Picasso IV by 
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The Picasso IV uses the CL-GD5446 graphics chip by
Here is a Link to the Cirrus GD5436 & GD5446 support page (no Amiga software there)
and a link to the Cirrus Cirrus Logic CL-GD5446 'spec' page.
Here is a Link to the Cirrus GD5436 & GD5446 support page (no Amiga software there)
and a link to the Cirrus Cirrus Logic CL-GD5446 'spec' page.
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| Marked # on Picture | Function | Marked # on Picture | Function |
| 1 | S-VHS/FBAS Video Input | 2 | S-VHS/FBAS Video Output |
| 3 | 15-pin D-Shell VGA Output | 4 | 3.5mm Stereo Audio Input |
| 5 | 3.5mm Stereo Audio Output | 6 | Audio Signal Switcher (Amiga/Extern/CD/TV-Tuner) |
| 7 | CD-ROM Audio Input | 8 | Internal Flicker Fixer |
| 9 | Pablo II Connector (Video Encoder) | 10 | Local 'PCI-Connector' (3DGFX/PowerPC) |
| 11 | Multibridge (Auto Z2/III, Flash-ROM Controller) | 12 | Memory 4MB 45ns edo RAM |
| 13 | CL-GD5446 | 14 | 'Flash-ROM' |
| 15 | Pablo II Connector (Video Encoder) | 16 | Flicker Fixer/Scandoubler |
| 17 | Connector for Video Module | 18 | Connector for Sound Module |
| 19 | 8 bit Video Connector | 20 | 16 bit Video Connector |
| 21 | Audio Connector for Video Module | 22 | Connector for Sound Module |
None of the jumpers on the board are labeled.
So, let's assume you have the board in front of you,
the slot connectors pointing towards you and the VGA socket and the SVHS
and audio ports at the right hand side. With the jumpers numbered left to
right:
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|---|---|---|
| On PicassoIV | OPEN | CLOSED |
| #1 | Uses 4MBs of gfx mem DEFAULT | Uses 2MBs of gfx mem |
| #2 | Zorro II/Zorro III auto-sensing DEFAULT | Forced Zorro II mode |
| #3 | Forced 12 bit flicker fixer mode | 12 or 24 bit video auto-sensing DEFAULT |
| #4 | Sync-on-green disabled DEFAULT | Sync-on-green enabled |
| #5 | Change the AGA flicker fixer timing | Default AGA flicker fixer timing DEFAULT |
| #6 | reserved NOTE: This jumper must always be open! DEFAULT | reserved |
| #4 | Use internal audio ground DEFAULT | Use external audio ground |
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Q: My PicassoIV flicker fixer doesn not seem to work right with my A4000. What might be the problem? A: Looks like your flicker fixer needs a rework. Two chips would need changing, plus a third chip that must be plugged into one of the empty sockets. Village Tronic does not have that third chip in quantities yet, so you might have to wait a bit for the update to become available. This kind of problem appears with *some* Picasso IVs and with *some* A4000s, ECS machines are unaffected. I suggest that you alert the company you purchased the card from and have them alert Village Tronic. - (Olaf Barthel PML Tue, 22 Feb 1997) |
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Q: I heard the Zorro2PCI-brigde is currently undergoing some major modifications which will increase the bus speed to about 14MB/s.
Will this be a Hardware upgrade? A: A small, socketed chip has to be exchanged. You don't have to be a professional to do this. I will also tell you how the update will be handled when the time comes. - (Tobias Abt PML 25 Feb 1997) |
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Q: I've tried P96 with two 1024x768x24 screens, and the screen switch is pitifully slow. It takes a full second, and you can see the image being rolled up. I thought things were supposed to
be fast? A: Each of these screens needs 2359296 bytes, i.e. they can't be on the card simultaneously. Therefore they can not be changed on the fly... - (Tobias Abt PML 24 Feb 1997) |
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Q: Where in the 32 meg address space is the 4 meg of EDO ram? I would like to test the speed of this with bustest. A: Run CheckBoards (in the Picasso96 archive). This will tell you about the memory address ("MemoryBase: ...") - (Tobias Abt PML 24 Feb 1997) |
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Q: I have a S3 Virge spec sheet here that says the Virge has 4-bit modes and I'm
pretty sure the S3 Tri64 has 4-bit modes too. Are they not planar modes? A: You are right, the chip can do planar, but the board can not access memory while in planar mode, AFAIK. That's why there is no support for it on the CV. On the PicassoIV it is removed because with planar, you can only use one MB of RAM with the 5446 which would collide with the memory management. We currently support only one memory size and using just one MB would not be ok, would it? ;-)) (Tobias Abt PML 18 Feb 1997) |
