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16700B LA supported monitors

Question asked by latech on Nov 4, 2012
Latest reply on Jan 7, 2013 by algoss

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I am wondering what is the technical criteria for an external monitor to be compatible with the 16700B logical analyzer.
Is there any external TFT monitor compatible with the 16700B and conversely are there any CRT monitors that are
NOT compatible with this LA?

I am testing such an LA that doesn't display any image with a TFT monitor although it seems the system is crunching
something both at boot and at shutdown times.

Edited by: latech on Nov 4, 2012 5:05 PM

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algoss Nov 7, 2012 4:58 AM
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The 16700, and the HP-UX system that it was built around, support many different monitor types, but unlike a PC, they don't have any way to identify the monitor and adjust settings on the fly.

There is a way to get the 16700 to cycle through all supported monitor types. The following is from the Installation manual:
- Turn on the monitor
- Turn on the 16700
- Immediately press the 'TAB' key, and press it once per second for about 30 seconds.
- When you see a good display, press the 'ENTER' key and 'Y' to confirm.

There may be multiple supported configurations, at different resolutions, with your monitor. If you wait long enough, it will cycle through all configurations and start again. IIRC, it spends 2-3 seconds at each of about 25 different settings. They range from 640x480 to 1280x1024, at different refresh rates.

If the monitor doesn't like being pushed around like this, and can't synchronize fast enough, you may never see a good display. Once you have a working display, there is a way, by breaking into the 'BIOS' at power-up, to get a list of supported resolution/refresh combinations, then choose one using a number. Unfortunately, I've forgotten what that is, and recently (at the end of August) recycled my last HP-UX systems.

Al
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- latech @ algoss on Nov 13, 2012 4:11 PM
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  Thank you, the procedure didn't work.
  I am expecting there may also be a keyboard incompatibility before I could evaluate
  any monitor issue or a system video adapter problem.
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  - algoss @ latech on Nov 26, 2012 9:25 AM
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    You need a plain-vanilla keyboard with a PS/2 connector. A USB keyboard with an adapter probably won't work. The older the better.
    
    Al
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    - latech @ algoss on Nov 26, 2012 3:11 PM
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      I have tried with two vanilla PS/2 keyboards, no luck. The problem is that these keyboards work on
      newer computers but when used with the 16700B after a light blink on the keyboard leds early in the
      boot process, the CAPS and NUMLOCK lights don't work when their keys ares pressed - reason why
      I suspect there could be an incompatibility.
      
      I have identified for some time the Agilent product codes for the original keyboard and mouse, but I am
      afraid I might end up investing in a hopeless system. For example, I tried to connect remotely from
      a computer linked directly to the same router but without success although the booting stage sounds
      healthy.
      
      One more idea that I consider is to set the monitor resolution externally by working on the resolution
      profiles of my newer LG LCD monitor and hope there would be a match with the last working resolution,
      hopefully I have enough patience.
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      - algoss @ latech on Nov 28, 2012 7:39 AM
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        I remember that I used to run into lots of problems with keyboards and mice, since the standards weren't as well-defined back then.
        
        Also, there were a lot of crazy combinations of vertical and horizontal frequencies that the 16700 used. Back then, again due to lack of well-defined standards, most people bought the recommended monitor from HP rather than try to figure out which other monitors might work.
        
        I just recently cleaned my office, and recycled some 10 old HP monitors, and 3 or 4 HP-UX workstations. Everything still worked, but I was moving the office into a smaller space, and I hadn't had a need for any of it for several years.
        
        Al
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latech Jan 6, 2013 5:42 AM
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I have tested successfully the 16700B system with the following accessories:
a) the HP C3757-60401 C3757B Agilent recommended keyboard - which allowed me to initiate the monitor selection phase
b) a PS/2 wired mouse (Genius XScroll Optical Wheel Mouse) which allowed me to start the X server.

Therefore, I can confirm at this moment that the system is at least sensitive to the keyboard type.
I am not sure if this is relevant, but the C3757B keyboard has a 5.0VDC ~ 500mA MAX spec while the other
unsuccessful PS/2 keyboard had a 5.0VDC ~ 50mA spec.
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- algoss @ latech on Jan 7, 2013 5:42 AM
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  I'm happy to hear that you're up and running. Some days I really miss messing around with the old HP-UX based gear. Then the drugs wear off... :-)
  
  Al
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16700B LA supported monitors

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