EACA Colour Genie - Two varients?

[tezza]

I'm looking for further information on something I've just been made aware of.

When I first got hold of my EACA Colour Genie I downloaded some software from various places and tried it out. To my surprise not all the software would work. Some programs seem to cause the screen to scroll up uncontrollably. I figured the software might have been written for the Genie Emulator, and hence didn't work to well on the real machine.

However....

Recently someone (Gerd Meier) from Germany sent me a few programs he had written. Only 1/2 of them worked though. The other half showed this "scroll" symptom. However they worked fine on Gerd's machine. I discussed this with Gerd and he said one reason for this could be because (as far as he knew) two variations of the Colour Genie was actually released. One was 40 char x 24 lines the other was 40 char x 25 lines! His machine was 40 x 25. I checked my own machine and it is 40 x 24, so he could well be right.

However, now I'm intrigued and want to find out more. I have an archive website that discusses the Colour Genie (http://www.webweavers.co.nz/system-80/hardware_eaca.htm). The brochure I have on the site and the review there states 40 x 24 as the screen resolution. Some other sites on the Internet though list the screen res. as 40 x 25. There do indeed seem to be two variations.

Anyone know anything more about this? Were the different resolutions sold in different countries? Which is the most common? Any info will be most welcome. Once I know a bit more, I'll update the archive website.

If you have a Colour Genie, how many lines can it display in text mode?

Tez

 

[carlsson]

I'll ask a friend of mine who recently bought a Colour Genie, if he can be bothered testing it. He prefers to keep computers untested in their boxes and hope they are OK until otherwise has been proven.

Did the computer come out in both PAL and NTSC versions? It almost sounds like this could be a difference, that on a 525 line NTSC display they generate 24 rows but on a 625 line PAL they cram in 25 lines.

 

[tezza]

I'll ask a friend of mine who recently bought a Colour Genie, if he can be bothered testing it. He prefers to keep computers untested in their boxes and hope they are OK until otherwise has been proven.

Did the computer come out in both PAL and NTSC versions? It almost sounds like this could be a difference, that on a 525 line NTSC display they generate 24 rows but on a 625 line PAL they cram in 25 lines.

Thanks Anders,

Not sure if it ever came out in NTSC but I don't think it's a PAL vrs NTSC issue. I've got a PAL Genie and so has my German friend. Yet our screen resolutions are different.

Sources on the Internet suggest two versions, an early version and a later one.

1st Release. 40 x 24 text, 160 x 96 pixel without a cassette level monitor
2nd Release. 40 x 25 text, 160 x 102 pixel with a cassette level monitor (from April 1983). Possibly some other minor changes in ROM too

There must actually have been THREE releases because my unit is definitely 40 x 24 text, 160 x 96 pixel WITH cassette level monitor!?? It looks like it may have slotted in between the two releases above.

It's very likely the scrolling "issue" I have with some software is due to the difference in screen resolution. If so, I'm bemused as to why EACA would do this? Why change the specs of an existing model and introduce software incompatibility part way through it's lifecycle??

Anyway, if anyone knows anything else, please let me know. The colour genie was never a leading model the in home computer stakes but it did seem to have some popularity in Germany. Many of the docs for this computer on the Internet are in German!

If any one knows of an ENGLISH version of the user manual, please let me know. There is an English version of the DOS manual, but the user manual still eludes me.

Tez