#Retina ZIII
8 messages in this thread
Is there anybody out there who has a Retina ZIII or who has seen one in action
who can tell me a bit about it…. How fast is this card? Is it faster than an
EGS board? Also what kind of software comes with it? A big question is whether
or not it is similar to either the EGS or Picasso in the way it lets you pick
the screen modes for each program… In the Picasso and EGS it brings up a
requestor asking you want screen mode you want…If you would like to change it
forever, just now, never, etc etc etc… Does the Retina ZIII have this option
?
Thanks,
Scott Sobel
Scott,
I have a Retina Z3, and it's the fastest board in town so far. It has an
excellent Workbench emulator and program screen selector. It does not
have a pass-thru so it requires a little monitor shuffling when you first
set it up, but once set up it's no problem unless you use lots of games.
They do sell an external automatic pass-thru which I'm going to get this
week. The current software has some problems with 3.1. You can use it
but can only get 32 colors. I hope to get some more info tomorrow on
this.
DJ
On AP from Queens, the rotten core of the Big Apple
Thanks for the info… Please let me know what you find out about the software
and if it is going to be updated to make it compatable with 3.1 Also how much
do they want for the pass-thru… I am very surprised that they did not include
one with the board.. Oh and what software does it come with?
Thanks,
Scott Sobel
It comes mainly with animation, 24-bit paint, display, WB emulator and
screen definition. The display is super-quick, but while it displays JPEG
it won't GIF. It handles all native Amiga stuff. The paint program looks
pretty full featured but I'm not a paint guy. The docs really suck, but
they're working on them.
The hardware is great, just needs some fine tuning in the software
department. You can actually use DPaint AGA with it. I do notice that
with 3.1 the blitter lost 99% of its cosmetic flakiness and has not
crashed under severe multitasking. It really zips.
Sherwood, the tech support guy (who's very nice BTW), say's he's waiting
for some news from Germany concerning the software. I'll post anything I
find up here.
DJ
On AP from Queens, the rotten core of the Big Apple
Of course you can display most GIF's using the RetinaDisplay program. As
the program uses the multipic.library, you automaticly get OS 2.1/3.0/3.1
datatypes support.
So simply get a GIF datatype and you can display GIF's on your Retina.
However, the GIF datatype that is currently floating arround can't handle
interlaced GIFs. But as I only know view interlaced GIF's, this is a minor
problem…
— Wolf Faust, Am Dorfgarten 10, 60435 Frankfurt, Germany —
Wolf, thanks for the tip! I had actually downloaded the GIF datatype for
my 4000 some time ago. I just installed it in my 3000/OS 3.1 and sure
enough!
DJ
On AP from Queens, the rotten core of the Big Apple
Sherwood? What happened to Donovan?
-sja
Funny, I asked him that very question first time I spoke to him! He
mentioned something about going back to school, and that perhaps he had
found the tech support business a little hotter than he had expected …
I can sympathize with that. I find tech support is a lot like police work
– grossly underpaid when you do your work properly.
I had spoken with Donovan several times and found him a most likable chap
– I'll miss him. But Sherwood was most affable, too. Good choice of
replacement, I feel. I just hope he doesn't burn out too! Fronting for
someone you can hardly communicate with is no fun.
DJ
On AP from Queens, the rotten core of the Big Apple