ibm t220 t221 lcd monitors factory

The IBM T220 and T221 are LCD monitors that were sold between 2001 and 2005, with a native resolution of 3840×2400 pixels (WQUXGA) on a screen with a diagonal of 22.2 inches (564 mm). This works out to 9,216,000 pixels, with a pixel density of 204 pixels per inch (80 dpcm, 0.1245 mm pixel pitch), much higher than contemporary computer monitors (about 100 pixels per inch) and approaching the resolution of print media. The display family was nicknamed "Big Bertha" in some trade journals. Costing around $8,400 in 2003, the displays saw few buyers. Such high-resolution displays would remain niche products for nearly a decade until modern high-dpi displays such as Apple"s Retina display line saw more-widespread adoption.

The IBM T220 was introduced in June 2001 and was the first monitor to natively support a resolution of 3840×2400.LFH-60 connectors. A pair of cables supplied with the monitor attaches to the connectors and splits into two single-link DVI connectors each, for a total of four DVI channels. One, two or four of the connectors may be used at once.

IBM T220 comes with a Matrox G200 MMS video card and two power supplies. To achieve native resolution the screen is sectioned into four columns of 960×2400 pixels or four tiles of 1920x1200 pixels. The monitor"s native refresh rate is 41 Hz.

This is a revised model of the original T220. Notable improvements include using only one power adapter instead of two and support for more screen modes. However, power consumption increased from 111 to 135 watts (111 to 150 at maximum.) They were initially available as 9503-DG1 and 9503-DG3 models. The 9503-DG1 model came with a Matrox G200 MMS graphics card and two LFH-60 connector cables. The 9503-DG3 model came with one cable connecting from one or two DVI ports on the graphics card to the T221"s LFH-60 sockets.

IBM T221 started out as an experimental technology from the flat panel display group at IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center. In 2000, a prototype 22.2 in TFTLCD, code-named "Bertha", was made in a joint effort between IBM Research and IBM Japan. This display had a pixel format of 3840×2400 (QUXGA-W) with 204 ppi. On 10 November 2000, IBM announced the shipment of the prototype monitors to U.S. Department of Energy"s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Later on 27 June 2001, IBM announced the production version of the monitor, known as T220. Later in November 2001, IBM announced its replacement, IBM T221. On 19 March 2002, IBM announced lowering the price of IBM T221 from US$17,999 to US$8,399. Later on 2 September 2003, IBM announced the availability of the 9503-DG5 model.

IBM and Chi Mei Group of Taiwan formed a joint venture called IDTechViewSoniciiyamaOEMed the T221 and sold it under their brand names. The production line of IDTech at Yasu Technologies was sold to Sony in 2005

Novaković, Nebojša (2003-03-28). "IBM T221 - the world"s finest monitor?". The Inquirer. Archived from the original on September 14, 2009. Retrieved 2011-12-23.link)

The IBM T220 first debuted in 2001 and was the first (and apparently still last as of 2014) to feature "Wide Quad Ultra Extended Graphics Array" (WQUXGA). The later enahnced (and more well known) T221 came out in 2003 and was discontinued shortly thereafter in 2005. It was produced as a high density IPS monitor for high-resolution needs: invariably it showed up mostly in specialized professions and not purchased by many consumers due to the high price. It seems that it was pitched to be [intentionally] paired alongside an IntelliStation.

NOTE: As of October 16th 2014, Apple has released a 5K Retina iMac featuring a display of 5120 x 2880 -- officially being the first on beating the T221; it has 5.3 million more pixels. It took 13 years for this resolution to be surpassed.

One unique aspect pertaining to these monitors is that the intelligence regarding the resolution scaling is pixel perfect: meaning no gaussian blurs are required; unless the resolution is not "even" disallowing proper pixel division. They are capable of scaling down properly to as low as 640x480.

It"s worth noting that due to the fact the T221s can use a maximum of 150 watts (primarily if the monitor is on maximum brightness), they have two cooling fans. Fortunately they"re not very loud, but it"s important that they are replaced/repaired if they fail.

I"ve noticed (even with a brand new T221) that they inject a noisy ground loop into the power grid through the ground. This seems to affect all audio devices on the same power circuit. The manual does explicitly state you need a properly grounded connection which makes the problem seem as if this was known. I opened up the external power brick and Chemicon electrolytics were used: so the issue isn"t due to the quality of the components but something with the design of the power supply.

Even though the design was conceived at the T. J. W. research center, much of the later implementation and manufacturing was sent to IBM Japan in coordination with IBM"s (at the time) IDtech. As such, most warranties found with T221s are for Japan as many were later re-sold in North America. The warranty card has some unusual design features including repetition of the stripeless IBM logo:

NOTICE: because nVidia has restricted their advanced multi-monitoring software (mosaic) to Quadro cards, you must purchase a Quadro that has mosaic capabilities. nVidia cards (such as the GTX) will not work as they are restricted to nvidia surround; and nvidia surround does not work with the T221.

The card of choice I went with was an nVidia NVS 510 (because it has four inputs and can operate well with my System x 3300 M4; this particular system x refuses to work properly with AMD GPUs of any flavour). There are two ways to approach configuring the T221, the first one is more optimal, the second one less so. But before that is explain, here are the common resolutions you will be working with when setting up "virtual monitors" to the T221 (as the T221 obviously can"t receive a video signal from one connector, the controller divides the panel up into either four or two "virtual monitors").

Load up the NVIDIA Control Panel, go to Display > Change resolution. Go through each one of the "IBM Digital Displays" and set them to 1920x1200, NVIDIA will default the values to 41 Hz. Then go to: Workstation > Set up Mosaic > Create new configuration. Select "4" for total displays from the dropdown, and choose the 2x2 topology.

After you enable Mosaic (feel free to power off the T221 for 8 seconds as the nVidia card will flicker through a bunch of garbage resolutions causing the T221 to power off and on rapidly). Once that"s done, Mosaic will stupidly see it as one display at 3840x2400 and will assign it to 13 Hz. Go *back* a screen and set all of the IBM virtual displays in mosaic to 1920x1200 @ 41 Hz (before you hit Apply feel free to power off the T221 for 8 seconds again). Once that"s done just go through the rest of the menus in mosaic and click finish.

Credit for the hex value goes to "wildpig" from here: https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/788053/geforce-900-series/gtx-980-4-monitor-surround-and-the-ibm-t221/

Load up the NVIDIA Control Panel, go to Display > Change resolution. Create a new custom resolution (in this case 920x2400 @ 48Hz or 1920x1200 @ 48Hz). Assign all of the virtual monitors the custom resolution once finished. Then go back to: Workstation > Set up Mosaic > Create new configuration. Select "4" for total displays from the dropdown, and choose the 2x2 topology if you"re using 1920x1200, or 1x4 for 920x2400. Basically the same process as last time (Mosaic will see it as a single 3840x2400 monitor @ 13 Hz, so you need to go back, reassign the virtual monitors, and then complete the setup).

International Display Technology (IDTech) was a partnership between Taiwan"s Chi Mei Corporation and IBM Japan. Its manufacturing factory was sold to Sony in 2005. The headquarters was renamed to the current name, CMO Japan Co., Ltd. in 2006. It manufactured the IBM T220/T221 LCD monitors, among other products.