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- Path: news.uh.edu!barrett
- From: michaels@ifi.uio.no (Michael Schuldman)
- Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
- Subject: REVIEW: Retina BLT Z3 graphics card
- Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
- Date: 17 May 1994 17:19:18 GMT
- Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
- Lines: 554
- Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator)
- Distribution: world
- Message-ID: <2rauam$or9@masala.cc.uh.edu>
- Reply-To: michaels@ifi.uio.no (Michael Schuldman)
- NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu
- Keywords: hardware, graphics, 24-bit, Zorro III, commercial
- Originator: barrett@karazm.math.uh.edu
-
-
- PRODUCT NAME
-
- Retina BLT Z3, Hardware v1.0, Software 2.1.
-
-
- BRIEF DESCRIPTION
-
- 24-bit, Zorro III graphics card.
-
-
- AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
-
- Name: MacroSystem Computer GmbhH.
- Address: Fruedruch-Ebert-Str 85
- 58454 Witten
- [Germany, I assume]
-
- LIST PRICE
-
- I have no idea. I paid 4800SEK (Swedish krones, check current value
- rates as US$ changes quite often) + Postage & Packing.
-
- Bought from DELIKATESS-DATA AB, tlf +46-31-300 580, FAX: +46-31-302
- 983. They provided me (and others) with truly excellent and fast service
- and are highly recommended.
-
-
- SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
-
- HARDWARE
-
- An Amiga with a Zorro III slot (i.e., A3000 or A4000).
-
- At least 1 MB Chip RAM and 2 MB Fast RAM.recommended.
- 4 MB Fast RAM would be better.
-
- Hard drive recommended (for large images).
-
- The manual states, "A cheap VGA monitor is recommended, while
- Retina can only be brought to its limits by using an
- enhanced monitor, such as the NEC 5 FG or similar."
-
- SOFTWARE
-
- AmigaDOS 2.0 (from Kickstart V37.175, WB 37.67, onward).
- The manual states "please do not use unofficial beta
- versions".
-
-
- COPY PROTECTION
-
- None.
-
-
- MACHINE USED FOR TESTING
-
- Amiga 3000/25, 4MB Fast RAM, 2MB Chip RAM
- Softkicked Kickstart 40.62, Workbench 40.29.
-
-
- INSTALLATION
-
- The software uses the Commodore Installer program. Everything went
- smoothly.
-
- The card is approximately 3/4 length and installs in a Zorro slot
- with a little trouble (but no more than other cards). Why do they always say
- "use light pressure"? So they won't have to replace the card if it breaks
- after I almost had to hammer it into the slot? "You didn't use light
- pressure now, did you?"
-
- I had of course read the manual before doing anything. The card
- arrived the day before an exam, so I just browsed through the manual during a
- study break and felt well prepared. I had configured the "RetinaEmu"
- program (which is SUPPOSED to take care of stuff) so it would output to the
- Retina card instead of the Amiga, as it said in the manual.
-
- So, happily I switched on my Amiga. It took some seconds before
- Kickstart was loaded, etc. I didn't see anything on the screen (my monitor
- told me Retina wasn't sending any understandable signal), but I was not
- worried. Anyway, Kickstart had loaded and I was eagerly waiting for my
- 8-bit Workbench to turn up. At this point my monitor told me Retina was
- sending 31.5 KHz and 59.5Hz, the mode I had used until I got the Retina. I
- waited and waited, but nothing happened, so I rebooted. and thought I'd try
- again. Same thing. So, I switched of the machine and let Kickstart load
- again. Same thing.
-
- I was now getting a little worried. (Defective card? No.) So I
- actually started to read the manual (like I'm some kind a lamer :-)), but
- I couldn't find anything useful.
-
- So I switched the monitor cable back to the Amiga output and
- rebooted. There! Now I knew what was wrong: my Kickstart was not yet
- supported. It was released by Commodore to developers almost a year ago,
- and it says "08/16/93" while the Retina software is at most a month old
- judging from the date on some files. So, I pressed the gadget which says
- "OK" below the "Kickstart not supported" crap, with the effect that after
- some seconds the screen went black.
-
- Hmm..., I said to myself. I found out that the genius people at
- macroSystem (not) had found it smart to let that message pop up BEFORE
- switching the display to Retina (clever, very clever). Thus, the requestor
- was logically being displayed but the screen was blank. Now, since it is a
- little difficult to see this button and click on it without a display
- (remember, we only switch the display after clicking "ok") to look at, and me
- now having 1 monitor, and not wanting to fry it by changing the plug from
- Amiga to Retina with the power on, there was a problem.
-
- Luckily, just some days ago I had read in some old documentation
- that I can press Right-Amiga V to cancel (or was it retry? :-)) a
- requester. That actually worked, so after some more fiddling with monitor
- cables and a shower later, I could actually watch my first output from the
- Retina. Stunning (not).
-
- I am not exactly sure what it means that "RetinaEmu" doesn't support
- my Kickstart "yet" (its been a year since it was sent out, about time or ?).
- Perhaps it means that I can only use a certain number of colors (since WB
- does turn up)? No, not exactly. It seems it means that the Workbench
- windows will only be displayed in ECS number of colors. I tried it out and
- switched to 2 colors (in Amiga prefs) which made the windows use only 2
- colors, but the icon were still using more colors (i.e., an 8-color icon
- looked just fine on the 2 color Workbench), so I am not sure what it
- means....
-
- Well, now I started to configure for my monitor. The documentation
- says it defaults to VGA output. There were many monitors, but no MAG17, so I
- deleted all of those useless monitors and created my own entry for my MAG.
- After this was done I started up "define monitor", which lets you define
- various resolutions for the monitor (when creating the MAG entry you can
- only type the supported Horizontal KHz frequency and the Vertical Hz screen
- update rate).
-
- This program was actually OK (not like the crappy others) and lets
- you optimize for your monitor pretty well (has a test picture even,
- stunning!). After having created some suitable X x Y resolutions for 8, 16
- and 24 bit (which you have to append to a temporary file) I had to use
- another program to "append" my new resolutions to Retina's own private
- gfx.base thing. This does not always (often) work, having created a nice
- 1024 x 768 in 83Hz entry, this did not show up anywhere, so I am as of now
- limited to 76Hz (Which I defined previously). The program tries to
- calculate for instance what the KHz frequency will be if you update Hz from
- 70 to 80. In my opinion, the only decent program here.
-
-
- REVIEW
-
- Having played a little with the tools which came with the Retina,
- which all have "liesmiech" files, (since I don't know German, it doesn't
- enlighten me), I thought I'd get down to business. So, I loaded
- "RetinaDisplay" which brought up an appicon (drop image files onto it, and
- they will be displayed) and a requester where I couldn't select more than one
- file at a time. I opted for using it from CLI (which I do anyway). It shows
- some options when you type "?" for the filename. Apparently, these options
- are explained somewhere else (where?).
-
- Now I was ready for business. I changed directory (using Eivind
- Nordseth's excellent "qcd" program -- get it from Aminet now! Yes, Eivind
- paid me to say this... not!) and tried to display some image files. I
- aliased "rd" to "RetinaDisplay", typed "rd erika#?", and got a stupid error
- message. Apparently the program does not even support wildcards. So, I
- typed "rd `dir erika#?`", using the backquotes and "dir" to expand
- wildcards. This of course worked, kind of. RD decided to switch from the
- 1024 x 768 I was using to 800 x 600 which made my monitor produce a rather
- loud "ZonKKkk". Anyway, I didn't care for that, Erika was on my screen, then
- some seconds passed and another erika picture was on my screen, and so on....
-
- This program is so cool, it does NOT allow scrolling, does NOT wait
- for me to say "next picture" or anything. It just displays the pictures as
- fast as it can (some pics take 10 seconds, and others 1 second, so I never
- see the 10 second picture if there is a 1 second picture following directly
- afterwards). Also I cannot make rd display the pictures in any particular
- resolution: it just seems to send a certain KHz and Hz to my monitor and
- hopes it goes well. Luckily, the monitor supports most resolutions, but it's
- annoying that rd wants to switch resolution all the time ("ZonKKkkK
- ZonKKkkK"). The manual says I should define this (in another program), which
- I have tried with no luck (rd seem particular intent on displaying them in
- 800 x 600 (SVGA) 60 Hz). I do not manage to define a 24bit screenmode in
- more than 800 x 600 non-interlaced (haven't managed so far at least, perhaps
- all this is explained in the "liesmiech" file). Update: I have not managed
- it, but it is only temporarily, I can select a 24-bit mode in "Retina
- screenmode" which Retina display will then use, as will any other 24 bit
- program do.
-
- The "RetinaEmu" is supposed to include all screen names in a
- 'display.base' and let me select individual resolutions for them, but that
- never seems to work. Only way I manage to get the resolution I want is by
- selecting "use" in the Retina screenmode program after selecting the
- resolution. For example, DiskMaster is patched for an 8 bit screen, so I
- select the wanted 8 bit resolution in "RetinaScreenmode" and click "use",
- which DiskMaster (and other programs I do not want to run in this
- resolution) then will use.
