Re: apple IIgs monitor

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article sands@itisDELETE.com writes...

>What are the available options for a color monitor for a IIgs other than
>the 2gs monitor?  As I look for a new monitor I'm not really sure what
>to look for.

    Basically any analog RGB monitor that does NTSC scanning frequencies
(15.75 kHz horizontal). Some examples would include the Amiga 1080 RGB,
old NEC MultiSync or Atari ST monitors. These days fairly few, if any at
all, of this type of display can be bought new. I would still recommend
finding an AppleColor RGB, which beside aesthetically blending in with
the look of the GS, gives some of the most vibrant and richest looking
colors I've seen on a monitor (maybe even nicer than Trinitrons :).
[Those produced between 1986 and 1988, I've seen a couple from 1989,
1990 and up and they look pretty awful in contrast. I guess Mitsubishi
starting using a lesser tube on those Apple monitors]

>I understand IBM compatiples do not work.

    Yep, those are incompatible because they work at 30+ kHz. The one
way around that is to purchase the only existing SVGA-style video board
for the IIgs, called the Second Sight. It will work with most any modern
SVGA display, and probably Mac displays too with an adapter. There are
two catches though: price and compatibility. It'll cost you $150 for the
card and it cannot "shadow" all Apple II video modes properely (or at all
in some cases) to the SVGA display.

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca