Reversible video card

Oldbitcollector (Jeff)

In my quest for the Ultimate Protoboard, I fell on the idea of creating a reversible video card to make the board compatible with both the Hydra as well as popular Demo/Proto configurations. Since I have a friend who is planning to start on his own Propeller project, I've been documenting everything carefully, and once again thought I'd share with the forum.

Here's the doc.

Oldbitcollector


UPDATE: Something I failed to mention in this document is that you will want to create removable resistors
on the keyboard/mouse pins. In my own version, I used a pin/header system to plug in a small resistor pack which
can be removed easily for Hydra video use.

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The comments and code above are proof that a million monkeys with a million propeller chips *could* write Shakespeare!

Post Edited (Oldbitcollector) : 8/1/2007 6:47:35 AM GMT

Mightor

Wow, could it be any simpler than that? Thanks for the pdf! Keep the ideas coming, please. I, too, am about to get my Propeller Proto Board so as far as this stuff goes I am a complete noob.

Gr,
Mightor

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| What the world needs is more geniuses with humility, there are so few of us left.
| "Wait...if that was a compliment, why is my fist of death tingling?"
| - Alice from Dilbert

azmax100

What a great idea.

Mightor

Just so I know what to look for in my local electronics store; the type of socket for composite video is RCA, right? It sure looks like RCA anyway.
Oh and before I do go ahead an make myself one of these, there are ways to make the Prop output a PAL signal, right, preferably with the same objects as you would for NTSC (with some tweaks, naturally).

Gr,
Mightor

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| What the world needs is more geniuses with humility, there are so few of us left.
| "Wait...if that was a compliment, why is my fist of death tingling?"
| - Alice from Dilbert

RinksCustoms

The generic TV driver can be easily set for PAL opperation, actually you set nothing within the tv driver itself, you change bits in the tv_params section of the DAT block inside your program. You'll find that the tv driver is very configurable. Want to see the props output on a different (or multiple) TV's, Stick a piece of 14 or 12ga wire into the RCA jack and set the broadcast bit to true and tune to ch 2 or 3, I forgot which channel was 55.2MHz. And vuala! your broadcasting!

Anyone interested in S-video output? You will see information explaining how to fabricate the needed DAC and which resistors connect to Y and C signals comented within the modified graphics demo attatched. For pinouts of the S-video plug, pinouts.ru is an exellent scource.


Consult the TV drivers documentation at the end of tv's DAT section for PAL/NTSC, Progresive/interlace modes for better adjustability. It does give a cleaner picture.
Enjoy

I wouldn't be surprised if the Gen II prop came with a generic DVI and RGB Comosite/HMDI driver lol.


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http://folding.stanford.edu/·- Donating some CPU/GPU downtime just might lead to a cure for cancer! My team stats.

Post Edited (RinksCustoms) : 7/31/2007 6:13:50 AM GMT