Checkmate Retro LCD Monitor

[stepleton]

Living in a place where space is at a premium, I'm pretty interested in a solution that packs many different types of display capability into a single box. If there's one thing that seems typical of modern-day retro display gizmos, it's heaps of itty bitty cables everywhere, always falling out or not being quite long enough or going lost. These little cables then plug into bolted-together stacks of PCBs that never quite find a natural place to be on the desk.

I'm hoping this new monitor will spare me a lot of that!

 

[Forrest]

If you are just looking for an LCD monitor that works with an Amiga, then you might look into a Dell SE2722H 27 inch monitor. This monitor supports 15 KHz video, and has been conformed to work with Atari ST computers for the past two years. There is a thread on the Atariage forum discussing this monitor https://forums.atariage.com/topic/329388-a-new-27-inch-monitor-that-is-available-and-works-100/

I bought one of these monitors at a local Microcenter last month for $99

 

[paws]

Did anybody get one of the Checkmate monitors? They appear to be generally available now, I'm wondering how they'd work with, say, a Quadra 700. I like the look and the ability to maybe connect up a few systems. Even Haiku is pretty decent at 1280x1024.

 

[stepleton]

I got one.

I don't have a Quadra 700, but this TinkerDifferent thread suggests that the 700 uses sync-on-green video, and the Checkmate doesn't do sync-on-green. (Bit of a disappointment for me since I got the black model in hopes of pairing it up with a NeXT, which is also a sync-on-green situation.) There's a chance that it may support SOG someday with an expansion of some kind.

I was also hoping it would have good EGA support, but I don't think that's the case yet: last I checked, only the 200-line modes, not the 350-line modes. This too could change someday.

On the bright side, it's happy with some oddball monochrome workstation video formats that a friend and I have kludged to "VGA-ish" with spare parts. Hats off to the monitor for handling a 57 Hz vsync without trouble...

 

[finkmac]

?? why the heck would someone make a modern SO RETRO monitor that DOESN'T do SoG? Silly Silly Silly.

 

[Unknown_K]

I assumed people got them mostly for Amiga use.

 

[Byrd]

Over $1000 AUD, no thanks. Granted it's not obviously a high volume seller and niche item, but I'd look out for one of those Dell LCDs that work with anything low khz or late model VGA/generic displays that also seem to be happy enough working at whatever you throw at them.

 

[mg.man]

...and the Checkmate doesn't do sync-on-green ... There's a chance that it may support SOG someday with an expansion of some kind.

Mmm... 'with an expansion...' = yet more cost.

I was also hoping it would have good EGA support, but I don't think that's the case yet: last I checked, only the 200-line modes, not the 350-line modes.

I was one of the early backers, thankfully at a very low cost. After delay after delay and the lack of transparency of what was supported out of the box, tallying up the total cost of what was likely (but not 100% clear) needed to support my modest collection (which doesn't include any Amigas), I decided to not go forward with a purchase.

Over $1000 AUD, no thanks

Um, yeah. And I woulda been £s, so 'local'...

 

[LaPorta]

Over $1000 AUD, no thanks. Granted it's not obviously a high volume seller and niche item, but I'd look out for one of those Dell LCDs that work with anything low khz or late model VGA/generic displays that also seem to be happy enough working at whatever you throw at them.

Exactly. $20 at Goodwill. How can you go wrong even if it breaks?

 

[stepleton]

Having a "some-in-one" (not all-in-one, alas) solution without a lot of cabling has been handy: the other day I was benefiting from being able to tab between VGA, composite, and HDMI in the same spot. It's nice not having to find power cables and other leads for various kinds of scan converters. It's also nice to have a good pair of speakers, and the screen is of a high quality at the 4:3 aspect ratio that nature intended (and that size distinguishes it from an older HD TV set with those same inputs).

But I have to admit that if what I got was what I knew it would be when I backed the kickstarter, I might have thought twice back then.

