A little nostalgia for CRT fans

[Gamer9430]

So I was on Reddit browsing /r/VintageApple and someone posted a link to an app for macs (Universal) that allows you to round out the edges of your screen, giving off the impression of a rounded CRT display. It's a bit silly, but for those who are fans of CRTs and wished their macs could be attached to one, unlike @bunnspecial who has more CRTs than the average person , here is an app for you!

Link: http://manytricks.com/displaperture/

 

[bunnspecial]

Thanks for the link

Since I'm having piss poor luck getting the Apple CRTs(or at least working ones), I am eying a couple of nice 17" Trinitrons at work and trying to decide if I want to lug them home.

I really should get my eMac back out, as it actually does have a surprisingly nice tube in it, especially for what was marketed as a low-end all in one. I've love the quirkiness of iMacs, but the tubes in those don't get me excited like the better ones.

Heck, I need to get my 17" Blueberry set back up...

 

[Gamer9430]

Thanks for the link

Since I'm having piss poor luck getting the Apple CRTs(or at least working ones), I am eying a couple of nice 17" Trinitrons at work and trying to decide if I want to lug them home.

I really should get my eMac back out, as it actually does have a surprisingly nice tube in it, especially for what was marketed as a low-end all in one. I've love the quirkiness of iMacs, but the tubes in those don't get me excited like the better ones.

Heck, I need to get my 17" Blueberry set back up...

I have two eMacs, 1.25GHz and 700MHz respectively, and I absolutely love the tubes in them. They are by far the best CRTs I've ever used and ever looked at. They are crisp and sharp on every resolution I toss at it.

 

[poiihy]

I've love the quirkiness of iMacs, but the tubes in those don't get me excited like the better ones.

That sounded weird...

 

[LightBulbFun]

its funny this showed up today... as today I Just got OS X installed on a friends workstation i7 PC and one of the displays conected to it is a 19 (I think) inch IBM CRT and it looks so odd to see yosemite on a Cathode ray tube heh

 

[redheeler]

its funny this showed up today... as today I Just got OS X installed on a friends workstation i7 PC and one of the displays conected to it is a 19 (I think) inch IBM CRT and it looks so odd to see yosemite on a Cathode ray tube heh

That reminds me of something I want to try with my 21" CRT Studio Display and 13" rMBP running OS X 10.11 beta...

 

[bunnspecial]

Yosemite on a CRT, you say? Who would do such a thing?

 

[bunnspecial]

That reminds me of something I want to try with my 21" CRT Studio Display and 13" rMBP running OS X 10.11 beta...

If you ever find that 77lb monitor in your way, you know who to contact

 

[LightBulbFun]

Haha thats awesome reminds me of the 21 inch one on ebay hooked up to the same 2012 MBP heh I wonder what does it say under displays on about this mac? (I wonder when the CRT studio displays where last supported by OS X)

 

[weckart]

Thanks for the link

Since I'm having piss poor luck getting the Apple CRTs(or at least working ones)

You just need to emigrate. There was no love forthcoming for the monitor I linked to recently, even at 99p and being in 'museum' condition. It will probably end up in a landfill once the toxic metals have been stripped out.

 

[bunnspecial]

Haha thats awesome reminds me of the 21 inch one on ebay hooked up to the same 2012 MBP heh I wonder what does it say under displays on about this mac? (I wonder when the CRT studio displays where last supported by OS X)

It called it an Apple Studio Display, although all I can adjust is the resolution and refresh rate.

I'd be curious to know if the calibration on the 21" works under 10.10

 

[LightBulbFun]

I don't think so... if the newer LCD cinema/studio displays where dropped I would be very surprised if the CRTs apple specific features work under Yosemite... altho it wont hurt to try (also maybe you can try the CRT studio display in snow leopard or Lion as those still supported the LCD ones so might support the CRTs)

 

[JessH]

Yes!

This is awesome, thank you!

Do any of you guys know if there is some other marketplace than eBay/Craigslist out there that I would be able to find one of these CRTs, or even the ADC CRTs?

I have been looking for months on Craigslist, with no luck at all.

 

[bunnspecial]

Yes!

This is awesome, thank you!

Do any of you guys know if there is some other marketplace than eBay/Craigslist out there that I would be able to find one of these CRTs, or even the ADC CRTs?

I have been looking for months on Craigslist, with no luck at all.

All I can say is to keep your eyes open. I just bought the 17" ADC for about $65 shipped on Ebay. It has a few cosmetic issues, but is supposed to be working fine. Hopefully UPS will treat this one nicer than they did the last one.

