presentation and other stuff
5 messages · 2004-11-10 → 2004-12-06 · Yahoo Group era · View archive on archive.org
Participants: Paolo Ferraris, bryankvines, Jarek Adamski, David Solly
Preserved from the Timex/Sinclair 2068 Yahoo Group (2001–2019), which is no longer online. Text reproduced from the archive.org archive; email addresses masked.
Messages
1. presentation and other stuff
Paolo Ferraris · Wed, 10 Nov 2004 21:57
Hi there,
I think that I should give a brief presentation of myself first.
My name is Paolo, I'm Italian but I live in the US since 2001. I have a
Spectrum 48k and a +3, even if they are in Italy and I can use them
rarely. So I use emulators, and I still write (small) programs for fun.
Now the main reasons of this message.
I bought a TS 2068 on Ebay, which has two problems:
1) the image on TV is of bad quality. Even if the image is stable, I can
see waves and vertical stripes of different brightness. The colors look
bad as well: the "Red" is a magenta, the "magenta" is another blue, the
"cyan" is another blue, and the "yellow" is a sort of orange.
2) I cannot load anything from the EAR port. From my Spectrum
experience, after having typed LOAD "", the border of the screen should
change color if there is any signal from the EAR port, and I should hear
something from the speaker. The color never changes, after having tried
to connect it to a the audio output port of my PC, and to a CD player.
Can anybody tell me how to fix these problems?
The second reason of this message is the following. I wrote a minigame
called 4k Race for the Spectrum 128k, that won the 2004 Minigame Compo
in the 4k category:
http://www.ffd2.com/minigame/
Since there is no official racing game for the TS2068 (is there any
homedrew racing game?) I decided to convert the game for this platform.
You can find it at
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/otto/spectrum/4krace2068.zip
The problem is that I cannot try the game on my TS 2068 for the above
reasons, and I didn't find good emulators for Windows XP (is there any?)
For what I have seen, the game runs fine, but I don't know
1) if the game runs at the right speed (in particular, the timer on top
of the screen), and
2) if the joystick support works.
Can anybody try it for me?
Thanks.
Paolo
2. Re: presentation and other stuff
bryankvines · Wed, 17 Nov 2004 03:06
Hi Paolo! Welcome to the group.
> I bought a TS 2068 on Ebay, which has two problems:
> 1) the image on TV is of bad quality. Even if the image is stable, I can
> see waves and vertical stripes of different brightness. The colors look
> bad as well: the "Red" is a magenta, the "magenta" is another blue, the
> "cyan" is another blue, and the "yellow" is a sort of orange.
You could probably adjust the color with the variable resistors located near the speaker on
the logic board. I don't know which ones do what, but if you make note of the original
positions of each one, you could then move one slightly to see what effect it has on the
color.
My 2068 has a poor-quality output from both the composite video connector as well as
from its modulated TV connector. I had some serious dot-crawl issues when certain colors
were set side-by-side on screen. I bought a Commodore 1084S monitor on eBay, because
a friend of mine recommended that model (he has one as well, from his Commodore
days). I still had dot-crawl issues, but the video looked a little better. Eventually I built the
RGB interface described in the TS2068 tech manual. I built it onto a small circuit board and
mounted it inside the 2068, and wired a D-sub 9-pin connector to the back of the 2068. I
found a nice "CGA Extender Cable" at a local electronics store. This cable is just a straight-
through 9-conductor cable. I now have flawless video from my 2068. The only thing it
won't handle is the "bright" attribute, but that's a limitation of the RGB interface. The
monitor is an RGBI (where "I" stands for "Intensity"), and the Intensity signal is what Bright
is all about. Anyway, you might try making that interface.
> The second reason of this message is the following. I wrote a minigame
> called 4k Race for the Spectrum 128k, that won the 2004 Minigame Compo
> in the 4k category:
Congratulations on your recent win!
> Since there is no official racing game for the TS2068 (is there any
> homedrew racing game?) I decided to convert the game for this platform.
