Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!osu-cis!att!chinet!henry
From: henry@chinet.chi.il.us (Henry C. Schmitt)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Mac II and VGA  (icky-poo, IBM stuff)
Summary: RasterOps Board
Keywords: Zenith FTM Mac II Board RasterOps
Message-ID: <8264@chinet.chi.il.us>
Date: 22 Apr 89 13:41:15 GMT
References: <1531@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU>
Reply-To: henry@chinet.chi.il.us (Henry C. Schmitt)
Organization: Chinet - Public Access Unix
Lines: 34

In article <1531@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> ins_agws@jhunix (Gordon Stoll) writes:
>
> The Zenith ZCM-1490 ( I think that's
>the code ) flat tech monitor is one of the nicest I've ever seen, but it's
>designed specifically for IBM VGA.  Soooo....anybody out there know if
>you could hook up such a beastie to a Mac II?  

Being a Zenith Employee, I was interested in this myself.  The
Official Policy (TM) is that Zenith will _never_ provide a board to
attach the FTM (which stands for Flat Tension Mask) monitor to a
non-Zenith machine.  I think this is stupid and they're losing
potential sales.

Anyway RasterOps makes a board which does what you want with two
caveats: it will only run in 1-bit or 8-bit modes (2 or 256 colors),
why they didn't implement 2 and 4-bit modes I don't know.  They
other problem is the price: $1095!  RasterOps is known for being
pricey and they did it on this one too!

Anyway the board you want is called the ColorBoard 108 Z and this is
what the brochure says:  8-bit graphics board that is compatible
with the Zenith FTM-1490 (VGA) monitor.  Resolution 640 by 480
pixels.  Each pixel is 8-bit deep.  Both 8-bit and 1-bit mode
supported.  QuickDraw Supported.  Manual and Zenith monitor cable
included.  (72 dots per inch, 31.5 KHz scan rate, 60 Hz refresh)

I still haven't decided if I'll get one.  Apple's video card is
_much_ cheaper, especially with a student discount!  And then I'd
have more to spend on memory!

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