The collected works of QuicksilverG4 - Page 1

Did it take anything special to get the Onyx2 DIVO working in the Octane?

I don't know about Avid drivers but you should be able to find the old Targa 2000 drivers online. If not I think I have them. Pinnacle bought Truevision but I could never find the Targa stuff by going through their website. I always had to do a search through google to get the right page. Can't find it at the moment.

Do you have any info on that second PCI card? Does it handle the MJPEG compression? The Targa manuals had a page or two on an Abekas (spelling?) 3D effects card that could be added but I've never seen any info on it or seen the Avid board called that. That small square daughterboard on the main card is normally where the compression hardware is on the Targas. There were a few different versions.

If you haven't, post over at 68kmla.net.

I seem to remember more "stuff" on the daughtercard on the DTX and RTX versions. The Targa stuff shows up on ebay relatively often and lately dirt cheap. I could barely give away a RTX and breakout box. Apparently the best thing for them on the PC side is Discreet Edit.

Does anyone have any recommendations and general info on video monitors? Due to the price (and the fact that other than a QAM tuner I have no HD equipment) I'm only looking at SD.

My most first question is Is there even still a need to preview video on a CRT monitor? What you see is not going to be the same when played back on an LCD TV correct? I have seen the argument that color correction should be done on a CRT so that its as accurate as possible with the assumption that any variation in the user's set won't be noticed because your video should match what they normally see broadcast.

I've mainly been looking at Sonys, most of which are 600 line. Does anything about that really make a difference with SD? I do have a chance to get a 800 line Sony with an SDI input for under $200 which seems like a deal. Its functional and looks good but I can't check it out ahead of time.

It will be hooked to the Octane but potentially used on the PC and Mac as well which don't have SDI. Any footage I take will just be DV and possibly some very short sequences from hi res cameras for work which would probably be uncompressed analog or digital depending on the system. Thinking about that, I realize most of the stuff wouldn't be view on a normal TV often. Still interested anyway.

Its a 14" Sony PVM-14M4U. Here it is , some body buy it because I think I'm going to hold off for at least a bit. If you're near LA and can avoid the shipping charges you can get it for $99.

Still looking for advice though.

Radius 8100/110, clone of the 8100 right? Those are built like tanks.

Have you done any mods to the Color Classic?

I bought a few of these and have a spare. Anyone interested in playing with one? I haven't had the chance yet. I'd like to get the $50 I paid but if you ask nice and promise to check it out and post you might get a discount. They look new and DM6 drivers are on Ian's site and the manual is on SGI's.

Interestingly they also do analog video and have several audio options if you get the extra PCI slot mounted expansion ports and cables. But those features aren't supported in IRIX.

I contacted DVS looking for Windows drivers and IRIX info but got no help. They referred me to SGI in a curt e-mail which invited me to feel free to reply with questions - to an unmonitored address of noreply@dvs. I contacted SGI and since I have no support contract was quoted their hourly rater for possibly, maybe thinking about trying to find someone who may have heard of the card. No, it wasn't that bad but it was expensive.

I get this the card recognized in the hinv but running mlquery as instructed in the manual doesn't detect it. I am most likely missing something most of you would consider painfully obvious due to my minimal IRIX knowledge.

I might be able to get more of these, possibly for less if I request a good number though what I paid is probably already considered low.

Can you share that?

Old thread I know, but I must have skipped over this before. Diego, how weer you able to get the Targa cards working under Win 2K? They weren't supported past NT and all the questions I've ever seen regarding running them under 2000 were responded to with the answer that it was impossible.

Thanks, if I come across another one cheap I'll try it with Win 2K. There's always OS 9 on the Mac too but I don't know if anything on that really takes advantage of the Targa 2000 like MCXpress and Discreet Edit on the PC.

Pentium, did you ever get anywhere with your Avid cards? That would be the OS 9 option I guess.

OK, well here's ISOs of the Windows and Mac drivers, etc for the Targa 1000/2000 in case you need them. It won't help with the other Avid boards but it should allow you to do captures at least.

http://home.comcast.net/~tmbannon/TARGA/TARGA_WIN.iso
http://home.comcast.net/~tmbannon/TARGA/TARGA_MAC.iso

I've come across posts from people who have tried to get Avid boards working in Macs but nothing too helpful yet. I saw a set of boards and dongles on ebay for something like $25 and that got me looking into this again.

I'm trying it on some yellowed Mac pieces right now. I don't think I have any yellowed SGI stuff. We need the magic formula that gets rid of white marks/scratches.

I'll have to try that, I've been looking for new-logo green Octane skins for a long time with no luck but I might be able to get a set that's not too bad.

Back to the deyellowing . I've now read through almost four threads on the topic here. And I'm using what seems to be the best method so here's some condensed info for those who don't want to read hundreds of posts.

