MinerAl Posted June 4, 2015 Report Share Posted June 4, 2015 "New Factory Sealed 15-pin Super VGA 9" Monochrome VM-9AF Monitor" Long eBay link. Not my auction, etc... I put this in H&D instead of Trading Post because these little monitors are really only interesting if you're hacking a (already really dead) compact Mac to: be an external monitor house a Mac mini or little PC make RaspberryPi emuMac or something similar I haven't received the one I ordered yet, so I can't verify that it'll fit perfectly (or even at all), but at $70 shipped, I'm willing to take a shot. The seller says he has 50 of them. I'll follow up once I get it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
trag Posted June 4, 2015 Report Share Posted June 4, 2015 If you don't mind opening the thing up, would you let us know if there's a part number on the CRT. It would be interesting to find out if it's using one of the CRTs that is compatible with compact Macs. I found a trove (5) of new 9" CRTs some years ago which were replacement parts for 9" B&W Panasonic Security Monitors. The part number on the CRT was identical to the HRmumble number for the compact Macs and they included a driver board with many components identical to a compact Mac's analog board. Anyway, it would be especially interesting if the CRT in these was a brand new replacment for the CRT in Compact Macs. Especially good for those units with burn in and such. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MinerAl Posted June 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2015 I will be taking it apart immediately upon receiving it I'm using it for a hack that was detailed in a nice long thread here but, after the picture purge of '14, that thread is now completely useless. I'll (perhaps ironically) post pictures in this thread when it arrives. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheWhiteFalcon Posted June 4, 2015 Report Share Posted June 4, 2015 I'm envisioning B&W Dreamcast games on that. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
techknight Posted June 4, 2015 Report Share Posted June 4, 2015 (edited) with a little crazy taxi? I just ran across this auction yesterday, matter of fact. all because I had CRT on the mind and started looking at amber/green CRTs. Even if the CRT is a different part number, as long as the bolt pattern and curvature is the same, it doesnt matter. the pinout will be almost certainly the same, and the neck diameter as well, so it will accept the original deflection yoke of the Plus, SE, etc... And if its a 9" CRT, the voltages should all be about the same as well. Edited June 4, 2015 by techknight Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trash80toHP_Mini Posted June 4, 2015 Report Share Posted June 4, 2015 stuff! Keep us posted, I'm hoping monochrome means grayscale. Case looks slim, compact and neat, the board might just fit nicely opposite the AB in a compact. I'm thinking RCPII/IIsi GS/30. ]'> Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MinerAl Posted June 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2015 The SVGA "monochrome" 9-inch monitor I have was grayscale, by virtue of sending all three color signals to one pin on its little AB. And its curvature fit the Classic II bezel curve-for-curve bolt-for-bolt; perfect. I never took the yoke off, but someone (probably techknight) assured me the pins would match up. Now that I'll have a replacement maybe I'll check the neck-pins and possibly swap it with the burnt-in one in my latest SE/30 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
uniserver Posted June 4, 2015 Report Share Posted June 4, 2015 they should be up for 40 each. sorry… i have 83 working iMac's here /w 15" .28 DP, beautiful color screens and i can't even get 10 bucks each for em. crazy hobby. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MinerAl Posted June 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2015 (edited) I figure they are $40 each + $30 shipping. I'd have several of your iMacs if I could lay $10 in your hand hop in my car and drive to my near by home. Shipping is the worst part of the CRT end of this hobby. Edited June 5, 2015 by MinerAl Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trash80toHP_Mini Posted June 5, 2015 Report Share Posted June 5, 2015 Somebody clue me in, why are we looking at cannibalizing a perfectly good Grayscale VGA monitor for a B&W replacement tube for Compacts? I've always though about snagging a Graphite iMac/SE/whatever just because I love Graphite, but shipping one? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
trag Posted June 7, 2015 Report Share Posted June 7, 2015 I don't have any use for a grayscale VGA monitor, but a brand new, burn-in free, bright-as-new CRT for my old compact Macs is something I can use and am increasingly unlikely to ever see again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MinerAl Posted June 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2015 I'm fairly sure the "brand new" we're talking about here is really "new old stock." I suppose there might be a Chinese factory still churning out tiny black and white CRTs. I'm assuming they've been sitting around in their unopened boxes for at least 10 years. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
