Brian's Mac Monitor Summary [last revised: 24 April 1996]
"The newest revision of this document is always available as a link from URL
http://www.inxpress.net/~bcole/mac/ " [link broken on 9 September 2000]

Send corrections to: tuc@cs.wisc.edu
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Part0: Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

This document (c)1996 by Brian Cole (tuc@cs.wisc.edu). The information
contained herein is believed to be accurate but is not guaranteed. Use
at your own risk.

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Part1: Sense Codes

setting pin04 pin07 pin10 available resolutions
-------- ------- ------- ------- -----------------------------------------
rgb12" pin11 open pin11 512x384
rgb14" pin11 open open 640x480 (aka. rgb13", mono12")
rgb16" pin10 open pin04 832x624
rgb19" pin07 pin04 open 1024x768
rgb21" pin11 pin11 pin11 1152x870

multi15" pin11 pin10 pin07 640x480, 832x624
multi17" pin11 anode cathode 640x480, 832x624, 1024x768
multi20" pin11 cathode anode 640x480, 832x624, 1024x768, 1152x870
1280x960, 1280x1024

rgb15" open pin11 open 640x870 (aka. color portrait)
mono15" open pin11 pin11 640x870 (aka. full-page, portrait)
mono21" open open pin11 1152x870 (aka. two-page monchrome)

VGA/SVGA open pin10 pin07 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768

NTSC mon pin11 pin11 open 512x384-under, 640x480-over
NTSC enc cathode 07&anod 10&anod 512x384-under, 640x480-over
PAL mon 07&cath 04&cath anode 640x480-under, 768x576-over
PAL enc 07&10 04&10 04&07 640x480-under, 768x576-over


notes: * Not all Macs support all modes.
* If more than one resolution is supported, choose among them
via the "Monitors" control panel (but read the note above).
* Somebody tell me how Apple's MutipleScan 14" display signals
that it can do 640x480@67 and 800x600, but not 832x624@75.
* "anode" and "cathode" denote a diode bridging the pins.
The ringed end is the cathode. (Radio Shack part 276-1122)
* The 1280x___ resolutions have been added to the list of supported
resolutions list for the multiscan20" sense code, but this is
speculation on my part, though it does explain experimental data.
* In the absense of additional conversion hardware, NTSC and
PAL signals are black&white only.
* I don't know what the difference between Monitor ("mon") and
Encoder ("enc") modes is for NTSC and PAL, so please clue me in.
* Tell me why the rgb21" and mono21" are considered different
modes but rgb14" and mono12" are considered the same mode.
* Some Apple video hardware supports a different sense pin
combination for 15" portrait displays with non-Apple timings
(If you know about this, please clue me in).

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Part2: Refresh Rates

Specs for the various resolutions supported by Apple hardware.

resolution Vert Hz Horiz KHz Dot Clock MHz
---------------- ------- --------- -------------
1280x1024 Apple 75 ? ? (see Part1 note)
1280x 960 Apple ? ? ? (see Part1 note)
1152x 870 Apple 75.08 68.7 100
1024x 768 Apple 74.93 60.24 80
832x 624 Apple 74.55 49.7 57.63
640x 870 Apple 75.08 68.9 57.2832
640x 480 Apple 66.67 35.0 30.24
512x 384 Apple 60.15 24.48 15.6672

640x 870 non-Apple ? ? ? (Radius?, RasterOps?)

1280x1024 VESA 75 ? ?
1280x 960 VESA 75 ? ?
1024x 768 VESA 75 ? ?
1024x 768 VESA 70 56.5 ?
1024x 768 VESA 60 48.8 64
800x 600 VESA 75 ? ?
800x 600 VESA 72 48.1 ?
800x 600 VESA 60 37.9 ?
800x 600 SVGA 55.98 35.16 36
640x 480 VGA 59.95 31.47 25.175

NTSC 59.94 15.7 12.2727
PAL 50.00 15.625 14.75


notes: * There are 4 different 640x480 modes -- Apple, VGA, NTSC, and PAL.
* Dot clock is the rate at which pixels must be sent to the monitor.
* NTSC and PAL are interleaved.

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Part3: Pinouts

First, here are the connectors. These are for male connectors, the pins are
pointing towards your eyes. Female connectors are mirror images of these.

DA-15 DE-15
,--------------------------------. ,-------------------------.
\ 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 / \ 01 02 03 04 05 /
\ / \ 06 07 08 09 10 /
\ 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 / \ 11 12 13 14 15 /
`--------------------------' `-------------------'

14-pin PowerBook DE-9
/==-==-==-==-==-==-==\ ,-------------------------.
/ 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 \ \ 1 2 3 4 5 /
| | \ /
| 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 | \ 6 7 8 9 /
+-==-==-==-==-==-==-==-+ `-------------------'

HDI-45 AudioVision
,--------------------------------------.
/ ,------------------------------------. \
| | 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 | |
| `-. 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 ,-' |
| |:: 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 | |
| ,-' 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 `-. |
| | 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 | |
| `------------------------------------' |
`----------------------------------------'

Mac SVGA VGA TTL
DA-15 DE-15 HDI45 pb-14 DE-9 DE-9
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
shell shell safety ground (note 1) shell shell shell shell
02 01 red signal 27 14 1 3
01 06 red ground 26 7 6
05 02 green signal (note 2) 11 4 2 4
06 07 green ground 10 11 7
09 03 blue signal 45 8 3 5
13 08 blue ground 44 1 8
04 11 sense pin 0 (note 5) 8 13
07 12 sense pin 1 (notes 5, 4) 9 10
10 04 sense pin 2 (note 5) 18 9
03 composite sync signal (note 3) 34 12
15 13 horizontal sync signal 42 2 5 8
14 horizontal sync ground (note 3) ? 3
12 14 vertical sync signal 33 6 4 9
11 10 ground (note 6) 43 5 9 1,2
monitor ID 31,32,41
intensity 6
monochrome signal 7


notes: * I'm unsure how gender terms apply to the flat 14-pin PowerBook
connector. Pictured is the connector that would be inserted
into the back of a PowerBook.
* Though it must have one, I have yet to find a pinout that lists
a horizontal sync ground for the 45-pin "AudioVision" connector.
* Mac pin 08 is not used (reserved for a fourth sense pin??), and
neither are SVGA pins 05/09/15.
* Some pinouts for the rare 9-pin VGA connector (the 15-pin one
is typically used instead) reverse the roles of pins 4 and 5.
* TTL signals (EGA/CGA) are not compatible with the analog signals
used by Mac/SVGA/VGA. Don't blindly try to convert between them.
* EGA has "secondary" r/g/b lines on pins 2/6/7. What are they?
(1) also signal ground for NTSC and PAL
(2) also monochrome signal (VGA/NTSC/PAL); also sync-on-green
(3) mac-to-vga adapter sync signals:
mac14-vga10, mac12-vga14, mac15-vga13 (or sometimes mac03-vga13)
(4) leave VGA sense1 open for color, ground it for monochrome
(5) See part1 for Mac sense codes.
(6) ground for sense pins and signals without specified grounds

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