[cctalk] Re: Video/keyboard mono cable for Sun 386i

Hi. I thought about using the serial connection (which should be enabled only if the video card is removed). Thank you for the advice about the battery: usual issue with SGI, Sony News.... :-) Unfortunately, the hard disk was been removed before I collected the workstation. Could you please share the link to your post on the VCF Forum? Thank you. -s On 30/05/24 11:53, cz via cctalk wrote: > I have one around here somewhere. Sun built two cables, one was for the color boards (CGThree and CGFive) and the other was for monochrome systems (the D15). > > In the meantime you can hook a computer to the RS232 port and start running the thing headless to see what's there. Note, you're going to have to replace the timekeeper chip (or hack a new battery into it, there's docs on how I did that 30 years ago). I recommend wiring in a dual AAA adapter, that way you can replace the batteries every 15 or so years. > > Last time I fired up my three 386i's, two of the power supplies had blown up and one of the boards would not pass diagnostics. Of the supplies, one was hopeless so I hacked in a standard PC-AT supply board and got everything running (you don't NEED the -15 volts, but heck some ISA board you plug in will want it :-) and I figured out how to fix the other one by wiring in a new 12 volt kick starter supply to get the main supply up and running. > > I wrote up all of this on the vcf forum. Worth a read. > > If it's got a hard disk and it spins I'd recommend hooking it up to a SCSI adapter and doing a dd image of it first. Then you can figure out the partitions by whacking away at the image (I did this), then mount the volumes on another system, grab /etc/passwd, and crack the passwords in about 4 hours with john or a related tool. > > Once up, put it on the public internet and confuse the hell out of hackers. > > Have fun! > CZ > > > On 5/30/2024 4:59 AM, Stefano Sanna via cctalk wrote: >> Hi. >> >> I recently bought a Sun Microsystems 386i and I discovered (too late...) that monitor and keyboard are connected to the same D15 connector on the back using a "Y" cable (I had experience with other Sun workstations, this was first contact with Intel-based hardware). >> >> Unfortunately, I have not such a cable neither I was able to find any info on the web about the pinout/wiring; probably it would be possible to create the cable from scratch (assuming that no other circuitry was inside the original Y cable). Moreover, I discovered that there is more than one option for video boards (mono and color): therefore, there is more than a single Y cable to connect monitor and keyboard. >> >> Looking at the official Sun's hardware list, I found this item: >> >> 630-1621     386i video/keyboard cable >> >> but it does not specify whether it is the mono or the color cable. In any case, it seems impossible to buy it on eBay or similar. >> >> Does anybody have some information on how to rebuild it? >> >> Thank you. >> -s