In my last post, I had this question left unanswered.
- Could I somehow use the Beeb with a modern display?
Some Acorn aficionados like the idea of pairing their Acorn machine with original monitors from the same period, notably the Microvitec Cub colour monitors. Personally I wanted a space saving and clear display, that I didn’t have to worry about repairing later down the line. Besides, the Cubs cost a pretty penny – fetching between £200 and £300 at the time of writing.
After searching if the BBC B could support a modern display, I quickly came across this YouTube answer from Retro Computer Shack showing how to connect to a display with an HDMI input. This provides a crisp display on a monitor or TV, using a RGB to SCART cable (£13.50) plus a SCART to HDMI video converter (£29). I went with the advice to get this more expensive converter (Prices at time of writing), since I could see from Amazon feedback the cheaper converters were giving problems.
What was trickier was getting hold of a monitor (rather than a TV) with an HDMI input which from reading from a few sources are a little harder to get hold of nowadays. I got hold of a Dell 19″ HDMI Monitor IPS LED 1280 x 1024 P1917S P1917SF from eBay seller UK Computer Parts which do have a 100% feedback rating. When I received the monitor it was packed adequately but hastily, with some of the packing tape coming off the misshapen box. The fuse was also missing from the plug which caused a bit of initial alarm when I tried switching it on, but once a fuse was put in, the monitor was fine and in good condition.
So the answer to the above is that the Beeb can use a more modern display. You could use of course a display with a SCART input (more common with TVs) saving on having an adaptor – it depends on your preference.