> The problem is that I cannot try the game on my TS 2068 ...
> Can anybody try it for me?
I tried it on the FUSE emulator, and on my 2068. In the emulator, the program loads and
does a flicker effect on the border for a few seconds, then the game starts. On the real
2068, the program loads and does a flicker effect on the border, then resets the computer.
I played the game a little bit on the emulator, but the "p" key didn't work, so I couldn't turn
right. Eventually I crashed. :) Anyway, it looks like it would be fun to play.
--
Bryan Vines
3. RGB (Re: presentation and other stuff)
Jarek Adamski · Wed, 17 Nov 2004 12:06
Hello,
Cytowanie bryankvines <[email]>:
> You could probably adjust the color with the variable
> resistors located near the speaker on the logic board.
VR1 - sync and white level
VR2 - B-Y vector (blue)
VR3 - R-Y vector (red)
> The only thing it won't handle is the "bright" attribute,
> but that's a limitation of the RGB interface. The monitor
> is an RGBI (where "I" stands for "Intensity"), and the
> Intensity signal is what Bright is all about.
This is interesting thing. Recently I had a look into the
Timex Computer 2048 and it doesn't have the BRIHT signal
on the edge slot, however has RGBS (S=sync) and TS2068PAL
ULA it uses produces BRIGHT signal that is used internally.
The only computer that has BRIGHT on edge slot is the
Timex Computer 2068.
Does the TS2068 RGB signals include intensity or are 0/1?
Perhaps it is possible to recover the intensity from
VIDEO signal?
Another solution could be recovering RGBIS from VIDEO
signal.
Jarek Adamski
4. Re: [ts2068] Re: presentation and other stuff
Paolo Ferraris · Sat, 04 Dec 2004 16:43
Hi Brian, sorry for the late reply,
bryankvines wrote:
>You could probably adjust the color with the variable resistors located near the speaker on the logic board. I don't know which ones do what, but if you make note of the original positions of each one, you could then move one slightly to see what effect it has on the color.
>
>
I will try that.
>My 2068 has a poor-quality output from both the composite video connector as well as from its modulated TV connector. I had some serious dot-crawl issues when certain colors were set side-by-side on screen.
>
Same problem with me.
>I bought a Commodore 1084S monitor on eBay, because
>a friend of mine recommended that model (he has one as well, from his Commodore days). I still had dot-crawl issues, but the video looked a little better.
>
Yep, I connected it to the video-in connector of my PC and it looks
slightly better.
>Eventually I built the RGB interface described in the TS2068 tech manual. I built it onto a small circuit board and mounted it inside the 2068, and wired a D-sub 9-pin connector to the back of the 2068. I found a nice "CGA Extender Cable" at a local electronics store. This cable is just a straight-through 9-conductor cable. I now have flawless video from my 2068. The only thing it won't handle is the "bright" attribute, but that's a limitation of the RGB interface. The monitor is an RGBI (where "I" stands for "Intensity"), and the Intensity signal is what Bright is all about. Anyway, you might try making that interface.
>
>
I am wondering if it possible just to fix the problem on the computer.
Maybe there is just one condenser to be replaced...
>I tried it on the FUSE emulator, and on my 2068. In the emulator, the program loads and does a flicker effect on the border for a few seconds, then the game starts. On the real 2068, the program loads and does a flicker effect on the border, then resets the computer.
>
>
Do you have any extra hardware connected to your 2068?
>I played the game a little bit on the emulator, but the "p" key didn't work, so I couldn't turn right. Eventually I crashed. :) Anyway, it looks like it would be fun to play.
>
>
It could be the joystick support, emulated in FUSE with QAOP, doesn't
work very well on 4krace. Have you tried to disable it?
Anyway, at the same address,
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/otto/spectrum/4krace2068.zip
there is a new version of the game. It should run at 10 frames/second on
both TS and TC 2068, and it should have increased compatibility.
Hopefully it will work on the real 2068. Can you try it?
