ATMOS RGB to Philips CM11342

If you want to ask questions about how the machine works, peculiar details, the differences between models, here it is !
How to program the oric hardware (VIA, FDC, ...) is also welcome.
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barnsey123
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ATMOS RGB to Philips CM11342

Post by barnsey123 »

Hi Guys,
Just dusted off my old Atmos after 25 years...ZAP and PING are clear as a bell but the UHF picture sucks (always did).
However, I have an old philips CM11342 monitor which has an RGB port (Female 9 pin D type). The monitor supports TTL RGB and Analog RGB.

I have the pin assignments for the monitors RGB connection

Pin TTL Analog
1 Grnd Grnd
2 Grnd Grnd
3 Red Red
4 Green Green
5 Blue Blue
6 Intensity Fast Blanking
7 Not Used Composite Sync
8 H.Sync H.Sync
9 V.Sync V.Sync

The Oric RGB pins are
1. Red
2. Green
3. Blue
4. SYNC
5. Ground

Questions:
1. Is there an off-the-shelf cable I could use (I'm damned if I can find one)
2. If I made a cable would I be wiring it up for TTL RGB or Analogue (I'm guessing Analogue)?
3. If analogue, would the Oric's SYNC line correspond to "Composite Sync" on the Phillips analogue RGP connector?
4. Could I use either of the Ground lines on the philips?
5. Can I damage the Oric or the monitor if I get it wrong?

I'm useless at making my own cables so if anyone knows if I can buy one anywhere please let me know...

Oh, I'm seriously interested in the Cumulus device (always wanted an oric disk drive but could never afford one).

Another queston: I've seen Atmos RGB->Scart cables advertised but it says "propably won't work on a modern TV, use a CRT". Has anyone tried one of these?
http://www.retrocomputershack.com/PDF/Oric-Scart.pdf

Your advice would be welcome.
Thanks and regards
Barnsey
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ibisum
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Post by ibisum »

Hi and welcome back to the Oric!

I have one of those cables and it is awesome .. although I'm fortunate to live in a country where old TV's with SCART interfaces aren't too rare these days .. well, for now anyway. Its an awesome cable, I've never seen such a stable quality picture out of an Oric, and I highly recommend it to you.

I can't answer many more questions about your video hacking, but I think you're on the right path. Surely some of the other hardware hackers here can help with the finer details ..

Oh, and yes: the Cumulus board absolutely kicks ass. Mine arrived this week and I'm very, very eager to get it running on my Atmos systems this weekend .. ;)
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barnsey123
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Post by barnsey123 »

@ibisum

Thanks for that. I wonder if feeding the SCART signal via a VHS recorder to the LCD TV would help?

Off-topic but has anyone seen this? http://excamera.com/sphinx/gameduino/in ... #gameduino

I would have killed for this back in 1984... :D
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Dbug
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Post by Dbug »

Barnsey: Apparently this monitor has the same type of connectors as the old Amiga 108x series, I did a direct connection between the oric output and the monitor input (red to red, green to green, etc...) without any problem. No transistors or resistors or what nots.

Guess that would work fine with yours too, as long as you select TTL mode.
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Post by barnsey123 »

@dbug
Yes, that would make sense (I used to use the monitor on my old Amiga A500 (still have the lead but not the miggy).

Just to clarify (I'm OK with the Red, Green, Blue) do you think it matters which of the monitor's Ground pins I connect the Oric Ground to (1,2 or neither?)
Should I bother wiring up the SYNC line? The monitor has knobs on the back to control H.Sync and V.Sync.

It would be a shame to toast my Oric due to a mere oversight...

Monitor pins...

Pin TTL
1 Grnd
2 Grnd
3 Red
4 Green
5 Blue
6 Intensity
7 Not Used
8 H.Sync
9 V.Sync
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Post by Dbug »

I'm pretty sure that I was wiring the two grounds together with the Oric ground.

For the Sync I don't remember if I connected either the HSync, VSync or both, pretty sure I had at least one connected. The worse that may happen for the sync is that the picture moves around.

The Sync on the Oric side is a composite signal containing both the the Horizontal and Vertical impulses, so it may just work to try connecting to both or possibly just the VSync. Try VSync only first, then VSync + HSync.

Good luck, as long as you don't short power with ground, I doubt you risk to damage anything (ok, as long as you don't keep the monitor showing an out of sync picture for hours).
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Post by barnsey123 »

I don't think I should be allowed near a soldering iron! Just too damned fiddly. I know what to do, I just can't do it...maybe I'm just getting old.

I think I'm going to have to buy that RGB Scart lead...

Thanks for the help and advice though, much appreciated.

regards
Barnsey
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ibisum
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Post by ibisum »

You can't go wrong with that RGB Scart lead .. it works very well .. my only regret is that I didn't buy a few of them, since I have 5 Atmos machines (and now a Telestrat) to play with, and I'd absolutely love to get at least two of them hooked up for my kids .. ;)
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Post by barnsey123 »

Yay...cable arrived! :D

Booo...won't work properly on a modern TV (picture is clear...but jerks around too much) :cry:

Didn't get a picture at all going via the VHS recorder (I thought it might "calm" the signal as normal VHS output on same TV is fine)

The VHS recorder has a "video out" phono type port, I'll try that to the TV and if that don't work, I'll plug it into the original Philips monitor (which has a phono-type video in socket...). Anyone taking bets?

ATMOS -> RGB/SCART -> Video recorder -> video-out phono -> Philips.

Hell's bell's I thought it might be easier than this...

@ibisum: What are you doing with 5 Atmos machines? You have more backup systems than the Fukushima nuclear plant... :)
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ibisum
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Post by ibisum »

I won all 5 in an auction .. ;) Its really lovely to have them, though .. I'd love to have them all set up at once along one wall in my office space or something, so when people come over, I can show them what real computing is! :) Or, make a Beouwulf clu .. .oh, never mind. :)

Sorry to hear about your cable woes .. I have a little mini-TV that has SCART input and it works very well .. best quality Oric output I've ever had. Maybe you can try and hunt down an old TV that has the appropriate degree of SCART'ness or something?
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Post by Chema »

Ouch. I had the intention to buy one of those cables too, but if they don't work on modern TVs I might think about it twice.

I am currently using an old CRT TV, so I assume it would work, but want to change to a LCD TV to gain some space in the small table where I have my Oric...
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ibisum
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Post by ibisum »

I wonder also if the power is working properly, because my cable (I bought the same one and love it) also goes all wavy when I don't have the power connected properly .. but its smooth as silk when its all done right.
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Post by barnsey123 »

I'm going to try to find a CRT to use it on (I'll then be able to check if it's the power or not...)
The purchase of a Cumulus depends on it...if the oric is toast I'll be sticking with emulators for a while...
I've contacted RetroComputerShack to see if they have any thoughts (and to see if they can make me the RGB cable referred to at the start fo this thread...)

@ibisum. Did you say you'd bought a Cumulus? Did it work?
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Post by ibisum »

I haven't bought it, I'm participating in a beta/continued-development phase to get it streamlined before retromaster pulls the lever to get a production run done for the rest of you guys! I've got 5 Atmos's and a Telestrat, so I'm sort of the 'hardware testing' guy at this point.

It does work, its amazing, and I can't wait until everyone has one so that we can see more software that uses disk-storage as a basis for levels and music and so on ..
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Post by barnsey123 »

The cumulus is much desired. In fact, it's going to be a necessity if we're ever going to get FRED SPACE off the ground (yes, that's DEAD SPACE for Oric!) :D
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