I recieved two resonses. Many thanks to
gary@porsche.mce.com and
perryh@pluto.rain.com
Here is my original query followed by the extremely informative
responses.
--------Query--------------
We have several Sun3/50s-60s configured as Xterminals running Xkernel.
They have been working very well as Xterminals for many years now.
Recently some of the Sun3 monitors have started failing. We have several
brand new Sun4 17" monitors laying around. They were acquired with the
sparc servers and many of them are using dumb terminals for consoles.
Is there any way to use these Sun4 monitors with the Sun3s? Can I get a
different kind of frame buffer, that can do the job? Any help will be
greatly appreciated.
------------Response 1---------------
>From gary@porsche.mce.com Tue Apr 12 09:42:34 1994
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 94 09:03:00 PDT
From: gary@porsche.mce.com
To: gautam@bwc.org
Subject: Re: 17" Sun4 monitors to use with a Sun3/50?
Gautam,
First of all, you will not be able to switch to the new monitors on the
3/50's. They frame buffer is integral to the CPU and there is no way to
change it. Your old monitors with the 9 pin DB connector are ECL,
completely incompatible. All the new monochrome and greyscale monitors
use analog signal levels. They are compatible with most color frame
buffers, giving you a greyscale output. There is no analog monochrome
(1bit color) color frame buffer for the Sun 3 series.
As for using these new monitors on the 3/60, it depends on which version
of 17" monitor you have. There are two families of 17" greyscale, fixed
frequency and multisync. The multisyncs will not run on the old frame
buffers.
Fixed Frequency Models
Part # 365-1055 & 365-1094
Zenith Model # 17SMM1
1152 x 900 resolution, 61.8KHz horizontal frequency, 66Hz vertical frequency
Multiple Frequency Models
Part # 365-1100, 365-1109, & 365-1157
Zenith Model # 17SMM4
1152 x 900 resolution, 71.7KHz horizontal frequency, 76Hz vertical frequency
1024 x 780 resolution, 71.7KHz horizontal frequency, 76Hz vertical frequency
914 x 690 resolution, 70.8KHz horizontal frequency, 84Hz vertical frequency
1024 x 800 resolution, 70.8KHz horizontal frequency, 84Hz vertical frequency
The Color Frame Buffers for the 3/60 are:
501-1210, 501-1248, 501-1443 (all CG4)
501-1374, 501-1505, 501-1532 (all GX graphic accellerators.
All the above frame buffers will only output the following:
1152 x 900 resolution, 61.8KHz horizontal frequency, 66Hz vertical frequency
With the right cables, frame buffer, monitor, and a 3/60, you should
be able to make it work.
________________________________________________________________________
Gary W. Cook Director of Technical Services
Minicomputer Exchange, Inc. 610 North Pastoria Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94086 Email: gary@mce.com
Tel: 408-733-4400 Fax: 408-733-8009
----------Response 2--------------
>From perryh@pluto.rain.com Tue Apr 12 09:39:41 1994
Date: Sun, 10 Apr 94 16:34:41 PDT
From: Perry Hutchison <perryh@pluto.rain.com>
To: gautam@bwc.org
Subject: Re: 17" Sun4 monitors to use with a Sun3/50?
> Recently some of the Sun3 monitors have started failing. We have several
> brand new Sun4 17" monitors laying around ...
> Is there any way to use these Sun4 monitors with the Sun3s? Can I get a
> different kind of frame buffer
If the new monitors are "monochrome" (DB9 connector, like the old
ones), they should just plug in and work. If they are color or
"grayscale" (13W3 connector, or 4 BNC's) you will need a cg4 or cg6
frame buffer to use them. cg4's, and I think cg6's also, exist for
the 3/60, but as far as I know there are no optional frame buffers
available for the 3/50.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Fri Sep 28 2001 - 23:08:58 CDT