• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

NEC MultiSync Color Monitor (JC-1401P3A) and Tandy TRS-80 Model 2000

EddieDX4

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2006
Messages
542
Location
Puget Sound region, WA, USA
In preparation for the TRS-80 Model 2000 I should be receiving in a week or two (complements of Chromedome45...Thank you!), I went TTL multisync monitor hunting today. While visiting my favorite recycler, I was lucky enough to find a near-mint NEC MultiSync Color Monitor (the original, model JC-1401P3A) and quickly snatched it off the shelf and gladly paid the asking price (comes with a 30 day warranty).

I found the manufacturer's specs for it in some old archived thread from classiccmp.org, which are as follows:

QuickSpecs MultiSync
Model JC-1401P3A

Introduced October, 1985
Non-Current September 1987

Screen 14.0-inch (13.0" viewable image size)

CRT 0.31 mm Dot Trio

Max. Resolution 800 x 560 @ 56Hz

Horizontal Freq 15.5 kHz to 35 kHz

I've tested tested the monitor hooked up to a CGA card (Compaq Portable) and it works like a charm... I'm about to test it with an EGA card.

The monitor has DIP switches for selecting TTL color modes (8, 16, 64)... Based on the supported freq range, I'm fairly sure it should support the Model 2000's (26.4 khz), but I'm wondering if the color setting needs to be adjusted, accordingly... Has anyone used this particular monitor with a Model 2000? Do I need to set the color mode switches to something like 8? Does it matter?

Also, would this monitor possibly support the AT&T PC 6300's high resolution modes as well?

Asthetically this monitor is spot-on to the era. NEC placed the logo/monitor name in a very subtle fashion on the base... The monitor itself has a dark gray/beige bezel and the case is standard baige... It looks great with anything from the mid 80's. :cool:
 
The Multisyncs were great monitors. I bought a used NEC Multisync II in 1991 or so when someone offered it to me for $100. I used it for another 10 years. I seem to remember having to do some kind of registry hack to force the refresh rate so I could run it at 800x600 with Win95 or 98. They didn't recognize the monitor, so they tried to run it at a funky rate it didn't support. It finally broke in about 2001. I wish I'd held on to it and gotten it fixed. I owned several NECs over the years, and they far outlasted any other brand of monitor I tried.

And you're right, those early Multisyncs looked great with any computer of that era. I ran it on my Amiga 2000 in the early '90s, and a few years later I bought a gutted PC/AT. I ran a couple of different Pentium motherboards in it, and outfitted it with a Model M keyboard and a 2nd-generation Microsoft serial mouse along with that Multisync II, so I was really rocking the '80s with it. It was my main computer for a couple of years, and a valuable secondary PC for a lot longer after that. The monitor's gone, but at least I still have all the rest of it.
 
Those are really nice monitors. I've had one for quite a while now. Mine was originally used in EGA mode to display graphics for our in house energy management system. Here is a link to a .zip file from my site with some information about it. Maybe it will be useful.
 
Those are really nice monitors. I've had one for quite a while now. Mine was originally used in EGA mode to display graphics for our in house energy management system. Here is a link to a .zip file from my site with some information about it. Maybe it will be useful.

Thank you for the link! I actually found that linke also while browsing that old thread I mentioned above. I had no idea you can set the color for text mode... :-D Great stuff.
 
Back
Top