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Help with an old monitor

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leonphelps said:
Update, made a cable from the 8 pin to a vga cable. red-1, blue-2, green-3, brown-13, white-14, black to 5 (ground). Screen flickered when I connected it but got no video.
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What monitor were you connecting it to though? If this is digital CGA, then it's never going to display on a VGA monitor. You need a CGA monitor.

-Ian
 
I just ordered a Tandy monitor with the 9 pin connector. Would I be best served to use a 4 BNC to 9 pin cable or try to use what was connected to the monitor already?
 
leonphelps said:
I just ordered a Tandy monitor with the 9 pin connector. Would I be best served to use a 4 BNC to 9 pin cable or try to use what was connected to the monitor already?
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Which monitor did you order? If it IS a CM-5 type in an open frame, they were a bit different than your standard CGA monitors and may not sync.
 
MikeS said:
I think several Japanese PCs used similar colour monitors (inside a case of course) and those connectors; Toshiba comes to mind, as well as Sharp, I think.

Indeed, more info is needed; any manufacturer names and/or model numbers on the monitor or the connected computer?

There was a sort-of-standard for those plugs, but I think it'll be a challenge to convert to VGA; no other options (like replacing the whole package)?
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Computer is somehow connected to an elevator controller. The computer just reads serial input and then broadcasts the video of what floor the car is on to this monitor.

As for the computer, I did not get a lot of time to examine it. There was a main board and two daughter boards. One daughter was for video and the other was connected to the serial connection.

It also looked like everything was hard coded in eproms.


Replacing the old monitor is an option, I would need a source though.

Thanks for all the help so far.
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size if the replacement is not really that important. Seeing the video is.

seems security people like to know what floors important people are on.
 
leonphelps said:
size if the replacement is not really that important. Seeing the video is.

seems security people like to know what floors important people are on.
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Well, the reason I'm asking is because, if it's not 14 inches on the diagonal of the CRT, it can't be a CM-1 because that's the only size it came in. The CM-1 has the right Hirose connector, was produced in the same year and I don't want to break the warranty seal on the case if it's not necessary as it reduces the value of the monitor if I sell it to a collector.
 
what do you want for the CM-1, in case me CM-5 does not work out.

Should the CM-5 work if the CM-1 would?
 
leonphelps said:
what do you want for the CM-1, in case me CM-5 does not work out.

Should the CM-5 work if the CM-1 would?
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Sorry, I don't sell items on the forum. My prices are higher than what the members are used to and it just wastes my time.

As for the CM-5 (and I'm really sorry about the model number mix-up), I don't really know. I've never tried to hook one up to a T2K and certainly never to something like you're describing. With the 4 BNC to Hirose connector setup it has from the video card, you might be able to cobble a cable together that will work with a 9-pin sub-D but at the cost of the original cable. Odds are probably even that it would work.
 
Regardless, if it's 4 BNCs, wouldn't you think that it would be RGB+Sync, just like a bunch of workstations of the time.

Before I'd spend some money, I'd put a scope or frequency counter on the sync output and see what the frequency really is. There were, for instance, several workstation monitors from the 80's with RGBS connections, as well as RGBHV and RGB (SOG) connections.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Regardless, if it's 4 BNCs, wouldn't you think that it would be RGB+Sync, just like a bunch of workstations of the time.
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But it's pretty obvious that the video goes directly into a TTL gate as soon as it enters the monitor. Look at the pictures he posted of the monitor's board. That tells me it's digital, and is probably going to be CGA (possibly EGA, but I doubt it). Also, if this is a video overlay type system, then I doubt it's going to be any other frequency than NTSC's 15.75khz (which is the same as CGA). I'm pretty sure that all he needs is a normal CGA monitor and a simple cable. Or, if he's got the 4 BNC type connector somewhere, lots of studio monitors I've seen have connections for RGB NTSC video. It'll be an analog monitor, but in this application, I don't think it much matters.

-Ian
 
RetroHacker_ said:
But it's pretty obvious that the video goes directly into a TTL gate as soon as it enters the monitor. Look at the pictures he posted of the monitor's board. That tells me it's digital, and is probably going to be CGA (possibly EGA, but I doubt it). Also, if this is a video overlay type system, then I doubt it's going to be any other frequency than NTSC's 15.75khz (which is the same as CGA). I'm pretty sure that all he needs is a normal CGA monitor and a simple cable. Or, if he's got the 4 BNC type connector somewhere, lots of studio monitors I've seen have connections for RGB NTSC video. It'll be an analog monitor, but in this application, I don't think it much matters.
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Well, it doesn't mean that the connection isn't RGB+Sync. I wish we at least had a chassis number for the monitor.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Well, it doesn't mean that the connection isn't RGB+Sync. I wish we at least had a chassis number for the monitor.
Click to expand...

I think it is RGB+Sync. I don't see an intensity line anywhere. It's just using digital video signals rather than analog. Any monitor that'll work with 15.75khz really oughta work.

-Ian
 
I have my CM-5 monitor all wired up as we speak. Next attempt is tomorrow AM. I went with RGB to 3,4,5 (from CM-5 manual), grounded 1 and 2 on the monitor side to black on Hirose connector. Chose brown as horizontal sync and white as vertical. Did not use intensity, but left the pin on the monitor side open so I could connect it to the one wire not used (it is fat with a shield) and give it a try if I get anything when I hook it up.

I made some assumptions, but pretty much measured the risk. Assumed red wire was red signal and same for blue and green. Also assumed that black was ground. Pretty fair assumption from any wiring guide. Sync's could be crossed, but should still get something.

My last attempt, the monitor turned on so I know the outlet was good. LOL. Wish me luck.
 
Well I got a CM-1 monitor. Plugged it in. Got video, but not what I could see. There was flickering top to bottom. Tried to adjust each of the adjustments on the monitor (all 15 of them) with no success. Was told that the monitor must be between frequencies and that the CM-5 will have to be used.

I have this pinout from the seller of the monitor...
CM-1 (260-5112) Pinouts Faxback Doc. # 4822
The connector is EIA 8 pin.
--------------┐
PIN SIGNAL +-------------+
│1 \ / 5 │
1 Intensity │ │
2 R (Red Video) │2 \ / 6 │
3 G (Green Video) │ │
4 B (Blue Video) │3 \ / 7 │
5 Ground │ │
6 Ground │4 \ / 8 │
7 Horizontal Sync +-------------+
8 Vertical Sync L--------------


I need to connect this to a DB9 monitor with the pinout of
CM-5 (250-1023) Pinouts Faxback Doc. # 4840

PIN SIGNAL

1 Ground
2 Ground
3 R (Red Video)
4 G (Green Video)
5 B (Blue Video)
6 Intensity
7 No connect
8 Horizontal Sync
9 Vertical Sync

My cable looks like
hirose DB9
1---------------6
2---------------3
3---------------4
4---------------5
5,6-------------1,2
7---------------8
8---------------9

Am I better doing this or starting from scratch and making a 4 BNC to DB9 cable? Is there an off the shelf 4 BNC to DB9 that I could buy?

The site is close to an hour away and I am trying to get more than one possible solution in my hand so that I can close this out.
 
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