Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!decwrl!ucbvax!van-bc!rsoft!mindlink!a218
From: a218@mindlink.UUCP (Charlie Gibbs)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Need FlickerFixer Monitor INFO
Message-ID: <3477@mindlink.UUCP>
Date: 9 Oct 90 20:45:54 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Lines: 57

In article <2810004@hpsmeng1.HP.COM> alanh@hpsmeng1.HP.COM (Alan Haight)
writes:

>  I'm looking at getting a Flicker-Fixer (MicroWay) for my Amiga 2000 and I
>can't think of a better place to get lots of honest opinions.  So, what I
>would like to know is ...
>
>  Would all users of the Flicker-Fixer respond with their views on how it
works
>for them and WHAT KIND OF MONITOR ARE YOU USING ?

     Aha, I take it you've seen a flickerFixer in action and can't
bear to live without one.  That's usually the way it works; I tell
people not to even look at one unless they're ready to buy because
they'll never again be content with scan lines and flicker.  :-)

     In a word, the flickerFixer is BEAUTIFUL!  The only quirk I've
found is that rapidly-moving images (including the mouse pointer if
you move it quickly) may break up into a "double exposure"; this is
an artifact of the scan doubling, but it doesn't bother me that
much.  Also, you apparently need an adapter daughterboard to use
the flickerFixer with a genlock (which I don't have), but this is
readily available from MicroWay.

     Several of us here use a monitor sold under the name Imtec,
although I've seen the same unit marketed as Mini-Micro.  Apparently
they're actually made by Samsung.  At the time I got mine (a year or
so ago) it was about $700 Canadian (dealer list); no doubt that'll
work out to considerably fewer 1990 U.S. mail-order dollars.  This
monitor will also scan NTSC rates, which came in handy; it took a
couple of weeks for my flickerFixer to arrive, and in the meantime
my dealer made me up a cable to hook the monitor to the 23-pin RGB
port.

     Although the image completely fills the screen at NTSC rates,
there's a border (half an inch or so) around the image when running
from the flickerFixer.  This can be minimized by tweaking the width
and height controls, but not completely eliminated.  Apparently this
is common on many multisync monitors.  Actually it's not much of a
problem at all, because it means I can use overscan for text and
have that much larger a screen.  (The software disk provided with
the flickerFixer includes a morerows program which lets you set a
larger screen.)  One of my favourite ways of showing off is to fire
up CygnusEd in "interlace" mode (not really any more :-), select
the 6-point "cedfont" supplied with CygnusEd, and display a whopping
SEVENTY-SIX lines of small but readable text on my 704x470 screen.
The software disk also includes some nifty images which really show
off what the flickerFixer can do.  One of these is a pathological
case: a series of horizontal black and white lines which looks fine
on the flickerFixer but flickers worse than anything I imagined
possible on a stock display.

     As you might have guessed, I like my flickerFixer.  :-)

Charlie_Gibbs@mindlink.UUCP
"I've seen The Exorcist about a hundred and sixty-seven times,
and it keeps getting funnier every time I see it!"  -- Beetlejuice