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Apple Cinema Displays on Vintage Macs
- Thread starter Gil
- Start date
Can any vintage macs hit 1680X1050(20" Cinema) anyways?
Unfortunately, all the Cinema Displays are DVI-D (i.e. digital) only, so there's no way to connect them directly to an analogue output like VGA or the older Mac DA-15 connector. There are adapters available to make the connection, but they don't come cheap! For example:
http://www.cableuniverse.co.uk/catalog/cables/vga-to-dvi-d-converter.html
http://www.nti1.co.uk/vga-dvi.html
There are a lot of cheap converters available, but these won't work because they're designed to go the other way -- from a DVI computer to a VGA monitor. They take advantage of the fact that the outputs on pretty much all computers are DVI-I which means they have both analogue and digital signals on the one connector.
To be honest, you'd probably just be better buying a cheap flat panel that has a VGA input for your older Macs [
)] ]'>
http://www.cableuniverse.co.uk/catalog/cables/vga-to-dvi-d-converter.html
http://www.nti1.co.uk/vga-dvi.html
There are a lot of cheap converters available, but these won't work because they're designed to go the other way -- from a DVI computer to a VGA monitor. They take advantage of the fact that the outputs on pretty much all computers are DVI-I which means they have both analogue and digital signals on the one connector.
To be honest, you'd probably just be better buying a cheap flat panel that has a VGA input for your older Macs [
)] ]'>
Tom is correct. Short of ridiculously expensive adapters, it is impossible.
To recap in short form:
Older computers only have analog video out. On the Mac, this is Apple's proprietary DB-15 plug. Apple's Cinema Displays all use digital video. The very first 22" model, and all of the Aluminum models use DVI, most of the 'Clear lucite' models use Apple's custom ADC plug. In order to turn the analog video out into digital video, you need an expensive adapter.
Long form:
Modern video cards generally have a DVI plug that contains both analog and digital signals. For a digital monitor, you plug the DVI connection directly in. For an analog (VGA) monitor, you use an adapter that connects the analog pins in the DVI plug to the appropriate pins in the VGA plug. The reverse is not possible, because VGA and Apple DB-15 video ports to not contain a digital signal, so there is no digital signal to 'pass through'. All cheap "DVI to VGA" adapters are the first kind. To pass through the analog signal from a video card's DVI plug to an analog VGA monitor.
To recap in short form:
Older computers only have analog video out. On the Mac, this is Apple's proprietary DB-15 plug. Apple's Cinema Displays all use digital video. The very first 22" model, and all of the Aluminum models use DVI, most of the 'Clear lucite' models use Apple's custom ADC plug. In order to turn the analog video out into digital video, you need an expensive adapter.
Long form:
Modern video cards generally have a DVI plug that contains both analog and digital signals. For a digital monitor, you plug the DVI connection directly in. For an analog (VGA) monitor, you use an adapter that connects the analog pins in the DVI plug to the appropriate pins in the VGA plug. The reverse is not possible, because VGA and Apple DB-15 video ports to not contain a digital signal, so there is no digital signal to 'pass through'. All cheap "DVI to VGA" adapters are the first kind. To pass through the analog signal from a video card's DVI plug to an analog VGA monitor.
In even shorter form:
No. (Unless you have money to burn).
No. (Unless you have money to burn).
You might find a used TFT monitor like the EIZO L365. It fits well next to a vintage Mac and has two separate input ports for analogue as well as for digital video input. Best of all: it has a brilliant panel with a native resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels, perfect for a lot of Macs. Just get a cheap (passive) VGA to Mac DSub15 adaptor to connect it to the mac video port. (Or cut the original cable and solder on a Mac style DSub15 with appropriate sense pin connections.)
