On 04/01/2016 11:07 AM, Swift Griggs wrote:
Favorite LCD Monitor line: NEC Multisync, Dell Ultrasharp
I think the only one I've got (out of seven or so) which will accept the oddball-frequency VGA from some of Apple's old machines is a Dell, although I'd have to check the model number.
Favorite CRT Monitor line: Iiyama (Sony Trinitron as a runner up)
For consumer-grade displays, I'd agree with Iiyama - I loved those screens. I had a 17" and 21" one when I lived in the UK; the picture quality and specs were great, they'd do SoG, and having both VGA and BNC inputs was handy as I could have a PC and a Sun hooked up together.
I've been keeping my eye out for one ever since moving to the US, but all I've ever found is crappy Gateway and Dell stuff (and a Viewsonic which is slightly better, but still garbage)
Favorite display Devices: SGI O2 CRM graphics, The Voodoo3 for PC, The VillageTronic Picasso IV for the Amiga.
I think the most-impressive-for-its-time one I've got is the Max Impact board set (with the extra TRAM) that's in my Indigo2.
Favorite Retro Sound Cards: Gravis Ultrasound for PC, Sound Blaster emu10k ("Pro" PCI cards), Amiga Studio 16, SGI DM8 for SGI/IRIX, Pro Audio Spectrum for 68k macs.
Never was much of an audio person, but I did have a PAS16 for my PC in the early '90s, which came in handy a few times just for the SCSI interface (which was supported under Linux)
The biggest downside to the NEC monitors is that few of them support composite or S-Video.
I picked up an old JAMMA arcade board a while ago and managed to get it running, feeding the video output via a resistor network and dumping it onto an old green-screen monitor turned up onto its side. But I really need something here which can do 15KHz RGB - I keep wondering if I can hack an old TV and feed the sync information in via a composite->RF box, but work out where the RGB information is extracted and just tap the RGB in at that point. I know a few companies would do conversions like that back in the day, but I don't know how easy it is.
I'm getting interested in projectors, too. However, I'm doubting I'll find one that's bright enough and will do all the video modes I want (ie.. mix of sync-on-green with composite etc..)
Someone gave me an old 16mm Bell & Howell a few weeks ago, but I suspect that's not the kind of projector you're talking about ;-)
Jules