 19" Sony CRT - top end. The thing is, it's not even trying to go to that mode -- there is no click / glitch where the vidcard tries to take control of the screen. When I was in Picasso96Modes and tested a mode with, for instance, too low vertical refresh, the CRT went black and fed me its own "out of scan range" message. Nothing like that going on here.



bp

[danbeaver]

Back to "video modes show up fine in Picasso96 setup test-mode, but not in Prefs:ScreenMode."

You ought to have the Monitors ready by using LoadMonDrvs BEFORE calling/running the "IPrefs" program in S:S-S, otherwise they won't be "seen" by the Prefs:ScreenMode when you use it. Yeah you could do it by hand, but LoadMonDrvs does it simply compared to the older S:S-S code of ~ list Devs:Monitors T:M blah blah execute blah blah.

I learned this doing multiple installs for my mediator board. Either method will work, but some folks with only an NTSC  or PAL, delete the code and just let the OS use it's default setting. Trust me, the new monitor settings provided by the P96 program have to be initialized by a "reboot, LoadMonDrvs (or equivalent), and then IPrefs" before being seen in Prefs:ScreenMode.  It would be helpful for you to get someone else's explantation than mine, well someone who read the whole thread before commenting, as I can be confusing in the way I talk about a problem.

[blakespot]

So I re-ran the Picasso II install disk on the system and it copies some files in that it indicated were not there at the time. (Odd, I'd run the install disk before.) It added, among other things, a Picasso monitor type in Devs:Monitors -- there was just a PicassoII there before, added by the Picasso96 installer. Now there's both.

Then when I booted I got a CLI warning that context could not be set for "PicassoII" or some such, and I was in a different, lower res screenmode. The Picasso II screenmodes were gone from ScreenMode - replace with "PICASSO:640 x 480" ... etc. So I re-ran Picasso96Modes and now it can't find a board to bind to, in the menu. Oy.

I then re-ran the Picasso96 installer, but it's made no difference. I can't seem to get the Picasso II modes back in there. RTG modes are there, but they're labeled PICASSO: as opposed to PICASSO II: - so something is different.

I seem to be worse off than I was.

Also, I am using 3.1 which lacks LoadMonDrvs -- instead there are those two code chunks to do with VGAOnly and the list for Monitors that _is_ in place, 3.1 style, and is before IPrefs is called...

Oy. Painful.



bp

[zipper]

So you messed with the old Picasso software (?) which is totally incompatible with Picasso96...Now you should get rid of everything what it installed.