Novy System ImagePro 50

[David Cook]

I recently obtained a non-working SE with a compact-Mac accelerator, the Novy Systems ImagePro 50. It features a full 68030 (has PMMU), a 68882 FPU, 4x4MB 60ns RAM, and 256KB of video RAM. The DE9 + DB15 bracket is included. The board runs at 50 MHz.

Below is the board and the jumpers in the positions as it was found.


The hard drive, a Quantum DSP3053L gives the click of death. That is, it spins up, clicks twice, is quiet for a couple of seconds, and then just clicks forever. I've tried multiple times and in different orientations. So, sadly, I do not have the Novy drivers.

The Railgun 5.4.2 drivers posted online allow all the accelerator options. Combined with Compact Virtual 3.0.2, the board is appears fully functional except for the video.

Snooping in ResEdit, I noticed there is a Video button (ID 13 = $0D) in the control panel that is hidden on-the-fly. Fortunately, the programmer left in function names in the cdev code, which makes reverse engineering much easier. Searching for HideControl uncovers:



Ah ha! Going to TestImagePro reveals:



Going to Anon104 reveals:



The developer put an OEM vendor ID into the software, which it compares to the hardware before displaying certain options.
1 = Novy
3 = MacProducts Railgun
4 = Mobius
5 = Nutmeg

By changing the vendor ID to 1 in Anon104, the ImagePro video card is properly identified and the Video button appears in the cdev. Unfortunately, it also fills the scrolling control with garbage text because the monitor resources were stripped out of the cdev for MacProducts. The code is looking for VLST resources that describe the monitors and frequencies. Copying those resources into the RailGun cdev file causes a list to now be displayed. However, nothing can be selected.



Changing the vendor ID in the init file is also necessary to recognize the ImagePro. Unfortunately, it hangs. Missing resources? Monitor never set up correctly in the cdev?

This is my long-winded way of saying I need some help.

1. Do you happen to know a hack to get a DSP3053L beyond the click of death long enough to extract the drive contents?
2. Or, do you have an actual Novy copy of the drivers (as opposed to the MacProducts edition)?

I have an original Novy floppy with version 5.35 on it if you are interested.

Yes, @Bolle If you could upload that I'd really appreciate it!

3. If anyone has a copy of the manual and could post the pages with the jumper settings, that would be fantastic.

At this point, I figure I first need to get the software to enable video. Then, I can use an oscilloscope to determine the video signal and sync pins (the ImagePro connector I have does not wire up to the standard DB15 pins). These two challenges are why other people have been unable to get video out of their Novy ImagePro: wrong vendor-edition of the drivers and non-standard port wiring.

Thank you,

David

 

[Phipli]

2. Or, do you have an actual Novy copy of the drivers (as opposed to the MacProducts edition)?

These are on Macintosh Garden and elsewhere, are they any use?

 

[Phipli]

These are on Macintosh Garden and elsewhere, are they any use?

Ah, sorry, I realise that must be what you already had. Sorry.

 

[Phipli]

Perhaps this person can help you?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettclark

They wrote the drivers for the ImagePro II it seems.

 

[Realitystorm]

Perhaps this person can help you?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettclark

They wrote the drivers for the ImagePro II it seems.

Probably not, I've already been in contact with him. He sent me everything he had for the imagepro ii. Unfortunately the box was badly beaten during the trip. The imagepro ii survived but not the hard drive with the drivers or the LC

Newlife and Novy seem to have used a lot of the same drivers. The SE display drivers may work https://www.savagetaylor.com/2023/0...tion/#newlife_se_video_display_interface_card

 

[David Cook]

@Bolle imaged his Systech v5.35 floppy and sent it to me. I've attached it to this post.

Unfortunately, my card was a newer revision and still could not enable video using v5.35. However, taking the BMAP and VLST resources from his version, and changing the vendor ID in the 5.42 code hit the sweet spot!



You're seeing 800x600 @56Hz refresh (36 MHz pixel clock) on a Dell 2007WFP LCD. 1024x768 works as well. The ImagePro board has a 50 MHz 68030 w/FPU and 16MB of system memory. The SE motherboard memory is used for a 4MB ram disk. That's pretty nice for an Macintosh SE.

Dual screen and the 68030 data cache are not yet working. I've patched a couple of other minor bugs. When the changes are complete, I'll upload the patched drivers.

Besides software, the other issue is that the video output ports are not wired to either VGA or Macintosh standards. So, after the drivers started working, I used an oscilloscope to make an educated guess as to output pins. Below is my work in progress. I recognize that nearby jumpers may alter these pins.


Attaching breadboard wires and IC-hook jumper wires to a DB15 breakout board connected the card to the Dell LCD monitor -- confirming the correct pinout. In the image below, notice that the blue jumper wire proceeds to the red jumper and the green jumper. The ImagePro only outputs B&W. So, red, green, and blue all receive the same signal. The black wires are all ground. Gray is v sync and yellow is h sync.

The Mac to VGA adapter is purely a mechanical pass through to fit a VGA cable.



Of course, the problem with the prototype wiring is that the video signal suffers from a lot of noise from these unshielded, unpaired, video wires. I'll solder a proper adapter after I play with the card jumpers to be sure I've got the best pinout.

The video settings selection has the most bizarre set of resolutions and pixel clocks. Very few of them are compatible with LCD monitors.
1152x870 (Apple standard)? 1152x896? 1152x1024? 1152x1184?
576x768? That's half of 1024x768
640x464?
912x688?

Some video choices have the correct resolution but non-standard pixel clock rates. I graphed the internal config value against the claimed output frequency and this was the graph. Even though it isn't an simple equation, we can just plug in new values until they match the curve. Maybe I'll be able to add some new modern output choices?


