I recently got a B/W monitor Amdek Model 100...now what?

[+swlovinist]

I was given a B/W monitor Amdek Model 100. This is from 1981 and has an RF out cable. I tested the monitor with an apple IIc and it looked great. My question to the group is, what are other classic consoles and computers that could be hooked up to this monitor? Any pong units that are compatible with this monitor? Is there any way to get a console with standard RF out hooked up to this thing? Any help with this would be most appreciated.

Edited September 13, 2013 by swlovinist

[jaybird3rd]

Amdek made some great monitors. I've never seen a 100, but I've got an Amdek 300A, and it's one of my favorite monitors: monochrome amber, one of the most pleasant monitor colors I've ever seen. If yours is a composite monitor, it should work with any classic consoles or computers which output composite video. To hook up an RF-only system, you might have to go through a VCR (this is what I use with my Commodore 1702).

[+save2600]

The early Tandy Model I would have used a monitor like that. And a way to hook a console such as Pong or an Atari system to it would be to use a VCR in between.

[carlsson]

For what it is worth, a modern DIY game like Velleman's Pong clone outputs composite/monochrome video but it also has digital inputs so not a very faithful Pong implementation. For that matter, some friends of mine have modified their Atari Hockey-Pong units to output monochrome video and separate sound, so it should be fully possible to get various Pong games running on it without going through a VCR, but it then takes some soldering and modding skills on your behalf.

 

I suppose some other computers that would look particularly good on this sort of monochrome monitor would be the Commodore B-series (CBM-II, a.k.a B128/256, CBM 610/710 etc), perhaps also the Commodore 128 in 80 column mode through its VDC chip. And all other kinds of older business computers that output a compatible video signal. I don't know if colours will display as greyscale or simply as white on black or vice versa, but then again you'd usually not use a B&W monitor today to play colour games. Perhaps a B&W TV in the 1980's, but that was another matter.

[+swlovinist]

Wow, thank you very much to the suggestions! That is why I love this place. Looks like I will have to now find a VCR at a thrift shop. I think that I want to hook up a pong unit to this monitor, and due to it not having speakers, I think that a pong unit with sound coming out from the system will work best. Again, thanks folks