ebsimonds@comcast.net (Everett B. Simonds) wrote in message news:...
> I've tried to connect to my Onyx without any luck.
>
> I've used both a standard serial cable and a null modem cable using HyperTerm
> on a peecee. I tested the set-up on an Octane without any problems. The
> keyboard/mouse and the monitor are not connected to the Onyx. If I leave them
> connected, I get a black screen with a red mouse pointer. That's it.

The Onyx and Challenge DB9 serial ports used a different pinout than
the Octane serial ports, so yeah, if it worked on your Octane then
your serial cable probably shouldn't work on the Onyx.

If you have access to an SGI somewhere, do a 'man serial' to get the
pinouts.

It's also probably somewhere on techpubs.sgi.com

Set your terminal comm interface to 9600, 8 bit, no parity

If you get a screen full of junk (if I remember right): press the
escape key to force the Onyx to cycle to the next baud rate -- give it
a moment after each keypress to see if you hit the correct rate.

Tom H.

Here's an cut-paste from the man serial output.
It will probably get reformatted to gibberish, sorry.
I think we used a cable with just 3 pins wired, but we don't have that
around to check out any more.

CONNECTORS AND PIN ASSIGNMENTS
There are five different types of connectors found on various 4D
models.
Note that in terms of connectors and pin assignments, the
Challenge S is
identical to the Indy and both Challenge M and Power Challenge M
are
equivalent to the Indigo2. The DB-9 male serial port connectors
on O2,
OCTANE, Onyx2, Origin2000/200 and Origin3000/300 systems have the
following IBM(R) PC/AT(tm)-like pin assignments:


Page 2

serial(7)
serial(7)

-------------------
\ 1 2 3 4 5 /
\ 6 7 8 9 /
---------------

Pin | Name | Description
____|______|____________________
1 | DCD | Data Carrier Detect
2 | RD | Receive Data
3 | TD | Transmit Data
4 | DTR | Data Terminal Ready
5 | GND | Signal Ground
6 | - | reserved
7 | RTS | Request To Send
8 | CTS | Clear To Send
9 | - | reserved



The DB-9 female serial port connectors, which are found on the
CHALLENGE
and Onyx systems, have the following pin assignments.

-------------------
\ 5 4 3 2 1 /
\ 9 8 7 6 /
---------------

Pin | Name | Description
____|______|____________________
2 | TD | Transmit Data
3 | RD | Receive Data
4 | RTS | Request To Send
5 | CTS | Clear To Send
7 | SG | Signal Ground
8 | DCD | Data Carrier Detect
9 | DTR | Data Terminal Ready


The CHALLENGE and Onyx systems provide an RS-422 port. This
RS-422 port
uses a DB-9 female serial connector and has the following pin
assignments.

Pin | Name | Description
____|______|____________________
1 | DTR | Data Terminal Ready
2 | TxD- | Transmit Data -
3 | RxD- | Receive Data -
4 | DCD | Data Carrier Detect
5 | CTS | Clear To Send
6 | SG | Signal Ground
7 | TxD+ | Transmit Data +
8 | RxD+ | Receive Data +
9 | RTS | Request to send


-- end --

On 31 Jan 2004 18:53:52 -0800
tom_h_57@yahoo.com (Tom H.) wrote:

> ebsimonds@comcast.net (Everett B. Simonds) wrote in message
> news:...
> > I've tried to connect to my Onyx without any luck.
> >
> > I've used both a standard serial cable and a null modem cable using
> > HyperTerm on a peecee. I tested the set-up on an Octane without any
> > problems. The keyboard/mouse and the monitor are not connected to
> > the Onyx. If I leave them connected, I get a black screen with a
> > red mouse pointer. That's it.
>
> The Onyx and Challenge DB9 serial ports used a different pinout than
> the Octane serial ports, so yeah, if it worked on your Octane then
> your serial cable probably shouldn't work on the Onyx.
>
> If you have access to an SGI somewhere, do a 'man serial' to get the
> pinouts.
>
> It's also probably somewhere on techpubs.sgi.com
>
> Set your terminal comm interface to 9600, 8 bit, no parity
>
> If you get a screen full of junk (if I remember right): press the
> escape key to force the Onyx to cycle to the next baud rate -- give it
> a moment after each keypress to see if you hit the correct rate.
>
> Tom H.
>
> Here's an cut-paste from the man serial output.
> It will probably get reformatted to gibberish, sorry.
> I think we used a cable with just 3 pins wired, but we don't have that
> around to check out any more.
>
> CONNECTORS AND PIN ASSIGNMENTS
> There are five different types of connectors found on various 4D
> models.
> Note that in terms of connectors and pin assignments, the
> Challenge S is
> identical to the Indy and both Challenge M and Power Challenge M
> are
> equivalent to the Indigo2. The DB-9 male serial port connectors
> on O2,
> OCTANE, Onyx2, Origin2000/200 and Origin3000/300 systems have the
> following IBM(R) PC/AT(tm)-like pin assignments:
>
>
> Page 2
>
> serial(7)
> serial(7)
>
> -------------------
> \ 1 2 3 4 5 /
> \ 6 7 8 9 /
> ---------------
>
> Pin | Name | Description
> ____|______|____________________
> 1 | DCD | Data Carrier Detect
> 2 | RD | Receive Data
> 3 | TD | Transmit Data
> 4 | DTR | Data Terminal Ready
> 5 | GND | Signal Ground
> 6 | - | reserved
> 7 | RTS | Request To Send
> 8 | CTS | Clear To Send
> 9 | - | reserved
>
>
>
> The DB-9 female serial port connectors, which are found on the
> CHALLENGE
> and Onyx systems, have the following pin assignments.
>
> -------------------
> \ 5 4 3 2 1 /
> \ 9 8 7 6 /
> ---------------
>
> Pin | Name | Description
> ____|______|____________________
> 2 | TD | Transmit Data
> 3 | RD | Receive Data
> 4 | RTS | Request To Send
> 5 | CTS | Clear To Send
> 7 | SG | Signal Ground
> 8 | DCD | Data Carrier Detect
> 9 | DTR | Data Terminal Ready
>
>
> The CHALLENGE and Onyx systems provide an RS-422 port. This
> RS-422 port
> uses a DB-9 female serial connector and has the following pin
> assignments.
>
> Pin | Name | Description
> ____|______|____________________
> 1 | DTR | Data Terminal Ready
> 2 | TxD- | Transmit Data -
> 3 | RxD- | Receive Data -
> 4 | DCD | Data Carrier Detect
> 5 | CTS | Clear To Send
> 6 | SG | Signal Ground
> 7 | TxD+ | Transmit Data +
> 8 | RxD+ | Receive Data +
> 9 | RTS | Request to send
>
>
> -- end --

Tom:

Thanks, I tried a null modem cable without success. After reading your
reply and the man serial page I decided to check the configuration of my
null modem cabe. It turns out pins 2 and 3 are swapped, as they should
be, but pin 7 (Ground) on one end goes to pin 8 on the other end. I
assume that I'll need to make up cable that goes 2>3 and 3>2 with SGI
pin 7 going to pc pin 5.

Hopefully this will let me see what's going on with the machine so I'll
have some how to proceed.

Thanks.

EBS