-
- The software is not good. It's supposed to patch programs when they
- open a screen and I guess it does, but unless you like DiskMaster in 1024 x
- 768 using 1/6 of available space and the rest of the screen unusable, it
- doesn't work right. Programs which let you select the displaymode without
- considering what the chipset supports work fine sometimes; on the other hand,
- programs too stupid to imagine someone would like to scroll the screen, or
- even use a graphics card, do not work, and you end up with a quarter of the
- screen or something. and rest of the screen is just blank.
-
-
- SPEED
-
- Well, I don't notice any big speed increase compared to what I was
- runing before the Retina (1440 x 478 , 60 Hz, 4 colors), using the standard
- ECS. Perhaps this is because Workbench emulation is "not supported yet" on
- my Kickstart.
-
- Also, the memory clock program isn't working 100% (unless there's
- some hidden information in the "liesmiech" file). It's supposed to be
- automatically set and saved on first boot with Retina. For me, it was set
- to 65 MHz, which was too fast (ugly stripes on screen), so I am now using 61,
- but the program (which lets you click a button to determine maximum) has
- given me results ranging from 58 to 64. This is a little disappointing. The
- manual says you should use chips faster or equal to 70NS. Apparently
- MacroSystems have sent the board with 70NS, while it it seems the board
- could benefit from somewhat faster chips (I'll bet they're not even static
- column :-)).
-
-
- TESTS
-
- AIBBLogFile
-
- *****************************************************************************
- System Static Data
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- System CPU: 68030 System FPU: 68882 System MMU: 68030 =20
- CPU Clock Rate: 25.0 MHz FPU Clock Rate: 25.0 MHz
- Operating System Version: 40.62 ( 3.x )
-
- Retina Z3
-
- ===========================
- System Memory Information =
- ===========================
- NODE #1
- Node Name: expansion memory Node Size: 3.50 MBytes Bus Port Size: 32 Bit
- Address Range: $07C00000--$07F80000 Node Priority: 30
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- NODE #2
- Node Name: chip memory Node Size: 2.00 MBytes Bus Port Size: 32 Bit
- Address Range: $00000400--$00200000 Node Priority: -10
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- *****************************************************************************
-
-
- Test Name: LineTest
- Parameters: Not applicable to this test.
- Multitasking: DISABLED
- Test Code Location: Memory Node #1 Test Data Location: Memory Node #1
- Test Result: 4805.37 Lines/Second (Higher =3D Better Performance)
-
- ==========================
- === Comparison Ratings ===
- ==========================
-
- This Machine : 5.94
- A600-NF : 0.93 (68000 | SC Math)
- A1200-NF : 1.60 (68020 | SC Math)
- A3000-25 : 1.00 (68020 | CP Math) Base System
- A4000-40 : 1.74 (68020 | 40 Math)
-
-
- ============================
- = Test Information Section =
- ============================
-
- Test Name: BeachBall
- Parameters: 68020+ based standard code | Coprocessor floating point code
- Multitasking: DISABLED
- Test Code Location: Memory Node #1 Test Data Location: Memory Node #1
- Test Result: 14.64 Seconds (Lower =3D Better Performance)
-
- ==========================
- === Comparison Ratings ===
- ==========================
-
- This Machine : 1.07
- A600-NF : 0.02 (68000 | SC Math)
- A1200-NF : 0.05 (68020 | SC Math)
- A3000-25 : 1.00 (68020 | CP Math) Base System
- A4000-40 : 3.92 (68020 | 40 Math)
-
- *****************************************************************************
-
- Test Name: TGTest
- Parameters: 68020+ based standard code
- Multitasking: DISABLED
- Test Code Location: Memory Node #1 Test Data Location: Memory Node #1
- Test Result: 0.00 Characters/Second Output (Higher =3D Better Peformance)
-
- ==========================
- === Comparison Ratings ===
- ==========================
-
- This Machine : 2.19
- A600-NF : 0.52 (68000 | SC Math)
- A1200-NF : 1.10 (68020 | SC Math)
- A3000-25 : 1.00 (68020 | CP Math) Base System
- A4000-40 : 1.97 (68020 | 40 Math)
-
- ============================
- = Test Information Section =
- ============================
-
- Test Name: EllipseTest
- Parameters: Not applicable to this test.
