Path: news.uh.edu!barrett From: michaels@ifi.uio.no (Michael Schuldman) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Retina BLT Z3 graphics card Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.graphics Date: 17 May 1994 17:19:18 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 554 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <2rauam$or9@masala.cc.uh.edu> Reply-To: michaels@ifi.uio.no (Michael Schuldman) NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu Keywords: hardware, graphics, 24-bit, Zorro III, commercial Originator: barrett@karazm.math.uh.edu PRODUCT NAME Retina BLT Z3, Hardware v1.0, Software 2.1. BRIEF DESCRIPTION 24-bit, Zorro III graphics card. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: MacroSystem Computer GmbhH. Address: Fruedruch-Ebert-Str 85 58454 Witten [Germany, I assume] LIST PRICE I have no idea. I paid 4800SEK (Swedish krones, check current value rates as US$ changes quite often) + Postage & Packing. Bought from DELIKATESS-DATA AB, tlf +46-31-300 580, FAX: +46-31-302 983. They provided me (and others) with truly excellent and fast service and are highly recommended. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE An Amiga with a Zorro III slot (i.e., A3000 or A4000). At least 1 MB Chip RAM and 2 MB Fast RAM.recommended. 4 MB Fast RAM would be better. Hard drive recommended (for large images). The manual states, "A cheap VGA monitor is recommended, while Retina can only be brought to its limits by using an enhanced monitor, such as the NEC 5 FG or similar." SOFTWARE AmigaDOS 2.0 (from Kickstart V37.175, WB 37.67, onward). The manual states "please do not use unofficial beta versions". COPY PROTECTION None. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 3000/25, 4MB Fast RAM, 2MB Chip RAM Softkicked Kickstart 40.62, Workbench 40.29. INSTALLATION The software uses the Commodore Installer program. Everything went smoothly. The card is approximately 3/4 length and installs in a Zorro slot with a little trouble (but no more than other cards). Why do they always say "use light pressure"? So they won't have to replace the card if it breaks after I almost had to hammer it into the slot? "You didn't use light pressure now, did you?" I had of course read the manual before doing anything. The card arrived the day before an exam, so I just browsed through the manual during a study break and felt well prepared. I had configured the "RetinaEmu" program (which is SUPPOSED to take care of stuff) so it would output to the Retina card instead of the Amiga, as it said in the manual. So, happily I switched on my Amiga. It took some seconds before Kickstart was loaded, etc. I didn't see anything on the screen (my monitor told me Retina wasn't sending any understandable signal), but I was not worried. Anyway, Kickstart had loaded and I was eagerly waiting for my 8-bit Workbench to turn up. At this point my monitor told me Retina was sending 31.5 KHz and 59.5Hz, the mode I had used until I got the Retina. I waited and waited, but nothing happened, so I rebooted. and thought I'd try again. Same thing. So, I switched of the machine and let Kickstart load again. Same thing. I was now getting a little worried. (Defective card? No.) So I actually started to read the manual (like I'm some kind a lamer :-)), but I couldn't find anything useful. So I switched the monitor cable back to the Amiga output and rebooted. There! Now I knew what was wrong: my Kickstart was not yet supported. It was released by Commodore to developers almost a year ago, and it says "08/16/93" while the Retina software is at most a month old judging from the date on some files. So, I pressed the gadget which says "OK" below the "Kickstart not supported" crap, with the effect that after some seconds the screen went black. Hmm..., I said to myself. I found out that the genius people at macroSystem (not) had found it smart to let that message pop up BEFORE switching the display to Retina (clever, very clever). Thus, the requestor was logically being displayed but the screen was blank. Now, since it is a little difficult to see this button and click on it without a display (remember, we only switch the display after clicking "ok") to look at, and me now having 1 monitor, and not wanting to fry it by changing the plug from Amiga to Retina with the power on, there was a problem. Luckily, just some days ago I had read in some old documentation that I can press Right-Amiga V to cancel (or was it retry? :-)) a requester. That actually worked, so after some more fiddling with monitor cables and a shower later, I could actually watch my first output from the Retina. Stunning (not). I am not exactly sure what it means that "RetinaEmu" doesn't support my Kickstart "yet" (its been a year since it was sent out, about time or ?). Perhaps it means that I can only use a certain number of colors (since WB does turn up)? No, not exactly. It seems it means that the Workbench windows will only be displayed in ECS number of colors. I tried it out and switched to 2 colors (in Amiga prefs) which made the windows use only 2 colors, but the icon were still using more colors (i.e., an 8-color icon looked just fine on the 2 color Workbench), so I am not sure what it means.... Well, now I started to configure for my monitor. The documentation says it defaults to VGA output. There were many monitors, but no MAG17, so I deleted all of those useless monitors and created my own entry for my MAG. After this was done I started up "define monitor", which lets you define various resolutions for the monitor (when creating the MAG entry you can only type the supported Horizontal KHz frequency and the Vertical Hz screen update rate). This program was actually OK (not like the crappy others) and lets you optimize for your monitor pretty well (has a test picture even, stunning!). After having created some suitable X x Y resolutions for 8, 16 and 24 bit (which you have to append to a temporary file) I had to use another program to "append" my new resolutions to Retina's own private gfx.base thing. This does not always (often) work, having created a nice 1024 x 768 in 83Hz entry, this did not show up anywhere, so I am as of now limited to 76Hz (Which I defined previously). The program tries to calculate for instance what the KHz frequency will be if you update Hz from 70 to 80. In my opinion, the only decent program here. REVIEW Having played a little with the tools which came with the Retina, which all have "liesmiech" files, (since I don't know German, it doesn't enlighten me), I thought I'd get down to business. So, I loaded "RetinaDisplay" which brought up an appicon (drop image files onto it, and they will be displayed) and a requester where I couldn't select more than one file at a time. I opted for using it from CLI (which I do anyway). It shows some options when you type "?" for the filename. Apparently, these options are explained somewhere else (where?). Now I was ready for business. I changed directory (using Eivind Nordseth's excellent "qcd" program -- get it from Aminet now! Yes, Eivind paid me to say this... not!) and tried to display some image files. I aliased "rd" to "RetinaDisplay", typed "rd erika#?", and got a stupid error message. Apparently the program does not even support wildcards. So, I typed "rd `dir erika#?`", using the backquotes and "dir" to expand wildcards. This of course worked, kind of. RD decided to switch from the 1024 x 768 I was using to 800 x 600 which made my monitor produce a rather loud "ZonKKkk". Anyway, I didn't care for that, Erika was on my screen, then some seconds passed and another erika picture was on my screen, and so on.... This program is so cool, it does NOT allow scrolling, does NOT wait for me to say "next picture" or anything. It just displays the pictures as fast as it can (some pics take 10 seconds, and others 1 second, so I never see the 10 second picture if there is a 1 second picture following directly afterwards). Also I cannot make rd display the pictures in any particular resolution: it just seems to send a certain KHz and Hz to my monitor and hopes it goes well. Luckily, the monitor supports most resolutions, but it's annoying that rd wants to switch resolution all the time ("ZonKKkkK ZonKKkkK"). The manual says I should define this (in another program), which I have tried with no luck (rd seem particular intent on displaying them in 800 x 600 (SVGA) 60 Hz). I do not manage to define a 24bit screenmode in more than 800 x 600 non-interlaced (haven't managed so far at least, perhaps all this is explained in the "liesmiech" file). Update: I have not managed it, but it is only temporarily, I can select a 24-bit mode in "Retina screenmode" which Retina display will then use, as will any other 24 bit program do. The "RetinaEmu" is