LCD TV to my SE/30?

[Blougram]

After my trials and tribulations with my "old" SE/30 which refused to acknowledge any SCSI drives, I decided to keep it for spares, and get another one. Thanks everyone for helping me out, by the way.

I found someone selling an SE/30 20/40 (interesting RAM/HD ratio!) with a Colorboard 264 installed for the equivalent of 100$ in a local listing, and thought it was a decent deal.

So, I met with the owner (who used it for DTP in the early 90s), turned it on, and played around with it for 30 minutes before I made up my mind. The computer was a beauty; nary a scratch or a dent. It ran smoothly; even the original HD was virtually silent. Of course all was not as well as I was lead to believe. Like a horse (or, rather, zebra) given a shot of arsenic, it collapsed when I brought it home and turned it on. Simasimac. It works when I restart it, but I know it's a matter of hours/days/weeks before it will be as dead as, well, a dead zebra. I'll open it in a few days' time, and try to find someone willing to recap it for me. I so want this baby to work. By the way, is there a risk of rendering it "uncappable" (by compounding the damage) if I continue to use it?

But my main question is this: The Colorboard 264 is (according to LowEndMac) a fixed resolution card (24 bit VGA) intended, I guess, for the 13" Apple-Color High-Resolution Monitor. These are not easy to come by in Sweden. And even though I like original parts, they are simply too hefty. Would it be possible to use an LCD monitor (I have a VGA adapter), and if so, do I need to find one with a native resolution of 640x480@60Hz? Or would any unit supporting that resolution work? The 10" Denver LED-1030DVBT for example

Yes, I tried hooking it up to my 32" TV, but got an error message saying that the resolution was not supported. :

Cheers,

Blougram

 

[Mk.558]

The board can be rendered useless if the electrolyte is allowed to eat up the traces on the board, then chances of a full recovery are slim. Lifted solder pads are another thing (owing to age; on my last recap I only ate one solder pad. Good hing it was only going to ground).

I don't know much about the video out cards, however some cards are only compatible with very specific monitors because of the signals from the card can't be interpreted by non compatible displays.

For that matter I would like a VGA out card for my /30 preferably with a dual slot adaptor so I can also use my Ethernet card.

 

[Bunsen]

Would it be possible to use an LCD monitor / do I need to find one with a native resolution of 640x480@60Hz?

Yes, entirely possible. 60Hz is probably the most common native refresh rate for LCD monitors, so you should have no troubles there.

As to the resolution: yes, any monitor supporting 640x480 will work with the card, with one caveat.

As LCDs use discrete pixels (rather than a continuous coating like the inside of a CRT), a monitor with any other native resolution will have to either scale the display to fit (digitally stretch it out to the native resolution), or letterbox it (leave black space around the 640x480 pixels). Scaling is never perfect - you will end up with jaggy bits all over, because the pixel map of the card and the LCD panel don't match up. In short, it'll look like crap.

So yes, you are better off finding an LCD that is native 640x480, or exactly twice that, native 1280x960 - or one that can be forced not to scale, and just use the center 640x480 (or 1280x960) pixels.

/edit/ - You might also have luck with a widescreen monitor, with a vertical resolution of 480 (like 800x480, or 1600x960), that can display a 4:3 signal (ie, normal not widescreen) with black bars either side, or a larger one that can be forced to display as above.

Or ... a CRT. IMHO, this is your best bet unless you are short on space. For starters, pretty much any old CRT monitor made since the early 1990s will work (barring weirdo proprietary ones), and also you should be able to find a decent one for $0.00

The board can be rendered useless if the electrolyte is allowed to eat up the traces on the board, then chances of a full recovery are slim.

When you open your SE/30, take out and examine closely the logic board and analog board for any sign of leakage from your caps. If you find any, it is advisable to wash your board/s, to prevent acid damage, until such time as you can get them recapped. Searching these forums will turn up instructions on how to wash PCBs correctly.

 

[Blougram]

Thanks for the reply, Bunsen! And sorry for not getting back until now.

I knew from the data sheet that my TV supports ye olde Mac VGA specifications, but it took some tweaking with DIP switches on an adapter before I finally got it to work. But the result is great: vibrant True Color! This has been a dream of mine since I got my first compact as a kid back in 1991. I'm still not sure whether to go for authenticity with an Apple-Color High-Resolution 13" monitor perched on my desk, or whether I should stick to my 24" TV (and a looong VGA cable), or perhaps get a small LCD monitor.

(sorry for the crappy quality - I took it with my iPhone, rescaled the picture and emailed it to myself)

 

[Blougram]

Coda...

Due to lack of space in my new flat, I brought the Mac to my office and hooked it up to a 21" LCD monitor. I have since spent countless hours replaying some of the point 'n click and strategy games I loved as a kid, which unfortunately defeated the rationale behind me bringing the computer to work in the first place, namely to use it as a snappy and distraction-free word processor. I am 'fraid I will have to remove the Rasterops board, and perhaps replace it with an ethernet card.