#Denise Upgrade
16 messages in this thread
What exactly do I have to do to upgrade an original chipset A500 to be
able to put out flicker-free (i.e. ECS) displays? Just a new Denise? Is
the newer Denise pin compatable with the old one?
Paul
You'll need an ECS Denise, an ECS Agnus, and a Multisynch monitor, (or 2
monitors, 1 VGA, and one RGB).
Yes, the ECS Denise is pin compatible with the old Denise.
A word of warning though, you wont believe how slow your 500 will run in
productivity mode, not to mention, only 4 colors… (I tried it, and
couldn't live with it, now I own an A1200 to go with my A500.)
Bob Comer — Cruising the nets on AutoPilot from Cheyenne, Wyoming
My mother wants to use it for word-processing – would it be too slow for
that to be practical or bearable? A flicker fixer is about $200 or
something, so I'm not sure what to do – she doesn't want to spend much
money.
Paul
I don't know, it all depends on her tolerance (and what word processor
she's going to use.)
Have you thought about those C= Hires monitor's that you see advertised in
AmigaWorld (they're going for about $200, but I think that's all you have
to buy…)
Bob Comer — Cruising the nets on AutoPilot from Cheyenne, Wyoming
That's a thought – I'd been trying to get info on them myself before I
went and got my 1200.
But my biggest worry is memory – it has only 1meg. Trans(write/script)?
is probably her best bet, I guess, though if you have any suggestions
PLEASE offer them.
Thanks
Paul
I haven't tried Transwrite myself, but I've heard good things about it. (I
prefer excellence! and Final Copy, but there's no way that she'll be happy
with those on a 1 meg machine using productivity mode…)
What version of the OS do you have on the 500? If it's 1.3, I'd suggest
Scribble! It's a decent, and fast, text based wp. I don't know if it was
updated for OS2.04 though…
Bob Comer — Cruising the nets on AutoPilot from Cheyenne, Wyoming
Hi Paul
I really think there is no way to *inexpensively* make a 500 do what you
want. The cheapest route might be to install the ECS chipset, Agnes _and_
Denise, and the 2.1 rom upgrade, then run productivity mode and pick up a
Commodore hi-res black and white monior. But I wouldn't do it. A better
answer is to spring for the ICD flickerfreevideo.
Even better is to put all that money towards a 1200. Really.
Tom, Redneck from Oklahoma
Paul,
You can not just upgrade the chips in the 500 to get flicker free
displays, to the best of my knowledge the only way to do that is to
purchase Flicker Free Video II by ICD and a vga/multisync monitor. :-/
…Steve
====>>> Motorola 68030 Inside <<<====
Steve,
I thought that there are more than one flicker fixer for the a500???
Sean
Sean,
There may be more than one flicker fixer for the 500, but I only know
of one, Flicker Free Video. There are a variety for the 2000 though.
…Steve
====>>> Motorola 68030 Inside <<<====
There is another one called flicker blaster made by (I think) micro R&D, I have
seen the ads in Amigaworld, it also includes some kind of sound amplifier…
Steve,
There are a number of ways to get flicker-free video out of an Amiga 500. One
way to is purchase a VGA-type monitor, and the 2.04 ROMS, and the Enhanced Chip
Set (ECS) Denise, and Agnus. This will let you connect the 31.5khz VGA-type
monitor to the Amiga and display in "productivity" mode which will be a
flicker-free mode.
Does the A2024 monitor work with a regular 1200? What exactly does the
monitor do?
Paul
The A2024 will work with any Amiga, but only in its own "extended" mode (a
rock-steady 1008×800) or standard (pre-ECS) resolutions reduced to the
A2024's four-shade greyscale. Some software actually lets you configure to
an A2024 extended screen; other software of course can be made to run on
an extended Workbench screen. The monitor comes with a special Workbench
1.3-based boot disk that will automate the installation of the "extended"
modes, which should work with Workbench 2.x and 3.x, but you may not need
it. Look in the Screenmode menu and you'll see A2024 as an option. Click
on it and (if you have the monitor hooked up) away you'll go.
The main drawback of the A2024 is that, such as it is, animations, games
and graphics aren't going to fare well on it. You can view IFFs in
greyscale but they won't look like much. If you're doing a lot of writing
or desktop publishing it is a terrific monitor. You can always have it
hooked up in addition to a color monitor and choose which to use for
various software.