[comp.sys.mac] Large Monochrome Monitors Summary

jvb@gradserver.cs.duke.edu (Jack V. Briner) (09/14/89)

Below are the responses I got for large monochrome monitors.  Thank you for
your responses.

I ended up buying the Apple 21" display which I believe looks better than the
Radius 19" and the Viking 19".  I never could get a look at any of the other
monitors.

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From edgar@function.mps.ohio-state.edu Tue Sep  5 07:47:15 1989

I have "The Big Picture" from E-Machines.  No problems after a month.
It is 85 dots per inch.

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From holla@eedsp.gatech.edu Mon Sep  4 18:44:19 1989
i have just purchased a sigma designs silverview monitor. it is a
21 inch, 72 dpi, grey scale. no problems, its great! 

when looking around for monitors, i found it almost impossible to
look at any manufactures monitors. none of the computer stores in
atlanta had large monos or greys out for display. so i tried just
what you are doing, asking the net for info. unfornutely i got no replies.

here is the scoop on sigma designs.
the company is five years old.
they offer a 30 trial period for university purchases (open purchase order )    
30% off for university orders. this includes students if the monitor is
shipped to a university address.
one year warranty
very informed sales and tech staff.
call laura singer at sigma designs at 415 770-0100

i don't work for them, just a satisifed customer.

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From duke!mcnc!uvaarpa!haven!ames!mailrus!ncar!boulder!sunybcs!bingvaxu!consp22 Tue Sep  5 08:59:06 EDT 1989

I work for a retail firm and have used almost all of them and have found that 
the Apple is the nicest.  It doesn't have the Radius bowing and is crystal 
clear! It will also do four shades of grey.

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From: roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith)

In <15470@duke.cs.duke.edu> jvb@duke.cs.duke.edu (Jack V. Briner, Jr.) writes:
> I am trying to decide on a large monochrome monitor.

	I havn't used any of the others, but have used the Moniterm Viking.
A colleague had 2 Vikings (on two different II's that he bought).  I like
it a lot.  So much so that I have one on order right now for my own CX
(also on order).  All three monitors in question are the 19" 72 dpi model.

	I don't know how closely related the Viking is to the monitors
Moniterm used to sell to Sun for use on their 3/50s, so I don't know if
this anecdote is really apropos.  We had the high-voltage supply die on our
Moniterm-equipped 3/50 (all our other 3/50's, bought at the same time, came
with Phillips monitors).  It was fairly easy to diagnose (look for the
board with the burn marks on it) and Moniterm didn't have any qualms about
selling us a replacement board for a reasonable price.  So what does that
say?  Either that Moniterms break a lot (bad) or that when they do, you can
expect to deal with a reasonable service organization (good).  However, one
data point isn't sufficient to draw any rational conslusions from.

	One other thing Moniterm has going for it; the best corporate
address I've ever heard of -- Moniterm, Minitonka, Minnesota.

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From <deleted at senders request>@apple.com Wed Sep  6 18:14:01 1989

In article <15470@duke.cs.duke.edu> you write:
>What comments do you have about the
>
>    Apple Two-Page Monochrome
I have one, I love it, very linear out to the corners.  My one compalint is
that the base is too big, if you do not want to set it on top of your mac it
just takes up too much of a footprint, but i think i may be able to hack
on it to resolve that ( i.e. by taking the tilt/swivel part off the rest of
the base, somehow).  Also though the only gray scale picture sw i have is
that which comes with 32 bit quickdraw, it is pretty amazing how well only
16 levels can do at making a nice picure.  Also will be much bettern than
1 bit, for e.g. playing with mandelbrots etc.  So I don't know if its usefll
and so far isn't really even entertainment, but i think the 4 bit planes (2
std and 2 expansion) will be fun eventually.
>    Radius 19"
>    Monoterm Viking 1 or L2400
I have one of these (viking 1) as well, though on a PC/UNIX combo running
MS/WINDOWS under MS/DOS and X 10.4 under Unix (with an Opus coprocessor).  It 
is also a nice display, not quite as eye pleasing as the Apple, but its hard to
compare since the sw/fonts/etc are so different (i haven't brought up X on
the apple yet).  I am a developer, so with the discount the Apple display
seemed to be the one to get.  Note in the past, and perhaps now as well, 
Moniterm supplied tubes to Sun, or so I am told, so they have been doing it 
for some time, yet I have experienced some problems with the early viking 1's.
At Opus Systems we had 10 or so, and about 2 were doa, or died soon afterwards.
Monitoerm was prety good about replacing them.  I had one at home for about
a year, and it died as well, Moniterm fixed it for not TOO much (around 500 or
so i seem to recall), but still a hassle.  I am not trying to slam Moniterm,
my current viking 1 has been working fine for over 1.5 years in continuous
operatoin.  again all of the above viking 1's were on PC's not Mac's.

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FROM: Fabian@cup.portal.com

Consider SuperMac's SuperView II for the Mac II family or SuperView SE for
the Macintosh SE.  The SuperView monitor is a 19" monochrome monitor with
a resolution of 1024 x 768 @ 72 dpi with a 66.0 Hz vertical scan rate.

Also note that there is NO way to display two 8.5" x 11" pages side by side
at actual size at 72 dpi.  A 19" monitor at 72 dpi is just too small, either a 
physically larger monitor (ie 21") or a 19" monitor with a higher resolution
(ie 1152 x 882 @ 82 dpi) would be required.

Fabian Ramirez
SuperMac Technology
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From: vita@disney.crd.ge.com (Mark F. Vita)

You should check with Ehman Engineering (1-800-257-1666).  At the Mac
Expo they introduced a two-page monochrome display for $895, including
interface card.  That's hundreds less than the nearest competitor I've
seen.

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From: gatech!Atherton.COM!hplabs!tw@mcnc.org (Tw Cook)

I have the Radius 19" (TPD) at home.  I absolutely love it.  No distortion, 
no flicker (to my eyes, anyway), and extremely crisp.  The software that comes 
with it is nice too (tear-off menus, etc.).  I'd buy it again in an instant, 
even if it wasn't on sale!  We have some of the new Apple Two-Page's here at 
work; they are nice, but are no better than the Radius, which is substantially 
cheaper.