X68000 PC and Monitor RGB Cable question

[gatsu25]

I have an X68000 XVI and Sharp X68000 monitor coming in the mail soon. Unfortunately, it will not come with a cord to connect the RGB video. I know that it is a 15 Pin D Sub connection but unfortunately that is no longer a cable you really see. It has been replaced by the mini version often called VGA with three rows of pins instead of the two. I went to the store and found 15 pin D Sub mini female to 15 pin D Sub Male connectors. This will all fit, and my hunch is that it will work, but I wanted to make sure what I was doing wasn't going to hurt anything (this stuff doesn't come cheap).　

Here is a picture for those of you who can't figure out my rambling.



It also seems like the 9th pin on the mini D Sub 15 (I believe the 9th) is missing on all of the cables I have seen. Looking up for the X6800 pinout, the 9th pin is NC or not connected. So I assume this will cause no problems?

I would love to hear opinions. And thanks for any help.

[kamiboy]

I'd be careful if I were you. The pinout of the x68000 video port is not exactly standard. For an example some of those pins actually carry audio. Have a look at the pinout below and use a multimeter to confirm which pins on the X68000 side are being routed to which pins on the VGA monitor side.

http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:japanese_rgb-15

Frankly I am surprised that you managed to find such an adapter in a store, I thought they only sold them in Japan.

I bought a similar adapter myself but then I found some forum posts by people claiming that hooking their X68000 to a LCD monitor using such an adapter eventually led to them frying their X68000 because that adapter was connecting some pins that were not supposed to be connected.

So I just made my own cable in the end since I had the spare parts.

[SuperDeadite]

I'd be very careful if you aren't in Japan. Abroad most of those are Apple adapter cables, which is totally wrong pinout. For ordering from Japan any meant for NEC computers are fine with X68K. FM Towns however is a different pinout.

[gatsu25]

I am in Japan. The only reason I can actually afford this setup! I understand that if I was connecting to say a FM Towns monitor, or LCD monitor I could have issues because of the pinout differences. However, I am going to connect this to a monitor specifically made for X68000 (CZ-614D) so the pinouts should be exactly the same from the output on the system to the input on the monitor. And if you notice in the picture, I have two of these connectors on either side. I will not be using this cable to connect the X68 to anything other than this.

Here are pictures of the back of the adapter package and the hardware I have coming:

[SuperDeadite]

Ah, you are in Japan and those are PC-98 connectors. I thought maybe this was the case due to the Sanwa Suplly labels. Yes those adapters are fine. Since you are directly connecting an X68 to a real monitor, any straight cable is fine really.

If you don't want to mess with adapters, you can usually find proper cables in your local HardOffs junk cable box. Still very easy to buy new as well.

http://www.pasocomclub.co.jp/htmls/4969887511282-1.html

And while a little harder to find, I'd recommend getting the TV Control cable as well, then the computer can automatically tell the monitor to go into stand-by and wake up when you power on the computer.

Another option is to get a Micomsoft Selecty15. They usually sell very cheap, and then you can have multiple stuff hooked up at once, such as an old XRGB-1 in 15khz mode for easy game console connecting.

[gatsu25]

Well, all is well! Just got it about an hour ago.

I want to plug in my MSX and eventually mod my Duo RX for RGB output. I was thinking of getting this cable: http://dempa.jp/rgb/drug/21to15a.html

In that case, wouldn't it make more sense to get the selecty21 from Micomsoft? Also, is there somewhere else that makes cables? I haven't emailed the guy yet, but it looks like he isn't currently making them.

Here are pics of my setup. I was slowly collecting games in anticipation for getting a real unit. I jumped on the price I got it all for. I'm so excited!

[SuperDeadite]

Yes a Selecty21 would be an easy way to hook up a console to the monitor. But Micomsoft sold out of them about a month ago, and they are finished for good. So probably gonna be pricey...

An old XRGB-1 goes for like nothing, and it can ouput in pure 15khz, giving you both RGB21 and S-Video inputs. Then if you pickup a cheap Selecty15 which goes for like nothing, you never have to unplug anything.

Tokyo RGB Hospice has been closed for almost 10 years now. A Yahoo seller took over and still makes those though. He's good, but not as clean as the amazing Hospice guy was.

Nice setup. Now start building it up, get a healthy chunk of RAM, compact flash board, and MIDI.

[gatsu25]

Getting a bit off topic here, but I have been playing with my monitors settings and have a problem I don't know how to fix. I guess you call it the geometry. How can I adjust that? The bottom portion of the screen is curving in as you can see in the picture. I have messed with all of the controls on the monitor that I can see, is there some kind of hidden service menu or anything like that? Any ideas?

[SuperDeadite]

Geometry pots are located inside the monitor. You have to take the back off annoyingly. If you look through the air vents on the top of the monitor with a strong light, you will see them.

[gatsu25]

Annoying, but wonderful that they are somewhere at least. Thanks for all of the help.

[kamiboy]

You lucky bastard, that is a nice setup.

I would kill for an original X68000 monitor as well as a sleek classic black X68000 to go with it. Not to mention that Arcade stick.

Alas, I'll have to make do with my lonely Compact.

[gatsu25]

You lucky bastard, that is a nice setup

It is nice! I'm quite loving it.

Geometry pots are located inside the monitor. You have to take the back off annoyingly. If you look through the air vents on the top of the monitor with a strong light, you will see them

Alright, I opened up the back and messed around a bit. The large white screws (I guess you call them pots) only are for the RGB levels. There were smaller orange ones located in different spots around the bottom of the board, and a little bit larger but still small one on the vertical circuit board on the side. I played with a few of the small ones I could reach. One seemed to stretch the image horizontally, and the other was for vertical, but I still could not change where the corners of the image are. It is still warped looking. There were three small orange screws kind of under the tube I could not reach easily at all, and honestly, I was scared to get my hand in there. Could those be what I am after? This is really frustrating me. Do you have any idea which ones specifically I'm after? Would you even suggest I have somebody at a specialty repair place calibrate it?

[gatsu25]

I'm open for any suggestions. Does anyone have a X68 monitor that has had this problem?

[SuperDeadite]

You've already dug in deeper then I have. Never had this issue personally.