Re: Transwarp GS/ Second Sight board interaction?

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Steve Mentzer writes ...
> 
> Here is my working config...
> 
> 1 - Secondsight
> 2 -
> 3 - TWGS Rev 1.5
> 4 -
> 5 -
> 6 -
> 7 - RAMFast SCSI 3.xj
> AUX = Sirius 8MB RAM
> 
> The only thing that I had a problem with was power. The SS, TWGS, RAMFast and
> Sirius board combine to suck a lot of juice and generate a lot of heat. I had
> to build an external enclosure for a PC power supply, wire up the IIgs
> connector correctly and remove the damn power supply from the IIgs.
> 
> It works reliably now. The only problem I have (every once in a while) is on
> boot-up (before GS/OS begins to startup), where I will get the "striped" vga
> screen, which requires a soft reboot.

     That probably reflects a lack of adequate power to the RamFAST. Adding +5V,
+12V, and GND jumpers to the motherboard (from the power connector to Slot 7)
may fix the problem. Adding +5V and GND jumpers to Slot 3 would probably be a
good idea, too.

 
> I wish the SS board handled double hires and stuff.
> That way I could get rid of
> that awful 12" IIgs RGB monitor...

     The higher resolution/more colors displays available via SS are nice; but,
you need something to display. The regular IIgs monitor is fine for the
super-res formats you get in practically all available IIgs software.

     The big problem with Second Sight is that it was over-priced (especially
for a video card which sucks power and does not support all "old Apple II"
display modes).  Had Sequential managed to have a few good games-- like Bard's
Tale I-III, The Summoning, Eye of the Beholder, ...-- ready for IIgs release in
SS hi-color 640x400 VGA, the card could have worked as The IIgs video upgrade.
As it is,too few were sold to establish a new standard.

     Today, the simplest GS video upgrade is, probably, an expansion board with
what amounts to a new IIgs-- i.e. a 20MHz 65C816, 32MB RAM, wavetable sound, and
some video chipset which can deliver a decent VGA display.



Rubywand