Re: VGA custom resolution
Posted on 2020-09-30, 10:02
320x400 is indeed possible on every VGA, but the original question was about square pixels and pixels that are 2/3 wider than tall are quite far away from that.
Re: The Covox Speech Thing on ISA Bus, Dual ISA DAC Card
Posted on 2020-09-30, 09:58
root42 wrote on 2020-09-29, 21:13: matze79 wrote on 2020-09-29, 20:13: I`m eager to try it! then it would make sense to optimize the address decoding circuit ! 😀 That would also give us quadrophonic sound. 😀 But how do I squeeze four speakers into my two ears?
Re: VGA custom resolution
Posted on 2020-09-28, 09:38
One issue that is often overlooked is that different modes might need different pixel clocks. VGA has 25.175 MHz, only, but higher resolutions typically need a higher frequency to keep the refresh rate acceptable. PLL-based designs will typically be more flexible than SVGA cards with separate …
Re: TNDY Tracker - Tracker Music with SN76489 - Tandy 1000 / Tandy 3 Voice ISA Cards / Tandy / TNDLPT Parallelport Devic
Posted on 2020-09-27, 10:16
It would be interesting to know whether that thing can be compiled with FreePascal's 8086 backend.
Re: 8-bit guy gets ultra-rare NOS IBM (prototype?) from Computer Reset then proceeds to obliterate it
Posted on 2020-09-27, 09:54
I've got to disagree with your last point. Measuring that power cord for just one more minute could have saved quite a lot of time. Haste makes waste! EDIT: Fix embarrassing typo.
Re: VGA custom resolution
Posted on 2020-09-27, 06:39
The 360x200 mode should be similarly compatible, because it essentially shares its timing characteristics with VGA text mode. It might not sound particularly useful, at first, but will result in almost square pixels on a modern 16:9 screen.
Re: 8-bit guy gets ultra-rare NOS IBM (prototype?) from Computer Reset then proceeds to obliterate it
Posted on 2020-09-26, 20:03
What happened here I think its a huge rush job with his new studio being built and other projects taking his time. He hasn't made many videos lately and as David has his Youtube channel as his livelihood, he needs to put out content to put food on the table. This time, unfortunately it came back …
Re: 8-bit guy gets ultra-rare NOS IBM (prototype?) from Computer Reset then proceeds to obliterate it
Posted on 2020-09-26, 19:46
it was painful to watch when he shorted what was obviously just a mains connector by cable colors alone ._. The paper clip scene was a major wHaAAaAaaT??-moment, indeed. Seriously, when has anything like that ever looked like a good idea? Buuut: I really think that the fast-acting (i.e. wrong) …
Re: VGA custom resolution
Posted on 2020-09-26, 13:09
It's worth pointing out that any 256 color mode with more than 65536 pixels will have to use bit planes, which complicates programming. However, technically, nothing speaks against using a 320x200 mode with the timings of a 320x240 mode, i.e. with square pixels and letterboxing.
Re: Newly written driver(s) for Sierra's Creative Interpreter – Starting with Plantronics ColorPlus
Posted on 2020-09-26, 13:04
I thought the latest *free* versions of IDA dropped support for 16-bit DOS code (although it should still be available in the paid version, of course). Version 7 does apparently support 16-bit DOS code, but no DOS EXE files. It does not matter in this particular case, because SCI drivers are raw …
Re: Newly written driver(s) for Sierra's Creative Interpreter – Starting with Plantronics ColorPlus
Posted on 2020-09-25, 20:39
Interesting. I was aware of the existence of a free-for-non-commercial-use version, but it seems to have become less limited than it used to be. I guess they feel the FOSS competition from Ghidra. So yes, this version of IDA is adequate, as well. Incidentally, I have been able to test the PCPLUS …
Re: Newly written driver(s) for Sierra's Creative Interpreter – Starting with Plantronics ColorPlus
Posted on 2020-09-24, 14:53
Pretty much any disassembler will do, because the DRV files are just raw binary files, but Sourcer 8 (abandonware) seems ideal. It is a commenting disassembler that adds annotations for port numbers, BIOS calls etc. Ghidra (the NSA's open sourced disassembler/decompiler) should also work. It is …
Re: Newly written driver(s) for Sierra's Creative Interpreter – Starting with Plantronics ColorPlus
Posted on 2020-09-24, 09:19
I'm talking about the 4-colour CGA drivers. They work but crash on the screen scrolling calls. I don't suppose it'd be as simple as using those same directions to hexedit those drivers? Not quite but almost. You'd have to do the same thing, semantically. The exact offsets within the file will …
Re: Free and/or open source ISO file creator and burner
Posted on 2020-09-23, 19:48
I have used cdrdao (part of cdrtools) with great success, so far. It is mostly used for iso files or bin/toc file pairs. The slightly more common bin/cue format is also supported to some extent. Virtually all Linux distributions ship with cdrtools and there is a whole zoo of GUI front-ends. There …
Re: Which Sierra games can use the PC1512.DRV so they have 16colors with an Amstrad 1512 system?
Posted on 2020-09-23, 10:08
The aforementioned bug is that the scroll function dummy draws the screen with a certain offset. I have no idea why that is happening, because the same dummy function works flawlessly in the PCPLUS driver, but the relevant games should still be playable even with the bug.
Re: Newly written driver(s) for Sierra's Creative Interpreter – Starting with Plantronics ColorPlus
Posted on 2020-09-22, 15:42
Yes, there is a way to fake the scroll function. You basically have to append an entry to the jump table and append a wrapper function that updates the screen. I have already done that for the PC1512 driver and described the modifications in the relevant thread . The CGA monochrome driver should not …
Re: TNDY Tracker - Tracker Music with SN76489 - Tandy 1000 / Tandy 3 Voice ISA Cards / Tandy / TNDLPT Parallelport Devic
Posted on 2020-09-22, 15:28
The $G- switch is set (avoid 80286 instructions). Besides that I have the possibility to choose 8087/80287 or emulation for numeric processing. So far the setting is emulation. Maybe I should change it for Matze's NEC V20, since he has an 8087 installed? But he can start the tracker, enter notes, …
Re: TNDY Tracker - Tracker Music with SN76489 - Tandy 1000 / Tandy 3 Voice ISA Cards / Tandy / TNDLPT Parallelport Devic
Posted on 2020-09-20, 20:21
Hi, I am Jan, the one who wrote this tracker. I've been meaning to sign up here for a long time and now I finally did it. Thanks to Matze some of my programs made it to Vogons before I did :) Welcome! Since I knew that Matze uses an XT, I tried to support this system. But I cannot test it myself. I …
Re: TNDY Tracker - Tracker Music with SN76489 - Tandy 1000 / Tandy 3 Voice ISA Cards / Tandy / TNDLPT Parallelport Devic
Posted on 2020-09-20, 17:36
Is it even expected to run on an XT? The later Borland compilers for DOS, for instance, need a compiler switch for 8088/8086 compatibility. Maybe retry on an emulated XT or Tandy with PCem!
Re: Using an ISA VGA card on an AVR
Posted on 2020-09-13, 16:41
I/O Read/Writes work fine, I know that because I can do all the Plug & Play stuff. Also, most of the VGA init (CRTC) works fine. Memory reads also work fine, because I can read the video BIOS (at 0xC0000), which is using memory reads. Have you ruled out timing issues? Maybe the delays between …
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