Q: Last call for PM 7600: Flat screen?

Thats a blast from my past. The graphic card in it has a DB-15. You used to be able to get a DB-15 to VGA adapter. It came with 2Mb VRAM and could be upgraded to 4Mb. Not sure how big of a flat screen VGA monitor you could use with that. The other option would be to find a PCI graphic card that would run in your OS and have more VRAM in it to run a bigger screen.

I love the 7600. My still-working 7600/132 has outlived several newer Macs including some from 2007-8.

Mine has an old ATI 16MB Rage Orion PCI video card so I have VGA out. However--with or without a video card--you may need to find an older flat panel in a thrift store to be sure to get VGA inputs. So many new ones are HDMI and you're lucky to get DVI.

Remember that your on-board video does not support wide aspect ratio resolutions like 16:9 or 16:10, so look for an old school 4:3 monitor. Otherwise your image will have a bad case of the stretchies. As I recall, the standard onboard VRAM will support up to a 19-inch monitor.

We have a couple of universities in our area who are constantly upgrading their stuff. I've seen a lot of old 4:3 FP monitors on their used equipment sale sites and Craigslist. A 4:3 monitor with VGA inputs should be really cheap.

Unless your 7600 were running OS 9.2.2, you wouldn't be able to install the ATI drivers needed to support a Radeon 7000 (for Mac) PCI graphic card's 2D and 3D acceleration.  Unfortunately, I believe that the Radeon is the oldest Mac graphics card that will support some of the widescreen resolution and refresh rates of current displays.  The expense to update the OS and find a used graphics card would likely make it more trouble than it's worth.  I have seen used LCD displays with the 4:3 aspect ratio at thrift stores like Goodwill, which no longer accept the bulky CRT-type displays for donation.

If your 7600 is running OS 9.x and you're really interested, you can update the OS to 9.2.2 using "OS 9 Helper," which was a free download some years ago.  After running the OS 9.1 Update (supported on the pre-G3 Power Macs), OS 9 Helper enabled the end user to run the OS 9.2.1 and 9.2.2 Updates on the pre-G3 Power Macs that weren't officially supported by them.  A web search will likely find it.  Then you could check ebay for any of the following graphics cards:  Radeon 7000 Mac Edition, Radeon 7000 for Macs, or a Radeon 7000 (PC version) that had its EEPROM chip flashed with a Mac ROM to be Mac-compatible.  At least 10 years ago, I bought (8) of ATI's retail-boxed Radeon 7000 PCI graphics cards for PCs and reprogrammed them for use in my Macs.  During that same time, there were a number of ebay sellers who did the same, and capitalized on the need for a higher-end PCI graphics card for Macs.  They bought some of the "made by ATI" and the third-party "powered by ATI" Radeon 7000 cards designed for PCs, flashed them, and then listed them for auction.  You can still find a few listed now, with most being used.  The Sapphire brand is one you'll that you'll often find.  It's a third-party Radeon PCI card that's "powered by ATI" technology, but wasn't made by ATI.  AMD acquired ATI and subsequently focused its attention on the PC market.  The Radeon 9200 Mac Edition was the last PCI graphics card marketed for older Macs.  I use a Dell 19" widescreen LCD display with my B&W G3 and the Radeon 7000 card supports its optimal 1440 x 900 @ 60 Hz setting.  I've seen other, similar-sized displays in the past two years with native resolutions that aren't supported by the 2000-2001 vintage Radeon card.  As for your processor card, you weren't limited to upgrading to one that shipped with another 7600 (the 604/132 that you're using).  You could have used any of the faster 604e processor cards that shipped with the slightly-faster Power Macs.  I recently e-cycled compatible processor cards that were faster: 150, 180, and 200 MHz.  Had I held off longer, I would have sent you a 200 MHz card for the cost of shipping.  I had upgraded six Power Macs with a 233 MHz processor card and a 1 MB L2 cache card.  The performance boost was noticeable and the upgrade seemed like a good idea at the time, but with hindsight, the $$ spent would have been better-invested in a mutual fund.  Checking ebay, you can also occasionally find used, third-party G3 or G4 processor cards that were marketed to upgrade those older Macs.

Information about the OS 9 Forever or the OS 9 Helper section on that page

may still be valid; not sure if this archived view has any of the original .sit files

or other links through to live download sources. Check to see if links still work.

Somewhere I have several items from that era, and also a PM 7600-132 with

the 15-inch CRT. Last of my 350+ Macs that I'd restored & donated to charity.

Good luck & happy computing!

With the right graphics card, you can use a flat screen monitor. I installed an original retail Mac Radeon PCI card in my 9600. It has worked with two monitors. The current one is a  current-vintage 19" NEC. I can boot in OS 8.6 as well as OS 9. These cards crop up on eBay from time to time. I snagged another one a while back that I want to try in my old 7600, assuming it still works. It hasn't been started up in at least 5 years.