[Coco] World's most expensive Coco RGB -> VGA adapter?

[Mark McDougall]

Hi all,

The background:

Our last job entailed designing a custom video mixer board for a client. It 
mixes analogue/digital video with another off-board video stream and outputs 
both analogue and digital. As well as mixing it also scales in hardware, all 
under (internal) software control.

 From the start, my colleague & I realised this board - with appropriate 
extensions - would make the ultimate video converter for all manner of retro 
computers and consoles. To this end, we even convinced the client to let us 
add s-video and component connectors to the 'developer build' of the PCB.

Status:

After a very long and stressful development cycle, we've finally had time to 
sit back and start to play with it in earnest. We grabbed a handful of 
'development' boards and set to the task of converting it into our ultimate 
video converter.

VGA was already there, as the client's project already required it. Next 
step was the Amiga RGB (non-interlaced only atm) output, and that works a 
treat, and looks damn nice on a large DVI monitor.

Getting back on-topic, today I wired up the Coco's RGB output to a VGA 
socket, plugged it in and switched it on. Nice! :)
<http://members.iinet.net.au/~msmcdoug/vcb/coco%20basic.jpg>

I haven't bothered to set the correct sampling rate for the Coco yet; it's 
running with the Amiga timing (28MHz dot clock) so generously oversampled. 
It's connected to an (analogue) 1280x1024 monitor so it's subsequently 
scaled in hardware to that. But still looks very nice and sharp.

The next photo is the complete setup; my EEPROM multi-cart (w/LED) barely 
sticking outside the Coco case, supported by some scrap cardboard, running 
Steve's Arkanoid. The PCB on the right is the board in question.
<http://members.iinet.net.au/~msmcdoug/vcb/coco%20arkanoid.jpg>

My colleague is currently working on composite/s-video. Next I'll tackle TTL 
video as I have a restored Sord M23 here which I've never seen running.

My colleague & I have talked about spinning our own cut-down version of the 
board to sell specifically as a video converter product. Even then, I fear 
it will be quite expensive and well outside the budget of most retro 
enthusiasts. The selling point is that it would work on *any* retro 
computer/console, and enable connection to *any* analogue/digital monitor, 
up to 1920x1200, with user-specified scaling on both axes and offering, say, 
32 custom pre-sets for maximum convenience. Since I collect retro micros and 
consoles, it's a very, very handy gadget to have! ;)

I've thrown in a last photo of my brand new 'museum' at work. Last week I 
bought some shelving and it now houses about half my retro micro collection, 
including the coco. It's my 'reward' to myself for finally finishing this job!
<http://members.iinet.net.au/~msmcdoug/vcb/computer%20museum.jpg>

Regards,

-- 
|              Mark McDougall                | "Electrical Engineers do it
|  <http://members.iinet.net.au/~msmcdoug>   |   with less resistance!"