I still have the "bad" one sitting here boxed up-UPS agreed to refund the money, and the seller is going to send it to me as soon as they get it. The seller told me to keep it 2-3 weeks after the refund and see if UPS wants it back, and if not to dispose of it. I may end up keeping it if they don't take it back and see if I can fix it.

Since the ADC monitors have the same built in calibration of the 21" Blueberry/Graphite, I may try hooking one up to an A1006 afterwhile and try it on something running SL or Lion. I don't have anything running ML.

Actually, come to think of it, I'll have to try it with Snow Leopard, since the only thing I have with me at the moment running Lion is my Blackbook and I don't have the mini DVI-DVI dongle(I just have the VGA version). I'll have to use one of my pre-Unibody MBPs since they can go direct to DVI out.

 

[bunnspecial]

I tried playing with the ADC CRT on a couple of different MBPs via the A1006.

Interestingly enough, I actually couldn't get a video display on it with any of them. Working on memory, though, I'm not sure the A1006 can drive the CRT, as I think I've issues even with supported computers.

In any case, the USB ports did work and the computer did recognize it under both 10.6 and 10.9.

10.6 did allow control of the contrast, but lacked any of the other CRT-specific controls available under 10.5 and earlier. Specifically, on 10.5 and earlier, the geometry, degauss, and built-in calibration was all accessed under another tab that popped up in the Displays control pane under system profiler. All of this was gone in 10.6.

 

[LightBulbFun]

I wonder what does the 21 inch VGA apple studio display CRT have under snow leopard? (I do rember reading apple saying the A1006 was not compatible with the ADC CRT I think its due to the display being technically VGA and the adapter only passing through DVI I think)

 

[bunnspecial]

I will let you know if I ever get a 21"

I'm not surprised about the digital-only thing with the CRT

 

[redheeler]

I wonder what does the 21 inch VGA apple studio display CRT have under snow leopard? (I do rember reading apple saying the A1006 was not compatible with the ADC CRT I think its due to the display being technically VGA and the adapter only passing through DVI I think)

I will let you know as soon as I get a Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter. I had thought my 2012 mini shipped with one in the box, but unfortunately it's a HDMI to DVI (no analog signal), so it's not much use to me.

 

[bunnspecial]

I will let you know as soon as I get a Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter. I had thought my 2012 mini shipped with one in the box, but unfortunately it's a HDMI to DVI (no analog signal), so it's not much use to me.

I guess-being in academia-I tend to forget that not everyone has these lying around by the bucket full. They are ubiquitous there because VGA is still the standard for connecting to projectors, and are becoming more and more common as a lot of PC makers are now moving to mini DP

 

[gooser]

i have two tv's and they're both crt's. does that count? also an imac g3. someone was going to give me an emac a couple of years ago but she changed her mind.

 

[weckart]

I will let you know as soon as I get a Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter. I had thought my 2012 mini shipped with one in the box, but unfortunately it's a HDMI to DVI (no analog signal), so it's not much use to me.

DVI can feed a VGA port with a cheap pin adapter. The Mac Mini used to come with one. The opposite, of course, won't work.

 

[redheeler]

DVI can feed a VGA port with a cheap pin adapter. The Mac Mini used to come with one. The opposite, of course, won't work.

HDMI isn't capable of outputting an analog signal, and because of this my DVI to VGA adapter won't fit, there's simply no place for the analog pins to go in. I could get a Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter and plug the DVI to VGA adapter into that, which I might do.

 

[LightBulbFun]

IRC the apple DP-DVI adapter is DVI-D only so a passive DVI-VGA adapter wont work on that ether.

 

[A.Goldberg]

Yosemite on a CRT, you say? Who would do such a thing?

View attachment 562116

This is history right here- the first time Yosemite has been run on a CRT.

I guess-being in academia-I tend to forget that not everyone has these lying around by the bucket full. They are ubiquitous there because VGA is still the standard for connecting to projectors, and are becoming more and more common as a lot of PC makers are now moving to mini DP

My sister got a PC laptop from her work. She had to make a presentation and she ran into the issue of the projector having VGA in and the laptop only having DVI out. Whoops!

I'm glad to see video adapters are becoming a little more standardized with HDMI.

 

[MacCubed]

This is history right here- the first time Yosemite has been run on a CRT.


My sister got a PC laptop from her work. She had to make a presentation and she ran into the issue of the projector having VGA in and the laptop only having DVI out. Whoops!

I'm glad to see video adapters are becoming a little more standardized with HDMI.

Yeah my new TV lacks VGA and uses only HDMI