 

[paws]

I do have a few Dell displays that take anything, but I liked the look of this and the promise of internal expandibility (that MiSTer carrier looks swell). But lack of SoG might kill it for me. It feels a bit like it's targetted at a generation earlier, Amigas and 8-bitters.

 

[CC_333]

?? why the heck would someone make a modern SO RETRO monitor that DOESN'T do SoG? Silly Silly Silly.

Agreed. SoG is a must for classic Macs and other related lines (NeXT), not to mention many early Mac video cards (excepting the ones that aren't hardwired for a specific monitor) so they missed out BIG TIME on a potentially lucrative market segment there.

It feels a bit like it's targetted at a generation earlier, Amigas and 8-bitters.

Or perhaps mid/late 90s PCs and compatibles, where VGA was beginning to become common and SoG wasn't really a thing (was it?).

Over $1000 AUD, no thanks.

Ouch. I can think of many other things I could spend $1,000 on that are more worthwhile (a nicely equipped, used M1 MacBook Air/Pro or Mac Mini, say, or getting my car fixed. Or building a shed within which to put some of my piles of Mac paraphernalia....).

c

 

[stepleton]

they missed out BIG TIME on a potentially lucrative market segment there.

"Lucrative", you say? How much would you reckon?

I miss SoG a lot, as mentioned, but I'm not sure I'm ready to say that they don't know their market.

 

[CC_333]

"Lucrative", you say? How much would you reckon?

Well, "lucrative" is very relative, but suffice it to say, I don't reckon it'd amount to much.

That said, as I think about it, lucrative is probably not the right word.

Disappointed, perhaps? I've noticed the Mac collecting crowd seems to be more value oriented and frugal, and objectively, $1,000 for a fancy retro LCD that can't even handle SoG is a nonstarter because it defeats the most obvious and one of the most common use cases for us Mac folk: early SoG Macs, many of which aren't handled well by most modern monitors.

c

 

[Unknown_K]

I prefer a CRT for old SOG macs anyway, but that monitor is too pricey for me these days.

 

[applesos]

Well, "lucrative" is very relative, but suffice it to say, I don't reckon it'd amount to much.

That said, as I think about it, lucrative is probably not the right word.

Disappointed, perhaps? I've noticed the Mac collecting crowd seems to be more value oriented and frugal, and objectively, $1,000 for a fancy retro LCD that can't even handle SoG is a nonstarter because it defeats the most obvious and one of the most common use cases for us Mac folk: early SoG Macs, many of which aren't handled well by most modern monitors.

c

The current batch of electronics nostalgia seems to be from more people who are very interested in them as design pieces and those folks historically are willing to pay a premium. The lack of SoG support does feel like a critical oversight, especially if your target market is people who want to buy something Aesthetic since the Quadras use it but maybe they're focused on Amiga and RGB-era stuff for now.

Will say that there's plenty of CRTs with coil whine that qualifies them as a sort of psychic weapon so the more chances I have to not use those the better.

 

[Unknown_K]

Amiga users are probably SOL on finding working monitors these days, while Apple users can use any old CRT.

 

[Unknown_K]

If you are just looking for an LCD monitor that works with an Amiga, then you might look into a Dell SE2722H 27 inch monitor. This monitor supports 15 KHz video, and has been conformed to work with Atari ST computers for the past two years. There is a thread on the Atariage forum discussing this monitor https://forums.atariage.com/topic/329388-a-new-27-inch-monitor-that-is-available-and-works-100/

I bought one of these monitors at a local Microcenter last month for $99

Which is odd since the specs say:

Model SE2722H/SE2722HX Horizontal scan range 30 kHz to 83 kHz (automatic)

 

[CC_333]

Which is odd since the specs say:

Model SE2722H/SE2722HX Horizontal scan range 30 kHz to 83 kHz (automatic)

Perhaps the 15 kHz mode is undocumented?

c

 

[Unknown_K]

Perhaps the 15 kHz mode is undocumented?

c

Would have to be and makes me wonder if all of them will sync correctly. Could also be just an undocumented freebee from having AMD Sync.