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Should it work?

I have one of these on my laptop:

thing1

I have one of these from Ebay (cost a couple of quid):

thing2

I have one of these from my box of cables:

thing3

I have one of these in my living room:

thing4

Should I be able to link the 4 together and view the laptop output(Ubuntu) on the TV? If so, could someone drop into the comments a link to how to make it work? I tried the Screens and Graphics option from the Control Centre, but it broke X. I’ve read things about xrandr, but read more about how it doesn’t work.

I’m hoping it can work, as it would help me with my MythTV testing.

{ 9 } Comments

  1. Gavin | March 30, 2008 at 8:17 pm | Permalink

    Assuming you are doing VGA -> RGB (it would be helpful to say what each cable actually was instead of just showing a picture), then take a look at the information on http://www.nexusuk.org/projects/vga2scart/

  2. Chuck | March 31, 2008 at 4:58 pm | Permalink

    At a guess I’d say no, it won’t work.

    The obvious thing is the second item looks like it has inputs for audio to your video connector.

    But you’re in the UK where things might be a little backwards.

  3. mrben | March 31, 2008 at 7:25 pm | Permalink

    Yes, it should work. It’s probably easiest to try and get output onto a monitor working first - you may even finding that the keyboard function for turning on the external displays works.

    Once it’s working, whether on single screen (ie same screen on LCD and monitor) or dual screen (different screens), then set the external display to 1024×768, seems to work fine on my TV (although I’m using the SVHS output on my laptop, not VGA).

    Having said that - I’m not entirely sure about the initial bit in your connection - how they expect to get sound output from a VGA port I have no idea.

  4. mrben | April 3, 2008 at 9:31 am | Permalink

    One other thing to check - converting from VGA to a normal analogue signal is normally quite tricky - make sure that your VGA plug thing is actually able to do that.

  5. Alex Willmer | April 5, 2008 at 11:46 am | Permalink

    I don’t think that will work, unless a) your acer vga port is special b) that eBay cable is very, very special.

    - VGA outputs red, green & blue signals at a range of resolutions.
    - Televisions accept a composite or s-video signal through the scart socket, at a specific resolution. Some TVs also accept an RGB signal.
    - Judging by the coloured connectors, your eBay cable has composite (yellow), s-video (grey) and Left/Right (red/white) audio outputs.
    - No standard VGA port can output those signals.
    - Acer may have done something special, to dual purpose the VGA connector, in which case you’d need a program or switch to activate it.

    Can you post a link to the eBay auction.?

    Also look for any outputs on your laptop that would fit the composite or s-video output on your eBay cable.

  6. Daddy Cool | April 7, 2008 at 7:16 pm | Permalink

    I do appreciate you are looking for serious answers,but since when have I been serious!!
    Have you tried the box of bits and bobs we have here?
    How about one of those new super thin laptops!!?
    Are you sure you still have all the bits - animals will hide things you know!!
    May the force be with you.

  7. sheepeatingtaz | April 12, 2008 at 9:34 am | Permalink

    Thanks for all the comments, and after experimenting & reading up, It won’t work!

    Time to save up for a Neuros OSD, methinks

  8. Beaker | April 22, 2008 at 7:01 pm | Permalink

    LOL, is that the Cosby Show you’re watching??

  9. sheepeatingtaz | April 23, 2008 at 8:22 am | Permalink

    @Beaker: yeah, the Cosby Show rocks!

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