Picasso II Questions

Hello all you Amiga Gurus!

I'm installing a Picasso II Rev 1.4 board in my A4000D. Since I don't have a manual, I've been searching the web for information on the jumper settings and drivers. I'm very happy I had to search because I found out about the need to remove the R307 resistor to avoid voltage going to PIN 9 of the video output.

When I went to remove the resistor, I was greeted with a really nice surprise. The resistor had not been removed, but it was not soldered directly to the board. There was a single pin socket installed on both sides of where the resistor should have been soldered. The pins of the resistor were bent at 90 degree angles and plugged in, just like a chip would be. Has anyone seen this before?



I removed the resistor, attached the pass-thru cable, plugged in the monitor, then turned on the Amiga. The pass-thru is working properly.

Now, I need to know how to proceed. Should I use the P96 software on Aminet? If so, which one do I use? Or, should I use the Unofficial P96 software?

I could not find the manual for the Rev 1.4 board so I don't know what the jumpers do. I know I need to turn off segmented mode. Can anyone point me to a manual or tell me what I need to set the jumpers to?

Finally, is there a guide for installing and/or configuring the P96 software? I think I read that I need to know my monitor's VSync and HSync settings, but I don't know how I set those up.

Thanks for your help everyone!

Heather

Hey there Heather, here's a manual of Version 1:
http://www.bombjack.org/commodore/amiga/hardware/Picasso_II_V1.0_1993_Aug_31.pdf
It might not be your exact revision board, but it surely talks about segmented mode, and setting up the card. Hope it's usefull..

Thanks Salaxi. I found that manual, but the layout of the board is different so I don't know what the jumpers are on my board.

Heather

hi heather you can use my p96 guide in my sig but look at steves warning about highest screen modes for zorro cards

Heather, to turn off segmented memory mode you need to remove the jumper from JP401 , it's between 4 chips.

JP301 = Comp Sync ON/OFF (leave it as is)
JP302 = DMPS ON/OFF

JP401 = Memory config depending on what pins are jumpered:
pins 1-2 = Segmented Mode
pins 2-3 = 1MB Linear Mode
no jumper = 2MB Linear Mode , that's what you want on your A4000

Just installed the unofficial P96 software and you are set

Personally I would opt for a zorroIII rtg card in an A4000 , the pII would be slow...


edit: found more info that apply to both PicassoII and PicassoII+

JP301 If you are using a very good monitor, it might be helpful for the picture quality to use a so-called BNC cable employing a seperate coax cable for the red, green and blue colour components and the sync impulses.
In this, there are monitors expecting a combined HSync/VSync signal (also known as Composite Sync) on one line. You will have to change this jumper for this.
Usally, this jumper is open. Please change this jumper so that both contacts are connected.
When defining your own resolutions using PicassoMode while the jumper is set you will always have to make sure HSync and YSync polarity are set to Negative.
DEFAULT IS OPENED

JP302 If this jumper is closed (default setup) applications can make use of the DPMS feature. Opening the jumper disables DPMS feature altogether.
DEFAULT IS CLOSED

JP401 If there is no area of 2 MBytes available to the PicassoII+, you will have to take a detour. Instead of mounting memory in one piece, only a small fraction is mirrored into the so-called I/O range. To do so, the video memory is split up into small segments. To do so, you have to put it on the first two pins (as seen from the left hand side: pins 1 + 2)
To limit the size of the video memory to 1 MByte, remove the jumper and put it on the last two pins (as seen from the left hand side: pins 2 + 3)
In the defualt configuration, none of the three pins are connected. With this setup the video memory will be configured as one contiguous block of 2 MByte.
DEFAULT IS OPENED

Perfect! Thanks johnim & keropi! That should get me going. I'll post a pic once I do.

I would use a ZIII graphics card, but I don't have one. I'm just going to use the Picasso II for now and maybe I can work out a trade for a ZIII card at some point.

