Subject: Re: Use of HD15 VGA to 13W3 Monitor Cables ?
To: Sparc List @ NetBSD.org <port-sparc@netbsd.org>
From: Thomas Michael Wanka <Tom@Wanka.at>
List: port-sparc
Date: 08/15/2002 02:36:08
Hi,
On 14 Aug 2002 at 5:32, beaker wrote:
> I came across this and got to wondering if these are intended for
> using Sun monitors on a PC. Is it and, if so, is it safe to do with
> typical PCI SVGA video cards?
>
> http://www.pcliquidator.com/detailproduct.asp?which=482
that is right. Be aware that most or at least many older Sun
monitors (all that I have) are fixed frequency. If you can
adjust your grafic card to match the monitor it will work (I
remember some old cards that would allow this - possibly an
et4000 based vlb card). I have not tested that lately, but I
think newer cards depend on a driver to do this. So by default
you will not see anything until X starts (if you set up your
grafic card under X to match the monitor).
There are some (dos) utilities, that maybe can change the
default settings of the grafic card for booting, in that case
you might be able to use the monitor even for BIOS settings
and such.
Then there are special grafic cards that will let you use the
fixed frequency monitor in any stage of the computer. These
cards are expensive (200 to 400 USD IIRC) for the performance
they deliver. I recently got contact to a company that sells
bankrupt's estate, a Sony G500 (21" Trinitron multisync CRT),
unused, will cost about USD 170, a 15" TFT USD 140. So it does
not make much sense to get such a card (unless you like the
Sun logo that much ;)).
You might wish to browse following sites:
http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_ffmon.html
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Foothills/4467/fixedsyn
c.html
http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~jrk3g/gdm1934.html
This cable could also be to connect a PC Multisync monitor to
a 13w3 connector on a workstation. I had that working on SGI
and Sun workstations.
HTH
mike