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Q:The Picasso IV has a 85MHz bandwidth limitation in 16 and 24-bit modes? Is this a limitation of
the Cirrus graphics chip or the picasso IV itself ? A:Cirrus limitation. (Tobias Abt PML 18 Feb 1997) |
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Q: I have my PicassoIV now and it did not come with a English manual. How do I get one? A: It works like this: 1) If you ordered your Picasso IV directly from Village Tronic you will receive the new manual in the mail. 2) If you purchased the Picasso IV through a dealer or reseller, send a brief letter along with the serial number of your card to Village Tronic and request that the english manual be sent to you. Don't forget to include your postal address. (Olaf Barthel PML Tue, 17 Feb 1997) |
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Q: I use a utility called AWS to display my bootscreen information... Since I
installed my P4 and P96, It seems to jump and jitter about half way thru the
startup-sequence... A: This is because the Cirrus GD5446 and the rest of the PicassoIV gets a fresh setup during the initialisation of the PicassoIV driver. (Tobias Abt PML 17 Feb 1997) |
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Q: Can the Picasso IV co-exist with the GVP IV-24? A: There is a gadget in the works that would allow the P4 to take the Amiga video signal directly from the Denise chip, thus allowing any expansion hardware to stay in the A2000 video slot. (Olaf Barthel PML Tue, 13 Feb 1997) A:Contact Village Tronic! They have a workaround which consists of a small piggyback board which is put between the Denise and the motherboard. You don't need the video slot for the PicassoIV then. (Tobias Abt PML Tue, 14 Feb 1997) |
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Q: Is it possible to leave both the Picasso II and the Picasso IV
plugged into the system and boot from different partition when
I want to use each card? A: Sure, that will be no problem. If you use Picasso96, you can use both cards simultaneously, especially if you need planar modes for e.g. DPaint or WordWorth... (Tobias Abt PML Tue, 12 Feb 1997) A: It is possible, but not generally a pretty sight. The Picasso II pass- through was made for flicker fixers and double scan displays which would yield just a 31 kHz video signal. With the P4 providing the video signal of 38 kHz and more (64 kHz, 82 kHz, etc.) the pass-through will cause the picture to become blurred. (Olaf Barthel PML Tue, 12 Feb 1997) A: Cirrus designed the GD5446 to be able to grab standard video signals. And those video signals usually have about 15kHz line frequency so they only provided support for that. The other native Amiga modes use more than 15Khz, so they can't be grabbed...(Tobias Abt PML Tue, 14 Feb 1997) A:Ok, so you need a bit of explanation on what the Picasso IV "flicker fixer" does and what it does not do: (1) In the default configuration, it promotes the 15 kHz 50/60 Hz PAL/NTSC video signal to a 31 kHz ~50/~60 Hz signal. (2)- The 31 kHz and 50/60 Hz setup is not hard coded. You can override it with your own preferred settings to yield, for example, a 73 kHz 125 Hz PAL picture (and a 75 kHz 137 Hz NTSC picture). (3) Unlike the Euro36/Super72/Multiscan display modes this display promotion does not limit the size of the display to 640x400/400x600/640x480, with bandwidth restrictions slowing down rendering operations. When the display is promoted, rendering operations stay as fast as they always did and you can use the maximum hardware overscan resolution (such as 736x566 for PAL HiRes Interlaced). (Olaf Barthel PML Tue, 13 Feb 1997) |
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Q: Why did my Picasso IV only come with docs in German? A: Well, ***t happens :-/ I wrote the german manual but didn't quite find the time to tackle the english version yet. There is a short english installation manual, but it looks as if some batches of the card accidentally shipped with the german manual instead of the short english installation manual. This is not going to be permanent. (Olaf Barthel PML Tue, 11 Feb 1997) A: I just returned from Village Tronic: according to what I was told, the cards were packaged both with the small english installation manual and the german manual (strange, isn't it?). (Olaf Barthel PML Tue, 12 Feb 1997) |
