This chapter provides information about connecting the breakout box to the monitors or head mounted display, placement of monitors, and cursor flow between monitors.
The following topics are covered in this chapter:
To connect the breakout box cable to the Indigo2 IMPACT Channel Option board I/O connector, follow these steps:
Attach the breakout box cable connector to the connector on the ICO board. See Figure 2-1.
Tighten the thumbscrews on the side of the breakout box connector.
![]() | Note: Note: When the ICO board is active, the main monitor is blank. The main monitor cable does not have to be disconnected from the workstation when the breakout box cable is installed. |
The breakout box (cable) allows multiple monitors or a head-mounted display to be connected to the ICO board.
The breakout box consists of four sections each with three connectors. Typically each set of connectors provides red (R), green (G), and blue (B) signals for the monitors. (The exception to this rule is the field sequential formats described in “Connecting the Head-Mounted Display”.) The section number (also the monitor designation) is in the bottom left corner of each section. When a monitor is connected to the pins in Section 1, the monitor is designated Monitor 1. The monitor connected to Section 2 becomes Monitor 2, etc.
The shading around the RGB pins (or the shading of each section) tells you which group of pins to use for each configuration.
The Indigo2 IMPACT frame buffer assumes the monitors are stacked in a square-shaped configuration, and sends information to the monitors as indicated in Figure 2-3. However, the monitors may be set up in any alignment. See “Setting Up Four Monitors in a Stacked Configuration” and “Setting Up Four Monitors in a Side-by-Side Configuration”.
To set up four monitors in a stacked configuration, follow these instructions:
Place the four monitors in a stacked, square-shaped configuration.
![]() | Caution: Do not rest the upper two monitors on the lower two monitors. Place the upper monitors on a bookshelf or similar structure above the lower monitors. |
Connect the monitor in the upper left corner to Section 1 of the breakout box.
Connect the monitor in the upper right corner to Section 2 of the breakout box.
Connect the monitor in the lower left corner to Section 3 of the breakout box.
Connector the monitor in the lower right corner to Section 4 of the breakout box.
Connect the power cord of each monitor to an electrical outlet.
Connect the power cord of the Indigo2 IMPACT to an electrical outlet.
Congratulations! You are finished setting up the monitors and are ready to power on the workstation.
To configure the ICO board, see “Using setmon to Configure the IMPACT Channel Option Board”.
The cursor movement between stacked monitors is shown in Figure 2-4. The cursor from
Monitor 1, for example, always exits and enters from the right side or from the bottom. Monitor 1 always receives the cursor from Monitor 2 from the right side of Monitor 1, and always receives the cursor from Monitor 3 from the bottom of its screen.
![]() | Note: You cannot change the exit or entry points of a cursor. |
To set up four monitors in a side-by-side configuration, follow these instructions:
Arrange the monitors in the order you choose. A sample arrangement is shown in Figure 2-5.
Connect the monitors to the breakout box. The monitor attached to breakout box Section 1 is considered Monitor 1, etc. See Figure 2-5.
Connect the power cord of each monitor to an electrical outlet.
Connect the power cord of the Indigo2 IMPACT to an electrical outlet.
Congratulations! You are finished setting up the monitors and are ready to power on the workstation.
To configure the ICO board, see “Using setmon to Configure the IMPACT Channel Option Board”.
![]() | Note: If you have a dual head system, with another graphics board and monitor, reconnect any cables you may have disconnected for the ICO board installation. |
The cursor movement between monitors is shown in Figure 2-6. The cursor from
Monitor 1, for example, always exits and enters from the right side or from the bottom. Monitor 1 always receives the cursor from Monitor 2 from the right side of Monitor 1, and always receives the cursor from Monitor 3 from the bottom of its screen.
In the example in Figure 2-6, the cursor cannot directly move from Monitor 3 to Monitor 2. It must go through either Monitor 1 or Monitor 4 before entering Monitor 2.
![]() | Note: You cannot change the exit or entry points of the cursor. |
The frame buffer assumes the monitors are stacked one above the other, and sends information to the monitors in the pattern shown in Figure 2-7. Monitor 1 is always the monitor in the upper position.
To connect two stacked monitors to the breakout box, follow the steps below:
Place the two monitors in a stacked configuration.
![]() | Caution: Do not rest the upper monitor on the lower monitor. Place the upper monitor on a bookshelf or similar structure above the lower monitor. |
Connect the power cord of each monitor to an electrical outlet.
Connect the power cord of the Indigo2 IMPACT to an electrical outlet.
Congratulations! You are finished setting up the monitors and are ready to power on the workstation.
To configure the ICO board, see “Using setmon to Configure the IMPACT Channel Option Board”.
The cursor movement between monitors is shown in Figure 2-8. The cursor from
Monitor 1 always exits and enters from the bottom. The cursor from Monitor 2 always exits and enters from the top.
![]() | Note: You cannot change the exit or entry points of a cursor. |
To set up two monitors in a side-by-side configuration, follow these instructions:
Arrange the monitors in the order you choose. A sample arrangement is shown in Figure 2-9.
Connect the monitors to the breakout box. The monitor attached to breakout box Section 1 is considered Monitor 1, etc. See Figure 2-9.
Connect the power cord of each monitor to an electrical outlet.
Connect the power cord of the Indigo2 IMPACT to an electrical outlet.
Congratulations! You are finished setting up the monitors and are ready to power on the workstation.
To configure the ICO board, see “Using setmon to Configure the IMPACT Channel Option Board”.
The cursor movement between monitors is shown in Figure 2-10. The cursor from
Monitor 1 always exits and enters from the bottom. Monitor 2 always receives the cursor from Monitor 1 at the top.
![]() | Note: You cannot change the exit or entry points of a cursor. |
In a typical video (field parallel) format, the data is generated on three output wires, with the red data on one wire, the green data on another, and the blue data on a third. Many head-mounted displays require that the video data is given in field sequential format as opposed to field parallel format.
In field sequential format all image and timing information is output on a single wire. The red data for an image is output first, then the green data, and finally the blue data. ICO uses the red and green outputs from Channel 1 in the field sequential format to output the information to the head-mounted display. The data for the right eye is present on Channel 1-Red, and the data for the left eye is present on Channel 1-Green.
To connect a Head-Mounted Display to the breakout box, follow the steps below:
Connect the cable for the right eyepiece to the R channel of Section 1.
Connect the cable for the left eyepiece to the G channel of Section 1.
Using the minify mode allows an image to be reduced, resulting in a softened image. The reduced image is sent to a single monitor. The minify mode also prevents image shimmering or crawling.
To configure the ICO board, see “Using setmon to Configure the IMPACT Channel Option Board”.
Connect the single monitor used for the minify mode to the three channels in Section 4. See Figure 2-12.
The HSYNC and VSYNC connectors provide external horizontal and vertical sync signals. These signals are locked to all active ICO outputs for a given mode, and can be used with monitors requiring separate sync inputs.
![]() | Note: Only one monitor can be connected to these outputs at a time. |
Monitors should be used that have sync on green as a built-in feature rather than monitors that require external inputs. If more than one monitor requiring external inputs must be connected to the HSYNC and VSYNC connectors, a customer supplied distribution amplifier should be used.
To use the HSYNC and VSYNC connectors, choose one of the following options:
Connect a single monitor to the HSYNC and VSYNC connectors on the breakout box
Connect two or more monitors to a distribution amplifier that is connected to HSYNC and VSYNC.
To configure the ICO board, see“Using setmon to Configure the IMPACT Channel Option Board”.