CNC Trinitron computer monitor hack

[Sandy G]

We ran into the same stuff end of the 90s-early Aughts when a bunch of the '80s swoopy-hi-tech gizmos' super-duper monitors started bitin' the dust...Big Fun tryin' to find parts for a 15-yr old obsolete "Dedicated" monitor-And a lot of the places we'd bought the stuff from originally had thoughtfully added their own little "Tweaks" so you had to go back to them & buy one at 4-5X the price of a std monitor...An' don't even get me started on Your-A-Peein' stuff...Funky voltages, different scan systems, parts originally sourced from Outer Baluchistan...We had a lot of Swiss & German stuff, & yeah, it IS built somewhat better than our stuff is...And as long as you spend half your production time cleaning & maintaining it like the Krauts or Cheesemeisters do, it prolly won't break down...But if you run it in a "Bop Til You Drop" mode like we did, it WILL take a giant, smelly Crap...And may God have mercy on yr Soul then, boy, if you were the Purchasing Agent who was responsible for keepin' that fancy-pants shyte rollin'...Your-A-Peein's-ESPECIALLY Der Schwiss, DON'T understand the American concept of "Get-R-Done-YESTERDAY, Dammitt !"...And the whole continent of Yoorup goes on Vacation in the summertime...All the Krauts go to France, all the Froggies hop to Der Fodderland..Der Schviss go to the Riviera or Sicily...Rotsa Ruck tryin' to prize a 20 yr old part outta 'em THEN...You'd get to talk to the Assistant Parts Manager, who normally operates the Broom Closet.. Glad THAT part of my life is behind me...(grin)

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

We ran into the same stuff end of the 90s-early Aughts when a bunch of the '80s swoopy-hi-tech gizmos' super-duper monitors started bitin' the dust...Big Fun tryin' to find parts for a 15-yr old obsolete "Dedicated" monitor-And a lot of the places we'd bought the stuff from originally had thoughtfully added their own little "Tweaks" so you had to go back to them & buy one at 4-5X the price of a std monitor...

Reminds me of a stupid little company I worked for around 1979. We made machines that would take the video output of a cat scanner in a hospital, and expose it onto Xray film. As doctors back then were used to looking at and handling film and storing it that way too. All this machine was was a modified B&W video monitor (the kind intended for security systems), a lens and shutter, and an electronic controller using an 8060 microprocessor. Not 8080, this was a National Semiconductor 8060. And the mods to the monitor would turn off (blank) the CRT unless a picture was to be captured, and some circuits to allow an exact number of frames to be unblanked. To avoid that banding you get when taking pictures of a CRT TV set showing a picture. I think this company folded years ago, for laughs look at ebay for stuff from "Matrix Instruments". http://www.ebay.com/itm/Matrix-Instr...item5aea00fa0b

A friend there summed it as "A standard issue job at a typical company that made a boring product".

[Einar72]

Originally Posted by wa2ise

Reminds me of a stupid little company I worked for around 1979. We made machines that would take the video output of a cat scanner in a hospital, and expose it onto Xray film. As doctors back then were used to looking at and handling film and storing it that way too. All this machine was was a modified B&W video monitor (the kind intended for security systems), a lens and shutter, and an electronic controller using an 8060 microprocessor. Not 8080, this was a National Semiconductor 8060. And the mods to the monitor would turn off (blank) the CRT unless a picture was to be captured, and some circuits to allow an exact number of frames to be unblanked. To avoid that banding you get when taking pictures of a CRT TV set showing a picture. I think this company folded years ago, for laughs look at ebay for stuff from "Matrix Instruments". http://www.ebay.com/itm/Matrix-Instr...item5aea00fa0b

A friend there summed it as "A standard issue job at a typical company that made a boring product".

I think the company I worked for in 1985 used these in the ultrasound console I worked on. Didn't you put a sheet of X-Ray film in a little rectangular holder and stuff it in the hole in front? I remember it made recordings of the open patient file's CRT display info on the film. After the shoot was over, I would take the film holder and stuff the film into the processor and included the resultant filmrecord in each unit's "Jacket" or DHR, for the clinical reviewers to look at. Jeez, I'd forgotten all about that gizmo... Outfit was called ATL Ultrasound at the time, it was the UltraMark 8 (Philips still runs the place today).

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by Einar72

Didn't you put a sheet of X-Ray film in a little rectangular holder and stuff it in the hole in front? I remember it made recordings of the open patient file's CRT display info on the film. After the shoot was over, I would take the film holder and stuff the film into the processor and included the resultant film record in each unit's "Jacket" or DHR, for the clinical reviewers to look at.

That was it. This company introduced me to video engineering, but I didn't get to do much except solder wires there. Later on, I got a job at RCA's Smirnoff Lab, and invented a bunch of TV patents.