The three existing settings that work with the Dell LCD are SVGA, MegaScreenII, and SuperMac 19.

Unfortunately, if you choose a non-working setting, you're flying blind because the internal SE monitor is disabled. In System 6, the shift key does not disable all inits. I disassembled the ImagePro code and found it will skip at startup if the command key is held down. That keeps the internal monitor enabled and gives you the ability to change the external monitor settings.

Excellent progress so far. I'm still tempted to send the dead hard drive out to a service to see if more recent drivers can be recovered.

David

 

[adrianblack]

Heya all -- I just came across one of these boards too. Ron sent me this forum post as it's all he could find on this Novy accelerator. I don't know what revision this board, is but it's in my queue of stuff to work on to see if this driver works with it. Sadly there was machine with this board (or disks or manual) It was just lose in a box of other random PC parts.

 

[adrianblack]

I see the jumpers are configured the same way except for one jumper next to the video connector. Both cards have 16mb of RAM installed and the other markings all look the same.

 

[David Cook]

I see the jumpers are configured the same way except for one jumper next to the video connector. Both cards have 16mb of RAM installed and the other markings all look the same.

Hi Adrian,

How's your digital basement?

In an interesting twist of fate, last August I learned how to differentiate the video output signals for the Novy board by watching one of your videos.

I was able to get my Novy board to display on both monitors. However, as I have not paid a recovery service to retrieve the correct driver software from the clicking hard drive, I am working with a hacked mix of two versions. At some point, I realized the control panel and init are looking in different places for the preferences file, causing a crash. Making an exact copy inside and outside the Preferences folder solved that problem in the short term.

I have not pursued finishing the project as of yet.

- David

 

[Nolan879]

David, I now have a similar of these Novy ImagePro acclerators in 25mhz/ 4MB and have extracted the files from the control panel and extensions folders. I can share them here and the garden if still needed.

Have you been able to remove the ram? I'd like to upgrade mine to 16MB.

 

[David Cook]

David, I now have a similar of these Novy ImagePro acclerators in 25mhz/ 4MB and have extracted the files from the control panel and extensions folders. I can share them here and the garden if still needed.

Have you been able to remove the ram? I'd like to upgrade mine to 16MB.

Yes, please share the control panel and extensions you have!

I have not tried to remove the ram. The sockets seem similar to MicroMac SIMMdoubler right angle connector, which I was able to carefully finesse free.

 

[Bolle]

I have not tried to remove the ram.

AMP made a tool to go with those specific sockets. I can't find mine right now but it can be seen in the second photo here. The small T-shaped thingy. The large T-shaped thingy obviously is for removing compact Mac bucket screws

Also why didn't I mention that I got the Classic version of the Image Pro not too long ago?



Haven't gotten the video portion to work yet simply because I lack the proper power supply that will also supply 12V and I think also -12V for the ECL components.

 

[Nolan879]

Here are the files lifted from the control panels, extensions, and a preferences folders. This SE was running 7.1.1/Pro.

 

[ArmorAlley]

@David Cook Have you benchmarked it yet? It's faster than a IIfx but has a much slower bus.
Often graphics cards were customised for specific monitors and if it is a DE-9, then it may very well be a portrait monitor ot two-page-display.
I would have a look at Mac magazines from 1993 & 1994 and see what they have, especially if they have features on monitors, upgrading compacts and also in the ads. It was not uncommon for cards to bundled with monitors.

MacUser Apple 1993 has a feature on 100 accelerators for Macs and talks about the Novy ImagePro 25 & 33 but almost nothing about video.
The Novy Quik30 is identical to the ImagePro less the video options (MacUser Dec. 1993 p.289)

 

[Nolan879]

AMP made a tool to go with those specific sockets. I can't find mine right now but it can be seen in the second photo here. The small T-shaped thingy. The large T-shaped thingy obviously is for removing compact Mac bucket screws

Also why didn't I mention that I got the Classic version of the Image Pro not too long ago?

View attachment 84591

Haven't gotten the video portion to work yet simply because I lack the proper power supply that will also supply 12V and I think also -12V for the ECL components.

If you can share some closeups of that tool, I can CAD something up to 3D print.

 

[ObeyDaleks]

@David Cook Have you benchmarked it yet? It's faster than a IIfx but has a much slower bus.
Often graphics cards were customised for specific monitors and if it is a DE-9, then it may very well be a portrait monitor ot two-page-display.
I would have a look at Mac magazines from 1993 & 1994 and see what they have, especially if they have features on monitors, upgrading compacts and also in the ads. It was not uncommon for cards to bundled with monitors.

MacUser Apple 1993 has a feature on 100 accelerators for Macs and talks about the Novy ImagePro 25 & 33 but almost nothing about video.
The Novy Quik30 is identical to the ImagePro less the video options (MacUser Dec. 1993 p.289)

I have a few SE accelerators with on-board RAM, and they are all very fast. Since the RAM is on the accelerator itself, it’s not limited by the SE bus speeds, so it’s actually faster than vanilla Macs with similar specs. If I remember correctly, my ImagePro 33 clocked like 2.8 times faster than an SE/30 on the Speedometer.

 

[Nolan879]

AMP made a tool to go with those specific sockets. I can't find mine right now but it can be seen in the second photo here. The small T-shaped thingy. The large T-shaped thingy obviously is for removing compact Mac bucket screws

Also why didn't I mention that I got the Classic version of the Image Pro not too long ago?

View attachment 84591

Haven't gotten the video portion to work yet simply because I lack the proper power supply that will also supply 12V and I think also -12V for the ECL components.

Managed to find some additional photos of the tool, I was able to remove my ram using my printed model available at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6986752