dca@edison.UUCP (David Albrecht) (08/21/86)
The general consensus seems to be that while a Video Ram solution is possible it would still require replacement of the monitor as well as considerable hardware mods. Bowing to the inevitable I guess that the long persistance phosphor monitor approach is the only realistic one (having just stripped my PC7300 down to the nuts and bolts to find and fix a RS232 problem I've had my fill of hardware hacking for a while anyway). Moving on then, does anyone know anything about the Heathkit/Zenith long-persistence phosphor monitor. It can be had for under $800 maybe as little as $600 from mail order retailers. This is considerably less than the other lp monitors I've have read about and it does have acceptable resolution. It is also, however, a RGBI input monitor, does anyone have any experience with it and the difficulty in converting it to RGB (if at all possible). On a completely different topic, I was reading about the Sidecar in the latest INFO and it sound really exciting. Not that I am wow'ed about IBM PC compatibility (though it couldn't hurt) but devices in the sidecar are said to be accessable from the Amiga and vice versa. Therefore a sidecar might be the cheapest way to put a hard disk or fancy devices on the Amiga and will have IBM PC compatibility besides. The sidecar supposedly will let you have two PC windows one color and one monochrome (only one active). Rumored availability is end of the year, rumored price possibly as little as $700. Gosh golly Batman! David Albrecht
grr@cbmvax.cbm.UUCP (George Robbins) (09/01/86)
In article <848@edison.UUCP> dca@edison.UUCP (David Albrecht) writes: > >Moving on then, does anyone know anything about the Heathkit/Zenith >long-persistence phosphor monitor. It can be had for under $800 >maybe as little as $600 from mail order retailers. This is considerably >less than the other lp monitors I've have read about and it does have >acceptable resolution. It is also, however, a RGBI input monitor, >does anyone have any experience with it and the difficulty in converting >it to RGB (if at all possible). > >David Albrecht Well, if you figure this one out, be sure to post your findings to the net! Usually, the analog color inputs are not very far behind the digital RGBI inputs, often there is just a crude D/A or level shifting arrangement. The difficulty would be in converting the monitor to composite sync, since the sync separation circuitry will be omitted or not loaded. However, you could probably use the separate vertical and horizontal sync signals on the video connector if you are careful not to overload them. You might have to lower the value of the pull-up or terminating resistor in the monitor. -- George Robbins - now working with, uucp: {ihnp4|seismo|caip}!cbmvax!grr but no way officially representing arpa: cbmvax!grr@seismo.css.GOV Commodore, Engineering Department fone: 215-431-9255 (only by moonlite)