modelrail.otenko

16Feb/160

Quadra 950: Apple Multiple Scan 720

I'd purchased an Apple Multiple Sync 720 (17") CRT along with the PowerPC 7200 and they worked fine together. I've since gotten rid of the PPC and have tried to get this monitor to work on the Quadra 950. On first plugging in, Mac OS 8 reported that only 640x480 was available. I know it can do up to 1280x1024, so I dug deeper.

From a brief google I couldn't work out if this monitor was supported officially or not. The resolution available indicated that the monitor was not correctly detected; but was this a fault of the monitor or an issue with my macintosh/rom/software/firmware? Or just the fact that the monitor was newer than the Quadra and was never going to be correctly detected?

A little digging indicated that Apple monitors used 'sense pins' to tell the Macintosh what was connected and then what resolutions should be displayed. This monitor uses 'extended sense pins' and I wasn't sure if the Quadra 950 understood these.

Sense Pins and related IDs

There are some very interesting articles online relating to Apple video hardware. I found this email to the comp.sys.mac.hardware usegroup from Dale Adams who was actually one of the engineers who created the specifications/hardware. In it he describes the technology and the 'pinouts' of the sense pins and associated monitors. I've reproduced this here for easy reference.

Monitor	Sense Pin 0 (4)	Sense Pin 1 (7)	Sense Pin 2 (10)	Resolution
Apple 21S Color	0	0	0	1152 x 870
Apple Portrait	0	0	1	640 x 870
12" Apple RGB	0	1	0	512 x 384
Apple Two-Page Mono.	0	1	1	1152 x 870
NTSC	1	0	0	underscan - 512x384 overscan - 640x480
12" AppleMonochrome	1	1	0	640 x 480
13" Apple RGB	1	1	0	640 x 480
Extended sense code monitor	1	1	1

From the table above, I can tell you that my monitor is of the 'extended' variety and provides '1' on each sense pin. When the 'extended' mode is found, the Macintosh BIOS is then meant to send voltages to each line and determine what the value of the other pins are. I couldn't actually find out when this logic was supported in what Macintosh ROM/BIOS and so I assumed that the Quadra 950 didn't know how to do this. A little bit more reading through Dale's post indicated that if I could ground the wires then I could fake a monitor code and test other variants.

Faking codes via the sense pins

I started with aluminium foil, folding it down to a thin strip and punching a hole in one end. These strips were then slid over the three pins that needed to be grounded to fake an Apple 21S Color monitor. This was fiddly work and took quite a few attempts. Foil isn't strong when punching it with a pin and isn't easy to manipulate. It also moves as you plug the monitor into the port, so it was a very one-shot affair.

After getting a successful connection, I started the mac and ... shit ... it just worked. The resolution was already set to the only fixed resolution that this monitor could handle. From the information page at everymac you can see that it can support 1152x870, but I had assumed that this was the max and that I could set any resolution up to that. Turns out that the 21S is a vintage monitor and only does one resolution; but I'm sure it does it well!

But I want to fake a multi-sync monitor!

It turns out that you can't. To do this you need 1,1,1 on the pins, of which my monitor is already outputting! Therefore I was back to zero. I kept reading posts/documents online and stumbled across the Video Compatibility reference article where I see it mentioned that, if you mate my monitor up to the Quadra 950, you can output the correct resolution. Why doesn't mine work then? Reading Monitor Adjustment Info by James Davis tells me that if the BIOS doesn't support the extended sense pins then the monitor will be seen as a 12" RGB. This seems to be the case, as I can only choose 640x480 when the monitor is plugged in as usual. But then again, that contradicts the first page.

Installing the correct drivers...

After a little more googling, it seemed that I'd needed enabling software called "Apple Multiple Scan Software". This was mentioned in this tidbit on hooking up foreign monitors and in the manual from my actual monitor. This wasn't easy to find but a lot of digging produced a copy over at macgui.com.

I initially tried with my PowerPC card enabled and the install software told me that my machine didn't need it. So I rebooted to 68k and it installed... but.... as it was installing it told me that the files on disk were already newer than the files being copied. Whatever... I copied them anyway. After a reboot there was no change.

