Sync on Green Monitors and Others

From: Info from LSI <dec.parts_at_verizon.net>
Date: Mon Sep 17 05:48:43 2001

Hello Blair,

  It seems from your description of your video connector
that it may in fact be the 3W3 video connector as used
on some DEC systems. One list member indicated ...

> to 3 BNCs to hook up to a decent monitor that does sync on green

  If you try to use a fixed frequency monitor, you must use
one that is a sync on green model monitor and that syncs at
the correct horizontal and vertical frequencies. If you can
determine which model monitor originally went to that system,
you might be able to research a DEC or HP model that syncs at
the same frequencies at ...

http://www.monitorworld.com/Monitors/dec/
http://www.monitorworld.com/Monitors/hp/

> Find yerself a DEChead or two, and they may have a cable to fit...

While I don't have any spares myself, I recently bought a cable
from Barry's Supply. He has one currently available at ...

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1275561813

> some older multisync Mac monitors with the 3-BNC input might work
             ^^^^^^^^^....... NOT .......... ^^^^^

Sony made monitors for DEC, HP, IBM, SGI, Sun, RasterOps, Radius,
and possibly others. If a monitor has only 3-BNC inputs, it is
most probably a sync on green fixed frequency model. If it has
4-BNC inputs, it is most probably a composite sync model ( the
only exception I know of to that is a NEC model which also has
a HD15 connector in addition to the 4-BNC's ). Any other monitor
I have ever seen, other than those NEC models, that is a multisync
had 5-BNC inputs. Note however that some 5-BNC input models are
fixed frequency ( GDM-1950 and GDM-1952 come to mind ). Generally
I have found that the Sony models that have 5-BNC inputs and
rotary controls are the fixed frequency type. The models that
have 5-BNC inputs and have push button controls ( digital ) have
been multisyncs ( GDM-1971 and 2075RO come to mind ).

http://www.monitorworld.com/Monitors/sony/
http://www.monitorworld.com/Monitors/radius/
http://www.monitorworld.com/Monitors/radius/0322precisioncolor20.html
http://www.monitorworld.com/Monitors/rasterops/
http://www.monitorworld.com/Monitors/rasterops/2075ro20colorgraphicsdisplay.html

Those monitors that are considered multisyncs should be able to
sync up on a horizontal scan frequency as low as, or slightly
lower than, DOS's 31.5 kHz. The really nice thing about the
5-BNC Sony models, both fixed frequency and multisyncs, is that
they auto-sense, and auto-switch sync types. So even though the
monitor has 5 BNC inputs, you can still hook up to just 3 of
them if your graphics outputs a sync on green signal, or 4 of
them if your graphics outputs a composite ( H and V on the same
line, but a separate line than R, G, or B ) sync signal. And of
course if your graphics outputs a separate sync signal ( H, V,
R, G, and B all on separate lines ) you would connect to all 5-BNC
inputs. I use my Sony multisyncs to hook up to and test my DEC
Alpha's (SOG), VAXstation 4000/60's (SOG), HP PA-RISC (SOG),
Sun's (CS), Macintosh's (CS), and of course, PC's (SS). In fact,
my multisync Sony's have worked with just about every type system
I have ever tried them on except my SGI Indy's, and that might be
because the SGI's 13W3 pin-out might not be compatible with the
13W3 to HD15 adapter I use with the Sun's? It's been very
convenient, space wise, to use one monitor to test all those type
systems, rather than have to store a different monitor for each
one.

                            Bennett


Subject:
            Re: IBM PowerStation 530
      Date:
            Sun, 16 Sep 2001 11:40:00 -0400
      From:
            "Blair J. Miller" <millerbj_at_umich.edu>
   Reply-To:
            classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
        To:
            <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
 References:
            1 , 2

Emanual -

Hrm... I guess if I'd have known from the beginning that the computer
would
be a '7013 model 530' I'd have been a lot better off. I didn't find the
exact manual, but rather one for the '500' series, and though it was
published in 1996 (this computer is from 1990 or so) most of the
physical
stuff still seems to apply. Thanks for the heads up...

- Blair

> Try www.ibm.com ;-)
> Anyway, check the real product number of this machine. Should be
> something like "7013 model 530" (?)


Subject:
            Re: IBM PowerStation 530
      Date:
            Sun, 16 Sep 2001 11:45:29 -0400
      From:
            "Blair J. Miller" <millerbj_at_umich.edu>
   Reply-To:
            classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
        To:
            <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
 References:
            1 , 2

> Yup, it's RGB, sync on green. You need to get a cable to break that
out
> to 3 BNCs to hook it up to a decent monitor that does sync on green...

Unfortunately, the monitor that may have been hooked up to the machine
was
nowhere to be found... and this being my first classic computer, I don't

have such a thing lying around either. :o(

I read something about hooking a serial terminal up to the machine
directly... Forgive me for dumb questions, but I'm assuming a serial
terminal is one of those boxes that I keep seeing that has hookups for
mice,
keyboards, SVGA monitors, and the like? Also called a 'Terminal Station'
I
believe... Will this work? I don't even know if I'm asking the right
question here, and I could be horribly, stupidly, wrong. :o) This thing
comes from 'way back in the day' for me, before I was even interested in

computers, so I don't know a whole heck of a lot right now. More
research I
guess...

Thanks again.

Blair


Subject:
            Re: IBM PowerStation 530
      Date:
            Sun, 16 Sep 2001 11:49:01 -0400
      From:
            "Blair J. Miller" <millerbj_at_umich.edu>
   Reply-To:
            classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
        To:
            <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
 References:
            1

> Without looking at your email address, it took me a moment to figure
out
> where you were... I'm up in Sault Ste. Marie, MI right on the Canadian

I've been there once or twice... I believe I also have relatives living
there, though that could just be my imagination.

> Find yerself a DEChead or two, and they may have a cable to fit... and

some
> older multisync Mac monitors with the 3-BNC input might work with it
as
> well...

Where would I find something like this... I've no problems driving
around
Michigan (I think of driving as a way to calm down, and I end up doing
it a
lot, especially when dealing with foreign territory in the world of
computers) to get my hands on one, but I'm not sure where to look. I
suppose
another trip to property disposition is in order. :o)

Thanks for the tips.

Blair


Subject:
            Re: IBM PowerStation 530
      Date:
            Sun, 16 Sep 2001 11:50:36 -0400
      From:
            "Blair J. Miller" <millerbj_at_umich.edu>
   Reply-To:
            classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
        To:
            <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
 References:
            1 , 2

> If you decide not to keep the 530 let me know

Will do. You close to Ann Arbor?

Blair


Subject:
            Re: IBM PowerStation 530
      Date:
            Sun, 16 Sep 2001 11:53:16 -0400
      From:
            "Blair J. Miller" <millerbj_at_umich.edu>
   Reply-To:
            classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
        To:
            <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
 References:
            1

> You should be able to get it to use a serial console. Having the key
to
> get it into service mode is extra helpful.

Fortunately, I've got the key. Unfortunately, I'm a newbie to ALL of
this,
and I'm not sure what a serial console is... can you elaborate?

> Making sure the RAM hasn't been removed is important. The amount
would
> matter if you were going to try to move to recent versions of AIX.

I doubt it has. It was just sitting there, and it doesn't appear that
anyone
has opened it in a LONG LONG time. As for AIX, I'll figure that out when
I
can actually use the system. I also read something very brief that this
machine would run LinuxPPC or YellowDog (forget which). Any idea if
that's
true?

Thanks for your help.

Blair
Received on Mon Sep 17 2001 - 05:48:43 BST

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