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Q: Picasso IV can achieve 1280x1024x24bit NON LACED? A: Due to how the pixel clock needs to be driven in 24 bits (85 MHz is the maximum there) the card cannot yield a non-interlaced display in that resolution. That bandwidth is simply not there. (Olaf Barthel PML Tue, 4 Feb 1997) A: Unless I'm very mistaken, the Picasso IV does not allow the 135 MHz pixel clock in the high- and truecolour modes. In this case the clock is limited to 85 MHz.(Olaf Barthel PML Tue, 5 Feb 1997) A: 50Hz is not enough for working but enough for displaying pictures every now and then. (Tobias Abt PML Tue, 5 Feb 1997) A: Yes, although this mode would be between 55 and 60 Hz only. But you might be more happy with a 1200x900x24 that has some Hz's more... (Tobias Abt PML Tue, 4 Feb 1997) |
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Q: Does PicassoIV need a rev11 Buster? A: As far as I know, the card was tested on this kind of machine and proved to work well with it. (Olaf Barthel PML Tue, 4 Feb 1997) A: The PicassoIV does not use any DMA, so the old Buster is no problem at all. (Tobias Abt c.s.a.g. Wed, 29 Jan 1997) A: I can see no reason why this should be any problem. The PicassoIV does not use DMA, so any buster is ok. (Tobias Abt PML Tue, 4 Feb 1997) |
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Q: Does FRODO or Magic64 with with PicassoIV? A: Make sure you have a 320x200 Mode. If you don't you can make one. |
WSpeed V37.37: 800x600x8 800x600x16 320x240x8 320x240x16 Put Pixel: 1.229.465 1.251.109 1.226.624 1.248.588 Lines: 29.426 25.180 78.010 77.102 Draw Hor/Ver: 130.855 119.643 131.784 126.698 Circle: 104.585 102.288 104.692 104.374 Ellipse: 86.312 82.124 86.405 83.824 Boxes: 12.673 5.010 64.450 37.084 Scroll x: 2.303 899 13.876 7.395 Scroll y: 2.214 823 14.021 7.279 Text: 19.824 19.847 19.970 19.957 Con: 1.370 707 3.943 3.121 Open Windows: 202 233 243 420 Window size: 356 562 374 620 Move window: 87 57 326 270 Change BS: 593 36 593 593 Fill: 596 560 2.728 2.687Test Machine: A4000 (Buster 11), CyberStorm060/50-MK-I, CyberSCSI, Picasso IV, MFC III, 40MB Fast, KS3.1-ROM, Picasso96 1.7 w/new rtg-library.
PicassoIV: 800x600x8 1024x768x8 ---------------------------------------- Put Pixels 1489875 1491241 Draw Lines 30923 23291 Draw Hor/Ver 167545 157555 Draw Circles 108842 108576 Draw Ellipse 99729 99360 Draw Boxes 13292 7178 Scroll X 2422 1292 Scroll Y 2324 1221 Print Texts 26313 26369 CON: Output 1577 961 Open Windows 258 233 Size Windows 520 510 Move Windows 159 108 Swap Screens 599 47 Areafill 549 351 ----------------------------------------P96 1.11 - A4060T, 32 meg 60ns EDO ram (on cpu card), 18 meg ram on motherboard, picasso IV. 3.1 (40.70 KS, 40.42 Wb)
8Bit=256 Colors, 16Bit=65,536 Colors, 24Bit=16,777,216 Colors Screenmode: 800x600x8 800x600x16 800x600x24 ------------------------------------------------ Put Pixels 1027518 1044978 977588 Draw Lines 24417 21401 9874 Draw Hor/Ver 120747 112222 100663 Draw Circles 99063 95636 36235 Draw Ellipse 76723 73658 30693 Draw Boxes 13008 5354 2711 Scroll X 2391 968 497 Scroll Y 2292 895 434 Print Texts 13646 13552 11776 CON: Output 1234 707 425 Open Windows 185 212 175 Size Windows 382 586 548 Move Windows 80 50 31 Swap Screens 68 599 20 Areafill 522 539 525 ------------------------------------------------ Screenmode: 1024x768x8 1024x768x16 1024x768x24 ------------------------------------------------ Put Pixels 1026283 1045630 979311 Draw Lines 18337 15627 6792 Draw Hor/Ver 114914 97892 71681 Draw Circles 98103 93079 29553 Draw Ellipse 76011 71674 26293 Draw Boxes 7152 2299 825 Scroll X 1283 414 161 Scroll Y 1216 385 139 Print Texts 13645 13549 11507 CON: Output 815 408 217 Open Windows 175 150 117 Size Windows 378 584 472 Move Windows 43 21 17 Swap Screens 38 13 9 Areafill 353 330 337 ------------------------------------------------ Screenmode: 1280x1024x8 1280x1024x16 1280x1024x24 ------------------------------------------------ Put Pixels 1029244 1056774 988053 Draw Lines 13601 11223 5136 Draw Hor/Ver 110480 89417 59311 Draw Circles 97740 88204 29154 Draw Ellipse 75734 68334 26066 Draw Boxes 4563 1523 556 Scroll X 795 264 109 Scroll Y 743 245 91 Print Texts 13652 13610 11257 CON: Output 603 331 207 Open Windows 155 107 91 Size Windows 404 526 482 Move Windows 32 18 15 Swap Screens 15 8 6 Areafill 201 216 208 ------------------------------------------------A4000 Rev B (or something), SBuster 9, Cyberstorm II 060@50, Softkicked 3.1, 2MB chip, 16MB fast - 4 on the motherboard, 12 on the Cyberstorm