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Truevision TARGA+ half populated VRAM, possible to populate remainder?

thisisamigaspeaking

thisisamigaspeaking

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I'm basically gathering up any graphics cards I can get at a reasonable price, primarily 24-bit and accelerated cards. Got this TARGA+ for cheap, but it only has half the RAM it looks like. How likely is it to work if I just populate the remainder of the modules? Anyone done that kind of thing before?

It has two 9-pin ports. I assume they are the same as a PGC's video output?

targa+.jpeg
(that's a PGC underneath, my dream card as far as PCs go, haven't tested yet)
 
thisisamigaspeaking said:
I'm basically gathering up any graphics cards I can get at a reasonable price, primarily 24-bit and accelerated cards. Got this TARGA+ for cheap, but it only has half the RAM it looks like. How likely is it to work if I just populate the remainder of the modules? Anyone done that kind of thing before?
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Are you sure it's actually meant to add another set of SIP chips and not a second footprint to put DIPs instead of SIPs?
 
sergioag said:
Are you sure it's actually meant to add another set of SIP chips and not a second footprint to put DIPs instead of SIPs?
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Yeah, pretty sure. Those are ZIP chips I believe, and the spots are labeled "Z". Seem to remember seeing these boards fully populated.
 
It would have sockets if it was meant to be upgradeable. Sometimes boards are setup for different density RAM chips, so not all are needed if it's using the higher density option. How much RAM does it have, and what would more let it do? If you try, be prepared to have to remove it if it causes a problem.
 
andy said:
It would have sockets if it was meant to be upgradeable. Sometimes boards are setup for different density RAM chips, so not all are needed if it's using the higher density option. How much RAM does it have, and what would more let it do? If you try, be prepared to have to remove it if it causes a problem.
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Those are 256Kx4 chips, so that makes 1MB? That was the memory size for a TARGA32 but this is a newer board. I am having trouble finding information on it with google, perhaps the "+" isn't searching? I put "TARGA+" in quotes but not getting anything.

The newer PCI cards have 1-4MB VRAM I believe.

This is also a capture card apparently, analog RGB in and out, and can do keying and overlays as well. Basically for video work.

Also trying to hunt down the TIPS software for this (originally called TARGA-Paint).
 
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Almost 40 years ago I had an AT&T PC6300 system with a Targa board, large video camera, monitor, SummaSketch with pen, as a complete working system from a plastic surgeon's office.
I kept everything except the monitor and computer, and made copies of the TGA-TIPS software. I pulled the Targa card out and kept that as well. I'm going to put all of it up for sale on Ebay to see if anyone bites, but you're welcome to a copy of the TIPS software for free, as long as I can find it. Gonna look for it this weekend. Let me know if still interested.
 
Unknown_K said:
Targas are capture cards /overlay cards and not video cards.
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From what I understand, that is incorrect, they are also video cards, and were used with the TIPS software for early image painting and touchup work. They have both and input and an output port.
 
thisisamigaspeaking said:
From what I understand, that is incorrect, they are also video cards, and were used with the TIPS software for early image painting and touchup work. They have both and input and an output port.
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Well, they output very low-res early NTSC quality output. You can take a snapshot of a person and over lay it on a background for output for example.
 
thisisamigaspeaking said:
Amiga, ST, C64 and C128 (from your sig) all had NTSC or PAL resolution video output. 😉
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Yes, that's like saying any video card that outputs 1080p are all the same, they are not.

Amiga and Commodore 8 bits had special chips for sprites and acceleration else we would all have been using Timex 1000's in the 80's.
 
Unknown_K said:
Yes, that's like saying any video card that outputs 1080p are all the same, they are not.

Amiga and Commodore 8 bits had special chips for sprites and acceleration else we would all have been using Timex 1000's in the 80's.
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Acceleration or coprocessors are in no way qualifications of a graphics/video card. Many video cards over the years have just been dumb framebuffers. Hell, it doesn't even have to be a bitmapped framebuffer, I think just an expansion card with video output would count, like if it had vector graphics. Where integrated graphics fall in all that who knows. Suffice it to say, if an expansion card has a framebuffer which outputs to a video port, that's a graphics card.

Don't see why it is worth arguing over though...
 
The reason I point out a difference is because people looking at these threads (and ones on 68kmla for the Targa 2000 PCI/Nubus cards) assume they can use these cards as a main display card and find out they are slow low resolution unaccelerated cards and toss them.
 
