T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
---|
571.1 | | GNERIC::SANTIAGO | DDT: the ONLY programming language! | Fri Jun 26 1987 11:31 | 25 |
| Anything that uses the serial or parallel port will work, although
maybe some things that depend on the +/-5 coming out might not...
thought I heard they were cutting some power there. Not sure.
Anything that runs off the backplane (well... U know what I mean)
will NOT work without a completely new interface from the add-on
people. Just another reason to say "Commodore: doing their damnedest
to destroy the world's best computer".
Essentially what this means is that Scuzzy drives, MIDI boxes,
(probably) most sound samplers, and that kind of stuff will
work OK. Memory expansions, slot boxes, and side-connecting
hard drives will not. I sincerely doubt Genlock will work,
since it uses Amy's composite video out and neither the A500
nor the A2000 have one.
However, I'm sure that after a while most HW manufacturers will
offer versions of their lines that work with the A500. So your
best option is, like it was for us early buyers, to just sit
and wait. Or hack something up yourself.
Incidentally, the A500 can be expanded to 1M internally so at
least you can have a 1M machine until the expansions come.
-Ed
|
571.2 | Genlock | HYSTER::DEARBORN | Trouvez Mieux | Fri Jun 26 1987 13:09 | 21 |
| Genlock connects to the rgb out connector on the back of the A1000.
I don't believe that its operation has anything to do with the
composite capabilities of the machine, as it uses RGB signals.
The manual that comes with the unit goes to great lengths to explain
the theory of the operation of the unit.
If you could get a D23 jumper cable, so that you could connect the
unit to the A500...there is a chance that it would work.
It would be nice if the manufacturer would answer this. They haven't
said anything about this yet.
Do you really want Genlock? If you really HAVE to have it, get
an A1000 or A2000. Both machines will give you many more options
for video work than the A500 will.
Chances are, if you do get a Genlock, that it will spend 98% of
it's life idle.
Randy
|
571.3 | | BAGELS::BRANNON | Dave Brannon | Fri Jun 26 1987 15:30 | 10 |
| the expansion connector for the 500 is just slightly different
from the 1000's connector, it is the placement of the connector
that is causing the major problem. If you want to use currently
available peripherals - they were all designed for the 1000.
Modified connectors and other changes shouldn't take too long
to come out for the 500, most amiga hardware manufacturers will
be coming out with products to support both the 500 and the 2000.
-dave
|
571.4 | Thanks so far! | BUNSUP::LITTLE | Todd Little NJCD SWS 323-4475 | Fri Jun 26 1987 16:44 | 8 |
| So what you're telling me is that SCSI interfaced drives like the
Supra and Xebex, connect to the parallel port and hence will work
on the A500? As far as the Genlock goes, I plan on doing a fair
amount of video editing to add titles to home videos. Unless I'm
mistaken, the only way to reasonably do that is with a Genlock.
Am I missing something here?
-tl
|
571.5 | | BAGELS::BRANNON | Dave Brannon | Fri Jun 26 1987 17:14 | 16 |
| re: Supra and Xebex
No, they connect to the expansion connector. There are a couple
hard disks that do connect to the parallel port, i don't think
they are SCSI.
I haven't seen any 500 to Supra or Xebex cables so far, maybe calling
the manufacturers would provide some info on when they will be
available. The 500 is just too new, the original word from CBM
was that the 2000 would be available first, then later on the
500. That may have disrupted some 3rd party marketing plans in
the US.
-dave
|
571.6 | genlock | HYSTER::DEARBORN | Trouvez Mieux | Fri Jun 26 1987 18:17 | 4 |
| You don't HAVE to have a genlock to do titles. If you want them
to overlay on top of your video, you will need one. If you just
want to cut to the titles, you won't need one.
|
571.7 | I may be getting a handle on this | BUNSUP::LITTLE | Todd Little NJCD SWS 323-4475 | Fri Jun 26 1987 20:05 | 45 |
571.8 | | BAGELS::BRANNON | Dave Brannon | Sat Jun 27 1987 00:34 | 30 |
| re: .-1
you are doing good so far... except that Genlock doesn't hang off
the expansion bus, i think its on the parallel port.
rumor from Usenet is that there is a limiting resistor on the
power lines to the serial and parallel ports - that can be removed
if you want the power. The idea is to reduce the chance that the naive
user will fry the printer or modem.
The ports you missed are:
Audio, left and right channels (Stereo)
External disk drive port (DB23)
the 1000 has a color composite out rca jack, the 500 i think as
monochome composite (color is mapped to shades of grey)
I remember something about the 500 needing the Commodore RF modulator
to get color composite video (in addition to RF for TV). Guess
they didn't sell enough modulators for the 1000 :-)
On the 1000 you can connect the color composite out to the video
in of a VCR, the VCR will do the RF modulating.
The 2nd joystick port has all the pins connected the same way as
the 1st port. You could put a trackball, mouse, etc. on it.
-dave
|
571.9 | Is there a dealer near you? | HYSTER::DEARBORN | Trouvez Mieux | Mon Jun 29 1987 13:33 | 5 |
| Genlock uses the RGB port, not the parallel port...but all this
seems rather silly. Why don't you just hop down to the store and
take a look at one. All your questions will be answered much faster
than they will here.
|
571.10 | Thanks for all the info so far! | BUNSUP::LITTLE | Todd Little NJCD SWS 323-4475 | Thu Jul 02 1987 19:33 | 21 |
| Actually, none of the dealers (all two of them, both of them
Electronics Boutique) I've found in my area have them in yet. This
really fries me since I've not been able to track down any other
nearby dealers. I called Commodore, who gave me the run around
and then gave me the name of the local distributor and was told
that the distributor could tell me the names of the local dealers.
Ha! The distributor made it sound like he thought I three eyes
and two heads. He couldn't tell me the names of dealers.
Anywho, how does the genlock work if connected to the RGB port?
Aren't there any controls over it as to whats "background" and whats
not? And if it just connects to the RGB port, shouldn't it clearly
work on the A500?
Also, some questions about software. I gather that Aztec C
and Manx C are different names for the same product? And how does
it compare to the Lattice compiler? Who provides and what is available
in terms of a linkage editor (linker) and object module librarian,
or am I in left field?
-tl
|
571.11 | | BAGELS::BRANNON | Dave Brannon | Thu Jul 02 1987 21:40 | 9 |
| Electronics Boutique in Nashua, NH didn't have the 500 either, last
time i checked. Maybe the chain has trouble getting them? (other
dealers have the 500)
re: Genlock it is designed to fit under the 1000 with a L shaped
extension up to the RGB port. Maybe it would work on the 500 with
a RGB cable from the 500 to the Genlock RGB connector?
-dave
|