SwitchRes

I managed to find this version (and have made SwitchRes v2.1 available here) and tinkered. I had assumed it would allow magical resolutions to be set... it really did nothing but cause problems.

DDC

A fellow vintage Macintosh enthusiast in a forum post over at the 68k Macintosh Liberation Army entertained me with the following user manual for the Mutliple Scan 720. I assumed it would lead to another dead-end... but as I was reading through I noticed that it indicated that if DDC was enabled then specific machines (PPC9600, PCs, etc..) would behave differently. What if it happened to be enabled and my poor Macintosh was getting confused?

I got home and booted the machine into its glorious array of 640x480 pixels. Flicking through the onscreen display on the monitor itself, I navigated to information and then DDC. It was set to 2B. I wonder what those codes even stand for... anyway, I knew that DDC wasn't what the Quadra spoke, so I turned it off.

Low-and-behold after a reboot the standard Monitors and Sound control panel allowed me to select right up to 16-bit 1024x768. Not quite the 1280 or 1152 that I was after, but nearly twice as good as what I had before. Moral of the story? Don't use newer tech on older machinery!

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30Nov/155

ASP.NET 4.5 has not been registered on the Web Server

As a .net Developer, I have Visual Studio installed and this (usually) includes its own little version of IIS Express. This is all configured out of the box on install and just works.

After upgrading to Windows 10, I started getting this error:

ASP.NET 4.5 has not been registered on the Web server. You need to manually configure your Web server for ASP.NET 4.5 in order for your site to run correctly.

The usual trick is to go to command prompt, find your .NET Framework directory (somewhere near C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319) and then run aspnet_regiis there.

Unfortunately, on Windows 10, this doesn't work. It'll respond with:

Microsoft (R) ASP.NET RegIIS version 4.0.30319.0
Administration utility to install and uninstall ASP.NET on the local machine.
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.
Start installing ASP.NET (4.0.30319.0).
This option is not supported on this version of the operating system.  Administrators should instead install/uninstall ASP.NET 4.5 with IIS8 using the "Turn Windows Features On/Off" dialog,  the Server Manager management tool, or the dism.exe command line tool.  For more details please see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=216771.
Finished installing ASP.NET (4.0.30319.0).

This all makes sense... you instead need to hit the start button, type "programs and features" into the search and then hit the first result that appears.

Once in the Programs and Features window, hit the "Turn Windows Features on or off" in the left pane.

Now scroll down through the tree and find:

Internet Information Services
- World Wide Web Services
  - Application Development Features

...and then check all the relevant features you require. I chose .NET 3.5 and 4.6.

Let it do its work and then you should be back to happy-development-land in VS before you know it. If not, then it could actually be a bug in Visual Studio. Please check the following patches for your version of VS: VS2010, VS2012 or VS2013.

If you could only see .NET 4.6 (or have just updated to it...)

Then you need to patch Visual Studio as per the instructions here. Seems that upgrading to 4.6 won't let Visual Studio correctly see that 4.5 is installed.

5 Comments

5Nov/153

iTunes store displays black screen

iTunes displaying nothing? Or just the top banner and a black screen? When you move the mouse around the black, do the play/pause icons magically appear?

It turns out that in the latest version of iTunes (12.3.1.12) if you stretch the window past 2048 pixels wide, then it fails miserably. Note that I can currently only test this on Windows 7 64-Bit.

My desktop happens to be 2560 pixels wide (interesting that this doesn't happen on Retina displays!?) and i get this...

I quickly switched the window over to my other monitor at 1600 pixels wide, worked fine. Hah. So then I tried to shrink the window on my main monitor... here's 2055 pixels...

... and then coming under the 2048 threshold... tada! ....

2039 pixels, works fine... how annoying. Hopefully this helps someone else stuck in the same situation.

Bieber is cool, right?

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28Oct/150

Buffalo E7 Kagayaki PC Mouse

On the way back from Shimoda to Tokyo, I happened upon a delight in the shopping magazines found in the a seat-pocket on the Odoriko. I'd actually already scoured Osaka and Tokyo for this delight, but all shop assistants (Yodobashi, Bic Camera, etc...) had never even seen the product.

