Trixter
Veteran Member
(This is an oft-repeated topic, so I felt there should be a dedicated thread for it.)
Every so often, people see the cheap "CGA2VGA" or "CGA2RGB" arcade adapters on ebay and wonder aloud if that is a good solution for replacing their aging or broken IBM CGA or Commodore 128 monitor. Unfortunately, those adapters either don't work, or produce subpar results (only half the colors displayed, colors transposed, or both). Proper handling of digital TTL CGA requires three things:
Every so often, people see the cheap "CGA2VGA" or "CGA2RGB" arcade adapters on ebay and wonder aloud if that is a good solution for replacing their aging or broken IBM CGA or Commodore 128 monitor. Unfortunately, those adapters either don't work, or produce subpar results (only half the colors displayed, colors transposed, or both). Proper handling of digital TTL CGA requires three things:
- TTL RGB to analog RGB conversion
- Proper handling of the intensity ("I") pin so that all 16 RGB colors are output
- Handling of the color "yellow" so that it is displayed as "dark brown" (which matches what CGA monitors do internally)
- A version of Richard42's Commodore 128 video DAC board sends output directly into a StarTech PEXHDCAP capture card: http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcf...ive-CGA-Video-Capture-Using-Startech-PEXHDCAP
- Same board, run through the standard cheap Gonbes GBS-8220 scalar board: http://www.brutman.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=484
- Microbee video converter that also handles "C128 color brown handling": http://www.microbeetechnology.com.au/vga_video_converter.htm
- Another Richard Goedeken's design board, this time revised by John Carlsen: http://www.bit-c128.com/ (I have this in my possession but have not yet verified its functionality)