[comp.sys.amiga] Asking for information on Diamond Scan monitors

mjl@ut-emx.UUCP (Maurice LeBrun) (12/30/88)

I am in the market for a new monitor for my 1000 since my 1080 died,
and am seriously considering getting a Mitsubishi Diamond Scan.  A
multiscan seems to be the way to go for the long run, and the Diamond
Scan was given very good marks in the review by Amazing Computing (Oct
88).  I have seen it advertised regularly in Computer Shopper at about
$500, which seems pretty reasonable.  Assuming someone out there
actually has one, I'd like to know:

1) How has it performed overall in the time you've had it (any glitches, 
unusual behavior)?

2) Is the cabling diagram given in AC sufficient for safe & dependable
operation?  Is there anything a relative novice (in electronics) needs to
beware of in constructing the cable?  Can one be found commercially?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Maurice LeBrun		      | Confusion will be my epitaph,
Institute for Fusion Studies  | as I crawl a cracked and broken path
University of Texas at Austin | If we make it, we should all sit back and laugh
Internet:                     | But I fear tomorrow I'll be crying...
  mjl@fusion.ph.utexas.edu    |                 King Crimson

lee@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Greg Lee) (12/30/88)

From article <9133@ut-emx.UUCP>, by mjl@ut-emx.UUCP (Maurice LeBrun):
" I am in the market for a new monitor for my 1000 since my 1080 died,
" and am seriously considering getting a Mitsubishi Diamond Scan.  A

I've had one for about 6 months now.  Works fine, except the display
is a little dimmer now than when it was new.  Maybe because I keep
it on continuously, with contrast and brightness turned down when
I'm not using it.

The color balance on mine changes slowly for around 20 minutes after
it's turned on.

I have to unplug the cable to my Amiga in order to reboot.  Probably
I didn't make the cable quite right.  Sawing off the end of an
rs232 connector and soldering all those tiny little wires was
a pain.  There must be a better way ...

		Greg, lee@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu

mikes@lakesys.UUCP (Mike Shawaluk) (12/31/88)

In article <2901@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu> lee@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Greg Lee) writes:
>I have to unplug the cable to my Amiga in order to reboot.  Probably
>I didn't make the cable quite right.  Sawing off the end of an
>rs232 connector and soldering all those tiny little wires was
>a pain.  There must be a better way ...
>
>		Greg, lee@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu

I don't think this has anything to do with the quality of your cable, but
rather a load factor on one of the sync outputs of the Amiga;  I seem to
remember reading that one of these "outputs" is actually both an input AND
an output, for genlock use, and the hardware checks to see if the line is
being asserted (i.e., is an input) during power-up.  The solution to the
problem is to buffer the line in question via a simple TTL-type chip or
transistor, but I don't have the details; can someone else out there help?


-- 
   - Mike Shawaluk
     ...!uunet!marque!lakesys!mikes

rhir_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Bob Hirosky) (01/01/89)

In article <9133@ut-emx.UUCP> mjl@ut-emx.UUCP (Maurice LeBrun) writes:
>I am in the market for a new monitor for my 1000 since my 1080 died,
>and am seriously considering getting a Mitsubishi Diamond Scan.  A
>multiscan seems to be the way to go for the long run, and the Diamond
>Scan was given very good marks in the review by Amazing Computing (Oct
>88).  I have seen it advertised regularly in Computer Shopper at about
>$500, which seems pretty reasonable.  Assuming someone out there
>actually has one, I'd like to know:

>Maurice LeBrun		      | Confusion will be my epitaph,
>Institute for Fusion Studies  | as I crawl a cracked and broken path
>University of Texas at Austin | If we make it, we should all sit back and laugh
>Internet:                     | But I fear tomorrow I'll be crying...
>  mjl@fusion.ph.utexas.edu    |                 King Crimson

   I've had my Diamond Scan for about a year now and it seems to be doing 
just fine.  My only complaint is that I hate those scanlines in between
the letters on the screen, but that's my amiga's fault.
	
	As far as wiring goes, I WOULD NOT trust the AC article that
appeared a few months ago.  ie who wants to risk "circutry failure"

	Here's my wiring diagram:

amiga                               Dia. Sc

3 ---------------R-----------------  2         I use all these grounds
16 ------------gnd-----------------  3         because my video is 
4 ---------------G-----------------  4         carried by three coax
17 ------------gnd-----------------  5         cables.
5 ---------------B-----------------  14
18 ------------gnd-----------------  15
19 -----------sync gnd-------------  1

Now the tricky part:
		--------
11 -----hsync--|1      2|---------   16
	       |	|
	       |	|
12 -----vsync--|3      4|---------   17
	       |	|
	       |	|
23 ----5V------|14	|
	       |	|
20 ---gnd------|7	|
		--------
		74ls04

	Why all this? Well I did it because it was the first
combination I found that worked, but a while ago someone posted
a similiar fix. He said that the monitor loaded the sync outputs
and this caused the computer to look for an external system
clock, hence nothing happens. Any comments out there?

	Goood luck,
			Bob

	rhir_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu
        bob@uorhep.bitnet