Aqua-hard?

Anyone using Mac hardware on a PC or viceversa, share your experiences.

I'm currently using a 20" ADC on a PC succesfully (as you probably know).

It costed me 2 days and almost a heart attack to get it to work natively without

software tricks or driver mods, and i just like to share it since everything that i

could found on this topic is pretty varied everytime.

Relevant software & hardware used:

-Ati (Ohmega) Drivers 3.9 - 3.7

-Powerstrip

===

-ATi 9600 256mb videocard with DVI and VGA Out

-Dr Bott DVIator (wich is a Apple Display Connector Converter that converts the

single ADC cable to power, video signal and USB)

-Apple Cinema Display 20" max. supported res 1680 x 1050

While doing research before actually ordering the ADC with the Dr Bott DVIator

I read a lot of negative experiences almost no 20" experiences though most were

lower or higher ACD's that had been tried. It came clear that i couldnt get it to

work without using a application called Powerstrip wich is used for modifying the

supported res and refreshrate (and many more settings) of your videocard.

Well ok i can live with a extra app in my tray... i thought...

The worst came when i went to Dr Botts site (for the DVIator) and saw this

message

*** PC Compatibility: The Apple 20" Cinema Display is not fully

compatible with Windows PCs. Use as a second display is possible but limited by

the need for workarounds. Also, this display lacks brightness adjustment like the

15, 17 and 23" displays. While we have several satisfied users, we cannot

recommend this display to the general PC-using public.

I just couldnt imagine that Dr. Bott and other users were right, so i kinda took the

risk and just gave myself an extra excuse to buy a Mac if it wouldnt work out

and then i bought the damn piece o hardware...

Once setup with the latest Ati drivers (3.9) it just wouldnt work, only 4:3 screens

or stretched blurry images, i didnt gave up and did not sleep that night and kept

on trying, i did every imaginable setting in Powerstrip wich were tried and tested

by other experienced ACD/PC users ... and i must admit i was pretty sick when i

just couldnt get it to work....

At one time i had it actually working but everything that even looked like DirectX

3d would crash the system and i was like HuhhhhFeiss>

turned off the screensaver and well it stayed stable, i had a sort of small victory at

least i went to bed and yes, i did sleep that morning.... but dreamt worse

The next day i uninstalled Powerstrip (again) and tried all ATi and Ohmega drivers

i could find starting with then the newest, 3.9 all the way down and guess what at

3.7 it worked it just worked, razorsharp images, no DirectX crashes.. and not

using powerstrip or image stretching from Ati.

So my conclusion is the solution is actually very simple,

Skip the whole Powerstrip story and use it as a backup plan.

Stick with the old 3.7 ATi Drivers or Ohmega based ones, wich work on the (tested

by me) 8500 or 9600 ATi card wich makes me think that other ATI Cards 9x00

would work just fine too.

I'm going to ask the developer of Ohmega drivers if he is able to put in the same

resolution support in the latest ATi drives just like in the 3.7 wich i actually think is

more then feasible so i can rock this screen with ATi 4.1 drivers.

To bad is that i cant adjust anything (like brightness, the only adjustable option

but on the other hand what is there to adjust this screen is perfect out of the box.

Next thing on my list of Aquafying is my keyboard and the Apple like mouse with 2

buttons and scrollwheel that Seph pointed me on. For the keyboard i found a need

little program that could

make the Apple Keyboard work great with a PC, so its safe to order one of those

too....

Hope this helps anyone with an urge to get a ACD and i'm curious about others

using Mac hardware in combination with a PC or Vice :canadian: Versa

PS: This kid should get some good spanking!

#106989

I would like to get a 23 inch Cinema Display to work with my comp, but there are many problems that I have. Crappy comp and such. Once somebody gets an iSight working on a PC, I am all in!

/wizard trying so hard not to comment on the thread title or anything that might come off rude. Doh!

#106996

hey, sounds like it went well and now you got a nice display.

I was looking at lcds last week and a site mentioned that you can't access the apple monitor settings, but you can just do it through ATI control panel anyways. I don't know if that's exactly the same(in effect) as the apple interface, but it can't be too far off, and should get rid of some last annoyances if you don't end up liking it 'out of the box'.

do some gaming on it and tell us how compatible/good it is. :canadian:

#106997

That is true, the monitor settings like brightness and such are in OSX itself and can be accessed via the screen's button.. (and that is the only setting)...

All other (software) settings can be controlled via the Display properties offcourse.

Gaming is great i tested Need for Speed underground, and I play the FPS Soldier of Fortune 1 and 2... with NO ghosting!!

I enabled the stretch screen option on the Ati Settings wich is actually used when your display is not running on 1680x1050 so you dont see any stretch when in Windows itself but in games it works great since in most games you cant run on 1680 x 1050 wich is why i always use a 'smaller' widescreen setting that gets stretched (unnoticed i must say).

#107000

im using the g5 keyboard. and its probably the nices keyboard i have ever used. i couldnt use the mouse though, i have to have the right button for games. so i got a kensington studio mouse, wich works verynicely and still looks very cool(was in the mac section of comp usa, so maybe it counts).

if your planing on getting a new keyboard for you pc, go for a mac key board, they look and feel so nice. 2 thumbs up...like this (Y)

#107002

@Grim makes me wonder what the bluetooth Keyboard and mouse will do, i think they should work just fine... but on the other hand give up my MX700 that hurts...

I remember someone painting it's mouse on the board.. :canadian:

#107005

Originally posted by Aqua-girl@Jan 28 2004, 11:18 PM

but on the other hand give up my MX700 that hurts...

dont do it aqua-girl, that mouse rocks.

now that i think about it, that sounds like a line from a super hero show

#107021

I myself have a MX700 and it's a pretty damn piece of work.

@Aqua-girl: how much did you bought you 20'' cinema display ? I WANT ONE !

EDIT: OMG, just saw it at $1299.... if i had the money....

#107296

@Siwu, Yep that is what it costed but you also have to spend a additional $120 on the DVi-Ator to get to work with the PC.

Bye now!

#107390

I hear its not worth it, that usually within 6 months, the average customer has about 2 dead pixels by then

#107436

Well i guess i'm lucky then.. no dead pixels yet., where did you hear that? Is this about all TFT's or only the ACD's?

#107439

It's also interesting to note that the 20" ACD uses the same panels as Sony's X202...

I've got the 18" X82 (same panel, but smaller), and I've had no problems since I got it over 14 months ago

Best screen I've ever used, too

#107443

for those who are poor mac-wannabe gokus, please get the following huge (though bulky) monitors from here:

(much) more for less

#107445

Originally posted by wizard@Jan 29 2004, 03:41 AM

Once somebody gets an iSight working on a PC, I am all in!

/wizard trying so hard not to comment on the thread title or anything that might come off rude. Doh!

Did you not hear that I've had one working for a good few months, now, with absolutely no problems?

Just plugged it into my mobo's firewire ports, and it works.

No sound, but the video is better than any other webcam

Did I mention it cost me nothing, too?

It's my best mate's, but his old gumdrop iBook doesn't have any firewire ports, so he gave it to me to look after

#107449

@Stevie BM

Where did you learned that the screen is from Sony? i always thought Samsung supplied them to Apple...

#107456

Originally posted by Aqua-girl@Jan 30 2004, 12:08 AM

@Stevie BM

Where did you learned that the screen is from Sony? i always thought Samsung supplied them to Apple...

Samsung do - they also supply Sony

There are only about four companies that actually make TFT panels - HyDis, LG/Philips, Samsung, and AU Optronics.

There are a couple of others who're more obscure, but these four make the bulk of what we can buy...

#107458

I uh...have and iPod?

#107519

[ Topic Moved ]

#107661

That kid should get spanked? i am thinking of other words right now.. :rant: (ok, maybe we could keep it but add something else... )

@Stevie, my logitech quickcam pro 4000 has the same specs in image quality as the isight and the mic works!!!

#107921

Originally posted by Seph@Jan 30 2004, 08:44 PM

@Stevie, my logitech quickcam pro 4000 has the same specs in image quality as the isight and the mic works!!!

But did you get it for free, and does it look as cool as an iSight?

#107928

Hello everybobies

I've got an Apple Display for 4 years ago with DVI connector and it work perfectly with my Ati card, I never had problems with this amazing screen, juste one dead pixel (but not completly dead: juste one color) . I'm really enjoy cause it's great for office use like Photoshop and Illustrator , and for game it's not bad (i'm not an hard+gamer).

Recently i bought the Apple keyboard, it's so cool, the keys are so soft, that's a great pleasur for me to use it, and no problem with applekeys , everything works even my two bay drives can be open with the eject key, isn't it great (Y)

Thank Apple for good product but for the computer itself , please low cost

#108400