[SOLVED] What cable do i need?

[20193659]

I am completely stumped as to what do to, none of the vga cables I have work, see the image here - Imgur: The magic of the Internet

 

[Viorala]

Wow, if I'm not mistaken that purple one is an old printer port. I actually have a printer I had to stop using once they stopped making those ports but I bet it still works, I just need to get the right adaptor for it if they even make those. I was just thinking about that the other day.

Anyway, which one are you talking about? The round ones are mouse and keyboard ports, I don't know what the blue one is though. I don't think it's vga but I could be wrong. What else is there?

That photo is of the backside of a very old pc, we're talking late 90s here. Nothing will work without adaptors.

 

[DSzymborski]

Yup, that's a very old DB-25 port. If you're trying to hook up a dreadful old dot matrix printer, you're in luck. Anything else, not so much. USB quickly killed this off in the late 90s.

 

[Viorala]

Here's your blue one: https://www.amazon.com/Serial-Adapt...ocphy=9052267&hvtargid=pla-397003917010&psc=1

Can't find the right printer cable converter at the moment.

 

[20193659]

Here's your blue one: https://www.amazon.com/Serial-Adapt...ocphy=9052267&hvtargid=pla-397003917010&psc=1

Can't find the right printer cable converter at the moment.

its a GIGABYTE GA-EP41-US3L Motherboard, would a USB to Serial Adapter allow it to connect to my monitor?

 

[Viorala]

Hm, good point. You'd have to add in another cord, vga to something that connects to the usb.

 

[DSzymborski]

its a GIGABYTE GA-EP41-US3L Motherboard, would a USB to Serial Adapter allow it to connect to my monitor?

No. This wouldn't work in any case, but there's simply no graphics support on this motherboard outside of the PCI-Express slot. You need a proper GPU in there. It would be like trying to find the right cable to start a car that doesn't have an engine.

 

[herrwizo]

As stated above, the motherboard has no built-in graphics output of any kind and you cannot get any graphics here without a graphics card which needs to be installed in the PCI-e slot. The graphics card will have display outputs which can then either be used directly or with a converter to VGA, depending on the exact model you get.

 

[20193659]

As stated above, the motherboard has no built-in graphics output of any kind and you cannot get any graphics here without a graphics card which needs to be installed in the PCI-e slot. The graphics card will have display outputs which can then either be used directly or with a converter to VGA, depending on the exact model you get.

which graphics card would be ideal?

 

[RAIDGoblin]

that motherboard is very similar to my old one, you have a PCI-E x16 port for graphics, your output should be VGA or DVI-I (directly convertible to VGA)

What's your usage? if you only need graphics for office use or a server just buy a cheap one second hand, check the height of the slots inside the case (low profile vs a full height bracket), and if you're using Linux stay clear of old nvidia cards, in my experience they have some serious driver support issues

 

[Krotow]

OP, GIGABYTE GA-EP41-US3L motherboard does not have built-in video output. It require separate GPU card.

Yup, that's a very old DB-25 port. If you're trying to hook up a dreadful old dot matrix printer, you're in luck. Anything else, not so much. USB quickly killed this off in the late 90s.

Correction. Not only matrix printers, but basically all printers, including good laser ones, till mid-90ies had LPT ports 😉 Then USB as superior solution kicked out LPT in next few years, yes. Good riddance BTW.

 

[DSzymborski]

OP, GIGABYTE GA-EP41-US3L motherboard does not have built-in video output. It require separate GPU card.


Correction. Not only matrix printers, but basically all printers, including good laser ones, till mid-90ies had LPT ports 😉 Then USB as superior solution kicked out LPT in next few years, yes. Good riddance BTW.

In fairness, it's been a while and I'm suffering from middle-aged senility!

 

[Krotow]

In fairness, it's been a while and I'm suffering from middle-aged senility!

My mutual understanding here Dealing with USB peripherals though in first years like till 2002-something was often hit and miss. Damn thing often refused to recognize some connected device or device worked only in particular USB slot. I believe it was because manufacturers blatantly ignored USB specs at first.

 

[Viorala]

So you're saying my printer won't work then?