Raven. A homemade Atari-like computer

[alexh]

There was a Voodoo I with a 2D video card hammered on to the PCB, but, it was still a separate card, really

Voodoo Rush. I seemed to remember it was crap because it shared RAM bandwidth.

[PhilC]

There was a Voodoo I with a 2D video card hammered on to the PCB, but, it was still a separate card, really

Voodoo Rush. I seemed to remember it was crap because it shared RAM bandwidth.

I have one with a ram problem that was given to me by @mrbombermillzy, so should be able to test once I've fixed it.

[luciodra]

I found these cards with GL5429 and 512Kb but they have a strange RJ45 (?) connector instead of VGA. Do you know of a cable or adapter that might work ?

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[simon.osborne]

Quick search gave me this https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threa ... 486.47219/ which linked to a cable guide at https://dougburbidge.com/vgaovercat5.html

This cable appears to be the right kind https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266552842152

[luciodra]

Quick search gave me this https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threa ... 486.47219/ which linked to a cable guide at https://dougburbidge.com/vgaovercat5.html

This cable appears to be the right kind https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266552842152

So it's a video card, and that's already great for me.
Thank you !

[Mikerochip]

If I had to guess, I'd assume it was to drive some kind of projector/display.
So, for sineage, or whatever.
NEC were all over that market for a long time. They have heaps of displays that can be controlled across serial, too.

[agranlund]

I wonder if it requires any extra circuitry on the receiving end or if a passive adapter is enough?
GD542X doesn't need more than RAM and bios ROM so I'm wondering mostly because of the more than usual amount of external chips on the card.

One of those are probably the bios rom but the other?

Screenshot 2026-02-20 at 18.02.04.png

That is super interesting and I didn't know VGA over CAT5 was a thing :)

If it was me I'd go in with the expectation that it may not work and that that is a perfectly ok outcome. Or that it requires research, work or modifications to get it working.
Would mainly be concerned if one of those extra ICs converts the VGA signal from the GD5429 somehow and it requires something active on the receiver side. Or if it was just built to output something that wasn't ever meant to go into a PC monitor. PAL/NTSC encoder IC to display on TV or projector taking such signal?
Or.. maybe it just works with an adapter :)

[luciodra]

We'll know soon. I bought two for 20 Euros and a passive adapter on Amazon. A few days and we will know... :lol:

[Mikerochip]

I wonder if it requires any extra circuitry on the receiving end or if a passive adapter is enough?
GD542X doesn't need more than RAM and bios ROM so I'm wondering mostly because of the more than usual amount of external chips on the card.

One of those are probably the bios rom but the other?
Would mainly be concerned if one of those extra ICs converts the VGA signal from the GD5429 somehow and it requires something active on the receiver side. Or if it was just built to output something that wasn't ever meant to go into a PC monitor. PAL/NTSC encoder IC to display on TV or projector taking such signal?

The longer you look at it....

Even more interesting, when you do look at it, is why are there a bunch of diodes, those ferrite beads, and then, the big ass voltage regulator?

I'd be throwing a multimeter on that, before I let it near a monitor @luciodra

Take some high res photos, if you can, too!

[luciodra]

I wonder if it requires any extra circuitry on the receiving end or if a passive adapter is enough?
GD542X doesn't need more than RAM and bios ROM so I'm wondering mostly because of the more than usual amount of external chips on the card.

One of those are probably the bios rom but the other?
Would mainly be concerned if one of those extra ICs converts the VGA signal from the GD5429 somehow and it requires something active on the receiver side. Or if it was just built to output something that wasn't ever meant to go into a PC monitor. PAL/NTSC encoder IC to display on TV or projector taking such signal?

The longer you look at it....

Even more interesting, when you do look at it, is why are there a bunch of diodes, those ferrite beads, and then, the big ass voltage regulator?

I'd be throwing a multimeter on that, before I let it near a monitor @luciodra

Take some high res photos, if you can, too!

Ok, thank you.