If it works, please tell me if the border ever becomes black (that
indicates a slowdown).
Thanks,
Paolo
5. RE: [ts2068] Re: presentation and other stuff
David Solly · Mon, 6 Dec 2004 16:38:
Sometimes running the composite video out-put from the TS 2068 through the
video camera input on your VCR then to you TV clears up a lot of this
problem and settles out the crawlies as well. I have also been told that if
you have a long cord going from the computer video output to the TV input to
try wrapping part of the cord around a paper dowel - like from a roll of
paper towel - and move the orientation of the dowel and that sometime cleans
up reception.
Hope this helps
David Solly
Your friendly, furry critter
-----Original Message-----
From: Paolo Ferraris [mailto:[email]]
Sent: Saturday, December 04, 2004 5:43 PM
To: [email]
Subject: Re: [ts2068] Re: presentation and other stuff
Hi Brian, sorry for the late reply,
bryankvines wrote:
>You could probably adjust the color with the variable resistors located
near the speaker on the logic board. I don't know which ones do what, but if
you make note of the original positions of each one, you could then move one
slightly to see what effect it has on the color.
>
>
I will try that.
>My 2068 has a poor-quality output from both the composite video connector
as well as from its modulated TV connector. I had some serious dot-crawl
issues when certain colors were set side-by-side on screen.
>
Same problem with me.
>I bought a Commodore 1084S monitor on eBay, because
>a friend of mine recommended that model (he has one as well, from his
Commodore days). I still had dot-crawl issues, but the video looked a little
better.
>
Yep, I connected it to the video-in connector of my PC and it looks
slightly better.
>Eventually I built the RGB interface described in the TS2068 tech manual. I
built it onto a small circuit board and mounted it inside the 2068, and
wired a D-sub 9-pin connector to the back of the 2068. I found a nice "CGA
Extender Cable" at a local electronics store. This cable is just a
straight-through 9-conductor cable. I now have flawless video from my 2068.
The only thing it won't handle is the "bright" attribute, but that's a
limitation of the RGB interface. The monitor is an RGBI (where "I" stands
for "Intensity"), and the Intensity signal is what Bright is all about.
Anyway, you might try making that interface.
>
>
I am wondering if it possible just to fix the problem on the computer.
Maybe there is just one condenser to be replaced...
>I tried it on the FUSE emulator, and on my 2068. In the emulator, the
program loads and does a flicker effect on the border for a few seconds,
then the game starts. On the real 2068, the program loads and does a flicker
effect on the border, then resets the computer.
>
>
Do you have any extra hardware connected to your 2068?
>I played the game a little bit on the emulator, but the "p" key didn't
work, so I couldn't turn right. Eventually I crashed. :) Anyway, it looks
like it would be fun to play.
>
>
It could be the joystick support, emulated in FUSE with QAOP, doesn't
work very well on 4krace. Have you tried to disable it?
Anyway, at the same address,
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/otto/spectrum/4krace2068.zip
there is a new version of the game. It should run at 10 frames/second on
both TS and TC 2068, and it should have increased compatibility.
Hopefully it will work on the real 2068. Can you try it?
If it works, please tell me if the border ever becomes black (that
indicates a slowdown).
Thanks,
Paolo
Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
ADVERTISEMENT
<http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG9d0ggji/M05848.5495733.6574565.2152219/D=gr
oups/S05566162:HM/EXP02449678/A$00529/R=2/id=noscript/SIG28n7n0d/
*http:/shop.barbiecollector.com/pls/bc/promo_page?ky�6760&ld=1>
<http://us.a1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/a/ma/mattel/juicy_300x250_bc_102004.jpg>
<http://us.adserver.yahoo.com/l?M05848.5495733.6574565.2152219/D=groups/S:HM/A$00529/rand�8380304>
_____
Yahoo! Groups Links
* To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ts2068/
* To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email]
<mailto:[email]?subject=Unsubscribe>
* Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
<http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> Service.
Indexed under
Video upgrades (composite, RGB, HDMI) · User group meetings & events