DB-9 pin to VGA?

[Gorrillasnot]

Hello

I have a friend with vision problems that uses a electronic machine that basically magnifies whatever she puts on it and outputs it on to what looks like a crt computer monitor.

The problem is her monitor no longer works. It uses a 9 pin connector which I think is called a DB 9. I have a regular PC monitor I would like to use but I am not sure how to convert from DB 9 to VGA.

There are tons of various adapters on ebay and amazon etc. but I'm not sure if they will work.
I was going to buy a cable like this adapter cable but after reading the "Note:" part of the ad it says it will not work without a converter like this one.

Is there a cheaper and/or easier way to do this? or would I be better off trying to find an old 9 pin monitor?

thanks

 

[TerryMathews]

Db9 is a cable. There are multiple video signals that ran over DB9. We need more information.

 

[Gorrillasnot]

I'm not sure where to find more information..a quick google doesnt turn up much specs for this particular model.

It is a Optelec clearview 517xl
Model# on back of monitor is 6017c-c
Monitor has a 9 pin female input and a composite rca style connector.
The unit could be connected to a flat screen TV via composite but I was worried things being magnified (especially text) would look terrible over composite. I don't have a TV to test with so I'm not sure.

thanks

 

[Atreidin]

I know old CGA and EGA monitors used DB-9, but that might not be what she had. If it is, you would need more than an adapter cable, you would need a converter box of some kind to convert the signal.

VGA is usually 15 pin and I think there is a pinout for VGA over DB-9, however I've never seen it used in practice.

You could try the simple adapter, and if it doesn't work, you need to figure out what signal is being sent so you buy the right signal converter box.

Also buying an old 9 pin monitor might also be a waste of money if you don't know what the signal is.

Edit:

http://www.zytrax.com/tech/pc/monitors.htm

This has the pinouts for CGA, EGA and VGA for DB-9. Also, it might not even be something nice and standard like one of those, it could be a weird proprietary signal.
I think CGA can only handle 16 colors, and EGA does 64 I think, so if the system can handle a lot more colors than that, you could try the VGA pinout adapter and hope it works.

 

[TerryMathews]

I'm not sure where to find more information..a quick google doesnt turn up much specs for this particular model.

It is a Optelec clearview 517xl
Model# on back of monitor is 6017c-c
Monitor has a 9 pin female input and a composite rca style connector.
The unit could be connected to a flat screen TV via composite but I was worried things being magnified (especially text) would look terrible over composite. I don't have a TV to test with so I'm not sure.

thanks

http://www.optelec.com/en_US/products/downloads

Manuals. I think you're missing parts. This talks about a control panel below the monitor.

 

[stahlhart]

Is the monitor monochrome or color?

From what I've been able to determine so far, the color monitor output is SVGA, supporting 16 colors.

 

[Gorrillasnot]

http://www.optelec.com/en_US/products/downloads

Manuals. I think you're missing parts. This talks about a control panel below the monitor.

There are some dials on the back of the monitor itself for like brightness, up/down, left/right is this what you mean?
There isn't a control panel that I am aware of and the machine is not missing any parts.. It's worked great for the past 9 years that she has owned it. The monitor is just wore out I think.
When she first turns the machine on it works for like 20 seconds or so then starts to flicker then goes out.

I found a machine that looks exactly like her's here for photo reference.

Is the monitor monochrome or color?

From what I've been able to determine so far, the color monitor output is SVGA, supporting 16 colors.

The monitor is color
I found more info on this page. It says the monitor is 16 colors SVGA.

thanks

 

[Gorrillasnot]

bump

 

[bryanl]

An old TV shop, the kind that does real repairs instead of just circuit board swap outs, can likely repair this.

I'm thinking this is a solder joint opening up from heat, and resoldering the main board may restore proper operation.

 

[jaqie]

http://www.ocusource.com/main.cfm?page=shop&topic=product&productID=1334

The thing is an SVGA monitor which uses some of the REALLY old SVGA 9 pin outs.

The sad thing is there are two different DB9 wirings for SVGA...
Back in the day I dealt with this with an old pro grade DB9 17 inch monitor I got used, for use with my 486-133mhz. Yes, this stuff was old even then, but it was SVGA.

http://pinouts.ru/Video/VGA15_pinout.shtml

http://www.av-info.eu/video/monitor-pinout.html

If you look enough you can find a cable that has the standard 15 pin VGA on one end and the 9 pin on the other... if you look even more you can find both wirings for such. I wound up finding a place that stocked a cable for both wirings and bought one of each, tried them both, and when one worked kept it and threw the other into a parts pile.