Dell 2005FPW with G4 Yikes Problem

[douglas]

I just received a Dell 2005FPW monitor today and connected to my Powermac G4 350mz Yikes. The Dell recommended resolution of 1680 x 1050 is not available on my monitor control panel and the closest I can get to work is 1280 x 960, and at this resolution the images are somewhat distorted (we do CAD work, and for example circles show as ellipses - not good). Does anyone know where I can find a correct driver for this monitor (Dell support are ignorant of anything Mac related), or is this problem due to my older video card? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[fowler.]

Your video card probably doesn't support the resolution.

I had a G4 400 for a little bit which wouldn't work with my 20" Cinema display. Turns out, like I said, the video card wasn't compatible with that resolution.

 

[edesignuk]

As fowler said, this is probably your video card that has the problem.

...you're doing CAD work on a 350!?

 

[douglas]

As fowler said, this is probably your video card that has the problem.

...you're doing CAD work on a 350!?

Yeah, we use ArchiCad with OS9 and it works fine. Any other suggestions? Thanks.

 

[CanadaRAM]

The probable solution is an ATI Radeon 9200 128 Mb PCI video card, which can go to 2048 x 1536 VGA or 1920 x 1200 digital.

*maybe* a Radeon 7000 PCI with 32 MB will work, it will do 2048 x 1536 on VGA but is listed at 1024 x 768 maximum on a LCD. I wonder if that spec relates to the LCD monitors that were out at the time the card was current?

Haven't had a chance to try this yet myself.

Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com

 

[CanadaRAM]

OK the Dell 2005FPW finally arrived:

Plugged it into my beige G3 by VGA, and it worked... except for everything was stretched out wide, because the G3/OS 9.2.1 stock video does not have a wide aspect ratio resolution, and you can't adjust horizontal size on the Dell

I put a Radeon 7000 PCI card into the G3 and downloaded the driver from ATI (a chore, because they no longer list their 9.2.1 driver, only one for 9.2.2 Only. Once I found the old driver page, the download links were broken on the page...) Hooked up with DVI, restarted, and the card found the monitor, auto adjusted to 1680 x 1050 millions of colours and even created a specific Dell Colorsync entry. Well done. The monitor is sharp and stable, and VERY wide. The monitor comes with both VGA and DVI cables which is nice, although the cables don't seem to be premium quality. There is front panel switching between DVI, VGA, SVideo and composite input, so you could have a video or TV playing through SVideo and a Nintendo (or a Commodore 64...) playing through the Composite input

I actually have the Dell hooked up to both the DVI and the G3 motherboard VGA connection now, so I have a "virtual" two monitor spanning setup.

This is going to be the cat's pajamas when my Mini finally arrives.

Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com

 

[hcuar]

This is going to be the cat's pajamas when my Mini finally arrives.

Now all you need is some black electrical type to cover the Dell logo. Otherwise you're going to feel dirty inside every time you look at it.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Now all you need is some black electrical type to cover the Dell logo. Otherwise you're going to feel dirty inside every time you look at it.

Naw, not with having got it at $350 off...

Not dirty... smart.