I've got a beige Mac drive bezel in a 3% v/v hydrogen peroxide (the kind you can find in any drug store) bath with a bit of Oxy Clean powder and an incandescent 60W black light. Foaming started after about 30 minutes and I've left it overnight with some success but its going slow. The peroxide concentration is on the low side but people have reported success with even lower. I think the bigger problem is the black light. Fluorescent tubes seem better but I haven't found any for a decent price yet. The typical incandescents seem to be just coated on the inside to let only UV through and don't work too well - I found out after buying it.

I have a few more small pieces to do and then I need to switch to the paste method with is the same solution and some thickening agent. It looks like xanthan gum, arrowroot and corn starch have been used so far - nobody seems to have tried readily available flour. I also want to see if I can come up with a more gel-like version.

Then there's the much more involved idea of making some crude version of the vaporous hydrogen peroxide generator we just got at work for whole-room decontaminations.

Are you talking about them being yellowed? I did have a granite keyboard that was yellowed but I don't any more so I can't test any SGI stuff.

I ran out last night and picked up a better UV bulb. By this morning I had another bezel done. Pic in a bit provided I can take a decent one.

EDIT: Here's a Mac definitely worth treatment. The floppy bezel and blank bezel were done. It really wasn't that bad to start with but looks new now.

Well, treat an extra piece of something even if its not yellowed and see what happens. I don't think its going to be a problem if you keep the peroxide concentration low. Someone had used a 12% (I think) cream from a beauty supply store and it caused problems with blue and black - and possibly other colors, I don't think he tried it. I'll see if I can find something once I'm done with the Quadra.

That reminds me, those in the US can find 3, 6, and 12% hydrogen peroxide (sold as 10, 20, and 40 volume) in Sally's Beauty Supply stores. I bought the 12% in a 32 oz (946 mL, get with it US and use a system that makes sense) bottle for $4.98. I ended up dropping the concentration all the way down to 1.5% this time since I needed quite a bit more.

The lights you're talking about would probably be better than the coil bulbs I bought.

The tetraacetylethylenediamine (TAED) in the OxyClean is supposedly acting as a catalyst meaning its while it aids in the reaction its not consumed. Catalysts are typically used in much smaller quantities than the reactants since the can participate in individual reactions over and over. So a gram would probably go a long way. Plus you'll have trouble dissolving all of it if you use too much.

The plastic's not alive so its out of my field but I just read the science part of the wiki and things seem off even relying on what's left of the old chemistry knowledge I don't use. They're claiming UV light releases bromine free radicals from the tetrabromobisphenol–A used as a flame retardant in the plastic. These then migrate to the surface where they bond with oxygen and produce the nasty yellowing. During the treatment the UV light destabilizes this bromine oxide as well as the hydrogen peroxide (the breakdown of which is also catalyzed by the TAED). Free hydrogen ions from the hydrogen peroxide then displace the oxygen to form hydrogen bromide and that's where the explanation ends - actually before even saying hydrogen bromide. If that's all that's going on there are much easier sources of hydrogen ions, any dilute acid solution. That's easy enough to test though I'm thinking there's more happening but what do I know.

If the peroxide concentration is too high you will get bleaching. Years ago I temporarily turned my finger tips white doing something with a 30% solution so yes it bleaches things.

If I were you I'd soak the part rather than use the brush-on method for your first try, especially since the situation with the colored Indigo2 is a bit different. Start with a container large enough to hold the Indigo2 top. If you place it face up there's going to be lots of empty space underneath so you might want to stick some things in there to take up space and save on hydrogen peroxide solution. Get some 12% hydrogen peroxide and dilute it; I'd go with 1% simply because it will cost less. Mix in the OxyClean, submerge the Indigo2 top, and hit it with the blacklight. Do it when you have time to check on it every few hours. It took at least 8 hours for my parts to change and that was in 3%, they weren't all that yellowed, and I probably could let them go even a bit longer. So don't be surprised if it takes a day or so.

Sunlight supposedly works better since you get a lot more UV but if I put anything outside right now it would first freeze then be covered by 18" of snow.

The only upside to that is I should have a day off tomorrow to play around with this.

Where did you get 50% hydrogen peroxide?

How much for the liter?

Looks great! I did start removing the metal shielding from inside my case because i saw a few rust spots on a piece - very small, but considering some of the others were looking ugly before even being treated I took them off to be safe.

I finished the front and back of the case but after reattaching the front to the metal part of the case (which never changed color) I think I want to treat them for a bit longer.

I'll redo the Mac version but I can't at the moment since the CDs have paper labels and the iMac's slot load drive doesn't like them. I'm working on getting another system up and running now.