Yes, it would be useful to have a list of anything that can display the signal.

Actually, the same would be useful for CGA as well.

Well guys... I'm really hoping the shipping works out. I just snagged a Sony CPD-1302 for a very good price.

http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/sony/monitor/CPD-1302/

It's a multisync analog\digital Trinitron, made in Japan in 1988. It has a 9pin connector which apparently supports CGA, EGA, MDA, PGA and IBM 3270 signals! It has lots of adjustments and settings. The operating instructions manual linked above is amazingly thorough and informative. It gives the pinouts required for the various interfaces (CGA, EGA, etc.) and describes the switch settings needed to achieve certain results. This looks to be an extremely flexible monitor and I will definitely be using this! The seller said they are familiar with shipping monitors and have not had any damaged up to this point, so I'm hopeful. I just wish it wasn't traveling 2500 miles. 😮

Can anyone tell from the documents above if this is compatible with other types of computers or game systems? I'm unfamiliar with Apple, Amiga, Atari ST, etc. I have no idea if they even use digital or analog signals. The only ones I've really used in recent years are basic composite video systems like the Apple IIe, C64, C16 and TRS80. Would just be nice to know if this monitor can be used on something other than CGA\EGA cards on IBM compatibles.

Oh, as an aside question, can you display MDA on an EGA monitor?

The BIOS-less Hercules InColor scaled the MDA timings programmed by the system BIOS to something within the specifications of EGA monitors by replacing the 16.257MHz oscillator with a 19MHz oscillator.
That trick should work with an MDA, too.

By the way: The MDA can then technically output 16 colors, provided that you either have a very early version that still connects the relevant traces to the output connector or that you add them back.

I have an Amstrad PC1640 and a Schneider PC1640, both with EGA 640x350 monitors, it is named the "ECD" Monitor.

https://youtu.be/UK_0K1ibMAk

https://youtu.be/bIy-dlFF9IM

Hi, I don’t mean to necro post but I've just read some EGA related articles on the world wide web and like to share them.

It seems that EGA was late in Europe, because we got the IBM PC in 1983.
So users here were unwilling to do an EGA upgrade so soon (EGA came out in 1984).
So they skipped EGA hardware and adopted VGA from 1987 onwards, rather.
The Amstrad PC1640 and the Schneider Euro PCs being an exception, since they were complete sets.
That's the simplified story.

https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/ega … e-7#post-946102

Also, many late EGA games required 128 0r 256KB of EGA RAM,
so they didn't run on stock IBM EGA cards without memory expansion (clones had 256KB often).
With 64KB, EGA is limited to 4 colours in 640x350 16c mode or 16c in 640x200 16c mode.
With 128KB of RAM 16c in 640x350 16c mode is possible, with 256KB of RAM multipe video pages are available.
In simple words, please read technical details on the www.

Another interesting detail that I've noticed.
Just as with mode 13h on VGA (MCGA hardware has fixed palette),
it seems to be possible to alter default palettes in a given EGA video mode.

So it's possible that certain games use 640x350 resolution (typically mode 10h) but with a custom VGA palette.
Such thing won't work on a real EGA card anymore, though, I assume.
Unless it's a late EGA clone with RAMDAC and an analogue monitor, I suppose.

Speaking under correction, I've just noticed this with the game "Holiday Lemmings".
The screenshots show different palette on EGA and VGA.
http://www.classicdosgames.com/game/1993_Holi … y_Lemmings.html

This site has freeware games and corresponding screenshots for each video mode.
It also lists games in 640x350 16c (EGA) and 640x350 16c (VGA).
http://www.classicdosgames.com/video.html

jarreboum wrote on 2021-03-09, 21:37:

Oh, as an aside question, can you display MDA on an EGA monitor?

Depends, if you want to attach your MDA card to a random color screen…
many early EGA monitors weren’t true multisync and could run 15khz or 21.8khz and had very specific requirements on the signal inputs to switch.
These wouldn’t work with 18khz MDA and may even have issues with the pinout.

Early True Multisync monitors which weren’t really EGA (think early color NECs) usually required a special cable for certain types of video output but would handle any of the different “Industry Standard Video Cards” of The era and a handful of proprietary video standards like the 24khz Japanese standards assuming you could respect the screens pinout .

What the screen could use was usually spelled out on the spec sheet, some screens were much more flexible than others and a few were even “manual multisync” requiring user intervention

rmay635703 wrote on 2025-01-07, 21:35:

jarreboum wrote on 2021-03-09, 21:37:

Oh, as an aside question, can you display MDA on an EGA monitor?

These wouldn’t work with 18khz MDA and may even have issues with the pinout.

"May have issues" is an understatement. If the EGA monitor runs in EGA mode (determined from sync polarities, and MDA/HGC uses the same sync polarities as EGA in EGA mode), it will interpret the primary video signal from the hercules card as a dull shade of blue and the intensity signal as a dull shade of green. This will not provide a useful image. This assumes that the monitor is acutally capable to sync to 18kHz, which an EGA monitor doesn't (snipped away that part of rmay's post).

rmay635703 wrote on 2025-01-07, 21:35:

Early True Multisync monitors which weren’t really EGA (think early color NECs) usually required a special cable for certain types of video output

Indeed. I built a MDA-to-"color"-cable to connect Hercules-like cards to an Eizo 8060s monitor (similar to NEC Multisync II) that routes the MDA video output to the R/G/B input. With the monitor to set to 16 colors fixed (not auto-select 16/64), the MDA intensity signal need not be re-routed.

I am really happy with my marketplace pickup Packard Bell EGA monitor I got earlier this year, CGA displays well on it and real EGA cards have very nice textmode fonts.

If you want an EGA monitor, try these folks, who seem to be offering them for only Shipping and Handling price...
https://choiceprinters.com/video/oldtech.html

I do not know what price that is, but they've been in business a while and shipped a lot of monitors, so if you've been buying "cheap" monitors and arguing the seller down to $20 shipping and keep getting broken monitors, it kinda parallels this meme quote you might have seen ;

Mike Primavera @primawesome My neighbor told me coyotes keep eating his outdoor cats so I asked how many cats he has and he said he just goes to the shelter and gets a new cat afterwards so I said it sounds like he's just feeding shelter cats to coyotes and then his daughter started crying.

So yeah, if you're gonna want your monitor to have best chance of arriving in good shape, get from someone who knows how to do that, and pay for it.

BitWrangler wrote on 2025-01-08, 22:29:

If you want an EGA monitor, try these folks, who seem to be offering them for only Shipping and Handling price...
https://choiceprinters.com/video/oldtech.html

I do not know what price that is, but they've been in business a while and shipped a lot of monitors,

I was curious and contact them and... yeah, they're definitely not giving them away!

I was quoted $600 + $170 expedited shipping (recommended for less handling time; I am about 1000 miles away but still in the US) for a Hyundai HCM1420.

If you need an EGA monitor... well, they're obviously super rare at this point, so it's a total dice roll as to whether you'll ever find a working one in nice condition for substantially less than that. If you have the money it's probably worth it to have a good item shipped by someone who knows what they're doing.

Oh wow, that's a lot more than I was expecting them to charge, as they only had a hundred or so on them 5+ years back. Shipping though I knew would be high as they probably found it not worth using a regular service due to damage.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-01-10, 23:07:

I was curious and contact them and... yeah, they're definitely not giving them away! […]
Show full quote

BitWrangler wrote on 2025-01-08, 22:29:

If you want an EGA monitor, try these folks, who seem to be offering them for only Shipping and Handling price...
https://choiceprinters.com/video/oldtech.html

I do not know what price that is, but they've been in business a while and shipped a lot of monitors,

I was curious and contact them and... yeah, they're definitely not giving them away!

I was quoted $600 + $170 expedited shipping (recommended for less handling time; I am about 1000 miles away but still in the US) for a Hyundai HCM1420.

If you need an EGA monitor... well, they're obviously super rare at this point, so it's a total dice roll as to whether you'll ever find a working one in nice condition for substantially less than that. If you have the money it's probably worth it to have a good item shipped by someone who knows what they're doing.

I'm sure they've seen an uptick in buyers since all the retro stuff became more prevalent on youtube and other places.

That said, these Hyundai monitors appear to only be useful for EGA\CGA TTL signals. Looking at pictures of them I don't see any way to use them for other types of signals\computers in the way you might use an NEC Multisync, Mitsubishi Diamond Scan or Sony CPD-1302.

You can bet I'll be keeping the Everex EGA monitor I found last year very safe. It's the only one of three EGA monitors I have found that actually works.