It took me longer than it should have to figure out how to DIY a connection between a DB9 cable and an Indigo2's mini-DIN 8 serial port. So I'm writing up everything here and hopefully this is helpful to anyone who need to hack together a SGI serial console cable for temporary use.
Background: I didn't have a mini-DIN 8 cable, and I wanted to make use of a USB to DB9 adapter I already had. All of the necessary information is out there on the web, but I wasn't able to find a resource that explained like I'm five... specifically, which DB9 pins to connect to which mini-DIN 8 pins and which terminal communications settings to use. I ended up overthinking things while trying to piece together the various pinout diagrams I found. I messed around with the RTS/CTS and DSR/DTR/DCD pins and terminal settings before realizing that those aren't needed at all because there's no handshaking or flow control.
Parts I used:
The pins that need to be connected are:
So essentially, regardless of what serial connector you're using, you only need to connect RX, TX, and ground.
Terminal software settings:
The attached DB9 diagram is from the perspective of a male DB9 connector, and the mini-DIN 8 diagram is from the perspective of a female connector (i.e., what is on the SGI).
Background: I didn't have a mini-DIN 8 cable, and I wanted to make use of a USB to DB9 adapter I already had. All of the necessary information is out there on the web, but I wasn't able to find a resource that explained like I'm five... specifically, which DB9 pins to connect to which mini-DIN 8 pins and which terminal communications settings to use. I ended up overthinking things while trying to piece together the various pinout diagrams I found. I messed around with the RTS/CTS and DSR/DTR/DCD pins and terminal settings before realizing that those aren't needed at all because there's no handshaking or flow control.
Parts I used:
- USB to DB9 serial adapter (I have this one; I prefer a FTDI chipset since those seem to have better compatibility than the Prolific chipset)
- DB9 breakout board (I have this one)
- Three jumper wires
The pins that need to be connected are:
Code:
DB9 Mini-DIN 8
2 (RX) <--> 3 (TX)
3 (TX) <--> 5 (RX)
5 (GND) <--> 4 (GND)Terminal software settings:
- Baud rate: 9600
- Bits: 8
- Parity: N
- Stop bits: 1
- Software flow control (aka XON/XOFF): off
- Hardware flow control (aka RTS/CTS or DSR/DTR/DCD): off
The attached DB9 diagram is from the perspective of a male DB9 connector, and the mini-DIN 8 diagram is from the perspective of a female connector (i.e., what is on the SGI).
