3dfx Archive - Rampage dongle

goriath God Member Offline Ruggedized Retro Gamer Posts: 599 Italy/Slovenija Gender:	Re: Rampage dongle Reply #105 - 14.02.12 at 03:59:42 gdonovan wrote on 14.02.12 at 01:27:57: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6mxuxS2Lqw&feature=youtu.be Outstanding! Soon we'll hear the Rampage roar!
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Loeschzwerg

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Re: Rampage dongle
Reply #106 - 14.02.12 at 07:40:13

gdonovan wrote on 14.02.12 at 00:54:15:

Dongle works but bad/dim output with my LCD, I'm going to see if I can rustle up a CRT.

Gary

This can be fixed easily

But therefore you need to measure the output voltage. Then I can tell you what resistor you need to change.

For interim solution: Try boosting up brightness, contrast and gamma of your LCD.

Measure the red marks against one of the blue. Use a multimeter configured to measure DC voltages. The voltages is too low when the image is dark Sad

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« Last Edit: 14.02.12 at 07:47:08 by Loeschzwerg »

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Tim God Member Offline Posts: 1065 Gender:	Re: Rampage dongle Reply #107 - 14.02.12 at 17:58:38 Excellent, great news!
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paulpsomiadis God Member Offline -=3Dfx still rox!=- Posts: 2011 Newcastle U.K. Gender:	Re: Rampage dongle Reply #108 - 15.02.12 at 01:55:05 Wouldn't it have been better to add variable resistors?
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Loeschzwerg

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Re: Rampage dongle
Reply #109 - 15.02.12 at 07:59:52

This is what I did later on my first design. I corrected the output voltage and used the measured value for the later SMD design => 3.0k ohm. This way the dongle worked fine with my VIA eH1. The Rampage may have a different voltage output on PIN 9 of the VGA connector which then causes a too dark image.
It would have been easier to have had the Rampage for a short test period Grin

A variable transistor would have made the dongle a bit larger and after all you always need to measure the output voltage. If the voltage is too high it is possible that the card gets damaged and I also noticed that the colors distort when the voltage is too high.

If you are skilled within soldering it is no problem to change these three resistors.

Replacing the 3.0k (3001) against a 2.8k or even 2.6k should do the job.

EDIT:
But what I could also do: I have enough parts left to build a second SMD dongle and modify it with variable resistors.
What do you guys think?

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« Last Edit: 15.02.12 at 08:14:49 by Loeschzwerg »

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gdonovan YaBB Administrator Offline Infernal Collector Posts: 2361	Re: Rampage dongle Reply #110 - 15.02.12 at 11:36:51 Loeschzwerg wrote on 15.02.12 at 07:59:52: If you are skilled within soldering it is no problem to change these three resistors. I can do the job, just lots on my plate
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gwb Junior Member Offline i liek eng samples Posts: 89 Georgia, USA	Re: Rampage dongle Reply #111 - 16.02.12 at 05:23:23 Good to hear the dongle arrived in safe hands!
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gdonovan YaBB Administrator Offline Infernal Collector Posts: 2361	Re: Rampage dongle Reply #112 - 16.02.12 at 23:21:42 Up and running under win9x! Still no opengl function though, I'm working on it...
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gdonovan YaBB Administrator Offline Infernal Collector Posts: 2361	Re: Rampage dongle Reply #113 - 16.02.12 at 23:45:39 Quake II in software- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Db9r-aGA0A&feature=youtu.be
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gdonovan YaBB Administrator Offline Infernal Collector Posts: 2361	Re: Rampage dongle Reply #114 - 16.02.12 at 23:53:20 More Everest info. Everest info. Before I reset it to 16 bit. V-control. Dongle underside- Dominick can you give me a better "pin out" of the pins you want me to test? The ones marked in blue were hard to make out, this is a better picture I hope. Gary
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Loeschzwerg

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Re: Rampage dongle
Reply #115 - 17.02.12 at 07:29:08

Wow, wouldn't have thought that Everest identifies the card Shocked

That's great! Can it read the clock speeds?

Btw. the image looks great, it was far more worse when I tested the dongle. Have you also tried a higher resolution? 640x480 and 800x600 do work since they need lower frequencies. If you look closely you can see that the image is not perfect, this is because of the bad shielding. It gets worse the higher the resolution. The color depth doesn't seem to have an impact there. Will see if I can get the 2-Layer design ready, it shouldn't cost too much (25-30€).

You need to measure the output Wink

You posted a picture of the input Grin

Measure pin 1, 2 and 3 against ground. The voltage should be something around 0,5 to 0,7v.

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« Last Edit: 17.02.12 at 07:40:45 by Loeschzwerg »

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Tim God Member Offline Posts: 1065 Gender:	Re: Rampage dongle Reply #116 - 17.02.12 at 10:55:19 Very very nice. Good job. Is D3D functioning? Why is OpenGL not functioning at the moment?
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gdonovan

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Re: Rampage dongle
Reply #117 - 17.02.12 at 11:25:10

Loeschzwerg wrote on 17.02.12 at 07:29:08:

Wow, wouldn't have thought that Everest identifies the card Shocked

That's great! Can it read the clock speeds?

There was no information of clock speeds.

Quote:

Have you also tried a higher resolution? 640x480 and 800x600 do work since they need lower frequencies.

Yes, I was in Quake II and swapped over to 1024 x 768 but the picture was very dark.

Quote:

You need to measure the output Wink

You posted a picture of the input Grin

Sorry, I was VERY tired last night. 4 hours of sleep will do that. I'll check tonight again.

Perhaps there will be more good news in my mailbox when I get home..

Gary

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Rampage is alive!

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Loeschzwerg

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Re: Rampage dongle
Reply #118 - 17.02.12 at 12:01:58

Quote:

Sorry, I was VERY tired last night. 4 hours of sleep will do that.

Ahh, no problem. Take your time, the Rampage isn't running away Wink

A dark and distorted image over 800x600 is what I've also noticed during my tests. I don't think that we will be able to fix this on the actual design. That's why I want to go to a new 2-Layer design with enough ground-area.

But after all you've got something to test with and maybe it will help also on driver-research.

Hm... I wonder how good the original dongle works?

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« Last Edit: 17.02.12 at 12:03:31 by Loeschzwerg »

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gdonovan YaBB Administrator Offline Infernal Collector Posts: 2361	Re: Rampage dongle Reply #119 - 18.02.12 at 03:28:26 I'm told by someone at NV that it is a good sign the board functions in 2D as some of the 3D functions use those parts. " I can't believe it is actually working. Well 2D driver anyway. That means the blt engine is functional. And some chips used texturing engine to do blt, so that might be a really positive sign that 3D will work."
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