Just wanted to do a PSA for anyone with a busted analogue board or wanting to get SVGA. A guy on ebay is selling a bunch of the monitors that went into the Cube-in-a-CC project. The ebay ad stated "I have received dozens of these from a corporate take-out," but I wanted to see if the seller is a good ebayer and it was in decent condition before posting it here. He took several days to ship it, and sent me an incorrect tracking number, but it was decently packed, wrapped in a multiple layer caccoon of bubble wrap (it survived the UPS guy basically *throwing* the box onto my porch), and it works. The only bad thing was that it seemed out of adjustment- the geometry was a little funky. Luckily, all of the controls are external so I could try to fix it right away without cracking it open; four on the front and three on the back. It looked like the problem was that someone had fiddled with the ones on the back. It's mostly ok now but not quite perfect. That's my only caveat, and I realize that it would likely not be noticeable to someone who hasn't wasted much of the last couple of years adjusting CC convergence magnets.
The other thing is that it only gets SVGA at 56hz, not 60hz. It's disappointing to me because I have a 10" color monitor that does SVGA@60hz, and it makes a huge difference- but that one is not a trinitron, so the face isn't vertically flat. I've modified a CC case to mount it, but obviously there are gaps, and the curvature of the screen doesn't match the curvature of the case aperture. I guess I just have to put up with 56hz, but it's not easy on the eyes.
The auctions have had a buy it now of $50, with bidding starting at $40.
Auction here. If you get to this after this particular auction ends, click on "view sellers other items" as it looks to me like he's running them one at a time.
I was wondering if these monitors would ever show up on ebay. But before I go buy one, I am curious about a few things. First, how well does the CRT from the Pisces fit into the CC's opening? Is it perfect or are there minor gaps. Also, does the silver box that plugs into the neck of the CRT (I don't know the technical name) fit into the CC without modification or is it bigger than the one on the original CC? I wonder if swapping the two would work if they are not the same size? Are the CRT's identical? Thanks for the heads up on these rare auctions.
The tube fits the CC like a glove. Like most analogue board swaps in a CC, the fan housing has to be cut away to make room for the PCB on the back of the tube's neck. The tube is virtually identical. The model numbers on the tubes are only a few numbers apart- M23JVK16X vs. M23JVK12X (the original CC tube).
It still will have its challenges to actually install it. The metal housing that is attached to the a/b doesn't quite fit, so it either has to be cut, or the a/b removed, which would then I imagine involve running ground lines to a lot of screw mounts that would no longer be grounded. The adjustment controls have to be mounted somewhere and have the wires extended. I also plan on shortening the video connector cord for internal use. I see lots of soldering in my future...