VOGONS


First post, by matze79

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Hi,

i recently got a TTL Amber Screen which i want to use,
its tube is in mint condition and has not seen many hours of use.

Unfortunaly the HGC/CGA/MDA??? Card i found in my stash was modified by a preowner, he changed some jumper wires which i removed and added pin headers.
So i could get it to output a Image.

Now my Image looks like that:

photo_2018-10-24_14-15-34.jpg

1 1/2 lines shown.. i tried random jumper settings but no success.

My TTL Video Card:

photo_2018-10-25_17-20-11.jpg

Hercules has 32kb right ? this one is only equipped with 16Kb RAM ???

Anyone can help me with fixing that ?
Maybe someone own this Card and can show me Pictures of it, so i can set mine to the same settings ?-

Thanks

Matthias !

https://www.retrokits.de - blog, retro projects, hdd clicker, diy soundcards etc
https://www.retroianer.de - german retro computer board

Reply 1 of 8, by Jo22

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Hercules has 32kb right ? this one is only equipped with 16Kb RAM ???

Anyone can help me with fixing that ?
Maybe someone own this Card and can show me Pictures of it, so i can set mine to the same settings ?-

Hi Matthias,

In the past, I've made a few experiments with HGC cards, but I don't own exactly that same card. 🙁

The original Hercules Graphics Card has 64KB in total, I think.

However, a card compatible to Hercules Monochrome can be running either in half mode (one screen page) or
full mode (two pages; the second page is in the CGA frame buffer space normally).

By default, the Hercules boots up in Half-Mode to co-exist with CGA (or a VGA card in lower modes).
Some utilities/drivers like MSHERC.COM also have a /HALF switch to force this mode.

Some clone cards also support both CGA and Hercules. since both original cards used the same Motorola CRTC chip.
So it might be possible that your card has/had a jumper combination to set the gfx type (mono/color).

Sorry, that's all that comes to mind right now.
The usual sources (Wikipedia, etc) have got more details that I can remember at the moment.

Edit: Your card has an LPT port installed. That rather hints to a HGC or HGC/CGA combo card.
Pure CGA cards normally had no printer port on-board.

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 2 of 8, by bakemono

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Looks like it should be using an 8x14 character (or 9x14) BUT the character set is only 8 lines and bit 3 of the row address is being masked so that it wraps around to the first line again (repeating the character).

Assuming that fat chip at the top is the character set ROM (the one with 8722 date code), you could try to follow traces from there and see where they go. It looks like there are some extra pads over on the left for optional components/jumper blocks?? Likely two jumpers need to be changed, one to unmask RA3 and one to select a 14-line charset.

Reply 3 of 8, by Jo22

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That sounds like a good idea. I'd also like to add that there might be a datasheet available for that rectangle chip on the left.
If so, it should also include a pinout with each data line being described in detail.
- Back then when I looked for my clone cards, there were such PDF files online, at least.

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 4 of 8, by matze79

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Yeah, i got CGA text and graphics mode working.. found some dead solder joints.

co40.jpg
cga.jpg

but most times i only get this:

photo_2018-10-26_13-18-49.jpg

the monitor is working fine, i tested this with other CGA Machine.
Seems something is defective.

if i leave machine off for few minutes and turn it on, it works.
Maybe a Capacitor is dead.

EDIT:
replaced deblocking capacitors on bus, 10uf tantal (one had 50 Ohm).
but this is only a small part of the problem 😉

https://www.retrokits.de - blog, retro projects, hdd clicker, diy soundcards etc
https://www.retroianer.de - german retro computer board

Reply 5 of 8, by matze79

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i tried all combinations and found the one for hercules, but it will show 1 1/2 lines.. with one setting i had the correct output.. but then it woes again..
No picture at all, or scrambled output. can't reproduce it..

Maybe the DRAM is defective ?
but CGA works fine ?

i using the hercules monitor as second screen on my 486 now for testing the card (i don't want kill my XT)
switching to hercules with mode mono -> system freeze
switching to cga (in cga mode eg. mode co40 mode co80) -> works

https://www.retrokits.de - blog, retro projects, hdd clicker, diy soundcards etc
https://www.retroianer.de - german retro computer board

Reply 6 of 8, by matze79

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no shades in cga.. sucks too:

weird1.jpg
weird.jpg

https://www.retrokits.de - blog, retro projects, hdd clicker, diy soundcards etc
https://www.retroianer.de - german retro computer board

Reply 7 of 8, by matze79

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looks ok:

monkey.jpg

https://www.retrokits.de - blog, retro projects, hdd clicker, diy soundcards etc
https://www.retroianer.de - german retro computer board

Reply 8 of 8, by Jo22

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Glad it works now! 😀

Maybe some utility can help checking the card.

I know of CGA Compatibility Tester, but using that is not without risk on a TTL/HGC monitor.
They don't like non-standard syncs, I heard (poof!).

Anyway, maybe some of the modes can be selected safely (Motorola CRTC tests ?).
Maybe even if the monitor is switched-off during testing ?!

Anyway, I'm talking too much again. 😅
I better stop making silly recommendations.

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//