[Coco] Re: Roy's SVGA Converter for the Color Computer 3

[Andrew]

All,

I ordered and received (tonight) Roy's SVGA converter, and I thought I 
would give a small review here. I played around with it briefly, and 
other than one minor issue (something I can forgive in a "homebrew" 
project of this nature), I have to say I like the device. Very simple to 
set up, just plug in and go.

Basically, it is a small gray-beige box that goes well with other Color 
Computer hardware. It has black front and back panels. The front panel 
features a red power LED, a power switch, and a reset button. The back 
panel features a female SVGA connector for the monitor, and a couple of 
  connectors. One is for power, the other is currently "unknown" (at 
least to me, I have the question in to Roy, maybe he can enlighten us here).
The top of the case has 16 holes drilled in a squarish pattern over some 
components that look like a part of the power supply system. The power 
supply itself is a small 6VDC wall wart. A 10 pin IDC connector on a 
flat 10 lead cable leads into the box. This connector plugs into video 
port on the bottom of the Color Computer 3. A sheet of printed 
documentation is provided.

Basically, you plug cable into the CoCo, then plug the power supply into 
the converter, then hook up your monitor to the SVGA port on the back. 
Plug in the power supply, turn on the converter, then turn on your CoCo 
system as normal. You may need to press the reset button to get the 
screen to come up.

My screen had great color and crisp letters in all text resolutions, as 
good as the CM-8 monitor I normally have my CoCo 3 hooked up to. The 
only issue I experienced with the converter was a "noise" issue - I had 
some horizontal bands of noise which scrolled up the screen appear. 
Repositioning the converter, the cable, and plugging in the power supply 
wall wart into different outlets helped, but did not completely 
alleviate the issue. Roy notes in the documentation that some noise may 
be present on the output, but my noise issue didn't quite match the 
examples he gave. Your results may vary.

Other than that, the converter works great. Roy notes in the 
documentation that custom startup config software will be available in 
the future, in both RSDOS and OS-9 versions, and will be made available 
to buyers at no additional cost when they are ready.

Personally, I think Roy has done a wonderful job on this device. The 
price is great for such a hand-built (?) device, and it shipped and 
arrived very quickly. Let's all give Roy a hand for helping to continue 
the legacy of our beloved machines.

Thank you, Roy.

-- Andrew L. Ayers - Glendale (Phoenix), Arizona