Adding gfx card to A2000, some questions.

[matt020]

Hi All,

Something I have never experienced is that of adding a graphics card to an Amiga. I have an Amiga 2000 and Im seeing Picasso II and Cybervision mentioned a lot about these forums.

May I please ask some questions...

Will these plug in gfx cards give an almost "AGA" spec to workbench in an OCS machine in terms of screen resolution and available amount of colours?

Can the cards be used with games?

Are the cards plug in and play (I almost said plug and play, but I didn't ) or are drivers and some configuring required?

Do the cards act as flicker fixers?

And lastly, do they replace the need to use the standard 23 pin video out on the Amiga?

Thank you in advance,
Matt

 

[keropi]

ok, quick answers for now:

a. the RTG cards will work in OS and programs/apps that support RTG cards (ReTargetableGraphics that is) , and will allow AmigaOS for example to have let's say 16bit color in 1024*768 and faster gfx than aga machines (the resolution/color depth is limited but the card's vram)

b. as I said above only software that supports them will work with them

c. rtg cards are almost plug and play, put them in the amiga then install picasso96 or cgx drivers, reboot - set/choose resolution and you are done!

d. No, they don't act as flickerfixers UNLESS they have one onboard. CyberVision64/3D and picassoIV are those that have an onboard flickerfixer. Most *good* cards have a pasthough though, you connect the flikerfixer to the rtg card, and then the card to the monitor. Thus the card doubles as an automatic monitor switcher, when it is inactive chipset gfx are always shown , and whn it becomes active it shows rtg.

The best and more easily found combo for an A2000 would be a flickerfixer + PicassoII or EGS 28/24 Spectrum card. A picassoIV is faster but goes to waste in an A2000. Also the CV64/3D is very rare to find with the optional flickerfixer - and guess what: auto-switching only work with it. Have a look here for ZorroII hardware options: http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/gfx