English Forums > Hardware and Performance
A10 Netboard Gen.1 - VGA header pinout
SebastianMWS:
Greetings everyone,
A newcomer on these forums, compelled to launch my first post due to purchasing decision ahead. I'm contemplating a purchase of second hand rackmount A10 Gen.1 appliance, a Dual Core model PFS20071R. As the model designation implies, it was factory pre-loaded with pfSense (ver. 2.3), but the current owner migrated to OPNsense 21.1. Even though I was originally planning to put the pfSense back on it, I just might leave it as it is and have a go with OPNsense first.
What's so compelling about this particular A10 specimen, is the AMD GX-210JA SoC with embedded Radeon graphics. The first generation A10 Netboards had a 10-pin VGA header onboard, which I'd like to put into good use - by adding a HD15-to-IDC10 ribbon cable and modifying the back panel with HD15 cutout. Thus I can hook the appliance to LCD/KB and KVM combo in the rack, to spare me from fiddling with laptop and console cable.
Trouble is - A10 Netboard documentation, either for Gen.1 or Gen.2, is non existent. I already sent a query about pin numbering (there's a faint "1" silkscreen, on a handful of available A10 Gen.1 photos, but I could be wrong...) and the pinout to Deciso Tech Support, but after two messages in the course of three weeks, there was no response whatsoever. Kind of disappointing, COVID or not.
If anyone is in the know about the aforementioned IDC10 pinout, I would appreciate enormously.
Kind regards,
Bostjan
SebastianMWS:
A brief follow-up, in case someone was about to suggest this ... it did occur to me, that I could opt for the DisplayPort-to-VGA short cable/adapter (there's a DP connector at the back of the board), a pretty elegant workaround for the VGA header pinout riddle, but since DP-to-VGA are active converters by default, I'd prefer to avoid any unpleasant surprises, in the form of adapter (in)compatibility. Plain old VGA is as straightforward as it gets, but given that there are no pinout standards for the IDC headers, I have to be sure about this in order to make the cable on my own, or hope for the courtesy of online sellers, to measure the pinouts of ready made HD15-IDC10 cables (rare finds, but they do exist).
Kind regards,
Bostjan
--- Quote from: SebastianMWS on May 28, 2021, 11:36:46 am ---Greetings everyone,
A newcomer on these forums, compelled to launch my first post due to purchasing decision ahead. I'm contemplating a purchase of second hand rackmount A10 Gen.1 appliance, a Dual Core model PFS20071R. As the model designation implies, it was factory pre-loaded with pfSense (ver. 2.3), but the current owner migrated to OPNsense 21.1. Even though I was originally planning to put the pfSense back on it, I just might leave it as it is and have a go with OPNsense first.
What's so compelling about this particular A10 specimen, is the AMD GX-210JA SoC with embedded Radeon graphics. The first generation A10 Netboards had a 10-pin VGA header onboard, which I'd like to put into good use - by adding a HD15-to-IDC10 ribbon cable and modifying the back panel with HD15 cutout. Thus I can hook the appliance to LCD/KB and KVM combo in the rack, to spare me from fiddling with laptop and console cable.
Trouble is - A10 Netboard documentation, either for Gen.1 or Gen.2, is non existent. I already sent a query about pin numbering (there's a faint "1" silkscreen, on a handful of available A10 Gen.1 photos, but I could be wrong...) and the pinout to Deciso Tech Support, but after two messages in the course of three weeks, there was no response whatsoever. Kind of disappointing, COVID or not.
If anyone is in the know about the aforementioned IDC10 pinout, I would appreciate enormously.
Kind regards,
Bostjan
--- End quote ---
SebastianMWS:
Greetings all,
Here's another follow-up, seemingly off-topic ... could anyone shed the light on average response time of Deciso Tech Support ? I'm sure it differs, depending on severity (hence priority), but nevertheless.
The last thing I want is to nag, by repeatedly sending the "Sorry to bother, but can you please ..." type of reminders. On the other hand, I have no clue about the present situation in Deciso (if perhaps they are understaffed), so I would appreciate any thoughts regarding response time. I sent my first query on 19th May, the second one on 24th May.
Kind regards,
Bostjan
--- Quote from: SebastianMWS on May 28, 2021, 03:30:00 pm ---A brief follow-up, in case someone was about to suggest this ... it did occur to me, that I could opt for the DisplayPort-to-VGA short cable/adapter (there's a DP connector at the back of the board), a pretty elegant workaround for the VGA header pinout riddle, but since DP-to-VGA are active converters by default, I'd prefer to avoid any unpleasant surprises, in the form of adapter (in)compatibility. Plain old VGA is as straightforward as it gets, but given that there are no pinout standards for the IDC headers, I have to be sure about this in order to make the cable on my own, or hope for the courtesy of online sellers, to measure the pinouts of ready made HD15-IDC10 cables (rare finds, but they do exist).
Kind regards,
Bostjan
--- Quote from: SebastianMWS on May 28, 2021, 11:36:46 am ---Greetings everyone,
A newcomer on these forums, compelled to launch my first post due to purchasing decision ahead. I'm contemplating a purchase of second hand rackmount A10 Gen.1 appliance, a Dual Core model PFS20071R. As the model designation implies, it was factory pre-loaded with pfSense (ver. 2.3), but the current owner migrated to OPNsense 21.1. Even though I was originally planning to put the pfSense back on it, I just might leave it as it is and have a go with OPNsense first.
What's so compelling about this particular A10 specimen, is the AMD GX-210JA SoC with embedded Radeon graphics. The first generation A10 Netboards had a 10-pin VGA header onboard, which I'd like to put into good use - by adding a HD15-to-IDC10 ribbon cable and modifying the back panel with HD15 cutout. Thus I can hook the appliance to LCD/KB and KVM combo in the rack, to spare me from fiddling with laptop and console cable.
Trouble is - A10 Netboard documentation, either for Gen.1 or Gen.2, is non existent. I already sent a query about pin numbering (there's a faint "1" silkscreen, on a handful of available A10 Gen.1 photos, but I could be wrong...) and the pinout to Deciso Tech Support, but after two messages in the course of three weeks, there was no response whatsoever. Kind of disappointing, COVID or not.
If anyone is in the know about the aforementioned IDC10 pinout, I would appreciate enormously.
Kind regards,
Bostjan
--- End quote ---
--- End quote ---
franco:
Hi Bostjan,
We chased down the requests and they have been misplaced in the spam folder. A response to your mails will follow later today.
From engineering I got the info that the VGA connector was never intended for production, but it was used for
debugging.
Cheers,
Franco
SebastianMWS:
Many thanks Franco,
The last thing I'd consider was the SPAM filter issue. Awaiting your follow-up ...
Kind regards,
Bostjan
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version