Mac/Cinema Display madness

**Nathan Potter** · 31-Dec-2007, 17:28

Folks, I'm a long time silver processing guy - color & B&W but I've recently been intrigued by digitally processed stuff I've seen. So I'm learning Photoshop on my G4 Mac (2 GB ram) and got a Mac Cinema display (23 inch) a few weeks ago for better view of scanned images. Just tried to connect the G4 Power Mac to the 23 inch Cinema display but the integral, hard wired display cable just don't fit in the G4. The Cinema power module is OK - it just plugs in to 120 VAC. The serial and eathernet parts of the cable go into the G4 fine. BUT the Cinema display is outfitted with a male DVI connector (19pins) and the G4 has a ADC female port where the connection is to be made.

I clearly need an adapter that has DVI female on one end to ADC male on the other end. Do such things exist or do I bring the monitor or the G4 to the landfill. Can someone tell me what the heck I need and what it is called. Is anyone doing this configuration?

Nate Potter

**J_Tardiff** · 31-Dec-2007, 18:06

Nate,

I ran into a similar issue when I tried to mate my lab's imaging station (a G3 B&W running Panther, no less) to a 20" cinema display.

Probably the *easiest* fix is to buy a new video card -- that should just work with a minimum of fuss and is the route I took. Other World Computing carries a good selection and can help you pick the right one (mostly dependent on whether the G4 has AGP or PCI slots).

At home I actually reflashed some old PC cards, but that is a bit of a hassle, to say the least.

In any case, no need to toss the G4 yet! I still have my Cube next to my desk as my personal fileserver!

Good luck and Happy New Year,

JT

**Ed Richards** · 31-Dec-2007, 18:35

Definitely get a DVI card, not an adapter.

**clay harmon** · 31-Dec-2007, 18:52

$40 gets you an adapter. I use one on my old silver G4 that is a print server. Works great, and is cheaper than a card

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ADCtoDVI

I would never throw away the G4. It was the last gasp of Apple pretending to support SCSI, so everybody with a high end scanner wants one of these since it will run OS 10.3 _and_ 9.xx. Serious SCSI card support is now history on the newer macs. The computer I mentioned was supposedly DOA, and the Apple techs gave me a $900 quote for a whole new system board. Going on a hunch, I replaced the power supply myself for about $50, and it has been running like a charm ever since doing all the boring computing tasks at my place, like acting as a print server.

**Ted Harris** · 31-Dec-2007, 20:04

Apple makes, or used to make, one too.

**Nathan Potter** · 31-Dec-2007, 20:43

JT, Ed, Ya, my power G4 has an AGP slot (66 MHz, 32 bit) and four PCI slots (PCI 2.1 std.; 5.0 or 3.3 volt; 33 MHz.) This could be a solution it seems. Thanks

Clay, Thanks for the Sweetwater info. An adapter would be simpler than a new card but the configuration is not specified. I need a DVI female receptacle to an ADC male plug and a number of adapters I've found seem to be sex reversed probably since most people use an older monitor with a newer computer. But I think I'll pursue the adapter approach. Thanks for the info.

Nate Potter

**clay harmon** · 31-Dec-2007, 21:34

Nate, i think the link I sent is what you need. I had exactly the same configuration you are talking about, and this is what I got. If you look a the picture, it has a female DVI and a male ADC connector. I actually picked it up at a Micro Center store here in Houston. They are around.

**Ed Richards** · 1-Jan-2008, 09:55

You lose a lot of the value of the monitor if you are not driving it with a DVI card. For what you paid for the monitor, saving $80 or so and losing a lot of the value of the monitor does not make sense. You should be able to buy a decent card with at least 128 megs for under $125, but better to get 256 megs - Photoshop can use that memory for better refresh rates and the like.