amiga-news.de - Individual Computers: Indivision Flash 1.3 / Changes in EU power grid

04.Jan.2009 Individual Computers: Indivision Flash 1.3 / Changes in EU power grid
Press release
Software update for Indivision AGA

The new version 1.3 of the Indivision AGA Flash core now allows separate settings of the sync-polarity for standard- and HighGFX modes. Since some monitors use the polarity to switch between resolutions, this improves user-friendliness a lot, because switching between games and workbanch-based applications does not require any adjustments any more. Games mostly use PAL or NTSC screenmodes, while it's desirable to have the flicker-free high resolutions of HighGFX on the workbench.

Direct download: Indivision_Config_V100.lha

Indivision AGA for the A1200 will be back in the shops shortly. The price remains at 129.- EUR (recommended retail price including German sales tax of 19%). A version for the A4000D computer is planned for march 2009, the price will be identical with the A1200 version.

Changes in EU power grid for 2009

A small detail has been changed for the EU power grid on january 1st, 2009: While the mains nominal voltage remains at 230V, the tolerance has been changed to +/- 10%.

In 1987, Germany has raised the nominal voltage from 220V to 230V. To protect existing devices, the tolerance was set to a lower boundary of -10% and an upper boundary of +6%, resulting in almost the same upper limit of 243V. This was done for a transition period that has ended on january 1st, 2009, so the new upper limit is now over 250V, which can cause more heat generation in older transformer-based power supplies. Modern switchmode-power supplies will presumably not have any problems with the changed tolerance. EU-Countries that have used 240V before (such as England) have lowered their nominal voltage.

Although Commodore was still in business in 1987, power supplies were specified for 220V. We recommend extremely good cooling for this generation of power supplies, and to remove the power plug when the devices are not in use. Protection against over-voltage can be provided by uninterruptable power sources that are independant of the input voltage (VI- and VFI-types). These types are also called "line-interactive" or "Online"-types. "Offline"-types do not offer over-voltage protection.

Increasing the mains voltage can reduce line losses. The relation between transferred energy and line losses gets better with higher voltages, so this can protect the enviroment by reducing CO2 emissions. However, the primary goal of these changes is the EU-wide harmonization of voltages, which has been completed with this final step. (snx)

[News message: 04. Jan. 2009, 10:28] [Comments: 0]
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