Vector (arcade) monitor interfacing issues

From: Bob Shannon <bshannon_at_tiac.net>
Date: Thu Oct 7 18:41:16 2004

Is anyone on the list familiar with vector display monitors?

I'd like to build an interface to connect some Wells Gardner 19V2000
monitors
(think battlezone here) to HP1350 or Imlac PDS-1 vector generators.

I can easily build a converter to boost the low voltage analog vector
signals up to
the +/- 10 volt levels needed by the WG 19V2000, but I see another
problem...

I read 'The Secret Life of Vector Generators", and notices that Atari vector
generators 'rest' the beam at the center of the screen. There is a comment
about
doing this to prevent the deflection amp transistors from smoking.

But the HP 1350 graphics translator 'rests' the beam at the lower left hand
corner of the screen, not the center. Simple analog amplification and
centering offsets would cause the WG 19V2000 to deflect the beam to the
lower left corner between each display update. I'm not sure the deflection
amps can take this for too long.

One option would be to pull the deflection amp transistors off the cheap
sheet steel
frame of the monitor and install them onto a reasonable heat sink, perhaps
with a small fan for cooling. But even then I'm not sure they would be
inside their safe operating area.

I need to recheck, but I'm fairly sure the Imlac PDS-1 analog vector outputs
also work this same way. (I may use a Tektronics 611 storage tube for the
Imlac, but I'd like the option of using the Wells Gardner...)
Received on Thu Oct 07 2004 - 18:41:16 BST