One of the complications with keeping a stable of old computers is maintaining the peripherals it takes to do anything with them – which is why most of my collection is self-contained things like the Mac Plus or laptops.
But I do still have my PowerMac 8100, and I enjoy messing with it – but it requires a monitor of some sort.
For years I had an old Apple 19″ Multiple Scan, but over time the plastic embrittled making it super fragile and moving its fifty-pound mass around required incredible caution… And then last year the thirty year old monitor finally gave up the ghost leaving my 8100 without the ability to display anything.
Today I fixed that…
That there is a Philips 23PF5320/28 from 2006.
We had two of these at work that were used for some test back in ’06 that needed composite video, and then one was stuck in my storeroom while the other got occasional use as a low-resolution VGA monitor.
Last week I rounded up 65 old LCD monitors and a similar number of old Win XP/7 PCs and had the recycler come get them – and set the one Philips TVs from the storeroom aside for myself figuring it might be old enough to work with my Mac-to-VGA adapter.
And with a little fiddling – presto! 1024×768 at 70Hz in 24-bit color – which is pretty spiffy for a machine from 1994.
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