*Sun* 13W3M <-> HD15F criteria

Hi,

I need to replace the bulky 13W3MM cables for my Sun boxen with "regular" HD15 cables.

Anyone who has been down this path knows that it's usually not as simple as naively picking between google offerings! :< E.g., SGI devices tend to observer the "beat of a different drummer".

So, I'm looking for guidance (P/N's) for a *widget* that I can fasten to the rear of, e.g., a Creator/Elite that will present an HD15F connector to which I can attach a "standard" (PC) video cable.

I have one such device here that appears to work well. But, as with most of the Chinese stuff that's so commonly sold, nowadays, there are no vendor markings or part numbers! So, no way to find another *identical* device... (I need 4 or 5).

If push comes to shove, I can look at the Creator/Elite pinout and sort out the mapping necessary to get to a (PC) HD15. But, there's no guarantee that any *adapters* (widgets) will accurately disclose their internal composition (some *do*!).

Thx,

--don

Reply to
Don Y
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Many PC video systems use HD15 pins to do monitor identification, according to some VESA protocol or the other; your 13C3 connector won't have that configuration info available, so you'll have to hand-configure the monitor. Pi would be the first supplier to check out: they have a suitable-looking cable (but not a clear picture or description of the pinout)

and at that price, I'd suggest buy-it-to-try-it.

I'm not sure what "Creator Elite" or "Mitsubishi 1451" are, exactly.

Reply to
whit3rd

Not sure I follow. The monitors will NOT be on a PC. They will be driven by Sun boxen. The monitors autosync to the video signal correctly (with the "widget" that I currently have -- along with a Sun cable intended for this sort of thing).

While I have many of the cables, they require a Sun video cable to get to the Sun box (the adapter cables that I have are intended to connect to the monitor making the *monitor* look like a Sun monitor -- semantic difference but I want an adapter that makes the Sun box look like a "PC", more or less :> )

[Mainly, the issue is one of types of cables and locations of connectors: Sun video cables are *almost* as bad as "orange hose" Also, the widget would hide the "conversion" behind the Sun box whereas the "adapter cable" has the "splice" lying on the worksurface behind the monitor (remember: "orange hose"??)]

Appears similar (though longer) to the Sun "adapter cables" that I currently have.

I would like the cables on the backs of the monitors to be "secured" (it's a pain to get at the backs of the monitors) and know that the "far end" is the same in each case (HD15 or DVI). So, if I need to "borrow" a monitor to connect to a box that is currently running headless, I can just unplug the nearest "far end" and run that over to the headless box's video out.

The "adapter cable" leaves me with a 13W3F (in my case) dangling from the monitor. Pretty useless for connecting to anything other than a 13W3M 13W3MSun video cable.

Mitsubishi 1451 was a monitor. Creator/Elite are (old) "accelerated" Sun video cards. With 13W3F outputs :<

Reply to
Don Y

The VESA display identification is in video cards and monitors (Windows and Mac for sure, probably Linux and whatever your Sun boxes run also). If the monitor does not identify its allowed resolutions, the video will usually fall back to some safe resolution. Usually, this is not optimal. I think it just involves a serial EEPROM in the monitor, wired to an otherwise unused pin of the VGA connector.

Reply to
whit3rd

Remember, Sun's are their own "universe" (ditto SGI, old Macs, etc.)

The old Sun's used a trivial set of "sense" pins in the 13W3 (i.e., 4 of the 10 "non coax" pins) to indicate which ONE of a handful (4 or 5) resolutions are supported by the monitor. Monitors were fixed frequency so all you were really doing was picking a "monitor model number".

Regardless of which *one* is indicated (by the "widget" to the video adapter), the monitor will autosync to it.

Some of the "later" (CRT) monitors (e.g., GDM5510 -- probably the epitome of "boat anchors" when it comes to sheer weight!) could talk to *certain* video adapters (e.g., {Creator, Elite}-3D) via DDC (I think the PGX32 will also talk DDC).

[Actually, this beast was worse. At 100 pounds, EACH, whenever I crawled under the bench that supported them (I had two), I was "seriously concerned" about the possibility of the bench deciding on that instant to FAIL!]

But, the Sun boxen are sufficiently ancient (the SB2000 is my "least ancient") -- and the *CRT* monitors of that era of sufficiently low resolution (e.g., 1600x1200, max) that displays have no problems adapting to the video output.

[The Sun's, themselves, can be configured to drive at a specific output resolution in much the same way you could do this on a Windows machine. E.g., you can edit the "output-device" in OFW to specify a resolution or the "video-timing" word (on some video adapters) to actually specify number of pels, H/V sync/blank/porch, dotclock, etc.]

As the Sun's get "hardwired" to a particular configuration (here) and that is within the capabilities of the monitors that I will connect to any of them, it's not a problem. It's not like trying to replace a 15" monitor on a PC with a 30" widescreen and expecting it to magically work! :>

Reply to
Don Y

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