LCD display with macII OR Quadra

#1 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 - 07:26 68kMLA

Is it possible to use an LCD monitor with a Mac IIsi? What kind of nubus card would work? I tried a Raster Ops Paintboard Prism card from my IIfx which drives a 17" VGA LCD monitor, but had no luck. I am getting a Quadra 800 and want to hook it up to LCD also.

#2 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 - 07:45 68kMLA

If you have a decent SVGA adaptor, one with DIP switches, any SVGA compatible LCD should work.

#3 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 - 08:23 68kMLA

My Q800 is hooked up to my LCD just using a fairly standard D15->HD15 adaptor cable

#4 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 - 11:53 68kMLA

My Q800 is hooked up to my LCD just using a fairly standard D15->HD15 adaptor cable

What kind of resolution are you using for that?

#5 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 - 16:30 68kMLA

I use an LG LCD for all my old Macs (including the internal video on my IIsi). It's also worked for any nubus card I've tried up to resolutions of 1152x870. The monitor's native is 1280x1024, but so far I haven't found a nubus card that can drive that.

#6 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 - 17:56 68kMLA

How does it look in non-native resolution? I've heard that LCDs look "horrible and blurry" in non-native resolution. How does it do with e.g. 832x624?

#7 Fri, 25 Jan 2008 - 06:49 68kMLA

It's not *that* horrible, but it's not ideal either. I've thought about getting an older 15" LCD that does 1024x768 just for my old Macs.

#8 Fri, 25 Jan 2008 - 07:52 68kMLA

A lady came into the recycling depot and bought a Apple Studio monitor and a adaptor for her PM 6500/200. She came back later and said the monitor would not work with her system, we told her to bring in her tower.

We hooked up a 15" LCD monitor to it and it worked perfect. the mac to vga adapter said Quadra on it.

#9 Fri, 25 Jan 2008 - 13:58 68kMLA

My Q800 is hooked up to my LCD just using a fairly standard D15->HD15 adaptor cable

Click to expand...

What kind of resolution are you using for that?

Well it's been a while since I booted her up (what with moving house and all..) I think I just ran it 800x600 - though being a server I usually ran it with no monitor at all

#10 Fri, 25 Jan 2008 - 15:12 68kMLA

Two questions here:

1. Any chance an LC could use an LCD?

2. Any LCDs that support low resolution, i.e. 512 x 384 or 640 x 480, that we know of? Maybe something older?

#11 Fri, 25 Jan 2008 - 17:51 68kMLA

Dunno about an LC, but my LG monitor happily does 640x480.

#12 Fri, 25 Jan 2008 - 18:21 68kMLA

Here is an explanation:

The thing that matters in getting a given monitor to work on a given computer is the interface. All Macs that have the standard DA-15 connector (commonly, but incorrectly, called DB-15,) use an analog signal that is compatible with the still-in-use VGA signal. All you need is a physical adapter that converts the DA-15 plug into a DE-15HD plug (commonly called a 'VGA plug'.) As long as the monitor has a high enough clock rate for the resolution and refresh rate of the computer, it should work fine. Analog monitors don't really care about the exact resolution. (Although flat panels can be a little more picky.)

In short, any modern monitor that has a 'VGA' plug should work on any computer as old as an IBM PS/2 with the original VGA, or a Macintosh II with a Macintosh II Video Card (the original color Mac video card.)

I have successfully used more than one flat panel with old Macs, most often an original Apple Studio Display (the one that came out at the same time as the beige G3, and has an old-style DA-15 video plug, so no adapter is needed to use it with an old Mac.)