Little did I expect to find it in, what we declare in Australia, as home-shopping dodgy magazines. But, there it was... and a friend in Japan managed to order it for me then and there on the train! It then arrived only a few days after I returned to Oz.

Under those delicious 'older gentleman' dark chocolate KitKats is a Buffalo USB Mouse. It's a standard form-factor with fantastic markings. Buffalo have taken the time and painted them in line with the E7 shinkansen.

Further than this, they've even put a serious amount of effort into the packaging.

The artwork on the outside of the box is a lightly water-coloured scene of the Shinkansen bolting somewhere north.

I love it that they've made the box out of plastic. The mouse is centrally on display, with all appendages neatly concealed in the base of the packaging.

Opening it felt like unfolding origami. The intricate design perfectly fit the coiled cable and documentation.

Once out, I found it to be smoother than I had expected. It has a very glossy finish and is slippery to the touch. Fortunately, the sides are covered in a rubber panel, which provides a nice level of grip.

The best part about this mouse is that the scroll wheel is legit. The wheel is clicky and can be pressed without rotating. I've used newer mouses in the past that had very light-touch wheels that even had momentum if you spun them too quickly. This wheel has the exact friction point I've been looking for.

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25Oct/150

Power Mac 7200: PCI USB Cards

USB has been around for a long time, it seems. Longer than I'd originally thought. For fun I wanted to try and get this relic of a PowerPC into the less-than-stone ages and, well, plug things in without having to reboot. USB would provide this and I had a few devices to try out.

There's information on what OS' support USB here at lowendmac. My mileage varied... but I actually think it was because of faulty/old hardware rather than software incompatibilities.

Belkin F5U220

The card shows up in System Profiler but there is no power on the USB bus. I plugged a $10 HP Mouse in and the LED/Laser didn't glow. It seems this card is only good for Beige G3s or higher? Or could this card just be faulty?

OS 9.2.2 had installed and loaded the USB extensions... so it seemed that it wanted to do something with the card, but failed.

Adaptec Duo Connect PCI Card AUA-3020

This card comes with 2 FireWire and 3 USB 2.0 Ports. I plugged it into the PCI slot and booted up. I had already installed OS 9.2.2 with the previous USB card in, so the USB extensions were all there. Plugging in the same HP Mouse saw the light glow underneath. It worked!

Right-click just acts as normal click, so it effectively becomes a one-button mouse. I'm sure you could install something like USB Overdrive to make the buttons and scroll wheels more functional.

Opti FireLink BG-3800-00 UH-275

This is another PCI USB 2.0 Expansion card. Most USB tutorials for these older-style PowerMacs mentioned this chipset, usually recommending it. I found one on Ebay for under USD$10.

It worked perfectly on installation. No configuration necessary. The mouse lit up and was functional straight away.

OS9.2.2 and USB Keyboards/Mice

The USB cards will apply power to the bus very early in the boot process, but the devices wont actually work until the last icon on the desktop is loaded. It's still recommended to use your ADB equipment (or at least keep it for emergency purposes.)

Both the HP USB Mouse and Apple Keyboard (from a future iMac) worked perfectly fine.

LITE-ON DVD Drive

I plugged in my portable eSAU108 DVD/CD Writer. On the Adaptec Duo, I only got a flashing red light on the unit. It seems that the card does not output enough power for the device to function correctly. On the UH-275 USB Card, the drive worked perfectly.

Further research indicates that the drive has a smart USB power detection feature. The LED will flash red if it needs to suck power from two ports. So it seems the Adaptec correctly limits the power, whereas the UH-275 can push out more milliamps.

USB Overdrive

Downloadable from here, I assumed this would give me left-click and scroll-wheel mapping... instead it just stopped the HP Mouse from working at all. I gave up on it pretty quickly.

Does the USB get passed through to the DOS Card?

No. Even worse... if you have a 2-button mouse on the USB, the second button does absolutely nothing on the Windows side. It makes perfect sense but can be really confusing when you still have to command-click to get a context menu.

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24Oct/150

Shimoda, Izu Peninsula – August 2015

I'd never been to Japan in summer and therefore never been to the beaches. This area just west of Tokyo is stunning. The only issue at this time was a typhoon off the coast, preventing us from swimming. Fortunately we did get to get our feet wet.

