VGA on old servers??

[Cerulean]

IBM RS6000

I think it runs an old version of Unix or something. So far I have only been able to operate it via telnet over LAN. The command thing begins with an #, and uses ksh or something. Stuff like sudo, dir, nano, and free aren't installed (or aren't commands it says; vmstat works though).

Could someone give me a brief rundown of how this works? What is that black thing on one of the two VGA ports? Are those even VGA ports (they have the same socket and pins)? Is there a way I can get a VGA feed? I would like to see it boot up and lookout for bootup errors and such. This machine has a tape drive, and I am not sure how to get it to back stuff up again. Before "stuff" happened, it used to automatically make backups, but now it doesn't and I am not quite sure where to start.

Help very much appreciated!

 

[Blue Fox]

Unscrew the thing attached to the d-sub port and see what it is? Why don't you try plugging in a monitor too. It's not all that difficult...

 

[Cerulean]

Unscrew the thing attached to the d-sub port and see what it is? Why don't you try plugging in a monitor too. It's not all that difficult...

I already plugged in a monitor.. to both ports.

The monitor does seem to detect something, because instead of showing that there is "no VGA" on screen with a blue background, it shows a black background (turned off) with an orange LED. If I unplug it, it immediately goes green and displays "ERROR" or whatever on the screen. Neither ports will show anything on screen though; always just orange LED and completely blank, turned off screen.

I know the monitor works because we use it to console other servers on the rack.

I will try to get a looksie at the insides of the machine at the end of today or something.

 

[Blue Fox]

Can always put in an ISA/PCI video card or just use the serial console.