The ingeniously ill-fated Apple Display Connector: List of graphics cards, monitors and other peripherals

[Amethyst1]

Just thought I'd make a list of ADC monitors, as well as adapters and other peripherals. Just for the heck of it really.


Monitors

Manufacturer	Model	Size	Panel (Type) or Tube (Type)	Resolution	PPI	Intro or Release
Apple	Studio Display [1]	15"	LG.Philips (TN)	1024×768	85.33	2000.07.19
Apple	Studio Display (CRT)	17"	NEC-Mitsubishi (DiamondTron)	1600×1200 (max)	?	2000.07.19
Apple	Studio Display	17"	Samsung (IPS)	1280×1024	96.42	2001.05.21
Apple	Cinema Display	20.1"	IDTech IAWS64C (IPS)	1680×1050	99.06	2003.01.28
Apple	Cinema Display [2]	22"	LG.Philips LM220W1-A2MN (IPS)	1600×1024	86.35	2000.07.19
Apple	Cinema HD Display	23"	LG.Philips LM230W01-A2 (IPS)	1920×1200	98.44	2002.03.20
Formac	gallery 1740 [3]	17.4"	MVA	1280×1024	94.21	2001.10.16
Formac	gallery 2010 Platinum [3]	20.1"	MVA	1600×1200	99.50	2002.09.17

Notes:

1. The 15" Studio Display was first introduced on 1998.03.17, with VGA. It was updated to use DVI on 1999.12.02.
2. The 22" Cinema Display was first introduced on 1999.08.31, with DVI.
3. The Formac gallery 1740 and 2010 were also available with DVI.

Adapters and Cables

Manufacturer	Model	Input	Output	Works with 17" CRT	Intro or Release
Apple	ADC to DVI Adapter	ADC	DVI	–	?
Apple	DVI to ADC Adapter	DVI	ADC	no	2002.04.29
Belkin	Apple Monitor Adapter	ADC	DVI	–	?
Dr. Bott	ADC Extension	ADC	ADC	no	2001.11.19
Dr. Bott	ADC Extension Pro	ADC	ADC	no	2003.01.07
Dr. Bott	DVIator	DVI	ADC	no	2001.06.12
Dr. Bott	DVI Extractor	ADC	DVI	–	2001.11.19
Dr. Bott	DVI Extractor II	ADC	DVI	–	2002.11.05
Dr. Bott	VGAtor	VGA	ADC	no	2004.05.13
Dr. Bott	VGA Extractor	ADC	VGA	–	2002.03.08
Gefen	DVI to ADC Conversion Box	DVI	ADC	no (one report says yes)	2001.02.18
Gefen	VGA to ADC Conversion Box	VGA	ADC	no	2002.03.11
New Motion	DVI-ADC Adapter	DVI	ADC	?	2001.??.??
New Motion	DVI to ADC Conversion Box	DVI	ADC	?	2001.??.??

Graphics Cards

Manufacturer	Model	Memory (MB)	Outputs	OS 9	Shipped in	Intro or Release
ATI	Rage 128 Pro [1] [2]	16	ADC | VGA	yes	PM G4 Cube/GE	2000.07.19
ATI	Radeon [3]	32	ADC | VGA	yes	PM G4 Cube/GE; Apple Store	2000.09.13
ATI	Radeon 7500	32	ADC + VGA	yes	PM G4 QS	2002.01.28
ATI	Radeon 9000 Pro	64	ADC + DVI	yes	PM G4 MDD/FW800/2003	2002.08.13
ATI	Radeon 9600 Pro	64	ADC + DVI	no	PM G5	2003.06.23
ATI	Radeon 9600 XT	128	ADC + DVI	no	PM G5 June/Late 2004	2004.06.09
ATI	Radeon 9700 Pro	128	ADC + DVI	no	PM G4 FW800	2003.01.28
ATI	Radeon 9800 Pro	128	ADC + DVI	no	PM G5	2003.06.23
ATI	Radeon 9800 Pro Special Edition	256	ADC + DVI	no	Retail	2004.02.08
ATI	Radeon 9800 XT	256	ADC + DVI	no	PM G5 June/Late 2004	2004.06.09
ATI	Radeon X800 XT	256	ADC + DL-DVI	no	Retail	2005.01.05
ATI	Radeon X850 XT	256	ADC + DL-DVI	no	PM G5 Early 2005	2005.06.27
NVIDIA	GeForce2 MX	32	ADC | VGA	yes	PM G4 DA	2001.01.09
NVIDIA	GeForce2 MX with TwinView	64	ADC + VGA	yes	PM G4 QS	2001.07.18
NVIDIA	GeForce3	64	ADC | VGA	yes	PM G4 DA/QS	2001.02.21
NVIDIA	GeForce4 MX	64	ADC + VGA	yes	PM G4 QS 2002/ED/MDD/FW800	2002.01.28
NVIDIA	GeForce4 Ti4600	128	ADC + DVI	yes	PM G4 QS 2002/MDD/FW800/ 2003	2002.02.04
NVIDIA	GeForce FX 5200 Ultra	64	ADC + DVI	no	PM G5	2003.06.23

