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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Composite Output on CGcolormax Bad?
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| StoveMan Regular Member  Joined: 29/03/2013 Location: United StatesPosts: 51 |
Hi all, Has anyone made up a composite adapter for CG's colormax2? I am getting video which is seriously off center on PAL or NTSC(~ maybe 60 pixels). My small display has no H offset. DETAILS: Both boards are running MMbasic 4.3A VGA works fine. Separate VGA to TV adapter works fine as suspected. CGMMstick with connector board works fine on composite. Built/checked the 680 ohm circuit MANY times. Image is rock steady... just shifted. No program running. Splash screen and prompt exhibit same behavior. THEORY: 1. I don't suspect the hardware. I have traced/ohmed the interface to the Pic and CG seems to have copied the CMM circuit exactly. The same circuit on the CGMMstick works fine. 2. MMbasic issue? The 'Stick' uses monochrome MMbasic; whereas the 'Max' is running the color version. Firmware for MonoMaximite will not run in colormax2. WHY CARE: I am proposing changing an existing product to MM based system and need a small display. VGA small monitors are 3x the cost and I don't need color anyway. After say 100 iterations the difference in cost is considerable. Monochrome (at least to me) looks sharper at small sizes. The separate VGA adapter would be a workaround but its default settings are poor (e.g. Hue, Offset, Size) and user settings are not non-volatile. I will post the project separately if anyone has any suggestions/criticism. I am not wishing to load Geoff down with more work. What a phenomenal effort he has put into MMbasic already! Just wondering if any have seen this or it's something I am missing. Thanks, Frank |
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djuqa Guru  Joined: 23/11/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 447 |
Buy a Standard Duinomite from Dontronics $25 each already mono Maximite pre-built industrial quality. Mono Composite output, Arduino shield pins, compact size boards why re-invent the wheel Yet again. VK4MU MicroController Units |
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donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
 Thanks David.
Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| StoveMan Regular Member Joined: 29/03/2013 Location: United StatesPosts: 51 |
djuga, Good point! I'll have to look at the DMite again. I remember there were some restrictions (under MMbasic) on shield pins... I do need SPI there; and at least two serial RX/TX pairs. I am a little concerned about availability from Olimex long term though. The project seems to have stalled (no blame there) at least from the software side. Has anyone heard if Olimex plans on continuing to produce this nice board? Thanks for the suggestion, Frank PS- Re-invent the wheel... Yet again! that's great!  |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
As long as the boards sell, they will produce them I'm sure. Haven't heard anything to the contrary at this stage. Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| StoveMan Regular Member Joined: 29/03/2013 Location: United StatesPosts: 51 |
Hi Don, Thanks for the update. I will get one coming and play with it! I was wishing to re-flash the color board to mono anyway as I assume it frees up processor resources right? Do you have an estimate of how much penalty the color imposes? Thanks, Frank |
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Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3194 |
Has anyone had composite video working on the Colour Maximite or clones without this shift? I tested it OK in the early days but something might have broken with subsequent firmware versions. I am overseas at this time so it will be a little over a month before I can test the current version. That will not work as the colour and mono versions use different chips, so you cannot load the mono firmware onto a colour board. If you want to use just composite video the DuinoMite or CGMMSTICK1 from CircuitGizmos are a much simpler solution. Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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| StoveMan Regular Member Joined: 29/03/2013 Location: United StatesPosts: 51 |
Thanks Geoff, As I am in the early stages of programming I will just offset all output and use a narrower virtual screen. Take a look when you can. Be safe... Frank |
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| Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3194 |
Frank, It just occurred to me that the DuinoMite or CGMMSTICK1 has only one PWM channel which might limit you if you want to change to them. Are you in LA? I am in LA for most of April. Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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| StoveMan Regular Member Joined: 29/03/2013 Location: United StatesPosts: 51 |
Geoff, One channel is all I need at this point. Just for our main inducer motor. other actuators use a serial TTL interface at 9600 baud. Only reason not to use a CGMstick is that I really want the full size SD for ease of user manipulation for updates or data logging. Micro's are so well... micro.I suppose I could fit one but then I may as well just build off Brian's UBW32 or roll my own (except SM isn't THAT easy!) 
