QL-VGA v2
- mk79
- QL Wafer Drive
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Re: QL-VGA v2
I left a comment, too And, at least one chip they got almost right... it's the rightway round at least
But hey, in the end the assembly fee for these boards was only like 22€ or something, that is nothing.
Last edited by mk79 on Tue Oct 06, 2020 2:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- NormanDunbar
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Re: QL-VGA v2
- that's only slightly wrong, at least 6 pins are soldered. Just in the wrong place.
Cheers,
Norm.
Cheers,
Norm.
Why do they put lightning conductors on churches?
Author of Arduino Software Internals
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No longer on Twitter, find me on https://mastodon.scot/@NormanDunbar.
Author of Arduino Software Internals
Author of Arduino Interrupts
No longer on Twitter, find me on https://mastodon.scot/@NormanDunbar.
- mk79
- QL Wafer Drive
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Re: QL-VGA v2
So, unfortunately JLCPCB doesn't currently stock the FPGA anymore, so I had to go with another company. This increases the assembly fee by a factor of 10 And where JLCPCB is a very automated process, this is all manual, with much back-and-forth between me and "Emily". But they did at least catch one component problem that slipped through the JLCPCB process. Anyway, a new batch has been ordered and payed for, hope it arrives within the next 2 weeks. Unfortunately too late for Christmas
Cheers, Marcel
Cheers, Marcel
Re: QL-VGA v2
I just received my QL-VGA v2. So far I have tried it on 2 monitors and so far I am a bit disappointed. There are regions of the display (the same for both monitors I have tried) which are noisy. The full output of the QL is displayed, but these regions make some areas virtually illegible. Is this common to some monitors? Is this something anyone else has seen? Is there anything that can be done to alleviate the issue. I will, of course see if it is only these two monitors, or is is a problem across more of my available displays.
Re: QL-VGA v2
I am using the QL-VGA V2 on a cheap eBay monitor and I am not experiencing any issue at all. In fact, the picture quality is absolutely steady and crystal clear. Does your monitor's VGA input have an auto detect setting? Could your unit be faulty?
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- RWAP Master
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Re: QL-VGA v2
varmfskii wrote:I just received my QL-VGA v2. So far I have tried it on 2 monitors and so far I am a bit disappointed. There are regions of the display (the same for both monitors I have tried) which are noisy. The full output of the QL is displayed, but these regions make some areas virtually illegible. Is this common to some monitors? Is this something anyone else has seen? Is there anything that can be done to alleviate the issue. I will, of course see if it is only these two monitors, or is is a problem across more of my available displays.
Hmm -I wonder if it might be the power supply you are using with the QL-VGA or a faulty cable...
Marcel will have a better idea as he makes these!
Rich Mellor
RWAP Software
RWAP Adventures
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Retro-Printer Module - add a USB printer to your QL
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RWAP Software
RWAP Adventures
SellMyRetro
Retro-Printer Module - add a USB printer to your QL
Also Involved in:
Icephorm
- mk79
- QL Wafer Drive
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Re: QL-VGA v2
I'm sorry to hear this, you are the first who mentions any problem. QL mode is very well tested and the picture should be rock-stable. Can you post a picture or video somewhere?varmfskii wrote:I just received my QL-VGA v2. So far I have tried it on 2 monitors and so far I am a bit disappointed. There are regions of the display (the same for both monitors I have tried) which are noisy. The full output of the QL is displayed, but these regions make some areas virtually illegible. Is this common to some monitors? Is this something anyone else has seen? Is there anything that can be done to alleviate the issue. I will, of course see if it is only these two monitors, or is is a problem across more of my available displays.
Re: QL-VGA v2
I'm using a US ROM. We had a thunderstorm that night and now my QL has no display at all with anything, probably fried the 8301 , It is a US QL, but I don't know which version of the ROM. Anyway here is a picture of the screen on an analog monitor.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xTHTWgrzgpeomcCJ7
The image has the same characteristics on a couple LCD monitors I tried it on.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xTHTWgrzgpeomcCJ7
The image has the same characteristics on a couple LCD monitors I tried it on.
- mk79
- QL Wafer Drive
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Re: QL-VGA v2
Yeah, I guess the QL-VGA "screen-saver" is displayed well when the QL is switched off, this is not a monitor issue.
Amazingly little details are known about how exactly NTSC QLs really work, and I don't have one either, so QL-VGA probably cannot handle them as-is. But when you switch to a "normal" ROM, be it MG, JS or Minerva (my suggestion), it should revert to the standard 50Hz behaviour and QL-VGA should work fine with it. This has other advantages, too, because frankly no QL program cares about 60 Hz, they all assume 50 Hz as 60 Hz is just too uncommon.
If you want to try something first, issue "POKE 98403,0" in Basic and check if the picture improves. Hope you get your QL to work again first, of course. By the way, NEVER hot-plug any display to the QL, not QL-VGA and not any RGB monitor. Chances of frying the ZX8301 are high.
Amazingly little details are known about how exactly NTSC QLs really work, and I don't have one either, so QL-VGA probably cannot handle them as-is. But when you switch to a "normal" ROM, be it MG, JS or Minerva (my suggestion), it should revert to the standard 50Hz behaviour and QL-VGA should work fine with it. This has other advantages, too, because frankly no QL program cares about 60 Hz, they all assume 50 Hz as 60 Hz is just too uncommon.
If you want to try something first, issue "POKE 98403,0" in Basic and check if the picture improves. Hope you get your QL to work again first, of course. By the way, NEVER hot-plug any display to the QL, not QL-VGA and not any RGB monitor. Chances of frying the ZX8301 are high.