Notes:

• Outputs separated by | means: only one of them can be active at once (single-head).
• Outputs separated by + means: both can be active at once and display two independent images (dual-head).
• The "OS 9" column indicates whether a GPU has full driver support, i.e. 2D acceleration, 3D acceleration, resolution and refresh rate switching etc. in Mac OS 9.x.

1. The ATI Rage 128 Pro will not output resolutions higher than 1600×1024 via ADC or DVI once Mac OS (tested with 8.6, 10.0, Server 1.2v3) boots. See here and here for details.
2. The ATI Rage 128 Pro was first offered in December 1999, with DVI and VGA outputs.
3. The original ATI Radeon (later renamed to Radeon 7200) was also available as a retail product, with DVI, VGA and S-Video outputs.

KVM Switches

Manufacturer	Model	Inputs	Output(s)	Works with 17" CRT	Intro or Release
Dr. Bott	MoniSwitch ADC	2× ADC	ADC	no	2002.10.14
Dr. Bott	MoniSwitch Pro ADC	4× ADC	ADC	no	2004.06.02
Gefen	2-Port DVI ADC KVM Switch	2× DVI	ADC	no	?
Gefen	4-Port DVI ADC KVM Switch	4× DVI	ADC, DVI	no	2004.??.??

History of Major Updates

• 2021.08.09: Initial version created.
• 2021.08.10: Apple monitors and graphics cards added.
• 2021.08.12: Belkin adapter added; tables tidied up; KVMs moved to separate section.
• 2021.08.14: Intro date for GeForce2 MX and Radeon corrected.
• 2021.08.16: Some notes added.
• 2023.06.07: New Motion DVI-ADC Adapter and DVI to ADC Conversion Box added.
• 2023.06.08: Panels used in ADC LCDs added (where known).
• 2023.06.09: Tidied up some tables; added notes on ATI Rage 128 Pro and original Radeon.
• 2024.02.02: Added "OS 9" column for GPUs indicating full driver support including 3D acceleration etc.; added more info on ATI Rage 128 Pro; added info on whether a GPU's outputs can both be active at once and show different images.

 

[B S Magnet]

NICE.

This deserves to evolve one day into a WikiPost!

 

[Amethyst1]

NICE.

This deserves to evolve one day into a WikiPost!

My thoughts exactly. I'll do that.

 

[joevt]

Isn't the list of Apple ADC monitors tiny enough to be added?

 

[Amethyst1]

Isn't the list of Apple ADC monitors tiny enough to be added?

I guess It just occurred to me that it would be a shame to forego the opportunity to make this thread a comprehensive list of ADC peripherals, so I'll add Apple's monitors as well as graphics cards.

 

[Amethyst1]

I'll add Apple's monitors as well as graphics cards.

Done.

 

[repairedCheese]

Done.

Any chance you could list if they come in AGP, PCI, and/or PCIe? Also, if I'm reading this all correctly, there seems to be basically no way to use the 17" Studio Display CRT without one of these video cards, which is a bit of a shame.

 

[joevt]

Also, if I'm reading this all correctly, there seems to be basically no way to use the 17" Studio Display CRT without one of these video cards, which is a bit of a shame.

The table includes a link pointing to a post at https://www.applefritter.com/comment/7967#comment-7967. The thread there has people experimenting with making their own adapters for the 17" Studio Display CRT. But it might require some USB or DDC commands from macOS to enable the display even after you have an adapter?

 

[Amethyst1]

Any chance you could list if they come in AGP, PCI, and/or PCIe?

They're all AGP.

Also, if I'm reading this all correctly, there seems to be basically no way to use the 17" Studio Display CRT without one of these video cards, which is a bit of a shame.

The problems are two-fold:

1. DVI-to-ADC adapters only use the digital video signal as input whereas the CRT needs the analog video signal. Even the VGA-to-ADC adapters listed don't work because they convert the analog video signal to a digital one in order to run the ADC LCDs. There's this one report of the Gefen DVI-to-ADC box unexpectedly working with the CRT (due to also passing through the analog signal) - but another post in that same thread said the same box didn't work for them.