- Multitasking: DISABLED
- Test Code Location: Memory Node #1 Test Data Location: Memory Node #1
- Test Result: 6.12 Seconds (Lower =3D Better Performance)
-
- ==========================
- === Comparison Ratings ===
- ==========================
-
- This Machine : 2.18
- A600-NF : 0.43 (68000 | SC Math)
- A1200-NF : 1.02 (68020 | SC Math)
- A3000-25 : 1.00 (68020 | CP Math) Base System
- A4000-40 : 2.34 (68020 | 40 Math)
-
- ------------------ Screen mode information for this test -------------------
- Mode Name: NTSC:High Res Mode ID: $00019000
- Mode Width: 640 Mode Height: 200 Mode Depth: 3 =3D (8 Colors)
- Pixel Speed: 70 ns X-Ticks: 22 Y-Ticks: 52
-
- *****************************************************************************
-
- Well, it's obviously faster than a stock A3000 in all tests, and on
- some tests (line test) a lot faster than an A4000/40.
-
-
- WSpeed =B5 1994 JAMI Soft Development
-
- Comment: Retina Z3 Kickstart 40.62 WB 40.29 Picasso II (from WSpeed)
- Screenmode: NTSC:High Res, 16 Colors Same machine but 8MB fast
- ---------------------------------------- and higher WB version
-
- Put Pixels 111779 66321
- Draw Lines 27642 2050
- Draw Circles 30584 379
- Draw Boxes 27984 1250
- Scroll X 1817 59
- Scroll Y 1805 210
- Print Texts 10070 4191
- CON: Output 752 624
- Open Windows 132 54
- Size Windows 206 68
- Move Windows 96 32
- Swap Screens 281 55
- Areafill 1149 97
- ----------------------------------------
-
- No question here. But apparently the Picasso II uses a chunky mode
- in 8 bits, and is faster there than it is in 4 bits. Couldn't select more
- colors for my test in WSpeed -- guess it goes by the Workbench Prefs, which
- also won't allow me more colors, probably because Retinaemu is not working on
- my Kickstart. WSpeed uses random routines, and I don't know how accurate
- they are.
-
- Also, WSpeed does NOT disable multitasking and I have some
- commodities runing. I also had some artware patches installed (speeds up
- most things) I now remember, so the results might be a little wrong. If
- anyone wants, I can post a full module to c.s.a.graphics.
-
-
- "EXTRA" SOFTWARE
-
- AnCos (animation software), VDPaint (paint program which sucks in my
- opinion, but only tried it for 30 seconds), Real3D "something", ADPro Saver,
- Imagemaster rt "something". Almost all the readme's are "liesmich" and I
- haven't got a clue as to what it means. The manual for VDPaint is also in
- German, as is the registration card (going to make some random guesses when I
- fill it out).
-
- Well, the tests are up there. To sum it up, the only thing I can say
- is that the software totally sucks, is unpractical, and stupidly made (need
- I say "kickstart not supported..._yet" ? :-)). Knowledge of German is
- definitely a help when using the software.
-
-
- BUGS
-
- The software generally speaking is buggy: more logical bugs than
- programming bugs, it seems.
-
- Oh, almost forgot, you're going to love this...
-
- WB_2.x:> retinaavail
-
- Available In-Use Maximum
- 2010944 2183360 4194304
-
- From To ( Length)
- 2010944 - 2014591 ( 3648)
- 2014592 - 2018239 ( 3648)
- 2018240 - 2192255 ( 174016) SysScreen: 'RetinaEmu'
- 2192256 - 2195903 ( 3648)
- 2195904 - 2199551 ( 3648)
- 2199552 - 2373567 ( 174016) SysScreen: 'RetinaEmu'
- 2373568 - 2374015 ( 448)
-
- [ deleted for space ]
-
- 2451520 - 2451903 ( 384)
- 2451904 - 2605503 ( 153600) SysScreen: 'RetinaEmu'
- 2605504 - 2619839 ( 14336)
- 2619840 - 3406271 ( 786432) SysScreen: 'RetinaEmu'
- 3406272 - 3407295 ( 1024) Sprite
- 3407296 - 4193727 ( 786432) SysScreen: 'RetinaEmu'
- 4193728 - 4194047 ( 320)
- 4194048 - 4194303 ( 256)
-
-
- Wondering what all the "RetinaEmu's" are ? Well, the first two are for
- DiskMaster (identical), third is WSpeed, fourth is an editor, fifth is
- "RetinaEmu", always runing. Really, whoever programmed this should have his
- braindamage fixed (those with 1MB Retina can probably not even start a
- single program besides "RetinaEmu").
-
- Also, often the mouse pointer refuses to move below or above an
- invisible magic line. I must click on the screen before it moves there. This
- happens almost all the time.
