I'm considering getting one of these: Apple][ VGA adapter since the composite out on my Apple ][ is so terrible.
In fact not only is it terrible, it doesn't work with my Retrotink either.
So I was wondering if anybody had tried a VGA adapter like this and was it worth it. It doesn't have to be the one I linked to, but it would be nice if it's one that is still available.
Thanks in advance
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
Yes I have that card it works very well I also have there other card the goes on a ramworks card. Ramworks clones such as the Ramworks 3 card and the vga adapter work without extra wires
Tomswork wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 4:41 pm
Yes I have that card it works very well I also have there other card the goes on a ramworks card. Ramworks clones such as the Ramworks 3 card and the vga adapter work without extra wires
Tom
Cool, thanks Tom, I will dig a bit deep then
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
Do these adapters manage to get the colours right? Apparently a lot of them are not real colours but vertical monochrome lines which match the NTSC colour frequencies (interference colours).
Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
stephen_usher wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 8:52 pm
Do these adapters manage to get the colours right? Apparently a lot of them are not real colours but vertical monochrome lines which match the NTSC colour frequencies (interference colours).
I honestly don't know, hence the ask, but the basic fact is that the composite on it is really poor. Colourful for sure, but shimmery and not a patch on the composite of many other comparable machines.
Admittedly, not so bad as to be unusable, well, unless you drop into 80 column mode, but worse than my TRS80 model 1 on the same display. I'll have a look at whats about that @Tomswork linked to, see if I can get any idea of any compromises.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
Just had a quick look and there's one small problem. I already have an 8M RAM card, and whilst I'll never likely use that much, I don't want to replace it with a smaller one. Plus the cost of the card & VGA option is getting expensive, at least for a machine I don't use a huge amount.
I'll do some more digging around other VGA only options and keep this one on the back burner, though I would say that the colour output (that @stephen_usher mentioned) does look good on the RAMWorks card.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
stephen_usher wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 8:52 pm
Do these adapters manage to get the colours right? Apparently a lot of them are not real colours but vertical monochrome lines which match the NTSC colour frequencies (interference colours).
I honestly don't know, hence the ask, but the basic fact is that the composite on it is really poor. Colourful for sure, but shimmery and not a patch on the composite of many other comparable machines.
This is why many machines had a colour/mono switch added. From what I understand it relied upon that poor output for a lot of the colours.
Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
I honestly don't know, hence the ask, but the basic fact is that the composite on it is really poor. Colourful for sure, but shimmery and not a patch on the composite of many other comparable machines.
This is why many machines had a colour/mono switch added. From what I understand it relied upon that poor output for a lot of the colours.
Mine does have a colour/mono switch, however whilst the image is slightly more stable, I don't feel the difference is enough to leave it set to mono. I do actually get some artifacted colours, but they are very pale and limited.
And I agree, the poor quality was how they got the colours in the first place, but it'd be nice to loose a bit of the noise.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...