My question was about attaching Sun GDM-1662B monitors to PCs or
Macintoshs. (original post at end)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
=================
PC cards suggested:
Mercury X1 graphics card
#9 64bit graphics card (Not yet actually tested by responder.)
as-yet un-specified PC card from Access Graphics
(Details to come when responder returns to office.)
DEC ZLXp-E 24 (PCI based videocard used on DEC AXP AlphaStation 200)
AT Video card Video Seven Spea 1280
Macintosh cards suggested:
-none-
Cables:
> You might try NuData, Ultra, or CS Electronics for the cables.
> You can source the cable from Redmond Cables, Redmond WA
Apparently the main gotcha is that the Sun monitors are not multi-sync,
and therefore the PC video card must be able to adjust its refresh rate
to match. (76Hz ?)
One person suggested:
> You need to flip some switch inside the case (if they're the big 19"
> Hitachi monitors.) See the linux hardware how-to faq for pointers.
[I tried rtfm.mit.edu for the "linux hardware how-to faq", but came up empty.]
Another said:
> I also know that most videocards can be programmed into a certain scan
> rate , at least XFree86 on my Linux box at home can drive my old Sun
> 19" Hitachi monitor
And another:
> The bad news is that the monitors are fixed frequency and cannot be
> used with standard vga cards. The only source I came up for interface
> cards was selling them for about $3,000 each - far more expensive than
> the equivalent PC Monitors.
The ONLY Mac mention:
> There was one company that made a video card for Macintosh's a few
> years ago, but it didn't turn out to work too well.
The most detailed response came from <denniss@cyberspace.com (Dennis
Schwindt)>. His company sells the Mercury X1 graphics card. An
excerpt from his E-mail:
> MERCURY X1 GRAPHICS CARD.
>
> Works with all fixed scan monitors including IBM, Mitsubishi,
> Hitachi, Sony, Sun, HP, Verticom, DEC, Taxan, Phillips, Apollo,
> Silicon Graphics, Intergraph, Aydin, Amtron, Monotronix, etc.
>
> Replaces old boards from Artist, Numbers, Nth, Verticom, Photon,
> BNW, VMI, Matrox, Metheus, Mirage, Graphax, Imagraph, TAT, etc.
>
> Works with all multi-scan monitors
>
> Has an S3 801 graphics accelerator for great performance.
>
> Capable of 48KHz fixed, 64KHz fixed, or multi-scanning output all on
> the same boards. Up to 72Hz vertical refresh rate.
>
> Can output to 3, 4, or 5 BNC.
>
> 100% register level VGA, EGA, and CGA text and graphics compatable.
>
> Supports VESA BIOS standard.
>
> Available in ISA and VESA local bus versions.
>
> 2MB of on-board memory.
>
> Can even run gray-scale monitors.
>
> The cards sell for $475.00 for ISA or VLB versions.
Thanks to all who read my request, and especially to the respondents:
Harold Sims <hhs00@arrowsmith.com>
Tim Wort <tim@tech.Access.COM>
Benoit Dicaire <bdicaire@mais.hydro.qc.ca>
don@pnw.opensys.com
"Henry J. Kovalcik" <henry@ECE.concordia.CA>
Craig.Hunt@nist.gov (Craig Hunt)
bernards@ECN.NL (Marcel A. Bernards)
citicds!cntower!arash@uunet.uu.net (Arash Jahangir)
mbecker@erm.igraph.com
eda@apex.com (Ed Andrea)
Jon Howell <jonh@hitl.washington.edu>
Adrian Cole/Computervision
<Adrian_Cole/Computervision@ausns1.cv.com> >> (Lead *) denniss@cyberspace.com
denniss@cyberspace.com (Dennis Schwindt)
For those who asked for copies of any info I got: If this summary is
not enough, drop me a note and I will pass on the original responses in
their entirety.
Regards,
Bob Cronin
(RJCronin@uop.com)
Original Posting:
>
> We are presently migrating a lot of users from SPARCstation IPX's to
> Pentium boxes running WindowsNT. 8-o
>
> As a result, we are left with a lot of high quality color monitors
> (GDM-1662B), which we would like to put to new use.
>
>
> Is it possible to use these monitors on PC's and/or Macintosh's?
>
> Would someone be so kind as to explain the ramifications of trying to
> re-use these monitors? If they can be re-used, what display
> resolutions do they support?
> Pointers to vendors of cables, etc. would also be welcome.
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Fri Sep 28 2001 - 23:10:18 CDT