The cable to the VR201 is very, very simple. It contains monochrome composite video, and the direct passthrough for the keyboard lines. You can make up an adapter to allow you to use a standard monochrome composite monitor and the LK201 keyboard. Pin 12 - monochrome composite video signal Pin 4 - video shield ground Pin 5 and 6 - ground Pin 7 and 8 - 12V Pin 14 - RX data keyboard Pin 15 - TX data keyboard See here for the pinout of the LK201 keyboard: http://www.netbsd.org/docs/Hardware/Machines/DEC/lk201.html You can rig up this adapter and use any normal monochrome composite monitor with the Rainbow. Best results on quality monitors with adjustments for height, it'll overscan on some things like security monitors. Likewise, it's real easy to rig up the VR201 to work on anything else, it's a fantastic, sharp, clear little monitor. The screen rot can be fixed, I've done a few CRTs like this. You basically need to remove the tube, heat the faceplate very carefully with a heat gun to get it to delaminate, clean all the gunk out, and stick it back together. -Ian On Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 11:19 AM, william degnan via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
Anyone replace the mono display of the dec rainbow with a VT220 (or..)? The two VR201s I have screen rot. VR201 is the part number of the display that comes with the Rainbow. I can't be the first person to ask this questionj, most VR201's are pretty screen-rotted now. I am guessing it will take some doing to assuming the cable between the display and the computer is not a straight serial connection.
In the meantime I will work on this and let you know what I find. There is a VR201 on Ebay for $100.
b