VOGONS


First post, by Miphee

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A few pictures from seller, looks like a color EGA but I'm not sure. Don't know what a PGA-PS2 is or what those 6 coax inputs are.
Any ideas?

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Reply 1 of 20, by retardware

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The outside is meaningless, Reuters is a news agency.
I guess it's an OEM VGA thingy.
Just open it and look at the circuitry to find out who made it and what it does.

Reply 3 of 20, by Horun

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It reminds me of an early video monitor for specific video cameras like what we used in AV at the high school back in late 1970's with reel to reel Video tape machines and a video switcher.
The R-G-B inputs seem regular but need a better picture of the front panel controls. Most likely a fixed frequency type with sync on Green and the TTL input would be from the switcher/fader/effects console for captions/charactor generation.
Of course am probably wrong but the web site has lots of old video gear so it seems to fit with my fading old memories....

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 4 of 20, by snufkin

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Dunno. 6 BNCs could be component RGB pass through. I could imagine a news type place wanting to have the same picture on a bunch of monitors around the place, so In/Out would be handy.

TTL/PGA switch could be to do with Professional Graphics Adapter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Gr … hics_Controller . Don't know anything about PGA, but maybe it uses different signaling voltages.

Reply 5 of 20, by RetroGamer4Ever

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From what little is out there, Reuters had those made as part of their hardware offerings for their computer division, which sold hardware and services to global clients who used them for news/media/financial stuff. It is of no value to anyone other than a historical tech nut.

Reply 6 of 20, by Horun

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snufkin wrote on 2021-12-02, 00:23:

Dunno. 6 BNCs could be component RGB pass through. I could imagine a news type place wanting to have the same picture on a bunch of monitors around the place, so In/Out would be handy.

TTL/PGA switch could be to do with Professional Graphics Adapter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Gr … hics_Controller . Don't know anything about PGA, but maybe it uses different signaling voltages.

Good Point ! I found some limited info on some PGA & PS2 display modes, very similar to a VGA/EGA mix. If you look up Mitsubishi FA34 and HA39 it shows timing tables which include some PGA and PS2 timings.
(but they were early multi-sync monitors and no way to tell if that CMV123NE is specially as it appears to be a 12" CRT.....)

RetroGamer4Ever wrote on 2021-12-02, 00:31:

From what little is out there, Reuters had those made as part of their hardware offerings for their computer division, which sold hardware and services to global clients who used them for news/media/financial stuff. It is of no value to anyone other than a historical tech nut.

Agree ! without proper documentation of what video modes it can display is a gamble if it can do real CGA/EGA modes.

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 7 of 20, by Miphee

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Thanks guys, that's what I wanted to hear. I didn't want to buy another "unusable" proprietary monitor that just collects dust on the top shelf.

Reply 9 of 20, by snufkin

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The listing describes it as EGA, although it seems a bit odd that it's described as working, but the photos don't actually show an image on the screen. It does have a better picture of the front panel controls, which have a colour mode select switch:

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Modified NEC Multisync II? http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/manuals ... manual.pdf

Reply 10 of 20, by Miphee

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snufkin wrote on 2021-12-02, 12:36:

The listing describes it as EGA, although it seems a bit odd that it's described as working

Yeah, "working" means that the CRT fires up.
So it's a multisync monitor with analog/digital RGB modes and possibly MDA, also A/V/chroma demodulator and coaxial RGB inputs? So it should know almost every known output signals including EGA TTL... But is it color?

Reply 12 of 20, by imi

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PGA was a short lived IBM standard, TTL could mean anything, as said, without proper documentation it's hard to tell what it does and doesn't support.

looking at the fact that it has color inputs and color controls on the front it'd be weird if the monitor wasn't color.

Reply 13 of 20, by Miphee

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True although I have 2 multisync monitors that support every imaginable outputs but only display BW monochrome. Poor man's multisync.

Reply 14 of 20, by snufkin

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Miphee wrote on 2021-12-02, 14:44:

Poor man's multisync.

I'd guess that if Reuters were selling these to share traders and the like that the whole system was anything but poor man's anything. But that's just a guess.

Reply 16 of 20, by rmay635703

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RGB without sync is very strange

I had old monitors that supported sync on green, combined sync and separate sync but never one with BNC that only had sync on green

The settings otherwise look like a broadcast monitor that supported all known TTL standards.

Normally a screen like that would be commodore/amiga compatible (rgb analog) but without separate sync = 🙁

Should easily do EGA/CGA

PGA is about 95% VGA compatible, need to combine sync and adjust the v/h hold very slightly

Reply 17 of 20, by imi

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rmay635703 wrote on 2021-12-03, 00:09:

Normally a screen like that would be commodore/amiga compatible (rgb analog) but without separate sync = 🙁

nothing a simple RGB interface couldn't fix.

Reply 18 of 20, by NJRoadfan

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rmay635703 wrote on 2021-12-03, 00:09:
RGB without sync is very strange […]
Show full quote

RGB without sync is very strange

I had old monitors that supported sync on green, combined sync and separate sync but never one with BNC that only had sync on green

The settings otherwise look like a broadcast monitor that supported all known TTL standards.

Normally a screen like that would be commodore/amiga compatible (rgb analog) but without separate sync = 🙁

Should easily do EGA/CGA

PGA is about 95% VGA compatible, need to combine sync and adjust the v/h hold very slightly

The DB-9 is marked PS/2, so it supports H+V sync needed for VGA and other machines. The BNC ports only support sync-on-green.

Reply 19 of 20, by BitWrangler

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RetroGamer4Ever wrote on 2021-12-02, 00:31:

From what little is out there, Reuters had those made as part of their hardware offerings for their computer division, which sold hardware and services to global clients who used them for news/media/financial stuff. It is of no value to anyone other than a historical tech nut.

Yah that would have been my first guess, the 80s "modern" replacement for their tickertape or teleprinter "wire" services of various descriptions. Financial, general news, or possibly even sporting (horse race data to bookies)

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.