Re: Using VGA/LCD monitor with a IIgs?

[sporadic <sporadically@gmail.com>]

On Nov 19, 1:37 am, sporadic <sporadica...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sep 22, 5:03 pm, powe...@macgui.com (Sam Latella) wrote:
>
> > Are there any real cards besides the SecondSight card which came out a few years ago that will allow a IIgs to use an LCD monitor or a VGA monitor?
>
> > Apple II Forever?
>
> It's been years since I sold off the ZipGSX and went to a 486DX-40,
> but lately I've been feeling a lot of nostalgia for the old Apple
> IIgs.  My GS still works after all these years, and I even bought a
> couple more GS off ebay recently, just so I'd have backup :)  Anyway,
> I've been researching alternative displays as well, preferable LCD.  I
> found a discussion that referred to this device:
>
> http://ambery.com/rgbcgatovgac.html
>
> $92 for the box and another $10 for the cable.  I'm kinda tempted to
> buy it.  Then again, I'd also like to support the UltimateApple2
> effort, and wait for the GS to VGA converter.  I may pick up the
> IIe2VGA when it's available, my old Apple IIe still works too!
>
> Jimmy

Great news!  I can confirm the Ambery box works with the GS!  Ordered
on the day before Thanksgiving and it just arrived today!  I tested on
an old Viewsonic 15" CRT, a Viewsonic P90f 19" CRT, and a Acer 24"
LCD.  Ran demos like Modulae and Nucleus, and also the control panel
in 40/80 columns.  Overall I'm very pleased with the quality of the
output (the 80 columns output was not as crisp as 40, but workable.

There's something oddly satisfying seeing an old GS demo running on a
24" LCD :)  And I don't have to worry about the AppleColor RGB dying
on me anymore!

Basically, just make sure you wire the Red, Green, and Blue and
Composite Sync wires correctly between the GS DB15 and the VGA HD15,
the other signal grounds can pretty much be any other VGA ground
wires.  I used the NEC Multisync II pinout and the Ambery VGA pinout
as a bridge to match the correct GS DB15 pins to the final VGA HD15
connector.

I built the cable myself by splicing a HD15 VGA cable and a DB15MM
cable from eBay for ~$8 (should be advertised as a Mac monitor
cable).  It wasn't pretty but it works great!

Here are the links I found for the pin-out, easy enough to find but I
thought I include them:

http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/apple2/faq/16-026-What-are-the-specs-and-pin-out-for-the-GS-RGB-monitor.html

Pin    Function
  1     Red video ground
  2     Red composite video
  3     Composite sync
  4    (not used)
  5     Green composite video
  6     Green video ground
  7    (not used)
  8    (not used)
  9     Blue composite video
 10    (not used)
 11    (not used)
 12    (not used)
 13     Blue video ground
 14    (not used)
 15    (not used)
Shell   Shield ground

http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/apple2/faq/16-015-Which-monitors-and-adapters-can-I-use-to-replace-my-I.html

NEC Multisync II Dsub-9     IIgs Dsub-15

1 Red                        2 Red
2 Green                      5 Green
3 Blue                       9 Blue
4 Horizontal Sync            3 Composite Sync
5 Vertical Sync (NC)*
6 Red GND                    1 Red GND
7 Green GND                  6 Green GND
8 Blue GND                  13 Blue GND
9 GND

Hope this helps until the GS2VGA thing is completed!


Regards,

Jimmy