RasterOps Colorboard 264/SE30

[Themk]

While I have had this video card for exactly a week now, I finally got the VGA adaptor required to plug a VGA monitor into the DB15 connector! Now, I was a little worried about how my modern flat panel monitor would react to the video card's output, but it seems to like the signal just fine! Also, I hear that this card is capable of 24-bit color, but 256 colors is my highest option in the monitors control panel. I probably need to install RasterOps' software.

The adaptor that ties everything together:



Declaration ROM start up splash screen. I really like the color gradient!



And of course the System 6.0.8 boot floppy desktop. Color control panel is open, with color picker open. I like how the picture doesn't look stretched, or otherwise messed up. I also like how good of a job my monitor is doing at upscaling to 1600x1200 the input from the SE/30!



Side Note: If you want pictures of the card's PCB, consult my conquests thread titled "Macintosh SE/30"

 

[joethezombie]

Neat!  What model number is that Dell?

 

[Themk]

It's a Dell Ultrasharp 2007FP. IPS panel and 20 inches. I originally bought it for my IIgs, as this monitor has composite and s-video in, in addition to VGA and DVI.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Nice MultiSync panel, my main screen is a 20" Ultrasharp.

"Disk 1 contains the software for the Pan, Zoom and Extended Desktop features and 32-bit QuickDraw." Manual (NuBus version) says to use the Mac's Monitors Control Panel to "Designate your monitor's pixel depth." The other disks aren't related to basic Display functions, drivers for those are almost always built into the Declaration ROM of a NuBus or PDS VidCard. If they weren't you'd be up the creek without a second display, which wouldn't be a problem in the case of your SE/30, but it's unlikely your DeclROM or drivers for additional functions differ at all from those for my NuBus version.

Have fun with PZE playtime!

 

[Themk]

PZE does sound fun! Say, where can I get an image of this disk? I know where to find the RasterOps Graphics Install 3.3 file, but I realize that it isn't the same thing. (EDIT: Yes it is, it has "RasterOps Controls", which provide those functions) Also, I was realizing that likely why I couldn't set the color depth any higher was because 32-bit QuickDraw was NOT installed.

I would expect the '030 PDS and NuBus versions to be identical (Except for the way the interface with the rest of the system). Overall, this seems like a good video card. I noticed it has 1.5MB of VRAM.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I was realizing that likely why I couldn't set the color depth any higher was because 32-bit QuickDraw was NOT installed..

Yep, that'd do it!  If not accelerated or high resolution, for that time period this card was probably a lot of fun. Displaying Video and FrameGrabbing were great features. Virtual Desktop was a neat feature on several cards of the day. This card does:

Extended Desktop Size        Colors/Grays Available

  1024 x 512                              millions, 256, 16, 4, 2

  2048 x 512                             16, 4, 2

Very few monitors with anywhere near affordable pricing could do more than 640x480 at a 24bit color depth in early 1990. Panning and Zooming at those resolutions within a 640 x 480 looking glass is very cool. That feature was developed for displaying large layouts and CAD drawings on what we'd consider small monitors today.

http://lowendmac.com/video/pds/rops264se30.html

 

[Themk]

Wow that IS very cool! Hopefully I can get back to booting from HDD rather than floppy in the SE/30, and then I can install all of this fun software.

 

[omidimo]

Oh very cool result indeed. I almost want another SE/30 with a video card now... but don't we all?

 

[Themk]

Omidimo,

You can NEVER have too many upgrades

I wanted a big upgrade for my SE/30, and here I have it! After I get my recap finished, I am going to load up System 7.1.1 and have so much fun!

Trash,

Would you consider this card low-end or middle of the range when it first came out? I know its not a high-end card as there is no QuickDraw acceleration, or DSPs, etc. There IS 24-bit color though!

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Dunno, I never did try to get a handle on the timeline for video card development. QuickDraw Acceleration isn't the be all and end all of performance and DSPs had EXTREMELY limited usefulness. If you weren't doing desktop publishing in 1990 and didn't have the need to see all your pixels at once your PZE enabled card was a good bet for CAD and throwing composite Video from a VCR you might have taken with a VHS CamCorder or the like up on the Mac's screen for limited FrameGrabbing. That would have been useful even in a DTP studio. You'd need to use another setup for the sound, there's no provision for that like you'd find on pro-gear like Radius' VideoVision Studio setup.

In the same Magic Plastic Shoe Box of NuBus Goodness© I've got a RasterOps 24XLTV2.0 that's probably a year newer and decidedly top end in terms of acceleration and 24bit TPD output. It has connectors for a DaughterCard of some sort and according to that LEM blurb it also has some Video in/out capabilities. Dunno about those, I don't know the pinout of the DE-9 connector on it or what ought to have been plugged into it way back when. It would have been nice if it had come with a manual, but PZE's more fun than neolithic video gear and TPD pixels at 24bit have a quality all their own so I'm glad I got the 264's manual.

The amazing early (first?) rev. of the SuperMac Spectrum Card, media and manual are missing from that box ATM, but they might be in the Radius drawer, I'll have to get that thread going again.

 

[Themk]

Thanks for that information! :b&w: I knew DSPs weren't the most useful thing, but I had no idea that QuickDraw acceleration didn't add that much to performance! The PZE features were probably one of the reasons why RasterOps was able to sell the software separately from the cards (which probably made them more money).

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

It's mot the be all and end all but QuickDraw Acceleration is a very big deal in certain applications. Using the scroll bars to pan around in a large graphic speeds the redraws very significantly under QuickDraw acceleration, in that case it's in its element. But if you use the hand tool to do the same thing it's almost no help at all.

The PZE and Video/FrameGrabbing disks came with the card.

 

[Themk]

I was reading: http://web.archive.org/web/20050313004807/http://www.iboi.nl/rasterops/ which states that "Works without expensive RasterOps display software" and "If you do not have the software for the card, you need to buy it." That made me believe that the software was sold separately, but glad to know I was mistaken on whether or not the software came with the card. I thought it would have been stupid to sell the software separately of the card anyway...

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Dunno, marketing the same card at an entry level price point for the basics of VidCard function alone makes sense. Most folks wouldn't have needed the advanced feature sets. Everyone used to complain about a Video Card Mfr. who insisted on selling their "drivers" way past the "useful lifetime" of their old cards. I wonder if that was RasterOps? If it was software that enabled added features that they had always sold separately, I don't see any problem. The 24XLTV2.0 at least had add-on hardware bundled with that "expensive software."

Whoever wrote that article seems to have been of the "if the card I bought needs it, it should be free" mindset.

TFB, TANSTAFL!

 

[Themk]

:lol: Yeah, I don't know either. What I do know is that this "expensive software" is easily available on the internet today!

 

[nickpunt]

Out of curiosity, what ROM version do you have on yours?

Mine is:

264/30 v1.1

0002-1916

08/31/89

Another of these cards just popped up on eBay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/RasterOps-Colorboard-264-SE30-SE-30-Macintosh-Video-Card-Nubus-/262898577481) and it's is:

264/30 v1.2

0002-1942

02/20/90

Wondering if there's a way to update mine, or whether I can swap in a ROM from another RasterOps board from the same family (unlikely, but they're sometimes cheap).

Unfortunately I can't tell if mine works or not, as I don't have the db20 connector for it. Any idea how I might see if it works / build my own connector?

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Building a cable should be straightforward as you've got a standared connector on the board. How many pins are on the connector? Looks to be ten pins in that pic.

You're lucky in that you can use a standard ribbon cable/IDC connector combo(s) from from the PC world for all your parts or 2 of three and order one connector . There are three options available, choice depends upon your comfort level with the three different processes involved and ready availability of different parts.

First step is for Themk to buzz the connections for you. This sounds like the perfect example in a general howto for cable building topic in hacks.

 

[Themk]

nickpunt,

I have ROM revision 1.3!

264SE30 1.3

0002-2019

09/03/91

View attachment 11923
Its a DA15 connector, and the adaptor is completely passive. I'll test for continuity and build a schematic. The actual construction of the adaptor shouldn't be too difficult, you just need an 10-pin IDC connector, ribbon cable, and then you will need to solder the ends of the ribbon cable to the pins on the DA15 connector.

P.S. Is it really worth what the eBay seller wants?

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

No.

edit: OOPSIE! Forgot to add that you could also use a DA-15 jumper cable from an old PC and that IDC-10 connector, you'll need to split the cable and press the individual wires onto the forks of the connector per Themk's pinout and then punch it down.

The third is the ugly/easy way a lot of folks seem to like: get your hands on the jumper cables for both game and serial ports from an old PC for the cut/split/splice/shrink method. Alternately, you can pry apart the parts of the IDC-10F header on the serial jumper cable, strip out the ribbon cable and then go with the IDC rewire shuffle. That's not hard to do, the CC gang used to do that with the cable harness of the CC for the TAKKY mod.

edit #2: also forgot to add that listing an item on eBay at a high price to angle for the best offer you can get is preferable to listing the item in an auction to risk selling it for the spot price the market decides it's worth at that specific point in time and have the info wind up on the public record.