Eyetech Group Ltd

Amiga Product Notes

The Eyetech AutoMon Video Switching Interface for the CyberVision 64-3D Amiga Graphics Card (ADPT-VGA-AMON)

- and now also available for the BVision PPC A1200 Graphics cards
(ADPT-VGA-BMON)

What is the AutoMon adapter?

When you add a graphics card to your Amiga the driver software adds new screen modes to the display database. You then select which screen mode to use as default using the 'Screenmode' preferences editor (in the 'Prefs' drawer of your Sys: partition). Ticking the 'Mode Promotion' checkbox in the 'IControl' preferences editor forces most display-database-aware programs use your chosen default screen mode - that is they direct their graphical output to the CyberVision card.

However life is not always that simple .....

1. Not all programs use the display database, but force the Amiga to generate displays in its native 15KHz (TV-type) screen mode. This is usually to speed up the program execution, to make the program less complex or because the display database concept was not well defined when the software was first written.

2. Many programs which are capable of using the display database require you to choose the screen mode you want from within the program itself. By default these programs - such as Scala, Wordworth and Final Writer - open native 15KHz (TV-type) screen modes before you can even configure them to use the CyberVision screen modes. In addition, many multimedia programs (such as Scala) allow a presentation to be designed in a mode promoted screen for running on a native 15KHz (TV-type) screen mode. This obviously requires a configuration which can seamlessly handle both screen modes during the development cycle.

3. The most basic Amiga system controls - such as the 'Early Boot Menu' automatically open native 15KHz (TV-type) screen modes - and this may be the only way to restart your Amiga if a software or hardware fault occurs.

The Eyetech AutoMon interface is a low cost solution for solving these problems when used in conjunction with a CyberVision 64-3D graphics card (from phase 5 of Germany). The AutoMon is a small adapter which plugs into the Amigas 23-pin video socket, and accepts a standard 15-pin high density multisync monitor plug. A thin ribbon cable - carrying the CyberVision video signals - connects the AutoMon to a header plug on the CyberVision card.

The AutoMon circuitry automatically detects which device - the CyberVision card or the Amiga graphics chip set - is currently generating the display screens and switches this output to the monitor input socket to that source automatically.
In addition it provides a visual indication of the active signal source - red for CyberVision, green for Amiga chipset - and a manual override switch. The switch is useful to force the AutoMon to output signals from the Amiga chipset when configuring the CyberVision board or if it is disabled or removed from your computer. Note that the AutoMon does not scan double any of the Amiga 15KHz video signals - so your monitor must be capable of displaying them in addition to the SVGA frequencies output by the CyberVision board. A special version of the AutoMon is available to work with the EZ-VGA scandoubler (with optional page-buffer flicker-fixer). This combination - the AutoMon-SD and EZ-VGA - will allow you to display all Amiga and CyberVision screen modes on a standard PC SVGA monitor (which does not scan down to 15KHz) with automatic and seamless switching between them. The AutoMon will work with any Amiga that is capable of supporting a CyberVision graphics card, ie with at least one Zorro II or Zorro 3 bus slot free. These include:

• Amiga 2000

• Amiga 3000

• Amiga 4000 & 4000 Tower

• Amiga 1200 with the Eyetech 1-slot Zorro adapter

• Amiga 1200 with the Eyetech 7-slot Zorro adapter

• Amiga 1200 with a third party Zorro adapter

The AutoMon adapter is designed to function without the need for A4000-type in-line 'video slot' connections on either A1200 or big-box Amiga Zorro implementations.