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     unix-boy Rating: N/A |
I have a VFX-1 that works great with an old VESA VGA card. I now have a GeForce 256 SDR that I would like to use. Does anyone know FOR SURE how to get this card working, or can I add my old VGA card as a secondary adapter and make THAT work? HELP! markruzicka@hotmail.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Paul Leonard Rating: N/A |
No joy. Geforce will not work with VFX-1. I did manage to get the VFX-1 to work and "see" the second windows screen using an old ISA Hercules Dynamite 128 card but... almost every game I know of will not support multi-monitor mode. Therefore while the game is running on the primary monitor through the Geforce, all you ever see through the Hercules/VFX-1 is the same unchanged secondary Windows screen. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| iztok bajec Rating: N/A |
Even though you somehow managed to make a game working on a secondary card the efect in VFX-1 would suck. The thing is that the vesa conector supports only 256 colors which makes all 3D acceleration obsolete since it uses 64K colors. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Paul Leonard Rating: N/A |
No. I did not manage to get a game to work through the second card. I was only ever able to see the second Windows 98 screen. For whatever reason, I have always been able to run the VFX-1 at 16-bit colours rather than 256. Beats me. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| iztok bajec Rating: N/A |
Since you are talking about the VFX-1 which includes the so called VIP card connected to the graphic card that is producing the output images, by means of the vesa interconection cable, it is definitly strange that you are stating a successful try in 16-bit mode. This is mainly becouse the vesa interconection cable is only capable of 256 color output. Whenever i tryed to run it in 16bit colors i got BW output, where some of the colors leaked out. The output was not only the intensity of the displayed colours but a strange function of it where there was a sudden drop in intensity of the produced output color spectrum. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| VRJUNKIE Rating: N/A |
I have to agree with iztok here... I see no way the VFX1 can display 16 bit color! Maybe you are in 16 bit color as far as the Monitor is concerned, but youy are only seeing 256 color in the VFX1. The VESA feature connector is only 8 bit, there is no way to get 16 bit out of 8. Can you give us the details of your setup and why you think you have 16 bit color? Do you have a link box? With those you can get high color - but forfeit stereo. To get 16 bit color would require some kind of special proprietary setup. Regards, -VRJUNKIE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Paul Leonard Rating: N/A |
No sense in me arguing the technical side, you are probably correct. All I would add is that when I ran a game in 256 colours on both the VFX-1 and the monitor the images were "relatively" comparable (insofar as the VFX-1 image could be described as comparable). When I bumped the colour depth to 16-bit I would "see" a superior quality image on both the VFX-1 and the monitor. This was when I had an old Tyan Tahoe motherboard and also on a ASUS P3B-F BX board. Both using as the primary video card an Hercules Dynamite 128/Video card (still have it too). I wish I did have a linkbox, it would have extended the life of the VFX-1 immeasurably. I even called to inquire once but couldn't get around the $Cdn - $US conversion and exchanging cheques cross border. Missed the last Australian one by a week. As it stands my latest board has no ISA slots and the VFX-1 gathers dust while I work up the courage to buy one of those new fangled Cy-Visors. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jay Swackhamer Rating: N/A |
Does anyone have any info on any 3dfx voodoo based cards that work with the vfx1? I have accumulated voodoo based software and am looking for a video card that works with the software and vfx1. any info would be appreciated. also, any information on locating a linkbox would be great, or even the pinouts/information needed to make one. who makes the Cy-Visor? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Paul Leonard Rating: N/A |
I believe someone once posted that the Banshee worked with VFX-1. Old posts on linkbox suggested that the guy who designed it went to Intel. They were each individually made to order. Good luck trying to find an existing one. Probably best bet is to contact IIS directly but their site once said don't bother. Cy-visor is made by Daeyang in Korea at www.personaldisplay.com. Canadian reseller is Cyberworld at www.cwonline.com. This model does not have headtracking or stereo (see other threads on this board) but Intersense at www.isense.com Intertrax2 can be added. I am really intrigued with this and am nibbling around. Regards Paul Leonard | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Johan Rating: N/A |
I have the pinouts from the vip card, for the vfx1 Actually I contacted Bryan Klein who used to work at Forte (IIS), last summer. He now works at Intel and I managed to track him down and get some answers. Bryan said: "The info I can provide will most likely consist of pinout info for the cable . The process is not too difficult and you are not bound to the "Sony* chip that you referred to. Any VGA to NTSC converter should contain the silicon that you need to connect to, in fact many of the video cards available today should contain the circuitry you need. You will also need to invert the video sync output of the VIP card when doing this. Providing "clean" inversion for the sync from the VIP and locating suitable termination resistors may be the only real hurdles you will have for this project. Also, you should be aware that you will not be able to take advantage of the stereoscopic video feature with this configuration - which is one of the key features of the headset. [Note: If you really want to proceed with linkbox construction you will need a minimum of six 75ohm(1%) 1/8 watt resistors or 3 37ohm(1%) 1/8 watt resistors for the RGB terminations. The tolerance for the resistors is critical, don't even waste your time trying to get by with %5 resistors] Thats all the info I got. Last summer I made an attempt to build this thing. But due to lack of time I had at that moment I didnt get the horis. sync signal in the headset to work. I got the vga color and vert. syn to work. But that was it. In a nutshell the problem that has to be solved is that the vga signal has Red, Green, Blue and separated sync signals (v.sync and h.sync). And the helmet needs to be fed with R, G, B and a composite sync signal. So a VGA to RGB + Composite Sync converter would probably do it. Anyway, that experiment was enought for me to at least "kind-of-see" a working 16-bit vga signal in the vfx1 helmet. And im 100% sure it can be done, and probably with a lot less effort than, most people think. If anyone wants it. I can post the pinout here tomorrow. Regards Johan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Johan Rating: N/A |
If anyone was a little confused about Bryans answer in the post above. Put this question in front of it: "Im trying to buid a linkbox for the vfx-1. I know you made these linkboxes when you worked at forte along time ago. Can you give me a clue to what I would need to make one? What about the pinout from the vip.card?" That sony reference is from Jason Pang at mindflux who once told me that they used a vga-to-ntse converter when they builded these linkboxes some years ago. He then said that to get the linkbox to work you need that sony chip in the vga converter. /J | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
It appears that if you are going to have to toss stereo using the linkbox, (and risk screwing up your VFX1), another viable option would be to hack one of the many personal display systems into the vfx1 shell. Though, I think there would be a "market" of sorts for a linkbox if anyone could perfect the construction. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Johan Rating: N/A |
A link to a "VGA to RGB+comp sync": http://www.hut.fi/Misc/Electronics/circuits/vga2rgbs.html Where a guy named Tomi Engdahl have a homebrew circuit diagram looking like this.  Have no idea whatsoever if it will work... /J | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Johan Rating: N/A |
And the component list for the above diagram: C1 22 uF 10V electrolytic C2 22 uF 10V electrolytic R1 2.2 kohm R2 2.2 kohm R3 1.8 kohm R4 1.8 kohm R5 2.7 kohm R6..R8 47 ohm U1 74LS86 or 74HCT86 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
Johan, Post the pin outs. I would like to take a look at them. Thanks -Kevin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
A question- Does the VFX1 need the VIP card for Video and tracking. With a linkbox and a seperate power supply could you run the VFX1 w/o the VIP card? Of course this wouldnt be very desireable, but will it work?? -Kevin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Johan Rating: N/A |
I will post them here tonight. And yes I guess you could runt the helmet without the vipcard. But you need to power the helmet somehow. 2 of the pinouts is 5v power, i think. But youll see that on the pinout chart later, when I post it. Probably in 13hours or so... /J | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jay Swackhamer Rating: N/A |
I also have a set of I-Glasses with the pc kit. (but the vertical headtracking isnt working) Would it be possible to modify the box for the I-Glasses to work with the VFX1? Or anything from a cybermaxx HMD? Does anyone have the pinouts/information on the I-Glasses/CyberMaxx? I have tracked the problem with the I-Glasses down to the 'bubble' in the tracker. It seems that from being stored in the box, with the tracker making the headset looking up, has made deposits on the contacts. What is the liquid inside the tracker? Could I just take it apart, clean it, refill and re-seal it? For future reference I will be gathering all the VR info I can find and posting it on my web site http://www.hotr.com/~jswackh/jay/virtual_reality.htm http://www.hotr.com/~jswackh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
Here are some of the CyberMaxx pins that I found when tracing signals down. http://www.geocities.com/mellott124/CyberPins.htm -Kevin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Johan Rating: N/A |
Damn..my asdl didnt work, last night, So i couldnt upload the vfx1 pinout. And of course i forgot to bring it with me to work this morning. Well, ill make a new attempt tonight /J | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| knd Rating: N/A |
hello, i need the pinout too for the vfx1 i want build the helmet just for look tv or dvd or so i have a vga to tv converter - how works the vfx1 with the converter? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Johan Rating: N/A |
a standalone "vga to tv konverter" won´t solve anything. You have to rebulid it with various components first. And that is the problem that we havnt solved yet. /J | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Johan Rating: N/A |
So finally...here it is...The VFX1 pinout!
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| Jay Swackhamer Rating: N/A |
Are these the pinouts for the cable out of the VIP Card? Assuming this...... What are the odds of building the VGA-RGB circuit listed above, and then adding connections for the audio,mic, and a serial connection, and using the tracker driver for the VFX3D or a modified mouse driver, and having it work? leaving out the VIP card. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Johan Rating: N/A |
Yes the pinout is from the vip card. I have no idea, whatsover if that would work. But it probably would with some modifications. And to get rid of the ISA vip card would be a welcome thing. The only way to know is to try. Good luck! /J | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
When I have time I'm going to try this out. I would love to get rid of the VIP card. -Kevin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
If anyone can get this "VFX1 link box" thing to work; I will be a buyer (as long as it's under $150 or so). I'm sure you could find a market for such a thing on ebay... breath some life into what is otherwise a good HMD. All: Please keep posted here if you have any luck and are willing to make one for others. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| knd Rating: N/A |
yes i will be a buyer too please give me a linkbox!!!! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
Johan, Do you know what the serial data and serial clock pins are for?? I'm assuming for the head tracker. Another question, did you still have head tracking when using one of these link boxes?? -Kevin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Johan Rating: N/A |
Well...those serial pins are for the tracking, im sure. And yes I didnt cut the serial cables when i did my experiment. So yes, of course i had tracking. And just to be on the same level here. I have never used any linkbox. I experimented a little with the pinouts of the vfx1, to perhaps one day be able to build some sort of a vga-to-vfx1 device. But to say "...when using one of these link boxes". Thats not right. But it would be interesting to know what info is in that serial cable. Connect it to a serial port. And to get a modified mouse driver to recognize it. That combined with a working vga2vfx1 solution would cut of the vip card for good. /J | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Marvio Rating: N/A |
I'm Extremely interested on this! As the limitation of the VFX1 to the VESA connector Kills it! I reallt don;t mind the rez, but when u can;t see anything is kinda hard to feel imersed! LOL  Keep us posted guys! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DMendes Rating: N/A |
I took the pinout of the VFX1 posted above and made a VGA->VFX1 adapter (actually, only a hack to work with one LCD) but it didn't worked, the LCDs stayed off. I suppose by my experimentation that when you run the DOS drivers the ISA board send a comand by the serial bus to turn on the LCD illuminators. Tomorrow i will plug the serial bus into the VFX1 together with my adapter to test this. Sorry by my poor english, i'm brazilian. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
DMendes, Please keep us informed. I'm really interested in what you find out. Thanks -Kevin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DMendes Rating: N/A |
I'm proud to anounce that today i've been able to send video from my video board to the VFX1 whithout passing it by the ISA board (but the board was still required). I just put the serial link into my adapter and it worked. As I said, the board sends data to the VFX1 when the driver loads to turn the LCD illuminators on. I will put a site with photos ans diagrams as soon as I can. I will took exams in the next 2 weeks, so i'll be busy, but i will do my best to keep people informed. Thanks to Johan, without the pinouts it would have took a lot more time to work. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Don Rating: N/A |
having used the linkbox - to view stuff in composite, i.e. tv, dvd etc. Its not great. i-glasses X2 aint bad, but imagine worse for vfx1. You'd be very lucky indeed to get US$150. Consider $300 or more. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
Now all is needed is to add a microcontroller in the adaptor to send the wake up signal for the LCD's. With the addition of the microcontroller you could also probably obtain use of the tracking system. The only problem is finding out what data is sent to and from the headset. -Kevin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DMendes Rating: N/A |
Find the data should not be a big problem. Some packet sniffing and it's done. The worst part will be to make a rasonable win95/98/etc driver. This will be really difficult to me, but i have friends with some expertise at this. For now I will care only with the analog side I've started a new thread called "VFX1 direct connection with VGA card - it works" to speak abou this, as this one seems a bit abbandoned and people interested could not see the news. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Carsten Meyer Rating: N/A |
If you like information for the VFX1,VFX3D and i-glasses in german please see here www.cyberhaven.de Big Site | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| John Skidmore Rating: N/A |
First of all, I wish to thank D Mendes for his design of his V/H Sync to comp/sync circuit. But I seem to be having the same problems as a few others in this forum have been experiencing, that is, a doubling of the horizontal image. I have used powerstripper to modify H Sync frequency up and down the same with V Sync, there seems to be some crossover with the frequencies on the board. If you obtain one horizontal image, you end up with a vertical doubling, which doesn't seem to be able to be corrected. Is there a way to isolate the H Sync from the V Sync and divide the H Sync pulse. Question to D Mendes: I've seen on the forum that you state, that your're using a TNT card on your system. I'm also using a TNT card, but what i wish to know is, what type of monitor and monitor settings you are using, as i live in Australia, and i'm wondering if the people with the same problem as me, are using the pal system and it maybe that the monitor you've set changes the V/H Sync output that the card you are using. So, if you can give me the name of your monitor, it may help in the settings. P.S, will a divide by two circuit have any chance of working? Thanks -Skidy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| John Skidmore Rating: N/A |
Skidy again...I've seen on the forum about losing stereo image with D Menedes, i'm thinking that with the the new TNT stereo driver that all is needed, is to discconect the red from the right channel and the blue from the left channel that you will obtain a 3D image from the headset and the driver is set up to convert nearly a hundred games to 3D red-blue glasses. I've tried this driver with red-blue glasses and it works fine...does anyone else think this may work? As i can't find out whether it will work on my system until i fix the H-Sync prob. Thanks again, . -Skidy |
