Testing old monitors.

[pcates]

Sorry if this has been asked a million times before, but I did not find it...
I recently picked up 2 old 19" arcade monitors(in an outrun and A.P.B cabinet). I figured out the connections, but I am not sure how to test. I have a VGA cable rewired to hook straight to the monitor. How do I get the output to 15Hz? I have an old IBM 486 laptop running Win95 I was hoping to use, so I do not have to remove the monitors from the cabs, or unhook my newer desktops and drag them out to the garage. I am not trying to play games yet, just want to see if I get anything on  the monitors.
Thanks, Patrick

[SirPeale]

The easiest way I can think of would be to get your hands on a JAMMA board and plug it in to see if there's a picture.  Failing that, I have no idea if your laptop has a chipset that will output a 15KHz signal.  Do you know what it is?

Also, likely you'll have to amplify the signal for the monitor to output anything.

[pcates]

I am not sure if the computer will output 15hz either, and I also do not know how to find out. Is there a generic program/driver that I could install to try. I tried to put Arcade OS on, but I can not get mame on.(no cd drive, mame too big for floppy).

[MonitorGuru]

And be aware that arcade monitors expect up to 5 volts to drive the guns, while computer VGA cards only put out .75 volts.  You will have to turn up the gun drivers on the neckboard and fiddle with the screen, brightness and contast controls as well, unless you have an amplifier attached.  You may not get the image you want or think it looks lousy and would be fixed by a preamp.

[SirPeale]

I am not sure if the computer will output 15hz either, and I also do not know how to find out. Is there a generic program/driver that I could install to try. I tried to put Arcade OS on, but I can not get mame on.(no cd drive, mame too big for floppy).

Install the SciTech Display Doctor (http://www.scitechsoft.com) and it will tell you your chipset.