Modern monitor connection to Cube?

[Steer_gear]

Hi everyone,

Picked up an old Cube over the holidays and had a lot of fun getting it running again. But I was forced to use an old HDTV as a monitor as it is the only thing I have around with a VGA port.

Is there anyway to connect the cube’s ADC port to a modern monitor with an HDMI or DisplayPort connection using an adapter?

I’ve tried searching but I keep getting answers related to the opposite....connecting a more modern Mac with a DVI port to an older studio display.

Thanks!

 

[eyoungren]

Hi everyone,

Picked up an old Cube over the holidays and had a lot of fun getting it running again. But I was forced to use an old HDTV as a monitor as it is the only thing I have around with a VGA port.

Is there anyway to connect the cube’s ADC port to a modern monitor with an HDMI or DisplayPort connection using an adapter?

I’ve tried searching but I keep getting answers related to the opposite....connecting a more modern Mac with a DVI port to an older studio display.

Thanks!

There probably is, but you're talking video conversion from analogue (VGA) to digital (HDMI/Display Port).

That's probably going to require some investment in converter boxes, which are rare and specialty and I've only seen older ones on eBay going for $200-300 without all the parts and accessories.

There may be another way. I have a VGA to HDMI converter I bought at Fry's Electronics. Cost me about $20-30 but it never worked in the way I was intending it (hooking a PC up to my HDMI TV through the VGA port).

Your experience may be somewhat different, IDK.

 

[KawaiiAurora]

Hi everyone,

Picked up an old Cube over the holidays and had a lot of fun getting it running again. But I was forced to use an old HDTV as a monitor as it is the only thing I have around with a VGA port.

Is there anyway to connect the cube’s ADC port to a modern monitor with an HDMI or DisplayPort connection using an adapter?

I’ve tried searching but I keep getting answers related to the opposite....connecting a more modern Mac with a DVI port to an older studio display.

Thanks!

You have 2 options if you don't want to break the bank.

1. Get a VGA to HDMI adapter
2. IIRC, G4 Cube computers have an AGP slot so you could try flashing a low-profile PC GPU (like a Geforce 6200) that has DVI and use an HDMI adapter on that. HDMI is DVI in a different form factor so adapters are dirt cheap.

 

[bobesch]

Hi everyone,

Picked up an old Cube over the holidays and had a lot of fun getting it running again. But I was forced to use an old HDTV as a monitor as it is the only thing I have around with a VGA port.

Is there anyway to connect the cube’s ADC port to a modern monitor with an HDMI or DisplayPort connection using an adapter?

I’ve tried searching but I keep getting answers related to the opposite....connecting a more modern Mac with a DVI port to an older studio display.

Thanks!

Ha, seem's the cheapest option is to get the stylish original acrylic-display with ADC-port.
And it's the option giving the greatest satisfaction ...

 

[BrianBaughn]

Wouldn't the cheapest solution would be to buy a monitor with a D-Sub port? There are hundreds available.

 

[CooperBox]

Ha, seem's the cheapest option is to get the stylish original acrylic-display with ADC-port.
And it's the option giving the greatest satisfaction ...

Totally agree with this suggestion! Plus they simply complement each other so perfectly, like bread & butter or strawberries & cream.

 

[AphoticD]

How about an ADC to DVI adapter + DVI to HDMI?

The ADC to DVI adapters are quite rare, but you might get lucky. Otherwise, a compatible AGP graphics card with a DVI output would work as others have suggested.

 

[1042686]

How about an ADC to DVI adapter + DVI to HDMI?

The ADC to DVI adapters are quite rare, but you might get lucky. Otherwise, a compatible AGP graphics card with a DVI output would work as others have suggested.

That's what I was thinking too. Something like the Cube ADC port to an apple A1006 adapter then a male DVI/male HDMI cable to the monitor/tv. Then again that $$ would get you to half way to a 23" acrylic cinema display & firmly within the grasp of a 17". From a cost POV, a cheap low end flashed GPU probably is indeed the cheapest fix but that would entail the most legwork from the owner. For some reason the A1006/cable solution resonates with me. Looking at ebay, a savvy buyer could get that solution going for around $40.

Best of luck to you.

 

[AphoticD]

An even savvier option would be to make your own ADC to DVI adapter by researching the pinout diagrams of both connectors and remapping them.

ADC is essentially DVI with added pins for power and USB.

I’m picturing a female DVI to female HDMI adapter (“gender changer”) with a series of bent (insulated) paperclips coming out of it.. rough, but it would work.

 

[mode11]

Sounds like you need a Belkin F2E9142-WHT Pro Series ADC to DVI Apple Monitor Adapter. Don't know how often they come up on eBay, though. Then any old generic DVI to HDMI cable.

You won't be able to connect to DisplayPort without some kind of active convertor, which if they exist will be expensive.

The easiest / cheapest would be an active VGA to HDMI convertor. You can get these for about £10 and I doubt the image would be noticeably worse than a native digital connection. Will do the sound too, via the Cube's sound module's headphone output. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product...fl_title_16?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2TLV525CL051I

 

[eyoungren]

An even savvier option would be to make your own ADC to DVI adapter by researching the pinout diagrams of both connectors and remapping them.

ADC is essentially DVI with added pins for power and USB.

I’m picturing a female DVI to female HDMI adapter (“gender changer”) with a series of bent (insulated) paperclips coming out of it.. rough, but it would work.

If you search the internet you'll actually find plans for this. People have done it and the pinouts have been mapped already.

 

[eddjedi]

I have the same dilemma myself as my main monitor has no VGA input. I have tried two different VGA to HDMI adapters, both had very poor picture quality compared to the native VGA. This one looked like a good solution as it also provided audio over USB:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/311456031821

But as said the picture quality is quite poor. I am waiting for an ADC > DVI converter to come up for sale.

 

[Mac03ForLife]

Hi everyone,

Picked up an old Cube over the holidays and had a lot of fun getting it running again. But I was forced to use an old HDTV as a monitor as it is the only thing I have around with a VGA port.

Is there anyway to connect the cube’s ADC port to a modern monitor with an HDMI or DisplayPort connection using an adapter?

I’ve tried searching but I keep getting answers related to the opposite....connecting a more modern Mac with a DVI port to an older studio display.

Thanks!

I've found that QacQoc may have some good options
Although you may also just want to grab a pinout diagram of the target connector and the starting connector and make a cable