New *square* 1:1 26.5" LCD monitor 1920x1920

[ethan at 757.org]

> Don't they just! I come across tons of folks wanting to replace their 4:3
> CRT with an LCD in arcade cabinets all the time. I wonder why, with all
> the niche electronics in the world these days, some company hasn't made
> panels with 640x480 display resolution at large sizes as replacements. I
> guess the companies that make LCDs just aren't interested (yet). I have
> noticed a few niche CRT makers trying to fill that gap. CRTs look better
> than LCDs do in many cases because of the cheap anti-aliasing you get from
> the phosphor and interlacing (just my opinion). However, LCDs offer some
> nice advantages these days.

Yea, for the classic arcades (70s, 80s, early 90s?) people tend to stick 
with CRTs but for the later computer based games people use scaler boards 
and LCDs. They shove widescreen LCDs in the cabinets and end up with this 
tiny picture in the middle where the large 29" monitor used to be.

> Large panels would be a godsend for me, I have early onset macular
> degeneration in my retinae. I get that folks think I'm crazy for not
> buying a 4k panel and then jacking up the fonts. What those folks don't
> seem to understand (at all) is that I've already tried it. Yes, Windows,
> MacOS, and to some extent Linux have features to crank the fonts way up in
> your windowing system and for most applications.

There are plenty of widescreen lower resolution panels? 720p and 1080p 
televisions?

> Some jerkhole sales guy in the Apple store got offended when I mentioned
> (privately & quietly to a friend that was with me) that I hated the new
> "retina" displays on their gear not only because of the squint (and yes, I
> know MacOS has pretty much the best hi-res support going), but also that
> the screens lacked an anti-glare coating (if they have any, it doesn't
> work worth a darn). The guy comes over, interrupts us and gives me some
> angry rant about how people like me need to "get over" anti-glare coatings
> because they "distort" 4k displays. I told him that I wasn't speaking to
> him and didn't need his help or input, but if I was I'd say something like
> " Who gives a **** about the resolution if you can't see it over the
> glare? " That's what I get for going into an Apple store in the first
> place, though. My bad.

I think my MacBook has anti glare coating on the retina screen, but I 
don't really use it outside. There are apps that let you directly set the 
resolution but that just gets you tiny text.

> I think I probably could. I also think that if I had to use a scan
> converter it might be possible to use older systems with it. The problem
> is that the scan-converter would need to support 1920x1920 and
> sync-on-green. That's something that I doubt any of them would do, but who
> knows what the future holds. The fact that this monitor is new and was
> made at all gives me some hope.

I don't think a SGI would support that resolution? Or are you driving it 
with a PC? That resolution is definitely non-standard.

 			- Ethan