The V-Code module

The V-Code is a module that can be attached to the Altais (not the Altais Plus) DraCo specific graphics card.

As a side note it is worth mentioning that it can also be used on the Retina Z3 graphics card for big box Amiga computers (A3000 and A4000).

By pluging it on to two sockets on the Altais pcb, it enables its s-video and composite video outputs. V-code units come in either PAL or NTSC standarts.


(picture taken from the Amiga Hardware Database http://amiga.resource.cx)

DraCo´s early startup menu

Like its older brother the Amiga, the DraCo also has an early startup menu to tweak some settings and acces some diagnostics. It is available upon boot.

On Amigas, this menu is activated by pressing both mouse button when booting. The DraCo is special, in that besides the usual Amiga boot menu, activated in this special case, by only pressing the left button mouse, it has the "Display Options" menu item is disabled by default (it looks greyed) as no native chipset is present (we have RTG).

Another peculiarity, is that if when booting, the right mouse button is pressed, another boot menu is presented with specific DraCo options (see the following picture for details).

By the way, if your DraCo boots presenting itself with graphics corruption on the DraCo logo image, you probably need to toggle some DraCo menu options and then reboot to fix them. Disabling softkicking, and enabling defaults, will surely help you.

Keyboard curiosities

The DraCo uses a standart PC AT keyboard, commonly available in old PC´s, with a 5 pin DIN connector. But nothing is so simple, DraCos remap some of the keys differently to accomplish other tasks. Lets list these changes:

PC KEYBOARD               DRACO KEYBOARD

Print Screen                                   F13
Scroll Lock                                    F14
Pause                                             F15
Home                                            Help
L Ctrl                                            L Alt
R Ctrl                                            R Alt
L Alt                                           L DraCo
R Alt                                           R DraCo
Caps Lock                                      Ctrl
Page Up                                     Caps Lock

Delete                                              ¦  \

End                                                 N/A

Page Down                                       -

-                                                        *

*                                                        /

Num Lock                                        { [

÷                                                       } ]

   

Furthermore, keyboard led lights that used to display status information, such as Num Lock, Caps Lock, and Scroll Lock, now are meant to show hard drive activity (HD), Caps Lock and Power status.

As an alternative, the DraCo can also use Amiga keyboards  (A2000, A3000 and A4000 if with a small adapter). Have in mind, that you need to configure this option by running the DraCoTools progams.

Pictures courtesy of Ebay and Google Images