ATI Radeon Hardware Zoom?

Question

Level 1

116 points

ATI Radeon Hardware Zoom?

I just got a Mini and set it up. So far I'm not too impressed. One thing that has been bothering me is the hardware zoom function of the ATI Radeon. I've got several older Macs with Radeon cards, and every Radeon I've owned has smooth, continuous hardware zoom by pressing the Cmd-Opt-"+" and the Cmd-Opt-"-" keys. On the Mini these keys still zoom, but instead of smooth & continuous, they "toogle" the function "maximum zoom" with the Cmd-Opt-"+" and then "back to normal size" with the Cmd-Opt-"-" keys.

This seems wrong, and I think there should be an ATI firmware update or some hack to fix this issue, unless it just happens to be specific to my keyboard, an Apple Pro clear.

Also, I see screen "blanking" infrequently where it goes black and then blue and then restores the normal desktop? Once it went black and wouldn't respond to any keyboard commands?

Mini 1.42 GHz, Mac OS X (10.4.3), Apple Pro Keyboard (clear)

Posted on Dec 27, 2005 7:13 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 28, 2005 6:50 AM in response to K Tilford

I don't know about the first question, but as for the second question, I see it is safe to assume you are using a VGA monitor then.

Tighten the DVI-VGA adapter that came with your Mac mini. Not many people realize that that adapter can be tightened with the screws on the side of it... The flashing of colors is the adapter coming loose, and no connection between pins...

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Answer 2

Jwaire

Level 2

410 points

Jan 1, 2006 4:21 PM in response to K Tilford

The feature you speak of is not a feature of your ATI graphics card, but a feature of Quartz Extreme, which your graphic card supports. Apple built display zooming directly into Mac OS X (10.2 and up).

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/universalaccess/

You can modify the zoom settings in the Universal Access system preference by turning on Zoom and adjusting the sliding scale that controls the range for zooming in and out. This should change how much or how little zoom you receive by using the Command + Option + (-/+) keyboard shortcut. An option to turn on "smoothing" is also available.

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Answer 3

K Tilford Author

Level 1

116 points

Jan 6, 2006 3:03 AM in response to Transgenic X5-655

Yes, I am using a 17" LCD with VGA connector via adapter. You were correct, the adapter wasn't tightened into the Mini, the screw adjusters on the sides weren't real obvious to me. I will sheepishly admit I tried to tighten the small bolts that don't move which the VGA cable attaches to. The adapter design is neat, but perhaps too neat?

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Answer 4

K Tilford Author

Level 1

116 points

Jan 6, 2006 3:15 AM in response to Jwaire

I was unaware of these controls in Univeral Access. You are correct in your answer, but it didn't fully solve the issue. I played around with all the controls in every way possible. The strange thing is that when I zoom-in using Cmd-Opt-"=" the zoom seems to "toogle" and zoom all or part way to maximum magnification automatically, which is partially dependent on the slider location. On the other hand, if the zoom is fully zoomed to the maximum magnification, the reverse zoom-out function using Cmd-Opt-"-"is totally smooth and can be stopped at any chosen level if the slider is moved off the initial zero setting. If left on the initial setting, it still toggles back automatically all the way. Thus, at least on my Mini it seems the zoom-in magnification still has some type of software glitch that is causing it to not to behave properly, at least in comparison to my other Radeon cards with QE support.

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Answer 5

K Tilford Author

Level 1

116 points

Feb 27, 2006 6:51 PM in response to K Tilford

I did a clean System reinstall to 10.4.5 and now the zoom works normally. I don't know what was wrong before, but it wasn't easily resolved. It works normally now. Thanks!

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