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"BARE
Facts
On Macintosh Speed FEATS" |
"BARE
Facts
On Macintosh Speed FEATS"
rob-ART
morgan, mad
scientist and webmaster
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At
Last: A VGA to ADC Converter! Originally posted
5/24/02 Updated
7/15/02 -- Although I was notified by a reader of a problem
on July 4th with the Formac Gallery 1740 connected to a
PowerBook 550, I am assured by the owner of Gefen (Hagai
Gefen) that it should work fine with that setup. The readers
unit might be defective. They are looking into the problem.
Mr. Gefen also informed me that the 15" LCD which did not
work in May is now compatible. Many of you have sent me
email asking the displays with ADC (Apple Display Connector)
could be hooked up to a VGA graphics port. Up until
recently, the answer was, "no way." Now the answer is, "way,
dude." Gefen, who was one of the first to come up with a
DVI
to ADC converter,
is now the first to offer a VGA
to ADC Conversion Box. The Gefen
VGA to ADC Conversion
Box is very
useful for at least three scenarios: 2. Connecting an ADC
display to a G3 or G4 PowerBook
with VGA port. 3. Connecting an ADC
display to the Maxtox
RTMac card's
VGA port. ANY
GOTCHA'S? 2. The
Gefen
adapter does NOT work with all ADC displays. The VGA
to ADC converter DOES work with the
Apple
15" LCD, 17" LCD, the 22" Cinema LCD, and the 23" Cinema
HD LCD.
But the VGA to ADC
adapter does NOT work with the Apple 17" CRT with
ADC connector. Although the web site
says it works with the Formac
Gallery 17" LCD display,
one reader reported to me that it does NOT work
with his PowerBook G4/550 VGA port. Gefen is looking into
the his problem. More later. 3. The
Gefen
does not work with all resolutions. It supports only
four: 1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024, 1600 x 1024 and 1920x1200.
In other words, it only supports the "native" resolution
of the ADC flat panels. Don't be trying to run Quake3 at
640x480. WHERE TO
BUY (Bare
Feats is hosted on a G4 Power Mac server by MacDock.com)
1. Connecting a
second ADC display to the VGA port of a dual display
adapter like the GeForce2MX or ProMax
DHMax on a
Power Mac.
1. The price.
It's $399. Ouch! If you are using a Power Mac, it
would be cheaper to purchase a $120
Radeon 7000 PCI
card with DVI port and a $150
Apple DVI to ADC adapter.
However, if you are using something like Pro Tools with
your Power Mac, you don't want a PCI graphics card
sucking any bandwidth from your PCI bus. So from a
performance standpoint, you need to bite the
bullet.
And if you
have a PowerBook with a VGA port or are determined to
use that port on your RTMac, the Gefen
adapter is the only way to connect either to an ADC
display.
Let me repeat.
If you have one of those beautiful Apple 17" CRT's
with the ADC connector, it will not work with a VGA to
ADC converter. Nor will it work with any DVI to ADC
converter. Gefen says it's Apple's fault and they have
no way to kludge it into working.
Order direct from
Gefen.
"BARE facts on Macintosh speed FEATS"
Email webmaster at rob-art@barefeats.com