-
- There are also occasionally some corrupted graphics appearing in a
- corner for a tenth of a second before disappearing. Perhaps I should even
- further lower the RAM clock.
-
- The RetinaDisplay program does not handle many types of JPEG (just
- says "depth is 0") which other programs (FastJPEG, PPSHOW, ViewTek) have no
- problems with. And when it can't handle a picture, it just displays a
- requester on the Workbench (doesn't bring it to front) so only way you know
- if something is wrong is when you have tired of waiting for the picture to
- load and flip screens.
-
- PowerSnap by Nico Francois for some reason stopped working with the
- Retina -- no snapping whatsoever.
-
- And there are other bugs "everywhere", most of these can of course be
- caused by the Workbench emulation not working on my kickstart yet, and from
- what the bugs do, that actually seems quite possible, but there's just so
- many of them...
-
- All this is a real shame, especially since the original Retina was
- one of the first released graphics boards and they should have had plenty of
- time to get things straight (at least more than it is). Generally, the
- software is something I would never use unless I had to.
-
- I also tryed Michael Van Elst's Mpeg_player (supports Retina and
- some other cards as well). I think it was written for Retina Z2, but it
- works fine on Z3 and gives a decent speed (uh..well, guess that's as good as
- it gets unless I plug in a 68040/060) and very nice graphics. The speed when
- dithering for Retina is about a frame faster than for A3000.
-
-
- DOCUMENTATION
-
- Comes with 2 printed manuals, one for Retina (English) and 1 for
- VDPaint (which the Retina manual advertises as something you would have to
- pay $500 if bought separately). The VDPaint manual is in German so I didn't
- read it.
-
- The Retina manual about forty 3/4-size A4 pages. (Low quality, just
- a leaflet really.) It explains most, but is very "basic" I feel. It has a
- section "for advanced users" which is about as advanced as "how to use
- c:avail." Also the manual does not list any concrete specifications apart
- from that the pixel frequency is 110MHz (which the manual compares to the
- 7MHz Amiga pixel frequency :-)), that the maximum Vertical Hz is 89 and the
- maximum resolution is 2400 x 1200, which is just mentioned on a "general"
- page.
-
-
- LIKES
-
- Tough one. :-) Well the hardware seems great and that is I believe
- the most important. Hardware can't be fixed (apart from sending it to
- Germany and getting it upgraded), but software can be fixed, and I hope it
- will.
-
-
- DISLIKES
-
- The software is in my opinion very bad. Some things work sometimes,
- other times not. The software is what I would call a first beta release. I
- mean, having 700K's "RetinaEmu" for each program? That's braindead.
-
- Another irritating thing is that there are lots of "liesmiech"
- files, even a rather big manual on disk, but they're almost all in German. I
- don't really know what they are thinking when they make a "readme" which says
- "this directory contains this and that" and then all the readme's for the
- utility is in German.
-
- And it doesn't patch the display until the very end of
- startup-sequence, when WorkBench loads, which makes it impossible to see any
- guru messages. This also makes it hard for me to use certain programs which
- I run from special startups to save memory.
-
-
- WORKAROUNDS
-
- None I know of, and currently I have no time to find out either.
-
-
- VENDOR SUPPORT
-
- Haven't had any reason to contact them. I guess I could call them
- and express my views on the software, but they probably speak only German.
-
- Also, some of the programs (RetinaEmu amongs others) are included
- with source code and documentation in a "developer" directory. This is
- nice. The manual says they are in assembler language (only translated to C
- now and then), but I could only find C source. The manual boasts that it is
- all programmed in assembler. Too bad the Retina people really can't program
- assembler.
-
-
- WARRANTY
-
- Actually, I can't find any mention about it in the manual.
- Strange...
-
-
- CONCLUSIONS
-
- Software sucks, cool hardware, all in all I don't regret buying it,
- even if it might have sounded so. :-) If you can live with these "glitches"
- while waiting for updates, buy it, and as said, the "developer" directory is
- nice, and this is judging by benchmarks the fastest card for the Amiga.
-
- It is also very fast to use generally when the programs work right.
- Nice.
-
- Now, where can I find a non-beta Kickstart for A3000? Guess that
- would be, uh...2.1, damn. :-(
-
- // --- Michael Shuldman --- \\
- // University of Oslo, Faculty of Mathematical and Natural Sciences \\
- \\ !=3D "Yes, I do in fact speak for this University, all of it." =
- //
- \\ --- C= Amiga - Best there is. --- =
- //
-
- ---
-
- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews
- Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu
- Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu
- Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu
- Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews
-