VRT19-HA on Alpha?

[Phillip Helbig (undress to reply)]

I have a nice colour monitor, VRT19-HA, which at one time was connected
to a VAX. It has three BNC connectors for red, green and blue (for
input, and also three for output). Cables with three BNC connectors
often have a small plug with 3 thick pins on the other end; that worked
with VAXen but also with the DEC 3000 (21064, a TurboChannel system).

I do have a cable with three BNC connectors and a "standard" video
connector on the other end (male plug with three rows of pins) which
fits all the graphic cards (Else Gloria Synergy or whatever) I have on
Alpha. Is there any chance that this would work, enabling me to connect
the VRT19-HA to an Alpha? (The cable is short, so I would have to move
things to test it out.)

I also have a similar cable with 5 BNC connectors, which is long enough.
Could I expect that to work? What are the other two connectors for?

[Phillip Helbig (undress to reply)]

In article <rdq247$13ne$1...@gioia.aioe.org>,
hel...@asclothestro.multivax.de (Phillip Helbig (undress to reply))
writes:

Tried the cable with 5 BNC connectors. The monitor gets a signal, but
it is black-and-white, and looks like an old analog television which is
not properly adjusted, i.e. fluttering horizontal stripes moving up.

[Phillip Helbig (undress to reply)]

In article <rdq326$1fp1$1...@gioia.aioe.org>,

What about a VRT17-HA? This has 5 BNC connectors on the back.

[Chris Scheers]

The VRT19-HA is a "sync on green" monitor.

If your video card can output the sync signal on the green lead, it
should work.

It is also a 1280x1024 monitor. It does not autosync, so your card must
be outputting this resolution.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Scheers, Applied Synergy, Inc.

Voice: 817-237-3360 Internet: ch...@applied-synergy.com
Fax: 817-237-3074

[Phillip Helbig (undress to reply)]

In article <rdqde3$liv$1...@dont-email.me>, Chris Scheers

<ch...@applied-synergy.com> writes:

> >> I do have a cable with three BNC connectors and a "standard" video
> >> connector on the other end (male plug with three rows of pins) which
> >> fits all the graphic cards (Else Gloria Synergy or whatever) I have on
> >> Alpha. Is there any chance that this would work, enabling me to connect
> >> the VRT19-HA to an Alpha? (The cable is short, so I would have to move
> >> things to test it out.)
> >>
> >> I also have a similar cable with 5 BNC connectors, which is long enough.
> >> Could I expect that to work? What are the other two connectors for?
> >
> > Tried the cable with 5 BNC connectors. The monitor gets a signal, but
> > it is black-and-white, and looks like an old analog television which is
> > not properly adjusted, i.e. fluttering horizontal stripes moving up.
>
> The VRT19-HA is a "sync on green" monitor.

Right.

> If your video card can output the sync signal on the green lead, it
> should work.
>
> It is also a 1280x1024 monitor. It does not autosync, so your card must
> be outputting this resolution.

I know that the card shows up as GYA0:. Any way to find out more about
it without taking it out of the machine? This is a PWS, so is probably
whatever was standard for those boxes.

Presumably stuff like this would be set up in
DECW$PRIVATE_SERVER_SETUP.COM.

[Scott Dorsey]

Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) wrote:
>

> Tried the cable with 5 BNC connectors. The monitor gets a signal, but
> it is black-and-white, and looks like an old analog television which is
> not properly adjusted, i.e. fluttering horizontal stripes moving up.

Monitors changed with VGA. In the VGA world, and most analogue monitors
you see today are VGA of some stripe, the computer tells the monitor what
frame rate and resolution to use, and the monitor displays it.

In the days before VGA, either everything was fixed to a certain resolution
and rate, or the -monitor- told the -computer- what rate to use.

If you plugged a DEC monitor into a 13PW3 output from a Sun, for instance,
you would use an adaptor with a bunch of dip switches that allowed the Sun
display controller to see what kind of monitor was attached to it.

Now, I don't know what the output on the Alpha is, but I know that that
VRT19-HA runs at 1280x1024 with synch on green. If your computer does not
generate synch on green, there are (or used to be) adaptors which would sum
the green and h-synch lines so that the monitor would see synch. But the
resolution and timing still has to match what the monitor is expecting.

So, my question to you is what is the connector on the back of the Alpha and
what is on it?
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Phillip Helbig (undress to reply)]

In article <rdqha8$i1p$1...@panix2.panix.com>, klu...@panix.com (Scott

Dorsey) writes:

> So, my question to you is what is the connector on the back of the Alpha and
> what is on it?

VGA I believe it is called; female connector with three rows of pins,
the middle row offset.

[Chris Scheers]

Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) wrote:

I could very well be wrong, but I don't think sync on green is an option
for VGA.

You need a converter box or a different video card to use a VRT19-HA.

[Scott Dorsey]

Why not just plug in a cheap VGA monitor, then? They are pretty much free
for the asking.

[Scott Dorsey]

Chris Scheers <ch...@applied-synergy.com> wrote:
>Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) wrote:
>> In article <rdqha8$i1p$1...@panix2.panix.com>, klu...@panix.com (Scott
>> Dorsey) writes:
>>
>>> So, my question to you is what is the connector on the back of the Alpha and
>>> what is on it?
>>
>> VGA I believe it is called; female connector with three rows of pins,
>> the middle row offset.
>
>I could very well be wrong, but I don't think sync on green is an option
>for VGA.

It is not but it is an easy conversion. The real problem is forcing the
VGA card to a specific resolution and making sure it stays that way. Those
things are designed to work in a world where the monitor can handle a wide
range of different resolutions and it's not unusual for the boot process to
use a different video mode and resolution than the windowing system.

It is possible to make a VGA PC work with a fixed resolution monitor, but it's
a pain in the neck. I haven't tried with an Alpha.

[Phillip Helbig (undress to reply)]

In article <rdr02q$326$1...@panix2.panix.com>, klu...@panix.com (Scott

Dorsey) writes:

> Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) <hel...@asclothestro.multivax.de> wrote:
> >In article <rdqha8$i1p$1...@panix2.panix.com>, klu...@panix.com (Scott
> >Dorsey) writes:
> >
> >> So, my question to you is what is the connector on the back of the Alpha and
> >> what is on it?
> >
> >VGA I believe it is called; female connector with three rows of pins,
> >the middle row offset.
>
> Why not just plug in a cheap VGA monitor, then? They are pretty much free
> for the asking.

I do have cheap VGA monitors in use, including a flatscreen one. The
VRT19-HA is really nice, big, excellent picture, and already here, so I
thought why not use it? I don't think I have a converter.

It was a great monitor for VAX and the 3000 Alpha. I'll keep it in case
I ever use those again. Would make a great "X-terminal" for having
several windows to log in elsewhere.

[Joukj]

Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) wrote:

If it shows up as GYA0: in a PWS it is probably a PowerStorm 3D30 (or
less likely a 4D20). See sys$manager:DECW$DEVICE_CONFIG_GY.COM for the
configuration options.

[phow...@gmail.com]

This page is more about how to connect old monitors to PCs
but the info may be of use...
http://www.leibbrandt.com/sunmon/fixedsync.html