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IIgs Display

LCGuy

LC Doctor/Hot Rodder
I think alot of modern TV's will support NTSC and PAL as pretty much all of them are manufactured in the same place and then shipped worldwide.
Most modern tellies can accept NTSC and PAL signals, but they may need to be set to accept those signals. For example, when our Sanyo was new, it was set up to only accept PAL signals, i set it to AUTO myself.

 

meall

Well-known member
You can make an RGB to SCART ADAPTER for the IIGS
http://vintageware.orcon.net.nz/apple2/scart.html

Holding down "option" key during start you can choose between 50 (PAL SECAM) and 60 hz (NTSC) refresh.

Hope this helps.
I choose both options, and both have the same results... Black and white text. But on the page you sent me, i is noted that the composite port was intended to be B&W only. Maybe that's the explanation, except if anyone can see colors there.

When I plugged it to the Mac II display, I could see the white on blue screen, sure the display was not in correct sync (flashing) but the colors were there.

by the way, my TV has composite, component and HDMI inputs, no SCART.

 
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meall

Well-known member
Out of curiousity, the TV you plugged it into, was it a PAL TV? Because i think the IIGS only supports NTSC, and therefore will only display colour of the TV is capable of accepting NTSC signals (some TVs, like our Sanyo allow you to switch between NTSC, PAL and AUTO, but others don't). Check the OSD menu, or failing that, the documentation that came with the telly.
I suppose my TV is NTCS compliant as I live in Canada, not in Europe.

 

meall

Well-known member
You just break out of that error message and type PR#5 to boot from the 3.5" drive or PR#6 to boot from the 5.25" drive, and floppy based software will boot.
Is there a site or some-places we can find all those information on special keys or hint that can be used on the IIgs?

As per memory, the ROM03 has 1 MB onboard and the memory card supports a maximum of 1 MB. So 2 MB sounds right.
Yes, ROM 03 is 1 meg, but I thought that the memory card could be upgraded by changing the chips on it for higher capacity?

A 4 MB card will get you further, but will cost more money.
Is there a model number associated with this?

The composite may be greyscale only. I don't know, as I've never had to use it.
According to the link posted by another member, yes, it sounds like B&W only, which may be normal... Too bad for playing lemmings in color ;)

 

II2II

Well-known member
Is there a site or some-places we can find all those information on special keys or hint that can be used on the IIgs?
Look for the comp.sys.apple2 FAQs, Rubywand edition

Yes, ROM 03 is 1 meg, but I thought that the memory card could be upgraded by changing the chips on it for higher capacity?
Apple's card, no. If you do hear about these cards being upgraded, it is because most of them shipped with 256 kB and people are adding another 768 kB after the fact.

A 4 MB card will get you further, but will cost more money.
Is there a model number associated with this?
These cards were made by several different companies. Other than that, I cannot really help you. Though I think that Bill Garber was selling a card that took 4x1 MB 32 pin SIMMs.

According to the link posted by another member, yes, it sounds like B&W only, which may be normal... Too bad for playing lemmings in color ;)
But you will still get to play lemmings with the best sound chip of the era. :)

 

meall

Well-known member
But you will still get to play lemmings with the best sound chip of the era. :)
If you're trying to tell me I forgot about the "s" in IIgs, you are completely right ;)

 

meall

Well-known member
By the way, is the cable that fit on a Mac RGB digital color display is the same as the IIgs analog display?

Thanks

 

meall

Well-known member
These cards were made by several different companies. Other than that, I cannot really help you. Though I think that Bill Garber was selling a card that took 4x1 MB 32 pin SIMMs.
If I remember well, I have upgraded my IIsi to 65 meg by removing 4 32 pins of one meg each. So that kind of card, if easy to find, can give me a good IIgs computer.

Do you know where those can be found?

 

II2II

Well-known member
I'd pull out my IIgs and Amiga to compare, but my ears aren't even made of tin. (Paper-mache is more like it.)

 

meall

Well-known member
Hi,

I received a new IIgs today with a display. But the monitor does not display any image. Grrrr!

Any suggestion on how to find the problem?

Thanks

 

Twilight_Rodent

Well-known member
If it was not packaged right then you never know.

Does the green light come one? Is the IIgs putting out a good video signal?

If every thing is set to black from the control pannel on the IIgs then it is like the black out virus. Have to bring up the control pannel then hit 2 then then 2 again and again or something like that. To set everything to standard defaults. There is a few other things but it would be easier over the phone.

Take Care

 

meall

Well-known member
If it was not packaged right then you never know.
Does the green light come one? Is the IIgs putting out a good video signal?

If every thing is set to black from the control pannel on the IIgs then it is like the black out virus. Have to bring up the control pannel then hit 2 then then 2 again and again or something like that. To set everything to standard defaults. There is a few other things but it would be easier over the phone.

Take Care
The packaging was OK as far as I'm concern, but the box looked a bit crushed. So far, the display was physically OK. There was a plastic corner on i that is missing, but I do not think it was because of the shipping.

The green light on the display does not show up. Does the light goes on when a signal comes on, on simply when the display goes on? But I hear a little sound when I open it, so I know at least there is an electrical current going in.

How can I validate if the signal is coming out of the IIgs?

I'll try the control pannel stuff and see what it does, but the same result on two IIgs is suspicious...

 

Twilight_Rodent

Well-known member
The green light should come on the monitor when the power button is pushed in. Does not need a signal.

On the IIgs you have a composite Video out. Should work with any TV that is also a monitor with an RCA type cable. 80 Col might not be clear, and you won't be able to change the text color, but you should still get a good picture. That is if the monitor is good.

 

blakespot

Member
But you will still get to play lemmings with the best sound chip of the era.
I don't know about that. The Commodore Amiga had a damn good sound processor.
The Amiga was capable of 4 hardware voices with 8-bit wavetable playback using it's dedicated Paula chip. (The Amiga, depending on configuration, has up to 2MB of "CHIP RAM" which is memory shared between video and audio systems (aside from main memory, or "FAST RAM")). This was easily the best sound in a commercial computer up to that point.

The IIgs has a superior sound chip, the Ensoniq DOC which is also used in the Mirage synthesizer, capable of, in the most common configuration, playing 15 comparable channels in hardware - but the thing is, Apple tied only 64K (yes, kilobytes) to this chip limiting it dramatically. There were hacks that tried to copy new samples into RAM in real time to allow more than 64K of samples to be used at once, but it was not a solid solution. Also worth nothing that the DOC supported stereo audio, but Apple did not break it out to the headphone jack, so a very minimal card was needed to break out the sound to stereo. Go Apple...

Overall, having been an avid follower of the demo scene on the Amiga and IIgs (small though it was), I have heard more impressive sound from the Amiga. The Amiga has enough CPU horsepower to perform some degree of software mixing, so getting 8 quality channels playing (with CPU loaded) was possible.

They both kicked the ass of the Atari ST and the various Ad Lib-style FM soundcards and early Soundblasters of the PC world.

The experience of hearing sound like the Amiga could generate when it first came out in 1985 was mindblowing - it was unlike any other computer audio experience anyone had ever heard. It was the audio equivalent of the experience of seeing the seemingly impossibly realistic graphics in Defender of the Crown for the first time, back in its day. Jawdropping good times.

I've owned (or own) all of the computers I've mentioned in this article, so not operating on a bias - the days of Amiga vs. ST and Mac vs. PC are rather behind me. :) (Tho I still hate the PC.)

blakespot

 
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