Help with portrait / full page displays

[pcamen]

That's a good thread.  For me, an FPD with a Mac Plus is kind of a Holy Grail.  A big monitor with one of those early systems, is just cool.  I have a number of FPD cards for the Plus, I think, with the BNC connector.  Anyone know of a way to go from BNC to something more modern?  I'm guessing finding a FPD with BNC is like, impossible. 

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

:lol: That's exactly what I've been playing with most recently:

 

[pcamen]

Awesome @Trash80toHP_Mini!  When are you going to start selling those boards?

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Selling what boards? :huh:

 

[pcamen]

Adapter boards.  I am (trying) to make a joke.  I know it is a work in progress. 

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Got it!  [] More like a lot of work for very little real progress on that front. Dropping that project in the To Be Continued bin real soon now. I have an adapter board project to finish up while I wait for crystals and capacitors to arrive  .  .  .  after I figure out what I need of which. So it goes.

 

[elbaroni]

Oooooh, I am going to read the hell out of that thread once I get home and the kids are down. Assuming I don’t just collapse. 

 

[Compgeke]

I think the last mystery is the cable standard for going from the DB-9 Radius FPD, Rasterops Portrait Clearvue/15 (turns out that is the full name) to the DB-15 Mac standard video.

Soon(tm) I can get you a pin out for the Radius FPD. I’ve got an older one that has the pinout marked on the PCB insides. At least I assume it’s older one, the entire front chassis is cast metal!

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Check http://archive.retro.co.za/mirrors/68000/www.vintagemacworld.com/radiusmain.html for the Q&A on Portrait Models, Sync Rates, Interface Cards etc. It's quite the mess of information on incompatibility.

 

[pcamen]

Well heck, isn't this the cable you are trying to get working with your other thread @Trash80toHP_Mini?

http://archive.retro.co.za/mirrors/68000/www.vintagemacworld.com/radius/590-0057.html

Seems like you could then just use a DB15 to VGA adapter to get to the LCD. 

Sadly, doesn't appear to be any DB-9 to DB-15 cable pinouts. 


Cable Part Number:



590-0057



Assembly Number



590-0057



CPU side connector type



DB-15



Monitor side connector type



1 BNC



Built in Monitor ID



1152 X 882





CPU Side Pins



Monitor Side Pins

CPU Side Connector
DB-15



Monitor Side Connector
Single BNC






Pin 01



Ground



Inner Pin
Green Video






Pin 02



Not Used



Outer Pin
Green Ground






Pin 03



Not Used









Pin 04



SENSE ID 0









Pin 05



Green Video









Pin 06



Green Ground









Pin 07



SENSE ID 1









Pin 08



Not Used









Pin 09



Not Used









Pin 10



Ground









Pin 11



Not Used









Pin 12



Not Used









Pin 13



Ground









Pin 14



Ground









Pin 15



Not Used

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

That's where I found the pinout in the first thread, before the BNS woes thread. I'm wiring straight from the TPD/SE card's output pins to VGA cable. Signing off on the third installment soon.

Curious about the full page displays and scan lines ATM. If the scan is "horizontal" turned "vertical" in Portrait orientation I'll be playing with FPD cards next. Anybody know the answer to that offhand or will it depend upon maker/model.

 

[pcamen]

Well, got two new cables, one of the Portrait display, one for the FPD/gs.

Radius display power light comes on, but it won't display an image.  I can see nothing on the screen at all.  My first thought is that it is at the wrong display settings, something that isn't compatible with the Portrait.

But when I plugged in the FPD/gs, it seems to have automatically gone to the proper settings, 640x870 (or something close to that, I don't remember exactly).  Portrait cable is showing a little road rash or something on one side.  Perhaps it is defective. 

The FPD/gs does show an image, but it is scrunched horizontally.  The size adjustment on the back work fine for vertical, but horizontal barely does anything and the image is pretty far from the edges.  Anyone have any ideas about this?

I got a VGA to EGA adapter from Amazon, but haven't tried the regular FPD yet. 

 

[elbaroni]

Do the refresh rates of your FPD and card match? Seems there were 64, 68, and 75 kHz versions. The card for the 75 apparently drives a Macintosh portrait Display too, if that archive can be believed. 

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

+1 and believe it. That archive is the gold standard. The formatting can be problematic which is why I said it was a mess of (a mass) information on compatibility. I may or may not still have have a printout of most of the Q&A,. They were FAXback system documents someone archived. OCR wasn't perfect back in the day, but the information should be correct. The text was either proofread carefully or gathered later from a Radius internet source.

 

[Maurice]

Radius FPD Monitors.

There are basically two types of FPD Monitors. A two row, 9 pin connector, and a three row, 15 pin connector (VGA). The FPD Monitor with the VGA style connector came out in 1991. Every FPD Monitor with the two row, 9 pin connector came out before 1991.

Radius FPD Monitors with the VGA type connector, has horizontal and vertical synchronization signals on separate pins/wires. The attached file (590-0029) is the pinout for the VGA style connector on the FPD Monitor (75Hz). 

The older Radius FPD Monitors with the two row, 9 pin connector is a composite analog signal. In other words, everything is on one pin. Composite video is a single signal which carries luminance (brightness) component of a video signal, along with synchronization (horizontal & vertical) information, on a single wire/pin. 

VGA requires horizontal and vertical synchronization signals to be on separate wires/pins.

There are three different types of Radius FPD Cards with a Vertical Refresh 67.139Hz, 69Hz or 75Hz. The 75Hz came out in 1991 with the VGA style connector. See attached Radius FPD Interface Card Table I made up.  

View attachment 590-0029.pdf

View attachment Radius FPD Interface Cards.pdf

 

[Maurice]

Correction on the last sentence. The 75Hz came out in 1991 with a VGA style connector on the FPD Monitor. The 75Hz FPD Interface Card that came out in 1991, should have a 2 row, 15 pin connector. 

 

[Maurice]

Whoever posted the pdf Manuals, Thank You. 

 

[ScutBoy]

A Radius FPD card for the SE/30 would drive my Apple FPD with a slight amount of flicker - I assume the refresh rates were slightly off.

 

[Maurice]

According to the Q&A I got off the old Radius website that was archived at xxx 

Q: Can I run a 68Hz (Part # FPD01) on a Mac SE/30?
A: No. Radius did not manufacture an interface card for a 68Hz FPD for use with the SE/30.

P.S. The 68Hz should be say 68KHz. 

 

[Maurice]

Radius archived website: https://web.archive.org/web/19970101060453/http://www.radius.com/support/www/Default.html