From: god@hale.cts.com (David J. Calabrese)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Can Mac monitors be used on IBM/Compatible machines??
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 92 03:11:05 PST
Organization: Hale Telecommunications Inc.

cheung@eplrx7.es.duPont.com (Bryan Cheung) writes:

> Hi,
>    I know this has been asked before, but I have never seen a clear
> response to this question, so I'm asking again, and I'll post a 
> summary if there is interest. Also, I freely admit to being a computer-bigot,
> so please post flames to alt.religion.computer (and beware!).
> 
>    I would like to know if anyone has ever interfaced a Macintosh-compatible
> monitor (b&w, color, high-res color, etc). to ANY video interface
> available for IBM/IBM Compatible PCs. It is very simple to go the other
> way (e.g. put EGA/VGA/SVGA on a Mac), but sane people don't usually do that
> if they have a choice ;-).
>    This question stems from an admittedly perverse desire to be able
> to purchase some sort of high quality monitor technology that is 
> useable (by whatever technical gyrations) on both hardware platforms.
> In my particular case I would like to find a way to interface the
> superior video technology (IMHO) available for Macs (religous preference)
> on "standard" DOS hardware (to atone for sins in a past life).
>    Has anyone ever done this?? Having done it, was it worth the
> dollars and neurons it took to make it happen?? Please respond via
> e-mail to the address below if you have any experience or interest
> in this regard.
>                         Thanks in advance,
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
>                                 -- Bryan Cheung
>                                          cheung@eplrx7.es.duPont.com
>                                          cheungbl@csoc.dnet.duPont.com

 
I'm going to save you from a very long but very funny story
about a friend of mine who wanted a monitor for both his
Apple //gs and his Mac IIsi.  We talked to lots of "qualified"
"experts" -- many of them making over $15 an hour who said
it couldn't be done.
 
Finally, in a burst of common sense, we bought a multi-sync
monitor (at the time, the NEC MultiSync classic was the most
obvious choice), made connectors for both computers, and went
out for pizza.
 
Anyway, the moral of this story is that no matter what sort
of mystique Apple tries to veil their video output in, it's
really just an analog RGB signal -- just like the Amiga,
the Atari ST, and most VGA cards -- so you're mainly hunting
for connectors and pin-out here.
 
Some Apple computers have very anal software that attempts to
detect what monitor is hooked up.  It does this by looking
at a few choice pins on the connector.  When you make yours,
find out which pins have to be grounded or tied to Vcc to
let the computer know that you have something around 14" inches
in as many colors as the machine can support.
 
Remember: Apple == Big Brother
          Apple == Big Brother
          Apple == Big Brother
 
* david j. calabrese *
 
H  E  A  D  I  N  G    F  O  R

                       
             __---_                 .
. ..  .  . _-      -        T                              .
... .  .  -  (. .)  =        h 
         =        --          e   E                                     .
. ..  .  .--____--                 D         .
============================\       G                          .
                             \       E   .                    .
                              \        !
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc,comp.windows.ms