8514 compatible displays

[MykeLawson]

Well, my IBM PS/2 8560 'restoration' project is coming along. Not so much restoring it, but 'tricking it out'. Anyway, I got hold of an 8514/A with memory expansion, and it works great, except that the display I hooked up to test with does not support the 1024x768 43Hz Interlaced video the 8514/A puts out. And the IBM 8514 to 8517 displays are a bit on the rare side. So I'm trying to find some other display that can work with what the 8514/A puts out. Best would be an LCD display. If anyone is aware of any compatible displays that might have been marketed, I'd love to find out. Thanks

 

[ajacocks]

Hello!
I suggest any display on the 15khz modern monitor list:

List of modern monitors that support 15 kHz analog RGB signals - 15 kHz RGB Video

15khz.wikidot.com

I use Dell 2001fp 20" 1600x1200 IPS LCDs, and they sync with most things. Even better is a scalar, like the Extron RGB-HDMI 300a (https://www.extron.com/product/rgbhdmi300a) which will allow you to use _any_ HDMI LCD. You can get the 300a devices on eBay fairly inexpensively.

- Alex

 

[Eudimorphodon]

Huh. I'd blithely assumed that support for the 43hz interlaced mode would still be pretty universal, at least in old 4x3 LCDs, but I just tried it on the OAK VGA card in my Tandy 1000 and the HP Pavilion f70 monitor (a 2001-vintage 1280x1024 flat panel, the oldest monitor I own/still use that has a DVI port on it) I have on it told me to get bent. It handles 56hz 800x600 fine, which was the first common flavor of 800x600 (because it has roughly the same hsync frequency as 8514/A), so, yeah, surprised that's a no-go. I might have to waste some time testing some of my other monitors.

 

[MykeLawson]

Well, this is what the specs for the display need to support. I suspect I will wind up looking at some kind of video scaler/converter though.

 

[Eudimorphodon]

Just for laughs I tried two other monitors within reach; my very nice old-but-not-yet-fully-obsolete 30" Dell U3011 also barfs completely on 8514/A, while an NEC Multisync LCD1770NX (amusingly) pops up an "OUT OF RANGE" box on the screen but actually does lock onto it and display it. (Apparently NEC's scaler is more flexible than they realize. But it doesn't seem possible to dismiss the warning, so, yeah, still doesn't mean it's usable.)

8514/A-compatible interlaced 1024x768 was the worst-case least common denominator on CRTs for that resolution for a decently long time, kind of surprised that early 2000s LCDs like that HP don't still support it. (It's pretty normal for more recent LCD monitors to get strict about only accepting 60hz VESA-compatible modes, but the makers of old ones understood they needed to be a little more flexible about assuming that the computer on the other end would always honor the DDC mode info.) Learn something new every day.

Kind of wonder if it might be a difficult edge case to find a scaler that likes this. Those usually concentrate on scaling up TV-compatible modes.

 

[MykeLawson]

Yep, it is going to be a long wait to see if I can pick up one of the IBM displays that supported that config..... In the meantime, I at least have the stock VGA out of the 8560 I have.

 

[Eudimorphodon]

Yep, it is going to be a long wait to see if I can pick up one of the IBM displays that supported that config

Any latest-80’s through late 90’s multisync CRT monitor should work fine, but I guess well preserved examples of those aren’t exactly thick on the ground anymore. Shocking considering how common they were not that long ago.