Unknown_K said:
The reason I point out a difference is because people looking at these threads (and ones on 68kmla for the Targa 2000 PCI/Nubus cards) assume they can use these cards as a main display card and find out they are slow low resolution unaccelerated cards and toss them.
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Fair enough. They were originally from the 80s though, and during that time, they were pretty standard resolution, while being 24- or 32-bit which was pretty remarkable for the time. My collection focus is 24-bit cards so these do fit right in for me, and I remember them being unobtainium in the 80s. Sure, they aren't on the level of a workstation card or even a Zorro II RTG card for an Amiga, but still pretty cool to me. Plus they command a fairly low price still, so I think people do know they aren't just a graphics card you are going to run Windows on.

My best cards are an IBM PGC (640x480x8bpp) and a Sun ZX (1280x1024x24bpp). The ZX works (including 3d), still trying to figure out the PGC which at least partially works. So I think we have somewhat similar if tangential interests.
 
I have a few Targas just because I like the history of video editing which started with simple frame grabbers and progressed with compression chips to full blown digital video.

They used to be fairly cheap, but availability has dropped and prices for everything has gone up.
 
I remember using my Targa system. I think my Targa is the first model made, as it has no Truevision logo, and the date on it is 1985. Not that Wikipedia is a true authority, but it states the first Targa card was introduced in 1987. I may be wrong, but I'd swear I was using mine in 1986. It had a standard video card that would output to a monochrome CRT. The TIPS software and Summagraphics drivers were loaded using command switches from a DOS prompt. I remember editing the autoexec.bat file several times to try different loading procedures. The system has a JVC vidcam with a BNC adapter that goes to a 9 pin DIN input on the Targa, and the Targa has a 9 pin DIN to BNC connector that went to a VERY large monitor, which I believe was a SONY.

The computer would boot up the TIPS software on the monochrome monitor, and the TIPS software would appear on the SONY, with several menus on the side and top, if I remember correctly. The Summasketch pad controlled the TIPS software on the SONY. A person would sit/stand in front of the JVC camera, and pictures would be taken. File save format was of course TGA. I only have 3 pics from back then, and I can't share them, as they are of a friend of mine from way back when. It's odd, as the pictures are split in the middle, and the back half is in the front for some strange reason. I've tried several photo prog's and they all display like that. Perhaps it was a very early form of TGA, and they changed the spec's.

I remember using the pen on the Summasketch to distort, blend, smooth, stretch any part of the anatomy. The TIPS software has a large color palette, and has the ability to sample the color from one area, to use on another. This was back in 1986, so it was pretty state-of-the-art. The system I have was built for a plastic surgeon.

On another note, I've decided to part with the system, and am putting it up on tha Bay today, so if you know anyone interested, I'm listing the Targa, JVC cam, SummaSketch and all the adapters, cables, and power supplies that came with everything. The things needed are an ISA-capable PC with cheap video card, and a monitor with an RGB BNC input. The monitor may be difficult to find, unless there's an adapter available that converts the 3 BNCs to a newer video format.

If the stuff doesn't sell, I might build a 486 system, as long as I can find some kind of adapter for the Targa output.
 
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https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-news/chasing-pixels/att-truevisions-targa

There seems to be more than one Targa model card.

The Targa series provided up to 512 × 482-pixel resolution at different color depths. Display device options included analog RGB monitors for Targa models M8, 16, 24 and 32. Composite video monitors for Targa 16. And monochromatic video monitors for Targa 8 and M8. The different features are shown in table 1.

targa specs
 
Unknown_K said:
https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-news/chasing-pixels/att-truevisions-targa

There seems to be more than one Targa model card.

The Targa series provided up to 512 × 482-pixel resolution at different color depths. Display device options included analog RGB monitors for Targa models M8, 16, 24 and 32. Composite video monitors for Targa 16. And monochromatic video monitors for Targa 8 and M8. The different features are shown in table 1.

targa specs
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I've had trouble finding information on Targa+, as I mentioned above, but I believe they are a direct revision of the older models, and that the one I've pictured would be a 1MB frame buffer Targa+ 32. I got it at quite a good price - assuming any way to get it working.

@SoCalHntr AT&T was the original manufacturer of Targa and I'm not sure of the history going back then. 3 BNC RGB (sync on green I assume) is fairly easy to make use of but given the low refresh it may take either an adapter (widely available) or an old video monitor (come up often on eBay).
 
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