Jump to content
IGNORED

Sophia 2 - improved GTIA replacement


Simius

Recommended Posts

Fantastic ? ?

 

Of course this will obsolete my RGB2VGA board, but I really don't mind since this promises to be a much better, cleaner, and more flexible solution. Now I just need to develop a new jack solution for the XLD that'll mount in the the redundant SIO position.

 

So how many $$$ are we talking about?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice... loadable palette means we could do decent saturation levels.

 

Will it have the mode like VBXE where all 15 lumas can be put into the colour registers?

ed - OK cool, read the PDF and that's a yes.

Also able to disable Gr. 10 pixel shift - nice.  And have independent PF1/2 colours in hires - very nice.

Edited by Rybags
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

- price ? (Do I have to spend a kidney?)

- running with how many Ghz, ermm Mhz?

- how much RAM (GB or MB) ?

- 65816 onboard ? (6502C also possible?)

- Sophia-3 = full HD res.? Sophia-4 = 4k res. ?!?

 

Those who already bought a VBXE (or Sophia-1) will not like this... ;-)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

This looks fantastic. Kind of glad I've never gotten around to adding the DVI Sophia to my 1088XEL build. :) 

I'm also glad I didn't by the previous DVI version. I already have one of the first RGB/YPbPr versions (with the yellow letters in gr. 0 :)) and now, if it's not too expensive (like triple digits) this looks like a much better option!

 

13 minutes ago, CharlieChaplin said:

- running with how many Ghz, ermm Mhz?

FPGA's run at several hundred MHz. The Atari bus side is still ~1.8MHz, or double that for the fast bus with ANTIC.

 

Quote

- how much RAM (GB or MB) ?

- 65816 onboard ? (6502C also possible?)

This is not Antonia, but Sophia. A different girl ;)

 

Quote

- Sophia-3 = full HD res.? Sophia-4 = 4k res. ?!?

 

Those who already bought a VBXE (or Sophia-1) will not like this... ;-)

Full HD would be nice. I don't mind buying the first Sophia though. Have had years of fun with such a clear image.

 

Edited by ivop
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello unixdude

 

19 minutes ago, unixdude said:

By “selectable DVI modes,” I assume you mean that the resolution is now user-selectable and user-setable, yes? That would be a great new feature. 

 

I just had a quick glance at the PDF (see first message in this thread) and I guess that is a "YES".

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, Mathy said:

I just had a quick glance at the PDF (see first message in this thread) and I guess that is a "YES".

Thanks. I took a quick look at the PDF as well, but clearly I didn't look closely enough (I was on my phone).  Now that I'm looking on a computer, I see references to the resolution flags, and the related resolutions.  That right there is the big selling point to me.  Very nice.

Edited by unixdude
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know about you guys, but I think maybe being forced to stay home is at least good for the hardware project people!  (Always have to try to look on the bright side of a pandemic).

 

This might be the thing that gets me to build a 1088xel...

3 hours ago, CharlieChaplin said:

Those who already bought a VBXE (or Sophia-1) will not like this... ;-)

Not sure why this would be the case, unless this adds all the new video modes the VBXE does?  Looks like it adds a few new ones.  Can't tell if it has an 80 column mode though.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't really see why one would have buyer's regret about purchasing an older Sophia DVI unless one was desperately holding out for software resolution switching, etc. I put mine in my 1088XEL and its job is and always will be to deliver a DVI signal at 1280x1024 and that is all. It has certainly not fallen out of favour all of a sudden, although the hardware signature in the new version is an overdue and welcome addition.

11 minutes ago, leech said:

Can't tell if it has an 80 column mode though.

You need a higher clock and enhanced ANTIC capabilities to deliver 80 columns in hardware; Sophia takes over from GTIA, so can enhance colour capabilities, etc, but not add new modes which require DMA and such.

 

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, flashjazzcat said:

I don't really see why one would have buyer's regret about purchasing an older Sophia DVI unless one was desperately holding out for software resolution switching, etc. I put mine in my 1088XEL and its job is and always will be to deliver a DVI signal at 1280x1024 and that is all. It has certainly not fallen out of favour all of a sudden, although the hardware signature in the new version is an overdue and welcome addition.

You need a higher clock and enhanced ANTIC capabilities to deliver 80 columns in hardware; Sophia takes over from GTIA, so can enhance colour capabilities, etc, but not add new modes which require DMA and such.

 

Pretty much what I thought.  Only Sophia I own is the RGB one that I bought for my 5200, and like you say, it's doing it's job nicely connected via a SCART cable to my OSSC :)  Ooh, reminds me, I got my 15pin extension cables, so now I can play it without having to sit so close to the TV!  Might be time to fire up Adventure II again...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, paulderr said:

Can you use this with the S-Video/ Composite UAV Board?  

It shouldn't affect any potential S-video or composite mods since the GTIA is still passed through to the motherboard. For instance, I have a SOPHIA in my XEGS along with an S-video mod and both work perfectly fine. The RF output in my SOPHIA-modded 5200 also still works fine.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...