carpent@SRC.Honeywell.COM (Todd Carpenter) (11/13/89)
Anyone have trouble blowing their parallel port with a DigiView? I have an old DigiView (tm) with their genderbender plugged into my A2000. 'way back I blew the port with it, and I felt it happened when I power cycled the machine. Ever since (after replacing the 8520), I carefully ground the connector shield, then plug it in AFTER both the camera and A2000 are on, and unplug it before turning the camera off. Since I almost never turn my Amiga off, this setup has worked for the past 6 months. This weekend, I power cycled my machine to mess with a hard disk. Unfortunately, I forgot to pull the DigiView before I did this. Later when I tried to digitize a picture, I received the classic "No video signal present." Comments?
Classic_-_Concepts@cup.portal.com (11/15/89)
You plugged and unplugged the DigiView with the Camera on?? I've been
using a DigiView since they came out and, while I've unwisely risked
plugging and unplugging it from the parallel port without powering down
the machine (which I ought to), I have never risked plugging a live video
signal into it. This is the sequence I use and which has not caused any
problems:
- unplug printer cable
- plug in DigiView
- plug in video camera cable
- power up camera
- run Digi-View software
However, recently I did what I should have done LONG ago and was silly
not to (and which I heartily recommend). I got a simple A-B switcher. For
the uninitiated, a switcher is a little box with a knob and straight pin
pass-throughs. They range in price from $20 to $150, depending on the
shielding and how much 'smarts' they have. Unfortunately, most have 3 female
ports, so you need a gender-bender (or 2, for a 1000), which adds a little
more hardware and might degrade the signal slightly, but ....
you can have your printer and DigiView plugged in simultaneously and
just switch between the two--what a concept. I went for a well-shielded,
simple $32 model. It saves mucho wear and tear on me and the machine and
GREATLY reduces the chance of frying Ami. A switcher is cheaper than an
hour in the shop ...
Now, internal ports cause a little more problem, some extra cabling
might be needed, but you get the idea.
Julie (LadyHawke)