ADC to VGA?

Vista,

Nittany has the best advice if your VGA monitor is looking average. There seem to be 3 choices. If you guys are in the States then you have much more choice than I do and sensible shipping costs. For all my prices double the numbers for Dollars. I've been looking all round the world in despair.

1 - New video card - probably dual DVI - going for between £50 and £125 depending on where you look. Then DVI to VGA's if you need them.

2 - New Monitor - I may have to ditch one of my 21" CRTs for a 17" CRT with an ADC connector. My cheapest option, about £25 if I'm patient. I just prefer the older CRT's on my eyes. The sony made 21" is still the mutts nuts for me, and has excellent colour correction. Otherwise, if you're gonna go DVI, the sky's the limit.

3 - Wait forever for an old ADC to VGA adapter. Someone is trying to sell one now for £98. Yes, almost $200 for what was an ordinary $25 cable 9 months ago.

Still beats me why Dr Bott or Gefen can't put one together in China as long as they watched the quality control.

Cheers.
 
I have been pulling my hair out for days trying to figure this one out. This thread was great! I'm going to use the double-adapter approach (ADC to DVI then DVI to VGA) for an inexpensive fix to one of our district machines. I can't thank all of you enough!
 
Hey Raeann,

please let me know if you have any luck with the double adapter trick. As far as I know it will not work. The pins in the adapters don't marry up. This thread gets a bit complicated but the others got round their problems by using a DVI to VGA adapter, and an ADC to DVI adapter ( both of which are still available ) from their DVI and ADC outlet video card. One of their monitors was DVI and the other VGA.

If you have two VGAs like I do then you still have problems. Over the months I have managed to acquire 2 original Dr Bott ADC to VGA adapters at a reasonable price but only by being patient. They often go for about $150 on your side of the pond.

Check European Ebay as I have seen a couple recently go at a much better price. Good luck.

Please post back if the double adapter set-up works.

Cheers.
 
Wow. Thanks for clearing that up, as I misunderstood what was being posted. I may have to re-evaluate. Since i am looking for my district, there may be the option of moving computers around instead of the adapter idea. I do have two vga items I want to connect. One is data projector and the other is a vga monitor. Guess I'm not out of the woods yet. Thanks for taking time to post a response. I'm dealing with a lab computer at an elementary school so I kind of need to resolve as quickly as possible.
 
I had the same understanding problem at the beginning too, check the thread. If you have another mac with a DVI and VGA outlet video card then you will be OK you can just use a DVI to VGA adapter.

Options for us dual VGA people are :

Get a ADC to VGA adapter off eBay. You may have to wait. Check Europe as I said before. There was a guy in Ireland selling them quite cheap the other day. You will never lose money on them if you then choose to upgrade !

Buy a second hand DVI and VGA or dual DVI AGP video card off eBay. You will still need adapters.

Buy a VGA/DVI out PCI card. If you do this you may even get extended desktop on your second monitor. You will still need an adapter.

Buy an old 17" ADC Apple Studio display. No one wants CRTs anymore let alone one with with an ADC plug on it so they are really cheap if not free sometimes. They are fantastic screens and they look real funky too.

Good luck.
 
I think I found a vga card that I can put in the tower. I pulled it out of a G3 tower, but believe it will work. I just have to get to the building where the computer is to test it. If it works, then I can end my Friday with a reason to celebrate!
Thanks again for all your thoughts. My hubby uses forums all the time to get info for his motorcycle, and now I am seeing why. What a great way to network!
 
If it is the main card for the G3 then it will be an AGP card and the towers only have one AGP slot each. If it came from one of the other slots below then it will be a PCI card and you will be in business. The AGP slots are generally a different colour to the PCIs.

Any other queries feel free to ask.

Cheers.
 
It appeared to be the only video card in the G3 tower, but I unscrewed it and moved it to the G4 tower and am back in business. Yippee! Thanks for helping end my week on a positive note. Hopefully someday I'll be able to return the favor. Have a good one!
 
That's fantastic.

You already have helped me because i just learned something too. I didn't realise that the G3 towers used a PCI graphics card, I thought they had the same AGP system as a G4. I just checked the spec online. Which makes them a really cheap source of PCI graphics cards and I may now be able to get extended desktop on my old G4 Tower.

Plus a budget way of fixing the dual VGA problem on this thread. Good news all round.

Cheers
 
There is a big difference between ADC to VGA and DVI to VGA. The latter is easy since DVI to VGA are both ubiquitous, cross-platform standards. ADC is a Mac standard and an old one at that. You CANNOT connect an ADC to DVI adapter to a DVI to VGA adapter and expect it to work. And, unless someone is selling a used one on eBay or craigslist, you cannot purchase a new ADC to VGA adapter because the license required by manufacturers to literally produce these adapters was never renewed. The license ran out and the manufacturers basically said, "Screw it, we're not paying to renew a license to manufacture old technology." And I guess I can't blame them, but that's why those of us with old G5s that still work fine are having a dickens of a time trying to run 2 monitors. You NEED to find a legitimate ADC to VGA adapter. But good luck with that. I was actually able to find one of the last ones before they stopped making them and I'm not selling it! The bottom line is if you find yourself in this situation, just buy a new video card with DVI and VGA outputs, or better yet, 2 DVI outputs if it's in the budget. Then you're not limited. If the machine you are using is a work machine then you need to have a discussion with your IT dept. about getting you a new video card. Try and pick someone in IT that has half a clue about Macs because it's been my experience that most IT tech's eyes glaze over when you start talking Macspeak. Good luck.
 
hi does anyone know where to get either an adc to vga or an adc to dvi in the uk??

got a power mac g5 in my home studio and needing extended desktop for more space, but want the cheapest way to do it, its got 1 dvi input which ive got a dvi to vga adapter in and one adc input which i need to find an adapter (in the uk) for.
thanks.
 
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