2. You need a sufficiently powerful PSU to run the CRT (but one should be reasonably easy to source).

Update to first post: The Compatibility with CRT column obviously only makes sense for peripherals with an ADC output - corrected.

 

[LightBulbFun]

theres a 3rd Problem with the ADC CRT Studio display

in that like the CRTs found in iMac G3's and eMac's

its a fixed frequency CRT with a fixed horizontal frequency its NOT multi-sync etc

and as such if you give it something its not compatible with it will just display nothing and go blank

and the problem is, is its not compatible with any of the default safe 640x480 or 1024x768 modes that most PCs output

so you might get a lot of false "oh this adapter does not work" when actually its their computer outputting a mode the display does not like and the adapter may work just fine


just something to keep in mind for anyone experimenting with one of these CRT ADC Studio displays

(it is a shame they are so limited in that regard, as I do love how they look, I am sucker for transparent electronics etc )

 

[Amethyst1]

I am sucker for transparent electronics etc )

Same here, there's just something very 1990-y and cool about them. I loved my transparent Gameboy and Palm PDA.

and the problem is, is its not compatible with any of the default safe 640x480 or 1024x768 modes that most PCs output

so you might get a lot of false "oh this adapter does not work" when actually its their computer outputting a mode the display does not like

Using a Mac should be fine though, right, allowing to establish if it's really the adapter that is at fault?

 

[joevt]

Using a Mac should be fine though, right, allowing to establish if it's really the adapter that is at fault?

That depends on the Mac/GPU. The Open Firmware driver for the graphics controller in a Power Mac, or the EFI UGA or GOP driver for a GPU in an Intel Mac needs to be able to know what timing the display supports (from reading the EDID?) and honour that timing for display during boot to work. If it doesn't work during boot, it may work when the OS has started (uses its own driver). If it doesn't work when the OS starts then maybe an EDID override will make it work.

About Pixel Density (PPI), I don't think "does not apply" is accurate. Isn't there a finite number of red/green/blue phosphors per inch? You can't have a white pixel unless your scan line is wide enough to cover all three phosphor colors. If you have a repeating pattern of three phosphors, then I suppose your white pixel can be positioned on a third of a pixel (it can start on a red or green or blue phosphor and needs to be wide enough to cover three different phosphor colors). It reminds me of subpixel rendering used by some font renderers or Apple II graphics (except in Apple II graphics, you are painting a white pixel in relation to the color burst width instead of phosphors pattern width)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subpixel_rendering

Anyway, the EveryMac article says the display has 85 DPI/PPI and Dot/Pixel Pitch of 0.25 mm. Those numbers don't match though:
85 DPI/PPI = 0.2988 mm per dot/pixel
0.25 mm dotpitch = 101.6 DPI.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_pitch

The article says the display has an aperture grille, which means the phosphors are continuous vertically so a white line can have any position vertically, but even in this case the electron beam has a minimum height.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture_grille

 

[Amethyst1]

If it doesn't work during boot, it may work when the OS has started (uses its own driver). If it doesn't work when the OS starts then maybe an EDID override will make it work.

When I'm trying to get a "non-standard" display to work, generating an EDID override (on OS X) or playing with custom modelines (on X11) is one of the first things I try before deciding that "it doesn't work".

About Pixel Density (PPI), I don't think "does not apply" is accurate.

You're welcome to make corrections. What I meant to express is that since CRTs do not have a "native" resolution, they don't have a "native" pixel density either. Would "depends on resolution" be more accurate?

 

[LightBulbFun]

Using a Mac should be fine though, right, allowing to establish if it's really the adapter that is at fault?

indeed it should

although I do recall reading someone who made their own adapter to use the ADC CRT as a secondary monitor on his G5 did have a quirk where to get it to work he either had to have it connected on boot (ie could not be hot plugged)

or he had to hot plug it after the machine booted up, I cant quite recall which it was exactly, so if your testing things out might be worth trying both ways and see what happens


I do know curiously enough, that for giggles while me and @bunnspecial was chatting while he was setting up one of his Mac Pro's to be a Snow Leopard power house for his special uses cases

he plugged in an ADC CRT via the official Apple adapter into the machine and very curiously although obviously there was no picture as the apple adapter does not pass analog signals

the Mac Pro in Snow leopard, not only recognised the ADC and read its EDID correctly (So only offered up the compatible modes) but it even recognised that it was an Apple CRT and brought all the extra CRT control options etc in the display preference pane. ie the ones for adjusting the geometry and contrast etc etc

which I thought was very interesting, because Snow Leopard officially does not run on anything with an Apple CRT, so thought it was very neat to see how it was left in there still

(unless the Previous generation VGA Apple Studio displays can be software controlled? I dont know there sadly)

 

[joevt]

You're welcome to make corrections. What I meant to express is that since CRTs do not have a "native" resolution, they don't have a "native" pixel density either. Would "depends on resolution" be more accurate?

I think we want the aperture grille dot pitch -- the distance between one red phosphor column and the next. That is the minimum horizontal size of a pixel. Twice this width is the minimum distance between vertical white lines alternating with vertical black lines in a test pattern.
I think the only way to get this info is to have the monitor, a ruler, and a camera, and start counting...

(unless the Previous generation VGA Apple Studio displays can be software controlled? I dont know there sadly)

If they had a USB connection, then yes. Before Apple displays with USB, there was Apple displays with ADB. These connection types allow for software control of display features. The ADB extensions were removed after Leopard. One of them was called AppleADBButtons.kext. For USB, Snow Leopard has AppleUSBDisplays.kext.
I suppose one could make an ADB to USB adapter (remember the iMate?), then the ADB extensions could work with that...

 

[Intell]

Don't forget about this Belkin adapter: https://www.newegg.com/belkin-f2e9142-wht-adc-to-dvi/p/N82E16812116204

 

[Amethyst1]

Don't forget about this Belkin adapter: https://www.newegg.com/belkin-f2e9142-wht-adc-to-dvi/p/N82E16812116204

Thanks; added. I also tidied up the tables a bit and added a separate section for KVM switches.

 

[weckart]

Don't forget about this Belkin adapter: https://www.newegg.com/belkin-f2e9142-wht-adc-to-dvi/p/N82E16812116204

I'm curious about the info in this ad. What Apple computers ONLY had an ADC out port for video with no VGA/DVI option?

 

[Amethyst1]

FWIW - the VGAtor's page is hilarious - it can obviously only do 1280×800 on the 30" (in combination with their ADC to DVI adapter) ... and they call that "ideal for presentations". Gimme a break! That's called "incompatible" in my book.

 

[retta283]

Wow, I had forgotten completely that the Formac 2010 was an ADC monitor. I could've sworn it was DVI, saw a guy using one with a PC in early 03 and thought it was without an adapter. Back then that was a pretty good 20.1" monitor, Apple didn't have anything in that size range yet till the widescreen Cinema. Was either that or the Dell 2000FP at the time, I think.

Great thread, by the way. That Dr. Bott page is quite a throwback, I grinned hard seeing the old iPod nano cases on the sidebar, used to use some of those and later on a shuffle.

 

[Amethyst1]

Wow, I had forgotten completely that the Formac 2010 was an ADC monitor. I could've sworn it was DVI,

You could get these with ADC or DVI. Formac were smart.

Back then that was a pretty good 20.1" monitor, Apple didn't have anything in that size range yet till the widescreen Cinema. Was either that or the Dell 2000FP at the time, I think.

There was also the Eizo L771 released in 2000 but it has a TN panel and lacks DVI.

 

[Intell]

I'm curious about the info in this ad. What Apple computers ONLY had an ADC out port for video with no VGA/DVI option?

None of them from what I recall, but it is a confusing spec page for sure.

 

[retta283]

None of them from what I recall, but it is a confusing spec page for sure.

This is correct, even the Cubes had VGA along the ADC port. Would sure suck to buy a computer and be forced into that company's monitors, especially when there were so many better offerings at that specific time.

 

[Amethyst1]

What Apple computers ONLY had an ADC out port for video with no VGA/DVI option?

I think what they meant is that when ADC was introduced, it replaced DVI and the only other option at that time was VGA - no use if you had e.g. an earlier DVI-only 15" Studio or 22" Cinema Display.

 

[bobesch]

Great overview!
Last weekend I spent a whole afternoon to find out, how to get that 23" acrylic Cinema Display, get any of those damn acrylic 15"/17"Studio/20"Cinema-Displays connected to VGA-out through the Apple ADC-DVI-Connector:
It did not work with any combination of adapters that I got at hands...
Funny thing is, that the display shows up in the control-stripe of os9 on an early TiBook (first 'Mercury'-TiBook with only VGA-out), but the display stays dark.
Is it, that VGA-out plainly doesn't work with the ADC-DVI-Connector at all or that I just didn't have the right adapter.
I'd like to try to hook up two 15" Studio Displays to a CubeG4, but obviosly Apple did not have that in mind with their displays?!
All other connections using DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort-connectors were no problem at all.