JR East runs the line from Tokyo through to Izu, half way down the peninsula. From Izu, the Izukyu Corporation runs the Izukyu Railway which takes you right down to Shimoda. Fortunately, the JR (Super View) Odoriko services run on the private lines and will take you to the very end.

Odoriko Service

These are great trains, fast and efficient... clean too. If you happen to get a Super View, then the scenery is fantastic. They book out in summer though, so be quick. When booking you'll be able to choose the mountain side or ocean side. The ocean side seems popular, but the mountain side is fantstic also!

The beer on tap was a nice touch!

Shimoda Station

Once at the station, it's the end of the line and most passengers disappear off to seaside resorts for well-deserved getaways. I hung around for a little to soak in the view.

The corner before the approach to the station provides a nice view of an evening. As per usual, the Japanese scenery is lush and green. An easy choice to model a railway on!

I even happened to find an exact model of my car! This is the first functional instance I've seen in Japan. Not bad for ~30 years old.

Back at the station, the yard had a few interesting things to see. There was an inspection vehicle resting on tracks perpendicular to the actual line. Do they use a crane to get it on?

Not the best lighting, but most days were spent out at the beach! Still, the yard was quite picturesque with nice sized EMUs waiting for their next gig.

Marine Odoriko

On the last day, the plan was to ride this home. It's the Odoriko service run by the N'EX consist. Has a special headmark and all. Turns out that I got Hyperdia wrong and we turned up to find the old-school 185 series (not complaining!) to take us back... so much charm. Fortuantely, on the day before I managed to see the Marine Odoriko shunting for its next service.

The photos are of poor quality... I'd not had my camera on me. But you can just make out the 'anchor' headmark on the front.

And that was a wrap. Great location for a beach holiday!

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16Oct/150

Century Southern Hotel, Shinjuku – August 2015

It was to be one night in Tokyo, whilst in transit from Hakone to Izu Peninsula. What's the quickest path? Probably a change at Odawara or Atami? Suuureee... but there's also an express train to Shinjuku from Hakone and an Express to Shimoda from Shinjuku. So, why not do it in luxury?

Hotels in Shinjuku aren't cheap... so you might as well make it count. Turns out that Odakyu has a hand in this hotel and this hotel has some stunning rooms! Check out the view from the Panorama room I stayed in!

Trains, trains and more trains... Yamanote, Express lines, Chuo line and even Odakyu!

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26Sep/150

Hakone Tozan Railway – August 2015

I've always wanted to visit this place. I have models of one or two of the trains, but didn't really know of the actual railway. It turns out that the Hakone Tozan Railway is one of the steepest non-rack railways in the world. It's really worth going to check it out.

Getting there

The Odakyu Railway will get you all the way from Shinjuku Station to Hakone-Yumoto station. If you're on JR, then take the shinkansen to Odawara station and transfer. I was coming from Osaka and caught a Hikari to Shizuoka and then a Kodama to Odawara.

The best bit about this is that you get to wait and watch all the Nozomis and Hikaris bolt past.

Once at Odawara, you'll need to take the Odakyu railway to Hakone-Yumoto. The Hakone Tozan Railway used to operate all the way to Odawara station on its standard gauge line. The dual-gauge portion has since been truncated back to Iruida Station.

Hakone-Yumoto Town

This little river town is picturesque and serene. The river is quite wide in the center of town and makes a lot of noise due to some shallow waterfalls.

I stayed at Hakone Suimeisou and loved it! Great staff and great location! It had a good view of the sweeping curve into the station. Also a very short walk.

Climbing the grade

The Hakone Tozan Railway, as soon as you depart west from Hakone-Yumoto Station, starts climbing steeply. As you can see in the photo previously, there's a sharp right-hand turn as you pass over a local road.

It doesn't get any less steep. Further up the mountain are three switchbacks and numerous stations. The scenery is superb. The first station is Tounosawa, which happens to be the railway that this blog is based on. I've been following it for years and it was great to finally see the area that provided the inspiration.

Switchbacks

To prevent incidents, switchbacks are used to traverse the grade. Each switchback consist of an inclining path, a declining path, a double crossover (or two sets of points) and two roads for each passing consist to pause.

