CTPCI and Demos

[JoeAtari]

For the few demos I have tried so far on my CTPCI Falcon, the output is directed to the monitor connected to original videl. Is there a way to direct output to the monitor connected to the CTPCI/Radeon? Also, the documentation I have been able to find (not much) does not seem to match what I am seeing in the CPX. Nothing in the CPX shows me a mode code for XAAES, for example. The emulator "reads" my monitor and sets the resolution to 1920X1080 65K colors. I can change it in TOS, but not in Mint (it seems you must know the mode code and set it for XAAES).

Does anyone have some cool videos for Aniplayer or anything so share to I can "show off" my new Falcon with Radeon A demo for CTPCI??

Thanks!

[Ektus]

In the "Video ATI Radeon" CPX select "DRIV" in the bottom right, select your resolution in the list, and double-click the resolution. The dialog will prompt you to change the resolution and also show the mode code.
For me, it's 0xC31D for 1920x1200-32@59Hz. 1920x1080-32@60Hz would be 0xC315.

I don't have anything in terms of demo software for the CTPCI, sorry.

Regards
Ektus.

[wongck]

Some info on modecode hex and how to find them on your falcon can be found from my Mint write-up/How-to
https://sites.google.com/site/probehous ... lling-mint
Look at Step #5, sub-item 2 "configure graphic mode for Mint/XAAES".
It's pretty dated (LOL... like 6 years old), I may update it when I have time.

I don't run any demo on my Falcon, as I am mostly using Mint.
But I know some games that are ported to Falcon060 still output to Videl. So my guess is that it's the same with demos.

[JoeAtari]

Thanks for the information! I have it set now in XAAES.CNF.

[mikro]

GEMDemo surely works. ;-) In theory, if the demo uses only XBIOS calls to handle all framebuffer operations (setting resolution, palette, video ram, ...) it should work. You can try SDL-based games like Patrice Mandin's Doom port, it should work even in fullscreen (i.e. not GEM window).

[joska]

For the few demos I have tried so far on my CTPCI Falcon, the output is directed to the monitor connected to original videl. Is there a way to direct output to the monitor connected to the CTPCI/Radeon?

There is no way to redirect output via the Radeon. The only graphics card that can do this is the SuperVidel, and that's because the SV hardware is monitoring bus activity and replicates all writes to the Videl on the SuperVidel. No other graphics card is capable of this.

The traditional way to solve this is to connect both the graphics card and the Videl to the same monitor via a monitor switch of some sort. I have a graphics card in my Falcon/Afterburner, and video output is switched automatically by a hacked VGA KVM-switch that is controlled from the Falcon via the keyboard ACIA chip.

[Ektus]

I've got monitors with multiple inputs. Switching isn't automatic, but the only thing needed is a pair of data cables. 1x VGA for the Videl, 1x DVI for the Radeon.

Regards
Ektus.

[mikro]

Actually, on most modern monitors you can enable/disable this auto option - but it does more harm than good if you have a stable (albeit blank) picture on one input and resolution switching (which causes a short "break") on the other input - in that case it would switch inputs even if you don't want to. But generally speaking, it's possible.

[wongck]

Actually, on most modern monitors you can enable/disable this auto option - but it does more harm than good if you have a stable (albeit blank) picture on one input and resolution switching (which causes a short "break") on the other input - in that case it would switch inputs even if you don't want to. But generally speaking, it's possible.

Mikro is correct.
My LCD behaves like so, when no signal is on input it switches to the other input if there is a signal on the other input; but does not do so if 1st signal remains constant.
So I need to "manually" switch to the Radeon screen after it boot up....because the videl signal is there and does not auto switch.
It's just good to see that CT63 is not stuck during boot up before the radeon driver kicks in...
... gets boring after a while seeing the same white screen with the same little amount of words (and radeon is stable so no need to monitor anyway) so I just took out the videl output (also less work also as I do not need to manually switch to Radeon screen) LOL .
The single LCD with 2 inputs setup was only good when it was new or when I need to see the boot up sequences like when testing the USB several months ago.

Best would be to setup a separate spare LCD to see the boot up mesg, so no need to manually switch... but then it would be just a blank white screen.... even more boring.

[joska]

So I need to "manually" switch to the Radeon screen after it boot up....because the videl signal is there and does not auto switch.

Write a small program that switch off Videl sync and run it from the auto-folder.

Best would be to setup a separate spare LCD to see the boot up mesg, so no need to manually switch... but then it would be just a blank white screen.... even more boring.

"Back in the day" I had two monitors connected to my Falcon, a 17" connected to the Nova and a 14" connected to the Videl. I ran virtual consoles on the Videl and N.AES on the graphics card. Worked extremely well, but at some point virtual consoles (vcons) was not maintained anymore and stopped working as FreeMiNT progressed. Maybe Conholio could be used instead today.

Another use for the second monitor is PureC debugger. There is a patch that allows it to run on the original video while the user screen remains on the graphics card. So no slow screen swapping while debugging GEM applications. I have no idea if this works on the CT/Radeon (IMO the Pure debugger is not very stable on the 060) but this does work on my ET4000-equipped STE.

Calamus is also supposed to support two screens, but I have not been able to get it to work on any of my Ataris with graphics card.

[wongck]

Oh yes.... if there are applications that will use the 2nd screen, sure it would be fantastic.
Having output from Mint console going to the Videl will be great.
Not to mention the Debugger... any debugger utilizing the 2nd screen will be great.

What broke vcons ? Sounds like a great tool !!

[joska]

What broke vcons ? Sounds like a great tool !!

I can't remember what happened. A quick search in the MiNT-list did not give any answers.

Yes, it was a great tool. Very fast consoles, IIRC it used hardwarescrolling as well. And the most useful thing was that the consoles were still alive if some AES-application (or the AES itself) hung, so I could switch to a console, kill the hanging application and get back to work without rebooting. Very useful when programming AES applications, which was what I was using my Falcon for most of the time.

If you want to take a look at it you can find what I believe is the latest version here: https://atari.joska.no/ftp/ftp.funet.fi ... yvdev9.lzh

[wongck]

Thanks will take a look at it.