Path: rcfnews.cs.umass.edu!barrett From: mussi@snoop.alphanet.ch (Rene Laederach) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: RetinaEmu 2.3 software update for Retina graphics board Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.graphics Date: 7 Feb 1995 03:11:03 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 224 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <3h6oc7$l4t@kernighan.cs.umass.edu> Reply-To: mussi@snoop.alphanet.ch (Rene Laederach) NNTP-Posting-Host: quincy Keywords: graphics, 24-bit, commercial Originator: barrett@quincy.cs.umass.edu PRODUCT NAME RetinaEmu 2.3 Software update for the Retina (both Z2 and BLT Z3) graphics board. BRIEF DESCRIPTION This is the long awaited update to the software of the Retina graphics board. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: MacroSystems GmbH Address: Friedrich-Ebert-Str. 85 58454 Witten GERMANY Telephone: ++49-2302-80391 FAX: ++49-2302-80884 Beware: I have never checked if they speak English. German is no problem however. I guess MacroSystems US speaks English, though. :) I don't have the info for MacroSystems US handy. E-mail: There is no e-mail support address. If you have serious trouble with Retinas, you may try with Thomas Dorn, 2:310/98@fidonet or tdorn@xipaint.co.at. MacroSystems US seems to be reachable via e-mail at macrosystems@cryogenic.com. I haven't checked this. LIST PRICE 22.50 DM which is about $13.25 (US) for mortals; 18.- DM for subscribers of update subscriptions. These prices are from MacroSystems direct, but I don't know the update price of MacroSystems US. Anybody got a hint? SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE A Retina graphics board is required. Much RAM, a big hard disk and a killer system in general is recommended if you intend to work with graphics. SOFTWARE Kickstart 2.04 or higher required. Works without trouble on Kickstart 3.1. COPY PROTECTION None, except that it is useless for people without a Retina. :) As some may think otherwise, I state it here: IT IS NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN! RetinaEmu is commercial software. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 3000/25, 12 MB Fast RAM, 2 MB Chip RAM. 1 internal 880K floppy, 1 internal 1.76 MB floppy. Quantum Empire 1080 MB internal hard drive. Archive Viper 525 MB tape drive (internal). "No name" 17" monitor with horizontal frequency going from 30-82 KHz AmigaDOS 3.1, Kickstart 40.68, Workbench 40.42. CSH 5.39 replacing Amiga shell, used together with KingCON 1.3 Retina BLT Z3 graphics board with 4 MB RAM MFC multiserial card ZyXEL U-1496E+ modem hooked to the MFC HP DeskJet 500 hooked to the MFC INSTALLATION Easy, given you use the Installer script that comes with the software update. Double-click the icon, select a few things, and off you go. HISTORY Since I bought my Retina BLT Z3 board in late July 94, I was frustrated because I could only have 16 color Intuition screens and I was bugging Thomas Dorn with endless requests for an update. Finally, the folks at MacroSystems Germany took pity on him and made an update. They seem to be very busy with the DraCo Amiga clone which is scheduled to come out this spring if everything goes OK. THE EFFECT Now well - I can trick some folks into believing they are working on an AGA Amiga - they can't tell the difference from an AGA machine as long as they don't want to run stuff that does not multitask. There are still some incompatibilities with existing software, but they are rare. And when you have turned on the blitter mode, shell scrolling is so fast that even people used to AGA will notice it ("say, why is your machine so fast? Have you gotten a CyberStorm? Not quite. :( ). OH NO! :) What bugs me, however, is that I can't create group modes that work. The single modes (not able to work in the much faster blitter mode) work OK, however, with the exception of a 1024*768 @ 89 HZ with a horizontal frequency of 75 KHz. I attribute this to my monitor - the 1024*768 @ 100 Hz mode runs OK, though. Much more beautiful to look at. But the loss of the group modes which are the only ones which can be used with the faster blitter emulation is unacceptable. Also, the requester of RetinaEmu version 2.1 which appeared on the Amiga screen (not on the Retina) every time you wanted to use with with a post 39.106 Kickstart is gone - something very important for frustrated users. DOCUMENTATION If you have the documentation for the 2.1 or 2.2 version of RetinaEmu, you can skip this point - you only have to know it works OK on Kickstart 3.1 and gives full 256 colors on Intuition screens. The original Retina documentation, which you can order if you would like it (as said, not much has changed; for an experienced Retina user, the manual is unnecessary), was written for people which know to interpret information, and, sometimes, they are not very precise. But I can live with it. LIKES At last, 256 colors on Intuition screens! It is quite compatible with some AGA hacks that leave the multitasking alone. DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS The self-made blitter modes are unusable - this can drive some users nuts. If you don't care about somewhat slower screens, you can make your own Retina screen modes (which you can use to redirect the Amiga output to it) which work OK. I would love real Amiga screen modes. But at least I should have running group modes which work OK so I can use the blitter emulation to speed up things. A ROM on the Retina should be able to make non-multitasking stuff work OK on my Retina, but this has not a high priority. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS There is only EGS for the Retina, but I have not used this. I have no base to compare anything to it when I want to stay with the Retina. BUGS See above for the bug with the group modes. The workaround, according to Thomas Dorn, is to use the Standard emulation and to choose the Retina screen mode you desire directly in RetinaEmu. There's no workaround to make self-made group screen modes work - the internal group modes work OK. VENDOR SUPPORT I contacted MacroSystems Germany on numerous occasions about different problems with the old as well as the new emu. Also Thomas Dorn provided me the sad certainty that another Retina software update is required to make the Retina even more useful than now. I'm not associated with MacroSystems Germany in any way except as customer. WARRANTY I don't know of any warranty. CONCLUSIONS I have mixed feelings about the Retina software update - on one hand, you get 256 color Intuition screens; on the other, self made Retina group screen modes don't work. If I had to rate it, I would rate it with 3.5 bones (1 bone being "no meat") out of 5 ("totally Doggy!"). I can recommend the update - also because of its low price, even if you don't get everything you would have liked. COPYRIGHT NOTICE This review is Freely distributable, but still (c) 1995 by Rene Laederach. You can reach me at following addresses: 2:301/723.4@fidonet 39:110/501.4@amiganet 44:8010/501@aminet (Switzerland only). mussi@snoop.alphanet.ch --- 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