Keep the thoughts coming though. Frank |
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| StoveMan Regular Member Joined: 29/03/2013 Location: United StatesPosts: 51 |
Oh yeah Geoff, I am in New York State, USA. It is NOT summer here! 
Frank |
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| paceman Guru Joined: 07/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1329 |
I can't get my CGCOLORMAX1 to output composite correctly either - it's unreadable and is shifted halfway across the screen. I made up the VGA to composite adapter cable shown in CG's Manual and using one of the little cheap colour 3.5" reversing screens. I'm currently running V4.3A colour. The screen works fine using my original Altronics mono Maximite (running V4.3A mono) and linking the VGA/composite jumper (as per the March 2011 original SC article). Is there something else that needs doing, besides making up the cable, to get composite on the CGCOLORMAX1? I haven't noticed anything else in CG's documentation nor in Geoff's Sept and Oct 2012 SC articles on the Colour Maximite. For example, is there another link required or other circuit mods? Greg |
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James_From_Canb Senior Member  Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 265 |
If you're using a Colour Maximite like the CGColor board you can set the colour mode to monochrome which frees up the memory that would otherwise be used to support colour. James My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention. Hedley Lamarr, Blazing Saddles (1974) |
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| Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3194 |
The only other thing is to turn on the composite with CONFIG COMPOSITE PAL but there seems to be a bug there which I need to chase down. Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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| paceman Guru Joined: 07/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1329 |
Thanks Geoff - the CONFIG COMPOSITE PAL has fixed the "unreadable" part of my problem - I don't remember having to declare that with the original mono Maximite. The shift to the right is still there for you to have a look at. BTW the circuit diagram (Fig 1 Sept 2012 SC) doesn't seem to match the layout diagram (Fig 4 Oct 2012) for the CON3 VGA connector. The circuit diagram shows pins 5,6,7,8,10 connected to ground, but the layout diagram shows pin 7 going somewhere else. I checked CG's COLORMAX1 rear VGA connector with my DVM and it showed pins 5,6,8,9,10 connected to ground (also not pin 7). Not sure what's going on here but shouldn't that mean it permanently has the 'composite' output selected, i.e. pin 5 to pin 9 as normally done with the special composite cable? Greg |
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BobD Guru Joined: 07/12/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 935 |
Greg The CMM PCB layout available on the Maximite web site shows VGA pins 5,6,7,8 & 10 connected to ground on the back of the board. The tracks in this layout around the VGA socket, are quite different to those in the SC article but it still looks like pin 7 is grounded. I look at my SC online. There may be further differences from the printed article. The trace layout in the SC article may have been a pre-production version. I can follow the trace from VGA pin 9 back to the PIC32 pin 74 but it is not connected elsewhere. I can't help with the CGCOLORMAX1. Bob |
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| paceman Guru Joined: 07/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1329 |
Got this wrong I'm afraid. I've checked again and the COLORMAX1 VGA connector is as per Fig 1 Sept 2012 SC magazine, i.e. VGA pins 5,6,7,8,10 to ground and VGA pin 9 to PIC pin 74. Sorry for the confusion gents. Greg |
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| Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3194 |
You did not (and still do not) need this with the mono Maximite but I found that too many VGA monitors grounded pin 9 on the VGA connector, which forced the Colour Maximite into composite mode when it was not wanted. So now you need CONFIG COMPOSITE PAL (or CONFIG COMPOSITE NTSC) on the Colour Maximite to turn on sensing of pin 9 and to set the timing. You can go back to VGA only if you need to with CONFIG COMPOSITE DISABLED. Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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| paceman Guru Joined: 07/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1329 |
Ah, OK that explains it - a pretty good solution to most situations I guess. Now that you mention it I think I do recall you saying something like this a while ago - obviously I didn't take enough notice! |
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