Apple vintage Mac Monitor Connections

This page edited on Dec 16 2012. Content copyright Apple.
Content obtained courtesy of site http://blackcat.fenestrated.net/~macman/mirrors/Apple%20Technotes%20%28As%20of%202002%29/hw/hw_08.html
As of 2012 Apple's legacy Tech Notes may be found at Apple's Mac Retired Documents Library This note is provided for the convenience of Apple Mac now-vintage computer owners. More information about Macs and video monitors is on my Mac Parts Web page. - Herb Johnson

Technical Note HW08: Color Monitor Connections

CONTENTS:
Pinout descriptions
Macintosh II to Sony Multiscan (CPD-1302)
Macintosh II to NEC MultiSync (JC-140IP3A)
Macintosh LC to VGA
References

This Technical Note describes how to connect the Macintosh II Video Card, Macintosh IIci built-in video, and Macintosh LC video to third-party monitors. [Feb 01 1991]

Pinout descriptions

Table 1 documents the pinout descriptions of the Macintosh II Video Cards and the Macintosh IIci built-in video:

Table 1 - Macintosh II Video Card and Macintosh IIci Built-in Video

Note: The Macintosh II High-Resolution Display Video Card is the newer replacement for the original four- and eight-bit Macintosh II Video Card (M0211 and M5640). This new card is sold in four- and eight-bit configurations (M0322 and M0324, respectively). The external video connector on the early version of the Macintosh II Video Card did not have the signals SENSE0, SENSE1, and SENSE2.

Note: The newer Macintosh II Video Cards and Macintosh IIci built-in video require that pin 4 (SENSE0) be connected to Ground to signal the connection of a 640 x 480 monitor. Do not connect pins 7 or 10 as they are unused on original Macintosh II Video Cards and there are built-in pullup resistors on the newer Macintosh II Video Card and Macintosh IIci to terminate these pins when not in use.

Table 2 documents the pinout descriptions of the Macintosh LC video connector:

Table 2 - Macintosh LC External Video Connector

Note: The Macintosh LC does not supply vertical synchronization with the Green video signal (pin 5). The vertical synchronization signal is supplied on pin 12. Note: The Macintosh LC requires that pin 4 (SENSE0) be connected to Ground to signal the connection of a 640 x 480 monitor. The Macintosh LC requires that pin 4 and 10 (SENSE0 and SENSE2) be connected to Ground to signal the connection of a 512 x 384 monitor (i.e., the Macintosh 12" RGB Display). The Macintosh LC requires that pin 10 (SENSE2) be connected to Ground to signal the connection of a VGA monitor. Pin 7 (SENSE1) is grounded in the Macintosh LC.

Macintosh II to Sony Multiscan (CPD-1302)

To connect a Macintosh II to a Sony Multiscan monitor, you need to make an adapter cable from the video card to the monitor (which has a 9-pin D-type connector). Following is the pinout description for the adapter cable (using the automatic sync-on-green configuration):

table 3: Mac II to Sony Multiscan table

Macintosh II to NEC MultiSync (JC-140IP3A)

To connect a Macintosh II to a NEC MultiSync monitor, you need to make an adapter cable from the video card to the monitor (which has a 9-pin D-type connector). Following is the pinout description for the adapter cable (using the automatic sync-on-green configuration):

Table 4: Mac II to NEC MulitSync table

The monitor must be set to Analog mode and Manual mode. This adaptor cable also works with an equivalent monitor such as the Taxan Super Vision 770.

Macintosh LC to VGA

The Macintosh LC can supply a 640 x 480, VGA timed signal for use with VGA monitors by using an adapter cable. The standard Macintosh LC supports VGA to 16 colors, and with the optional 512K VRAM SIMM, the VGA monitor is supported to 256 colors.

Note: The Macintosh LC supplies signals capable of driving TTL level inputs. However, some low impedance input VGA monitors do not work with the Macintosh LC.

To connect a Macintosh LC to a VGA monitor, you need to make an adapter cable from the Macintosh LC video connector to the VGA monitor. Following is the pinout description for the adapter cable:

Table 5: Mac LC to VGA table

VGA monitors are identified by shorting pin 7 to pin 10 on the Macintosh LC video connector. The Macintosh LC grounds pin 7 on its video connector, which results in pulling down pin 10 and gives the correct monitor ID for a VGA monitor.

References

Guide to the Macintosh Family Hardware, Second Edition
d e v e l o p, "Macintosh Display Card 8*24 GC: The Naked Truth," July 1990

Contact Herb at www.retrotechnology.com, an email address is available on that page..