trag Posted June 7, 2015 Report Share Posted June 7, 2015 I don't think CRTs lose brightness if they're just sitting around, do they? Or do little gas molecules sneak into the tube and oxidize the phospors or some such? Contaminate the cathode? I agree that NOS is what should be expected. I have trouble imagining that anyone would still be manufacturing CRTs, but these could be the tail end of a run for a niche market. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Unknown_K Posted June 7, 2015 Report Share Posted June 7, 2015 Are those point of sales monitors? And if so would recyclers have those for cheap? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trash80toHP_Mini Posted June 7, 2015 Report Share Posted June 7, 2015 POS CRTs went of the Dodo long time since, so those wonderful recycle days are gone. They've have cost a pretty penny when they've come up on eBay, often with obvious burn-in included. Recyclers are likely on the lookout to 'Bay 'em even when they get 'em. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MinerAl Posted June 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 My local recyclers won't even sell CRTs any more, because for a few years now Missouri makes them charge $12-$15 per tube to recycle them (which totally doesn't make people leave them on random corners instead of easily and responsibly recycling them... ). Once they've charged somebody to recycle one they are obligated to actually recycle it and may not re-sell it. The minimum wage dudes from the county work-release across the street who work the dock don't make decisions; they just charge you $15 for anything with a tube. I've seen really nice CRT iMacs, eMacs, and AIOs all totally unavailable because they'd already been paid to be recycled. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheWhiteFalcon Posted June 8, 2015 Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 Local thrift plans to stop taking CRT TV's on July 1st (probably because they hardly ever leave the shelves) but they've announced an exception for computer monitors. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Unknown_K Posted June 8, 2015 Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 Few people would want a CRT TV these days, just give the kids the old LCD TV when you upgrade. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
techknight Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 I don't think CRTs lose brightness if they're just sitting around, do they? Or do little gas molecules sneak into the tube and oxidize the phospors or some such? Contaminate the cathode? They dont lose brightness "persay" But... the older the CRT is/longer it sits dormant, there ARE impurities in the CRT and it will oxidize the cathode material in the electron gun. This will cut-off/weaken emissions from the gun until the oxidized material gets burned off. This is called "waking up" the tube after a long slumber. (many decades). usually you have to run up the filament voltage to around 8V for a few minutes to a half hour to get emissions back up into the green again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MinerAl Posted June 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2015 Got it today. Haven't had time to decase it yet, but it is certainly very similar to a stock Mac compact tube from the front. Nice sharp bright little monitor. It looks good at 800x600@60, better at 640x480@60, best at 640x480@59. The stock video on the dell 760 I was testing it with had the option of 848x480@60. Looked pretty nice at that. As good as 640x489@60. Don't think a Mac will output that res tho. It will not do 1024x768@60, nor any of the above at the other frequencies offered by the vid card I was using (72, 73, 75). It looked great at 32 bit color, the same at 16 bit, and the way Windows 7 acts at 256 colors made it look like crap. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MinerAl Posted June 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2015 (edited) Pics. The monitor looked great in person at 640x480@59Hz, but my camera made it dim. Looked great at 800x600@60Hz too. When I took the case off this was the tube inside: I haven't checked the tube's pins to see if they match a compact Mac's. I hate to mess with yokes; everything seems so fragile and pointy and shocky in there. It looked like it would bolt right into a tubeless Classic body I had handy... So I popped it in there! It fits perfectly. No gaps in the bezel or anything. I hooked it up to an LC475 at 800x600@56Hz and it looks very nice. I need to fiddle with the contrast and brightness a bit, but those knobs were on the front, so it'll take some screw-driving to tune it now. All-in-all a fairly easy and successful procedure Edited June 11, 2015 by MinerAl Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CC_333 Posted June 11, 2015 Report Share Posted June 11, 2015 So, that's in grayscale, and not monochrome? Neat! c Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MinerAl Posted June 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2015 Yes. "Millions" of grays Quote Link to post Share on other sites
olePigeon Posted June 12, 2015 Report Share Posted June 12, 2015 It looks nearly identical to a regular Compact CRT. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CC_333 Posted June 13, 2015 Report Share Posted June 13, 2015 (edited) "Millions" of grays, huh? This has likely been discussed elsewhere, but I wonder if you could somehow modify the Classic to output some kind of grayscale to the monitors analog board? c Edited June 13, 2015 by CC_333 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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