Amiga Demo Scene CD Idea

[Maximilian]

Isn't it possible to detect if you have a PAL or an NTSC Amiga?
That way you could run one set or the other.

[alexh]

Out of curiosity again do the demos still crash if you switch to PAL in the early start-up?

[supaduper]

I supose the obvious thing to do would to do a NTSC only demo CD, TBH I do not know how many NTSC demos there will be as The demo scene was/is mainly Europe which is PAL, unless I have missed something ?

[alenppc]

Out of curiosity again do the demos still crash if you switch to PAL in the early start-up?

No, but this is not really practical. The machine reboots after every demo so you’d have to catch every reboot and even then you have to assume the user’s display would support the PAL mode, and since we are talking about the CD32 here, it most likely won’t as it will be a regular TV connected via composite/s-video. Of course if you have an hdmi converter you’re ok but from my experience very few people do.

[alenppc]

I supose the obvious thing to do would to do a NTSC only demo CD, TBH I do not know how many NTSC demos there will be as The demo scene was/is mainly Europe which is PAL, unless I have missed something ?

Be that as it may, my point is a lot of these demos run ok in NTSC screen mode, and very very few use the extra display lines so it should be trivial making them work, or at least play the working ones first otherwise a segment of users gets excluded for no reason.

[alexh]

Out of curiosity again do the demos still crash if you switch to PAL in the early start-up?

No, but this is not really practical. The machine reboots after every demo so you’d have to catch every reboot

If it works, then PAL mode promotion can be added to the CD's startup-sequence? I believe it's a script that assembles the ISO? Perhaps PAL mode promotion can be an option?

and even then you have to assume the user’s display would support the PAL mode, and since we are talking about the CD32 here, it most likely won’t as it will be a regular TV connected via composite/s-video.

It is my belief that the vast majority of NTSC CD32s are owned by Europeans. Commodore had an injunction against them (XOR patent) which prevented them importing NTSC CD32s manufactured outside the USA. The majority of NTSC CD32 units languished in a warehouse in the Philippines until ~2007 when they were sold on eBay as NOS.

As the CD is for TF360 users don't the risers usually have RGBHV for 15KHz VGA? Maybe not (mine does).

[terriblefire]

If it works, then PAL mode promotion can be added to the CD's startup-sequence? I believe it's a script that assembles the ISO? Perhaps PAL mode promotion can be an option?

Apparently that results in rolling screens on NTSC TVs.

It is my belief that the vast majority of NTSC CD32s are owned by Europeans. Commodore had aninjunction against them (XOR patent) which prevented them importing NTSC CD32s manufactured outside the USA. The majority of NTSC CD32 units languished in a warehouse in the Philippines until ~2007 when they were sold on eBay as NOS.

They are owned by Canadians. The injunction was in the USA.

As the CD is for TF360 users don't the risers usually have RGBHV for 15KHz VGA? Maybe not (mine does).

Most CD32 users will have the 23pin D and a scart cable. But even if they have VGA that doesnt help as many of the the demos ONLY work with PAL timings.

[alenppc]

If it works, then PAL mode promotion can be added to the CD's startup-sequence? I believe it's a script that assembles the ISO? Perhaps PAL mode promotion can be an option?

Apparently that results in rolling screens on NTSC TVs.

Correct, rolling screen on CRTs and a hostile message "Change source resolution" or total blank screen on modern LCDs.

It is my belief that the vast majority of NTSC CD32s are owned by Europeans. Commodore had aninjunction against them (XOR patent) which prevented them importing NTSC CD32s manufactured outside the USA. The majority of NTSC CD32 units languished in a warehouse in the Philippines until ~2007 when they were sold on eBay as NOS.

They are owned by Canadians. The injunction was in the USA.

I can tell you exactly where they are, based on the places I shipped 328s/330s. Most are scattered throughout Canada and the US. They were sold in Canada during the 90s and imported (by Softhut among others, I believe) into the USA.

As the CD is for TF360 users don't the risers usually have RGBHV for 15KHz VGA? Maybe not (mine does).

Most CD32 users will have the 23pin D and a scart cable. But even if they have VGA that doesnt help as many of the the demos ONLY work with PAL timings.

Correct, these are useful if one has a 1084s or an HDMI converter but judging from the questions I receive, very few people have one of those.

[32Bits]

This looks interesting. wondering if it might be useful for a project like this but thought I put a link here so people could check it out.

https://aminet.net/package/comm/www/lubricator

"Lubricator is a combined GUI and command-line tool that allows you to
search, download and unarchive Amiga software, and to write disk
images directly from the internet to disks on your Amiga. It works
fine on machines with just a 68000 CPU and very little memory.

Supported disk image formats are ADF and DMS. Also supported is smart
unpacking of LHA and ZIP archives, and the creation of bootable disks
for running executables. Included in the GUI is (by default) an
Aminet and Pouët search facility. Lubricator can deal with simple
HTML files and display the links from a web server's directory
listing, for example."

[terriblefire]

Nice. I've got all the software i need for this project but someone else might find that useful.