Chokokunomori Station (Hakone Open Air Museum)

The main goal was to get up to the Hakone Open Air Museum and check out the sights (they even have a Picasso Gallery.) This was an easy task, as it's a short walk from Chokokunomori Station. The first afternoon, after arriving, I tried to rush there, but would've only had 20mins to check the place out, so instead I checked out the railway.

It's a beautiful area with beautiful curves and great angles for photography. The lush forests around make for perfect backdrops and I love it when you have to try really hard to take a shit photograph.

The mix of old and new rolling stock is also amazing. Anyway, the next day I made it into the museum... the view of the railway from inside was actually quite cool!

Back to the old rolling stock... the windows open... take advantage of this!

Back to Tokyo

From Hakone-Yumoto is easy... the best part is that, when choosing which Romance-car to take, the departure board actually has a picture of which series EMU is to be used. They really do cater for the train nerds. There's also a cool cafe in the station with a great view.

Another place to go back to...

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14Sep/150

Osaka – Imamiyaebisu – Nankai Rapi:t

Staying in Tennoji this time around meant that I was close to the main trunk like of the Nankai railway. The closest station was Shinimamiya which is a shared JR/Nankai station. It allows passengers to transfer from the loop line to the Nankai service. From here you can proceed north into the heart of Namba or south towards the Airport, Koyasan or Wakayama.

Between Shinimamiya and Namba is one station: Imamiyaebisu. This station exists on the two east-most lines and is only really served by local trains. Its location provides a great view in both directions, from both ends of the platform.

The two tracks to the west are for anything other than local trains. The expresses will pass along these lines at moderate speeds. Most express services still stop at Shinimamiya, so they wont be full tilt.

The only real drawback of the area is the ability for services to block your view and the overpass just to the north providing unwanted shade. First world problems, really. There were even other photographers there when I visited.

Southbound View

Nice sweeping curves and no issues getting full consists in the frame. Nankai has some basic liveries and a lot of stainless stock. Fortunately they like mixing it up quite a bit.

Northbound View

Northbound is just as nice... quite a straight stretch until the final right-hand curve into Namba. And then ... the consist I was waiting for approached.

The Nankai Rapi:t is the express train to Kansai International Airport. If you're staying in Namba, or don't have a railpass, then take this train when you arrive... it's fantastic.

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10Sep/150

Osaka – Super Rail Cargo

I've tried before, but always failed. The Super Rail Cargo is an express EMU freight service that runs in the middle of the night and is a hard one to photograph. Turns out though, that Japan doesn't do daylight-savings. Therefore, in summer, in the wee hours of the morning, one has a good chance of seeing this thing on the move.

One service leaves Tokyo whilst the other leaves Osaka, around the same time, nearly every night of the week. I've never tried to hunt down the Tokyo end, as it's sorta out-of-the-way down past Shinagawa. Fortunately, the Osaka side passes through Umeda, on it's way towards (and along) the Tokaido Main Line.

The Stake Out - Fukushima Station

This train runs from Ajikawaguchi yards, along the Yumesaki Line, joins the Loop Line at Nishikujo, passes Noda and then heads north where it branches off the loop at Fukushima. It's even at road-level and there's a level-crossing, so you get an advance notice of anything approaching.

I used my freight timetables as posted here to know when it might arrive. It was my last morning in Osaka, a Tuesday, and I wasn't going to miss it this time.

I was staying in Tennoji and awoke at 4am. There were no train services at that time, so I found a taxi and asked to go to Fukushima Station. The driver alerted that there was nothing to be gained in going there, but I actually stated that I hoped to take a photo and he chuckled and agreed that it was OK.

It was around 4:40am and indeed still dark.. but I was very happy to have the sun rising.. although on the wrong side for a good shot. There were lively characters coming out of Karaoke venues or bars, but also people making their way to work.

At 5:05am, the booms triggered and an EF66 with a short rake appeared. It seems this would be ▲59 making it's way from Suita. I think I still had my polariser on at this point, not really knowing the best way to shoot in low light. Hence the photos are quite dark.

A loop line service came through at 5:12am... meaning that I could've slept in a little later and taken it from Tennoji. There was no way I was going to risk that timing though.

Either way... The gates then activated again and the M250 came through!