SGI - Silicon Graphics 1600SW: Apple Mac Compatibility

SuperWide^TM savvy Apple factory configurations (all require the Silicon Graphics MultiLink^TM Adapter):

Mac OS X
The 1600SW and MultiLink do not function in digital mode under Mac OS X connected to the DVI or ADC port. This problem has been reported to Apple, but a resolution to the problem has not been proposed. On most systems, the 1600SW/MultiLink will work when connected to the analog port. Until this problem is resolved, SGI does not recommend using the 1600SW/MultiLink under Mac OS X.

Power Macintosh G4 or G4 Cube with ATI
Power Macintosh G4 or G4 Cube with an ATI Rage 128 Pro or Radeon AGP video card works at native 1600x1024 resolution on either the digital or analog ports. Connecting the Silicon Graphics MultiLink adapter to an ADC port requires a Belkin ADC to DVI adapter and at least Mac OS 9.0.4. Pre-ADC cards with DVI ports do not require the Belkin adapter but do require at least Mac OS 9.1. Analog mode also requires Mac OS 9.1 for full 1600x1024 resolution support.

The ADC to DVI adapter from Belkin passively routes TMDS digital signal pins in the non standard ADC layout to the standard DVI pin layout. The Belkin part number is F2E9142-WHT and information on the adapter cable can be found at http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Produ ct_Id=92397.

Power Macintosh G4 with nVIDIA
Power Macintosh G4 with the nVIDIA GeForce2 MX AGP video card works at native 1600x1024 resolution on either the digital or analog ports. Connecting the Silicon Graphics MultiLink adapter to an ADC port requires a Belkin ADC to DVI adapter. Non native resolutions in digital mode may display noise and distortion problems. Initial attempts to use analog mode at native resolution may require setting the video card to a lower resolution first to display a signal before switching to 1600x1024.

PowerBook
PowerBook G3 (FireWire) and G4 Titanium models require Mac OS 9.1 for full 1600x1024 native resolution. Move the menu bar to the 1600SW and set the PowerBook's built-in display resolution to 800x600 (896x600 on the G4) to play DVD movies on the 1600SW.

On all the above systems running Apple DVD Player 2.3 or better, you can enjoy full, edge-to-edge playback of anamorphic "enhanced widescreen" DVD movies on the 1600SW.

On some PowerBooks, "noise" or interference may appear on the 1600SW. This only occurs on some units, and may be a manufacturing problem. This has been reproduced on PowerBook G3 and G4 models.

Power Macintosh G3
Power Macintosh G3 with ATI Rage 128 Pro (blueberry, no digital) requires Mac OS 9.1. DVD playback on this system will not be full screen width unless you use the Wired4DVD MPEG decoder/overlay card.

Most pre-Mac OS 9.1 and pre Rage 128 Pro systems will drive the 1600SW display at up to 1280x1024. The Silicon Graphics MultiLink Adapter controls can be used to either stretch standard aspect ratio resolutions to fill the width of the display or maintain the original aspect ratio with black borders.

Formac ProFormance 3
The Formac ProFormance 3 video card bundled with the 1600SW flat panel display (SGI part number MON00015) connects directly to the 1600SW panel, without the need for the Silicon Graphics MultiLink. The Formac card supports 640x480, 800x512, 1024x768, 1280x1024 and native 1600x1024 resolutions. Only the 640x480 and 800x512 resolutions are scaled using simple pixel doubling, while the 640x480, 1024x768, and 1280x1024 resolutions are not scaled in any way, leaving unused black areas around the image area.

MARGI Display-to-Go PC Card
The MARGI Display-to-Go PC card supports the full resolution and screen size of the Silicon Graphics 1600SW flat panel display when used with the Silicon Graphics MultiLink adapter on any CardBus slot-equipped PowerBook. The MARGI Systems Display-to-Go 4MB is a Type II CardBus PC card with DVI, DFP or VGA cables for use with the Silicon Graphics MultiLink Adapter and 1600SW flat panel display. Display-to-Go is compatible with any CardBus-enabled PowerBook running Mac® OS 9.0 or 9.1. The PowerBook G3 (FireWire) requires Mac OS 9.1. For more information and a special rebate offer, please visit MARGI Systems at http://www.margi.com/hdi597/sgi.html.

Tips

Tweaking the Imageable Area
Occasionally initial setup will result in the imageable area of the screen being off by a few pixels horizontally and/or vertically. If you encounter this problem, first use the Silicon Graphics MultiLink Adapter's reset function, accessed by pressing any of the buttons on the Silicon Graphics MultiLink Adapter and selecting the last item of the initial On Screen Display (OSD) screen. If this fails to resolve the problem use the horizontal and vertical controls in the OSD to manually adjust the imageable area. The Silicon Graphics MultiLink will retain these settings so they should not need to be adjusted on subsequent resolution changes or reboots.

Cards That Scale
On Macs equipped with ADC or DVI connectors the video card in digital mode drives the 1600SW display at its native resolution of 1600x1024 regardless of operating system resolution settings. The scaling of lower resolutions to fill the display is done in the video card in order to support the Apple Cinema Display, a digital flat panel with no built in scaler. Analog mode behaves normally, leaving the scaling of non native resolutions up to the scaler built in to the Silicon Graphics MultiLink Adapter. The Silicon Graphics MultiLink Adapter also lets you chose to either stretch standard aspect ratio resolutions such as 1280x1024 to fill the full width of the 1600SW, or maintain a standard aspect ratio by centering the image and leaving blank vertical bars on either side. This function is not available when the video card does the scaling.