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Computer Cores working on CRT TV

Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2021 3:45 am
by steamybeast
Hello All,

I am thinking about testing some of the COREs from the computer section? Which Cores should work straight away on a CRT Trinitron. Most of my Console cores work fine.

I have tried the ao486 and that doesn't display on my CRT.

I'm a bit new with this stuff.

Thank you in advance.

Re: Computer Cores working on CRT TV

Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2021 4:14 am
by SuperBabyHix
Most of the computer cores come from an era where they were expected to work on both consumer televisions and computer monitors. ao486 is a definite exception as it expects a 31Khz monitor capable of up to 70hz. That being said, many of the computer cores swing the other way and expect a display capable of PAL standards (~50hz) unless they are explicitly set to NTSC mode(~60hz). The Sharp 68000 is another exception to this as it supports multiple modes.

If your Trinitron supports 50hz modes then you can probably use most computer cores as is, if not you may have to set them all the NTSC mode first (if they support that).

Re: Computer Cores working on CRT TV

Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2021 10:05 am
by akeley
It'd be good to know how do you connect to your TV? I/O or Direct Video? Component or SCART? It might have some bearing on the subject.

Most cores should work straight away. The ones which won't work at all (on my setup at least) are Mac Plus, X68000, EDSAC, Acorn Atom, BK0001M, Laser310, Orao, RX78, SVI328, Multicomp, Sinclair QL. If anybody has managed to get them working, please post here.

There are a few cores which need some adjustments first, eg ao486 works but you will need to tweak some settings in the mister.ini & OSD. Best back up the.ini first and check this thread:viewtopic.php?p=29033#p29033

Others I heard about are SharpMZ, Alice MC10 and Archimedes. I didn't manage to get the last two going myself, can anybody chime in?

Re: Computer Cores working on CRT TV

Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2021 10:07 am
by hiddenbyleaves
You can get ao486 to display games pretty good on a 15khz crt tv with some messing around.