DIY ADC Adapter

It’s been a while since I added a blog entry, but this is worth it. This time I am building a DVI to ADC adapter so I can connect an old Apple Cinema Display to a PC.

The Backstory:
The PR department at the college I work for was going through some old stuff. They came across some Mac equipment they no longer wanted and asked my office, the Help Desk, to dispose of it properly. What came back were some Apple video cables and one 20″ Apple Cinema Display. It wasn’t the aluminum version, but the older white one that looked like an easel. Of course, this display couldn’t be connected to any regular computer because it used an ADC connector. Apple specially engineered the ADC connector so that power, video, and USB were carried along a single cable. While this was great for reducing the amount of cabling you had, it also meant you had to have either a PowerMac with a compatible video card or a DVI to ADC adapter. That originally cost an $130. Oh, don’t forget your computer had to have a DVI.

The Idea:
If you fast forward to today you can buy a DVI to ADC adapter for $75 from Amazon.com. That would be the quick solution for connecting the monitor to a computer, but I have an idea: why not build my own? The ADC standard is basically the same as DVI with extra wires for power and USB ports. The pinout on the connectors between DVI and ADC are a little different, but shouldn’t be too hard to over come.

Continue reading “DIY ADC Adapter”

Mobile Ready

I am happy to report that Look It’s Another Blog is now compatible with mobile browsers. This is thanks to the WordPress Mobile Pack plugin, which provides a simplified theme along with some PHP scripting. WPMP has a list of browser user agents known to be used on mobile devices. If one of those browsers connects to this website then the mobile version will load. If you would like to view the full version of the site then not a problem. There is a link at the bottom of the page to switch back and forth. The website will remember your preference in the future.

For all of you out there who are surfing the web with an Apple Newton and the Netwscape browser, WPMP will choose the mobile version of the site for you. Currently I can not get Net Hopper to connect to Look It’s Another Blog. It doesn’t appear to like the fact Go Daddy is the host. Courier will load the full site. In testing it does not send a user agent to websites. Therefore, websites do not know what type of browser is connecting.

And in case you were curious, here are the user agents for Newtscape and Net Hopper.
Newt’s Cape/2.1e-2(NIE)
NetHopper/3.2 (Newton)