CompuServe Messages

Just received your response and I do not have the older manuals infront of me now but to get you started here's some background info to consider. The original Magni (not PRO) hooked up to the VGA card via a RAMDAC adapter board only. Magni supplied two versions of this adapter board for two types of RAMDAC's, DIP's and PLCC. The VGA card required either a socketed RAMDAC DIP or a soldered square type chip. The 26 conductor ribbon cable connects to this adapter board and links to the stake pin connector on the Magni. The PRO model has, among other feature improvements, two ways to connect. The original way described above and the simple vga card feature connector hookup. The Magni's all operate totally transparent to the system except when using the director software supplied. I'm not sure this director software works with the older boards but IMHO the director software was a bit awkward for an old hardware video switcher type.<g> The RJ series phone line will work to hook up the control box but I found the Magni supplied lines all had one of the plugs attached backwards which made off the shelf cables incompatible. I bought a 25 foot cable and had to reverse the polarity of one of the connectors to get the wiring right. If you look at the short cable they supply you will see the pin hookups between plugs are backwards. Also note that you do not need to have the box hooked up to get output from the board. You just need it to get switched and keying control. In no case should you disconnect the daughter boards from the Magni. If you received an adapter board with the Magni then my guess is it's an older version. The older version had one major problem. Thin horizontal graphic lines would flicker. They did have an upgrade to these cards that corrected this but it was very expensive. The video output is on the red connector for composite and genlock goes to the black connector. If you don't hookup external video for genlock the magni produces it's own high quality (RS-170) sync. What type of RAMDAC adapter card do you have? is it for DIP or a square socket? I've used the Magni with the Orchid Pro Designer II (not IIS) PLCC RAMDAC and an STB 8 bit VGA card with DIP RAMDAC. I'm not familiar with your graphics card but if the ramdac style matches the conditions I've listed above it should work. I'll get my old manuals and boards (beta) and see how they match up this evening and get back to you.