Heather

You probably don't need the resistor installed unless your using a very old monitor. For most monitors the resistor connection is N/C but on some flat screen displays the connection is tied to GND and that's what causes the resistor to burn up.

P96 will probably give the best overall performance and support for the Picasso2 and there not much difference between the last official and unofficial versions.

Unfortunately, any Zorro2 card will operate at a slower speed in an A3000/4000 than in an A2000 because Super Buster is a downgrade for Zorro2 users.

More info is available here:
https://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=18537

Thanks for the link to your guide SpeedGeek! It helped tremendously. I've been able to get the Picasso II working at 1024x768 in 256 Color mode!



Unfortunately, the "Clock" setting in the Picasso96Mode software maxes out at 90.00 MHz. Is this a limitation of the Picasso II? I can't even use more colors because raising the color setting changes the max "Clock" setting to a number lower than the one I need for 1024x768 mode.

I'm thinking maybe I'm running in 1MB RAM mode or something. Is there a program that will inform me of the amount of RAM on the Picasso II? I'd really like to use it with either a higher number of colors or a higher resolution.

Thanks again everyone for your help.

Heather

Well, more Colors are afaik only possible in interlace mode!

And this mode is normally not supported by modern TFTs!

Heather YES, it's a picassoII limitation... you can't do anything other than move to interlace modes that are ... *bad* to put it politely

have a look here for supported modes: http://bboah.com/index.php?action=artikel&cat=57&id=2439&artlang=en

Hi Heather, you should be able to run 800x600 @16bit, I used to and it's a nice screen mode and plenty of colours

I found the Picasso II pretty responsive on my A4000:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg2xQJU68HI

Try Classic Workbench P96, it's already designed to be run in RTG and you just need to re-install Picasso96 for your Picasso II and change the AHI settings back to Paula

All of you guys rock! I'll configure all the screen modes that I will work with the Picasso II and be very happy with the resolutions that are available. Even 1024x768 has so much more screen space than the default Amiga interlace modes.

Now I need to learn how to make my own 256 color backdrops that will work well with the Picasso II.

Thanks again guys!

Heather

*EDIT*

@fitzsteve

What's the AHI setting you are referring to?

@Heather

If all of the RAM sockets are populated than you have a 2 MB board. You can also run the CheckBoards util which gives info on installed RTG boards.

Thanks SpeedGeek. I knew it had 2MB, but I wasn't sure if my jumper was set to the proper setting. I did find the CheckBoards utility last night and it reported 2MB, so it looks like the jumper is set correctly.

Overall, I'm really happy with the performance of the adapter in my A4000D. The only time I really notice a slow-down is when I use the 'Read' option in Directory Opus 4. I really don't know why that is, but it's certainly not enough of a slow down to warrant trying to find a Zorro III board.

Thanks again everyone!

Heather

My Picasso II is now completely configured for all the modes that both the card and my LCD will support! :arms

I have all the following screen modes working perfectly and the images are crisp, clean, and rock-solid.

640x480 8-Bit
640x480 16-Bit
640x480 24-Bit
800x600 8-Bit
800x600 16-Bit
1024x768 8-Bit

Here's a new screenshot of my 1024x768 8-Bit Workbench.


SpeedGeek's guide allowed me to get in the ballpark settings for each of the modes, then it was a good bit of experimentation and finesse to get each mode to work properly.

Thanks again everyone for your help!

Heather

Looks good. Just in case you find a Z3 Card, i need you PII

LOL! Thanks Laudrup. I'll keep an eye out for a good deal on a Z3 card. I'll keep you in mind if I find one.

One last question for this thread. Now that the system is configured, how can I backup the Picasso II (P96) settings so I don't have to re-do all the work if something happens to my current software.

Thanks!

Heather

Usually i zip the whole sys partition once a month for a backup and burn this on a CD.

I've been doing that as well. I'd just like to isolate the Picasso II configuration files in case I want to try another Workbench distribution or wipe and reload my system.

Heather