supposed to include all screen names in a 'display.base' and let me select individual resolutions for them, but that never seems to work. Only way I manage to get the resolution I want is by selecting "use" in the Retina screenmode program after selecting the resolution. For example, DiskMaster is patched for an 8 bit screen, so I select the wanted 8 bit resolution in "RetinaScreenmode" and click "use", which DiskMaster (and other programs I do not want to run in this resolution) then will use. The software is not good. It's supposed to patch programs when they open a screen and I guess it does, but unless you like DiskMaster in 1024 x 768 using 1/6 of available space and the rest of the screen unusable, it doesn't work right. Programs which let you select the displaymode without considering what the chipset supports work fine sometimes; on the other hand, programs too stupid to imagine someone would like to scroll the screen, or even use a graphics card, do not work, and you end up with a quarter of the screen or something. and rest of the screen is just blank. SPEED Well, I don't notice any big speed increase compared to what I was runing before the Retina (1440 x 478 , 60 Hz, 4 colors), using the standard ECS. Perhaps this is because Workbench emulation is "not supported yet" on my Kickstart. Also, the memory clock program isn't working 100% (unless there's some hidden information in the "liesmiech" file). It's supposed to be automatically set and saved on first boot with Retina. For me, it was set to 65 MHz, which was too fast (ugly stripes on screen), so I am now using 61, but the program (which lets you click a button to determine maximum) has given me results ranging from 58 to 64. This is a little disappointing. The manual says you should use chips faster or equal to 70NS. Apparently MacroSystems have sent the board with 70NS, while it it seems the board could benefit from somewhat faster chips (I'll bet they're not even static column :-)). TESTS AIBBLogFile ***************************************************************************** System Static Data ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- System CPU: 68030 System FPU: 68882 System MMU: 68030 =20 CPU Clock Rate: 25.0 MHz FPU Clock Rate: 25.0 MHz Operating System Version: 40.62 ( 3.x ) Retina Z3 =========================== System Memory Information = =========================== NODE #1 Node Name: expansion memory Node Size: 3.50 MBytes Bus Port Size: 32 Bit Address Range: $07C00000--$07F80000 Node Priority: 30 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- NODE #2 Node Name: chip memory Node Size: 2.00 MBytes Bus Port Size: 32 Bit Address Range: $00000400--$00200000 Node Priority: -10 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ***************************************************************************** Test Name: LineTest Parameters: Not applicable to this test. Multitasking: DISABLED Test Code Location: Memory Node #1 Test Data Location: Memory Node #1 Test Result: 4805.37 Lines/Second (Higher =3D Better Performance) ========================== === Comparison Ratings === ========================== This Machine : 5.94 A600-NF : 0.93 (68000 | SC Math) A1200-NF : 1.60 (68020 | SC Math) A3000-25 : 1.00 (68020 | CP Math) Base System A4000-40 : 1.74 (68020 | 40 Math) ============================ = Test Information Section = ============================ Test Name: BeachBall Parameters: 68020+ based standard code | Coprocessor floating point code Multitasking: DISABLED Test Code Location: Memory Node #1 Test Data Location: Memory Node #1 Test Result: 14.64 Seconds (Lower =3D Better Performance) ========================== === Comparison Ratings === ========================== This Machine : 1.07 A600-NF : 0.02 (68000 | SC Math) A1200-NF : 0.05 (68020 | SC Math) A3000-25 : 1.00 (68020 | CP Math) Base System A4000-40 : 3.92 (68020 | 40 Math) ***************************************************************************** Test Name: TGTest Parameters: 68020+ based standard code Multitasking: DISABLED Test Code Location: Memory Node #1 Test Data Location: Memory Node #1 Test Result: 0.00 Characters/Second Output (Higher =3D Better Peformance) ========================== === Comparison Ratings === ========================== This Machine : 2.19 A600-NF : 0.52 (68000 | SC Math) A1200-NF : 1.10 (68020 | SC Math) A3000-25 : 1.00 (68020 | CP Math) Base System A4000-40 : 1.97 (68020 | 40 Math) ============================ = Test Information Section = ============================ Test Name: EllipseTest Parameters: Not applicable to this test. Multitasking: DISABLED Test Code Location: Memory Node #1 Test Data Location: Memory Node #1 Test Result: 6.12 Seconds (Lower =3D Better Performance) ========================== === Comparison Ratings === ========================== This Machine : 2.18 A600-NF : 0.43 (68000 | SC Math) A1200-NF : 1.02 (68020 | SC Math) A3000-25 : 1.00 (68020 | CP Math) Base System A4000-40 : 2.34 (68020 | 40 Math) ------------------ Screen mode information for this test ------------------- Mode Name: NTSC:High Res Mode ID: $00019000 Mode Width: 640 Mode Height: 200 Mode Depth: 3 =3D (8 Colors) Pixel Speed: 70 ns X-Ticks: 22 Y-Ticks: 52 ***************************************************************************** Well, it's obviously faster than a stock A3000 in all tests, and on some tests (line test) a lot faster than an A4000/40. WSpeed =B5 1994 JAMI Soft Development Comment: Retina Z3 Kickstart 40.62 WB 40.29 Picasso II (from WSpeed) Screenmode: NTSC:High Res, 16 Colors Same machine but 8MB fast ---------------------------------------- and higher WB version Put Pixels 111779 66321 Draw Lines 27642 2050 Draw Circles 30584 379 Draw Boxes 27984 1250 Scroll X 1817 59 Scroll Y 1805 210 Print Texts 10070 4191 CON: Output 752 624 Open Windows 132 54 Size Windows 206 68 Move Windows 96 32 Swap Screens 281 55 Areafill 1149 97 ---------------------------------------- No question here. But apparently the Picasso II uses a chunky mode in 8 bits, and is faster there than it is in 4 bits. Couldn't select more colors for my test in WSpeed -- guess it goes by the Workbench Prefs, which also won't allow me more colors, probably because Retinaemu is not working on my Kickstart. WSpeed uses random routines, and I don't know how accurate they are. Also, WSpeed does NOT disable multitasking and I have some commodities runing. I also had some artware patches installed (speeds up most things) I now remember, so the results might be a little wrong. If anyone wants, I can post a full module to c.s.a.graphics. "EXTRA" SOFTWARE AnCos (animation software), VDPaint (paint program which sucks in my opinion, but only tried it for 30 seconds), Real3D "something", ADPro Saver, Imagemaster rt "something". Almost all the readme's are "liesmich" and I haven't got a clue as to what it means. The manual for VDPaint is also in German, as is the registration card (going to make some random guesses when I fill it out). Well, the tests are up there. To sum it up, the only thing I can say is that the software totally sucks, is unpractical, and stupidly made (need I say "kickstart not supported..._yet" ? :-)). Knowledge of German is definitely a help when using the software. BUGS The software generally speaking is buggy: more logical bugs than programming bugs, it seems. Oh, almost forgot, you're going to love this... WB_2.x:> retinaavail Available In-Use Maximum 2010944 2183360 4194304 From To ( Length) 2010944 - 2014591 ( 3648) 2014592 - 2018239 ( 3648) 2018240 - 2192255 ( 174016) SysScreen: 'RetinaEmu' 2192256 - 2195903 ( 3648) 2195904 - 2199551 ( 3648) 2199552 - 2373567 ( 174016) SysScreen: 'RetinaEmu' 2373568 - 2374015 ( 448) [ deleted for space ] 2451520 - 2451903 ( 384) 2451904 - 2605503 ( 153600) SysScreen: 'RetinaEmu' 2605504 - 2619839 ( 14336) 2619840 - 3406271 ( 786432) SysScreen: 'RetinaEmu' 3406272 - 3407295 ( 1024) Sprite 3407296 - 4193727 ( 786432) SysScreen: 'RetinaEmu' 4193728 - 4194047 ( 320) 4194048 - 4194303 ( 256) Wondering what all the "RetinaEmu's" are ? Well, the first two are for DiskMaster (identical), third is WSpeed, fourth is an editor, fifth is "RetinaEmu", always runing. Really, whoever programmed this should have his braindamage fixed (those with 1MB Retina can probably not even start a single program besides "RetinaEmu"). Also, often the mouse pointer refuses to move below or above an invisible magic line. I must click on the screen before it moves there. This happens almost all the time. There are also occasionally some corrupted graphics appearing in a corner for a tenth of a second before disappearing. Perhaps I should even further lower the RAM clock. The RetinaDisplay program does not handle many types of JPEG (just says "depth is 0") which other programs (FastJPEG, PPSHOW, ViewTek) have