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Author Interex Mac to VGA Monitor Adapter (Read 58686 times)
dgwansel
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on: March 25, 2008, 02:15

I have a SuperMac C600 connected to a Sony MultiScan Monitor CPD 100ES via an Interex universal Mac to VGA monitor adapter. This adapter is a 10 slider dip switch.  It is connected to my SuperMac's DB-25 SCSI port.  But during a recent shifting of gear, I lost the original dip switch settings and no longer have the guide that came with the Interex adapter.  The Supermacs DB-25 SCSI port is the problem because I have found on the internet the settings for Mac DB-15 to HD-15, but not Mac DB-25 SCSI to HD-15.

Can anyone help me?

dgwansel
dpaanlka
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Reply #1 on: March 25, 2008, 17:52

I don't understand what a monitor adapter has to do with SCSI.

Also, please don't compose entire posts in ALL CAPS.
dgwansel
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Reply #2 on: March 25, 2008, 21:57

Umax made the supermac monitor port DB-25 which is SCSI! That's where the adapter plugged into.

dgwansel
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Reply #3 on: March 26, 2008, 00:25

Are you saying that you have a monitor that plugs into the scsi port of your macintosh computer?   If so, please post pics.   I've never seen one of these before.
wove
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Reply #4 on: March 26, 2008, 02:52

I was not aware of any SCSI monitors. Using SCSI for video out on the Toaster Macs was not uncommon though. There were at least a few boxes that provided a VGA output via a SCSI connection.

It would be interesting to see pictures for sure.

bill
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Reply #5 on: March 26, 2008, 03:16

I was not aware of anything using a SCSI port for video output.   I know that there were monitors that plugged into the monitor port in addition to other ports for tasks like color calibration.   But video through the SCSI port?
wove
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Reply #6 on: March 26, 2008, 14:02

Pretty scarce I am sure. This link was the only reference to this type of device I found on a quick search.

LowEndMac says, "It's not generally known, but the SE supports color, although not on the internal display. It's only 3-bit color, but it supports output to the ImageWriter II printer's color ribbon, and as least one company made a SCSI video output device that let the SE display 3-bit color on an external color monitor."

SCSI is just a bus, it has hardware rather than software control good band width, and low latency. Perhaps not an ideal video port, but the necessary ingredients are present.

bill
dpaanlka
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Reply #7 on: March 26, 2008, 16:07

The physical characteristics of a port does not a bus determine.  For example, my FireWire hard drive's power port is exactly perfectly the shape and dimensions of an ADB port, cables for which plug in nicely.  It is not an ADB port, it is just shaped like it.

SuperMac must have (confusingly) decided to use this type of port for their VGA stuff... surely to the dismay of regular Mac users who have plugged SCSI stuff into it.  It would be incorrect to continue to call it SCSI.
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Reply #8 on: March 26, 2008, 21:58

Quote from: "wove"


LowEndMac says, "It's not generally known, but the SE supports color, although not on the internal display. It's only 3-bit color, but it supports output to the ImageWriter II printer's color ribbon, and as least one company made a SCSI video output device that let the SE display 3-bit color on an external color monitor."


3-bit?   That gives you what?    Eight whole colors?

Quote

SCSI is just a bus, it has hardware rather than software control good band width, and low latency. Perhaps not an ideal video port, but the necessary ingredients are present.


I would tend to think that a SCSI port would not be ideal for video under any circumstance.   I'm thinking of the software that would be required to produce and constantly refresh a video image on a SCSI bus.   It would be a nighmare, I would think, if you were wanting to use the SCSI bus for anything else.   As an analogy, it would be like having your Mac constantly writing to a hard drive.   You probably are well aware of how crippled your Mac becomes when it is constantly accessing something on the SCSI bus.   Definitely less than ideal.
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Reply #9 on: March 26, 2008, 22:06

Quote from: "dpaanlka"

SuperMac must have (confusingly) decided to use this type of port for their VGA stuff... surely to the dismay of regular Mac users who have plugged SCSI stuff into it.  It would be incorrect to continue to call it SCSI.


That's possible.   The parallel port on an old PC is physically identical to a 25 pin SCSI port on a Macintosh as well.   Old Zip and Jazz drives that used the parallel port for connectivity wore labels that read:   Warning!   This is not a SCSI cable.

I wish the original poster would provide some kind of documentation for his monitor.   Just a model number would probably go a long way in clearing up any confusion.
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Reply #10 on: March 27, 2008, 01:59

I'm not even sure how you would put a video signal on the SCSI bus.   The only thing I can think of, is to constantly dump the contents of video RAM to the SCSI bus.   That would definitely require software.   And the load it would put on your Macintosh would be considerable in my estimation.

Besides, you'd need a monitor that would be intelligent enough to do something with the data that was being piped over SCSI.   So your monitor, in effect, would have to be a computer in and of itself.  Sort of like a monitor with its own built-in video card -- for lack of a better word.   So you'd essentially be replacing NuBus, PDS, PCI, or what have you, with the SCSI bus.   It would work, but it would be awful.
dpaanlka
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Reply #11 on: March 27, 2008, 03:11

Quote from: "Minimalist"
I'm not even sure how you would put a video signal on the SCSI bus.


You wouldn't.  The explanation is most certainly what I concluded in an earlier post.
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Reply #12 on: March 27, 2008, 04:54

I know that.   But you could put the video data on the SCSI bus before it becomes a video signal.   The monitor at the other end, properly equiped to do so, would then take the digital stream of ones and zeros and process them.   Of course, having a rig like this would preclude the need for "sliders" on the adapter.   There would be nothing to adjust.
dpaanlka
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Reply #13 on: March 27, 2008, 07:22

Quote from: "Minimalist"
I know that.   But you could put the video data on the SCSI bus before it becomes a video signal.   The monitor at the other end, properly equiped to do so, would then take the digital stream of ones and zeros and process them.   Of course, having a rig like this would preclude the need for "sliders" on the adapter.   There would be nothing to adjust.


I'm pretty confident that isn't relevant here.
dgwansel
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Reply #14 on: March 30, 2008, 07:56

Thanx everybody for your input on scsi, but what I am still trying to find are the Interex mac to vga adapter settings. (Supermac c600)
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