[maestro]

Hi,

I have an older Apple Cinema Display (23 in?) with the ADC hardwired connection model# M8149. I would like to connect two computer through a switch box to the monitor. One is a G5 with an ADC and DVI output. The other is a Dell Dimension 8600? with only a VGA output and I believe the Grahics Controller is an Intel 82865G. I have read various places that this older monitor does not play well with PC's. I just want to know if this is possible and if so, what parts should I go about getting.

For example, should I purchase and ACD switch box with a VGA-ADC adapter or should I get a DVI switch box and buy a bunch of adapters? Or, is this probably not going to work.

Thank you for any help,
Mats

[tooki]

All the Cinema Displays are digital-only. Only using a VERY costly VGA->DVI converter (this is a box, not a plug adapter) and the $100 DVI->ADC adapter could you make it work.

That's way more trouble than it's worth, and it'd probably suck in the end. You'd be better off buying a graphics card with DVI for the PC. Then you could use a single DVI->ADC adapter and connect a DVI KVM to it.

tooki

[mduell]

Look up what model the Dell Dimension is (8600 doesn't appear to be any recent Dimension). A new graphics card with DVI should be $50-75, rather than about $300 for a VGA-DVI converter (the quality of which isn't great anyway) tooki mentioned.

[maestro]

Thanks for the help guys. I talked to a technician at Apple and they said that the only resolution I would be able to get is 1284X1024 by converting DVI to ADC. It looks like I will probably just use two monitors, which will actually work out fine.

Thanks for the quick replies,
Mats

[tooki]

Originally Posted by maestro

I talked to a technician at Apple and they said that the only resolution I would be able to get is 1284X1024 by converting DVI to ADC.

That info is wrong.

ADC is single-link DVI, plus USB and power for the monitor. The $99 is basically a plug adapter, plus the power supply. It's just passing the DVI signal unaltered,

A DVI graphics card and the $99 DVI->ADC adapter are all that's needed.

tooki

[maestro]

tooki,

All I would need is a DVI graphics card for the PC, a $99 DVI->ADC adapter for the monitor and a DVI switch box so that I can hook up both computers? I am just worried that I will have problems with the PC because I read a lot of reviews and they all said that the older Apple Cinema Displays had limited or no functionality with a Windows box. Was that just back when it originally came out?

Thanks,
mats

[tooki]

As far as I know, that's all you need. It certainly couldn't hurt to buy from some place with a liberal return policy, but I see no reason it shouldn't work.

tooki