Hello: I picked up a Sun 3/50 that works fine but I need a mono crt for it. I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with them and remembers if other monitors work or what the specs are with them. I have a keyboard and am getting a mouse. thanks, -andy
On 6/26/19 6:40 PM, Andrew Diller via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I picked up a Sun 3/50 that works fine but I need a mono crt for it. I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with them and remembers if other monitors work or what the specs are with them. I have a keyboard and am getting a mouse.
The resolution is 1152x900. I think the sync rates are H=61.8kHz and V=66Hz but I may not be remembering that correctly. The 3/50's onboard framebuffer is monochrome, 1-bit deep. The interface is TTL, if memory serves, but it has been awhile. There are earlier Sun monitors which look identical but use an ECL interface, which are typically used with Sun-2 systems. These do not interoperate. I've never seen a non-Sun monitor in use on a Sun monochrome framebuffer at the traditional hardware-imposed 1152x900 resolution. But then again, in my world, Sun monitors were always a whole lot more common than those weird ones that PCs use. ;) Also, along those lines, just in case you aren't aware, Suns of this variety implement fixed-frequency video subsystems. No changing the display resolution to change font size or any such foolishness...the workstation world knew about scalable fonts decades ago. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
On Wed, Jun 26, 2019 at 10:31 PM Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On 6/26/19 6:40 PM, Andrew Diller via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I picked up a Sun 3/50 that works fine but I need a mono crt for it. I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with them and remembers if other monitors work or what the specs are with them. I have a keyboard and am getting a mouse.
The resolution is 1152x900. I think the sync rates are H=61.8kHz and V=66Hz but I may not be remembering that correctly. The 3/50's onboard framebuffer is monochrome, 1-bit deep. The interface is TTL, if memory serves, but it has been awhile. There are earlier Sun monitors which look identical but use an ECL interface, which are typically used with Sun-2 systems.
That's the part I was less clear on - when Sun did ECL and when they did TTL. My workstation experience, outside of NeXT (which is also fixed frequency and proprietary) is all color. I know a tiny bit about mono workstations. I think most of it is already contained in this message.
These do not interoperate.
Very much true.
I've never seen a non-Sun monitor in use on a Sun monochrome framebuffer at the traditional hardware-imposed 1152x900 resolution. But then again, in my world, Sun monitors were always a whole lot more common than those weird ones that PCs use. ;)
Yes. Same.
Also, along those lines, just in case you aren't aware, Suns of this variety implement fixed-frequency video subsystems. No changing the display resolution to change font size or any such foolishness...the workstation world knew about scalable fonts decades ago.
I think with the 3/60 you have a choice of two fixed frequencies, changed by jumper when the board is powered off and removed from the box, but _nothing_ like what microcomputers did in terms of different frequencies/resolutions. -ethan
On 6/26/19 11:13 PM, Ethan Dicks via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Also, along those lines, just in case you aren't aware, Suns of this variety implement fixed-frequency video subsystems. No changing the display resolution to change font size or any such foolishness...the workstation world knew about scalable fonts decades ago.
I think with the 3/60 you have a choice of two fixed frequencies, changed by jumper when the board is powered off and removed from the box,
Yes, it will also do 1600x1200.
but _nothing_ like what microcomputers did in terms of different frequencies/resolutions.
It's just insane. And there was never any real reason for it. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
participants (3)
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Andrew Diller -
Dave McGuire -
Ethan Dicks