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KEN ABOUT ......VGA, RGB, CMD ,URLs and other TLA

by Ken Ross: email.gif (183 bytes) petlibrary@bigfoot.com

Web Site: http://members.tripod.com/~petlibrary


 

68K MAC VGA ADAPTOR INFO ( at last!)

I've been using a monochrome monitor with my Mac for poverty stricken reasons. Shaking my piggy bank recently proved I'd enough to get the very cheapest monitor from Gasteiner, (http://www.gasteiner.co.uk). As it turned out, it was a PC multisync VGA type that needed an adaptor to enable the IIci to use it.

During the course of events I found out that the Mac/VGA adaptor that Maplins sell is only suitable, (for various reasons), for powerMacs. As I've not got one of them I can only pass on the results for the older 68K machines that need a different variety. So with this in mind I've (again!) mapped out the through connections of the dongle now in use. (the usual warning about damages etc. to anything & everything are your responsibility!)

MAC 15 pin

JOB

VGA 15 pin

1

red ground

6

2

red signal

1

3

comp sync

n/c

4

sense 0

4

5

green signal

2

6

green ground

7

7

sense 1

11

8

n/c

n/c

9

blue signal

3

10

sense 2

12

11

comp & vert sync ground

10

12

vert sync

14

13

blue ground

8

14

horiz sync ground

10

15

horiz sync13

13

 

The new VGA monitor plug with the adaptor needed for it to work with my Mac meant that the CPU box had to be moved forward, spoiling the flush lines of the racking it lives in. I considered creating a right angle adaptor to insert inline to get a lower profile. When comparing prices of the bits needed in the local Maplins I noticed that the joystick extension leads were very much cheaper than getting components and some of them used the standard shielded 15D plug & socket. It was just a matter of inserting it in sequence and tidying the 'spare' cable out of the way and moving the CPU back into flush position.

21st CENTURY DISKS

There has been a bit of a hold up in 'project upload' of late, due to things outside of my control, but hopefully 'normal service will be resumed'. The reason for this is the latest addition to the family......

A CMD FD-2000 disk drive, which, if you've not encountered it, is an up to date version of the 1581. It uses 3.5'' disks and can use original 1581 formatted disks. The 'native' formats are 800K for DD disk and a staggering 1.6MB for HD disks. With Big Blue Reader it can read/write to PC720K disks. The info says that it can use PC1.4Mb disks but this may depend on which version of Big Blue Reader you've got as my copy won't :-<

On the front panel there is a changeover switch to flip it from device 8 to 9 temporarily - but permanent device numbers can be set by way of switches on the back. The factory setting is for #10.

The bigger capacity of the native format disks means that they can have 'sub directories' that can emulate 1541, 1571 & 1581 disks. It's a well designed unit that just plugs in place of a 15x1, (or clone), and accepts the usual Commodore command syntax. Having the larger disk space means that programs, such as viewers for Macpaint files, can have an extensive slide show set up and the HTML reader program, (see issue ej299/art2.htm), starts to realise its full potential . (Am I the only person who's discovered it?). It comes with a disk of utilities for use in copying / formatting etc.

HOW TO GET YOUR HANDS ON ANY CMD DEVICE

If you're in the USA it just a matter of just going to their web site at:

http://www.cmdweb.com

Here in the UK we've got the delights of exchange rates, amongst other delights, to deal with. However, all that can be avoided by dealing with Allan Bairstow of Commodore Scene:

http://www.commodorescene.org.uk

He'll do all the hard work for you. He runs it as a non profit task, along with producing the magazine Commodore Scene - take out a subscription for an ideal Commodore present ;-.>

IT WAS THERE LAST TIME I LOOKED!

In a previous article I gave the URL to find a patch to insert pictures into 'simpletext'. Full of confidence I revisited it after 'the hard drive crash', only to find that it had been replaced on-site with an earlier version that didn't have the picture patch :-<

However, more handy is a utility freeware program that provides spell checking in any 68k/PPC application.

http://www.newertech.com/software/software/files/spelltools.hqx

Developer's page

http://www.newertech.com/

SYNCRONICITY?

A fellow Epson user sent me a piece of info just as I was typing mine up last time! When selecting the 'tools' section of the printer menu and checking the levels of ink in the cartridges, it's just a guesstimate by the printer. There could be more ink left in there after the red 'replace now ' light goes on and the printer has stopped any operations.
(Ed: I have an Epson 640 and on this printer checking the ink level is done by firing up the Status monitor, double clicking the printer and choosing the Consumables tab)

If you've not got a new cartridge to hand how to get at this ink? Follow the replacement sequence but don't take out the old cartridge - just lift it up slightly then drop it back down. This fools the printer system into think that it got a new one installed. There maybe up to 10 pages of text left if you're lucky. (If not - it really is empty!)

When you've got your hands on a replacement cartridge the ink level system needs to be reset. Switch on and when the printer carriage reaches toward the left hand end of the printer switch off at the mains. Just slide the printer cartridge carrier over to remove the hopefully now completely empty old cartridge. Power on and it'll give you the red 'replace now ' light sequence.

 

THE SOUND OF THE 60's

The star attraction at quite a few air shows can be found at

http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk.

No air display was really complete without an English Electric Lightning climbing away from the runway, almost vertically, on a pillar of fire with the thunder of its twin Avon's reverberating through the soles of your feet. Another English Electric favourite lives at:

http://members.nbci.com/deltic/SOUNDS.htm

They were rated at the magic 100 m.p.h. and just sounded different to ordinary diesels. Sad to say I couldn't find any sounds of an English Electric twin tub washing machine to complete the set :-<

WHAT NO?

Regular readers of my efforts will be expecting some sort of competition at this point! There wasn't time for me to work one up, due to other commitments, so there's no Christmas competition this year.

PS

Allan Bairstow has now got himself an 8296 - glad to hear he's got himself a real computer !.

SpellCheck offers that he's called Allan BARSTOOL ;->


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