Setting video mode¶

When you can already see something¶

Press F11, navigate in the menu to change the mode. It may then be applied immediately using 'Apply Settings'. This is temporary so if it doesn't work then you can power off/on to revert it. Once you are happy it may then be stored for later (with or without applying) using 'Save to flash'. So if you are switching monitor you can select it here, do not apply, save to flash. Then take it to the other monitor.

When you can't see anything!¶

This is all well and good if you have a monitor supporting all modes on both video connectors. However that is rarely the case. So sometimes it will be set up for a monitor it is not connected to, giving you 'no signal' or similar. Clearly its possible to write down the menu settings and change the mode with no picture in this case. It works, but is somewhat fiddly to do.

So there are two alternatives to use.

Hot keys (v24 and up)¶

Press F11 and use these keys to switch video mode. They are applied immediately on pressing them. Note that is temporary and not saved to flash or the SD, so if you press one by mistake there is no harm done.

P: PAL
N: NTSC
R: RGB
A: SCANDOUBLE
D: DVI
H: HDMI
V: VGA
S: SVIDEO
C: COMPOSITE
Z: Toggle composite sync
X: Toggle scanlines

So for example, to get the Eclaire into VGA 60Hz mode then:

• press and release F11 to get into the menu
• press and release N to get into NTSC (60Hz)
• press and release V to get into VGA

SD card override¶

Another option is to put a 'settings' file under /atari800/rom/ on the sd card. This overrides the video and system settings on powerup, allowing you to force a video mode. See the SD Structure section for more details on that.