no problems with. And when it can't handle a picture, it just displays a requester on the Workbench (doesn't bring it to front) so only way you know if something is wrong is when you have tired of waiting for the picture to load and flip screens. PowerSnap by Nico Francois for some reason stopped working with the Retina -- no snapping whatsoever. And there are other bugs "everywhere", most of these can of course be caused by the Workbench emulation not working on my kickstart yet, and from what the bugs do, that actually seems quite possible, but there's just so many of them... All this is a real shame, especially since the original Retina was one of the first released graphics boards and they should have had plenty of time to get things straight (at least more than it is). Generally, the software is something I would never use unless I had to. I also tryed Michael Van Elst's Mpeg_player (supports Retina and some other cards as well). I think it was written for Retina Z2, but it works fine on Z3 and gives a decent speed (uh..well, guess that's as good as it gets unless I plug in a 68040/060) and very nice graphics. The speed when dithering for Retina is about a frame faster than for A3000. DOCUMENTATION Comes with 2 printed manuals, one for Retina (English) and 1 for VDPaint (which the Retina manual advertises as something you would have to pay $500 if bought separately). The VDPaint manual is in German so I didn't read it. The Retina manual about forty 3/4-size A4 pages. (Low quality, just a leaflet really.) It explains most, but is very "basic" I feel. It has a section "for advanced users" which is about as advanced as "how to use c:avail." Also the manual does not list any concrete specifications apart from that the pixel frequency is 110MHz (which the manual compares to the 7MHz Amiga pixel frequency :-)), that the maximum Vertical Hz is 89 and the maximum resolution is 2400 x 1200, which is just mentioned on a "general" page. LIKES Tough one. :-) Well the hardware seems great and that is I believe the most important. Hardware can't be fixed (apart from sending it to Germany and getting it upgraded), but software can be fixed, and I hope it will. DISLIKES The software is in my opinion very bad. Some things work sometimes, other times not. The software is what I would call a first beta release. I mean, having 700K's "RetinaEmu" for each program? That's braindead. Another irritating thing is that there are lots of "liesmiech" files, even a rather big manual on disk, but they're almost all in German. I don't really know what they are thinking when they make a "readme" which says "this directory contains this and that" and then all the readme's for the utility is in German. And it doesn't patch the display until the very end of startup-sequence, when WorkBench loads, which makes it impossible to see any guru messages. This also makes it hard for me to use certain programs which I run from special startups to save memory. WORKAROUNDS None I know of, and currently I have no time to find out either. VENDOR SUPPORT Haven't had any reason to contact them. I guess I could call them and express my views on the software, but they probably speak only German. Also, some of the programs (RetinaEmu amongs others) are included with source code and documentation in a "developer" directory. This is nice. The manual says they are in assembler language (only translated to C now and then), but I could only find C source. The manual boasts that it is all programmed in assembler. Too bad the Retina people really can't program assembler. WARRANTY Actually, I can't find any mention about it in the manual. Strange... CONCLUSIONS Software sucks, cool hardware, all in all I don't regret buying it, even if it might have sounded so. :-) If you can live with these "glitches" while waiting for updates, buy it, and as said, the "developer" directory is nice, and this is judging by benchmarks the fastest card for the Amiga. It is also very fast to use generally when the programs work right. Nice. Now, where can I find a non-beta Kickstart for A3000? Guess that would be, uh...2.1, damn. :-( // --- Michael Shuldman --- \\ // University of Oslo, Faculty of Mathematical and Natural Sciences \\ \\ !=3D "Yes, I do in fact speak for this University, all of it." = // \\ --- C= Amiga - Best there is. --- = // --- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews