exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

rubber_jonnie wrote: 14 Apr 2023 10:47

PhilC wrote: 14 Apr 2023 10:35 @rubber_jonnie yes please for the card, I’ll be fine with the soldering once I’ve got the bits. Being cheeky, would you have a spare GAL you could program and sell me too?

The GAL is a bit difficult since I only have one spare and want to build another that works as an Applicard Z80 CPM doodad.

I do have some more coming though if you can wait.

Absolutely no rush from my point of view. I hadn't realised you could also use the card for other purposes too, that's cool.

PhilC wrote: 14 Apr 2023 11:08

rubber_jonnie wrote: 14 Apr 2023 10:47

The GAL is a bit difficult since I only have one spare and want to build another that works as an Applicard Z80 CPM doodad.

I do have some more coming though if you can wait.

Absolutely no rush from my point of view. I hadn't realised you could also use the card for other purposes too, that's cool.

I'll confirm when they arrive and let you know.

And a RPi Pico is on order for board number 2 :)

rubber_jonnie wrote: 14 Apr 2023 14:11 And a RPi Pico is on order for board number 2 :)

How available are they these days? I got myself a few before all the daftness kicked off.

PhilC wrote: 14 Apr 2023 14:17

rubber_jonnie wrote: 14 Apr 2023 14:11 And a RPi Pico is on order for board number 2 :)

How available are they these days? I got myself a few before all the daftness kicked off.

Well, my order went through straight away via the Pi Hut, so we'll see how it goes.

Hopefully it'll be here Monday, I'll let you know.

PhilC wrote: 14 Apr 2023 14:17

rubber_jonnie wrote: 14 Apr 2023 14:11 And a RPi Pico is on order for board number 2 :)

How available are they these days? I got myself a few before all the daftness kicked off.

Picos and the new Pico Ws are plentiful. The normal Pis are rare though, but they expect them to get back to normal stocks by the end of the year.

In case of any doubt, here are two text mode comparison screens:

This is the composite output:


Browny red with non white characters and what you cant see from the screenshot is how shimmery it is.

And here is VGA:

Clear & sharp with no shimmer.

@rubber_jonnie wow that is soooo much better. And considering I usually run mine on my VGA monitor it cuts down one lot of signal conversion.

PhilC wrote: 15 Apr 2023 11:26 @rubber_jonnie wow that is soooo much better. And considering I usually run mine on my VGA monitor it cuts down one lot of signal conversion.

Yeah, it's a huge difference. I always had to run mine in composite as it never worked on my Retrotink.

Number 2 is nearly built now, I just need to install the 4 level shifters, VGA socket and RPi Pico when It arrives.

2nd time around was much faster to build.

And number 2 is built, just awaiting the RPi Pico: