Can I connect Pi to a VGA monitor ?

I too, bought a HDMI to VGA adapter over Ebay, from a supplier out in California.. No particular name or maker on the device..

I have a HP L1908W VGA wide-screen monitor,

and.... a major headache... 

I set the following in the config.txt file:

safe-mode=1

HDMI-group=2

HDMI-mode=47

result, a 1/2-sized and badly out of focus screen in text, and if I startx, it stays in the small size, and again, badly out of focus.

Odd thing is, If I connect the same adapter to a HP DV6 laptop running Win-7, it works fine!

2nd platform, if I connect it to a Toshiba A505 laptop running Ultimate Edition (Ubuntu) Linux 3.5, again, it works just fine. crystal clear view on both..

Odd thing is, if I put the Pi in a simple 820X420 mode, it works just fine, but the obvious oversized resolution.. So.... what is wrong here?  I've noticed the adapter gets a little warm (not burning, but warmer than ambient) when running.. Voltage on the Pi is still staying within the reasonable range... supply is via a 3.6A 5.0V in parallel with a 7-port USB hub. (took a cable, clipped the "A" side off, ran the +5V & GND wires to the barrel socket (supply) of the hub.)

So....  Why is it still outof focus, and not running the full 1440X900 resolution?

I too, bought a HDMI to VGA adapter over Ebay, from a supplier out in California.. No particular name or maker on the device..

I have a HP L1908W VGA wide-screen monitor,

and.... a major headache... 

I set the following in the config.txt file:

safe-mode=1

HDMI-group=2

HDMI-mode=47

result, a 1/2-sized and badly out of focus screen in text, and if I startx, it stays in the small size, and again, badly out of focus.

Odd thing is, If I connect the same adapter to a HP DV6 laptop running Win-7, it works fine!

2nd platform, if I connect it to a Toshiba A505 laptop running Ultimate Edition (Ubuntu) Linux 3.5, again, it works just fine. crystal clear view on both..

Odd thing is, if I put the Pi in a simple 820X420 mode, it works just fine, but the obvious oversized resolution.. So.... what is wrong here?  I've noticed the adapter gets a little warm (not burning, but warmer than ambient) when running.. Voltage on the Pi is still staying within the reasonable range... supply is via a 3.6A 5.0V in parallel with a 7-port USB hub. (took a cable, clipped the "A" side off, ran the +5V & GND wires to the barrel socket (supply) of the hub.)

So....  Why is it still outof focus, and not running the full 1440X900 resolution?

gelfling6 wrote:

 

I set the following in the config.txt file:

 

safe-mode=1

HDMI-group=2

HDMI-mode=47

Your problem may be that your config.txt settings are not being recognized because of wrong characters (they use underscore, not minus sign) and CaSe SenSiTivity.

Here's the config.txt Wiki.

Here's the VGA -> HDMI adapter section from the Verified Peripherals Wiki.

Sorry, that was typed hastily (and from remote, with the Pi at home, and me at the library.)  but, generally the settings are right, unhashed (no #).. etc... Still, the wrong view, (smaller, and out of focus.)

I just picked-up a pair of Gateway FPD 1975W monitors from the same source as the HP L1908W's.  (the Gateway monitors have a DVI socket besides the Analog/VGA.. and, I have a HDMI to DVi cable.)  So...  Here's hoping.

gelfling6 wrote:

 

Sorry, that was typed hastily (and from remote, with the Pi at home, and me at the library.)  but, generally the settings are right, unhashed (no #).. etc... Still, the wrong view, (smaller, and out of focus.)

"hdmi_safe=1" set values for "hdmi_group" and "hdmi_mode".  I don't know if providing other values for "hdmi_group" and "hdmi_mode" interferes.  I'd try "hdmi_safe" by itself first, which gives 640x480, then replace "hdmi_safe" with its equivalent individual settings, and then change those individual settings one by one.

And, it's been working for about a week, til I botched something that caused it to refuse to boot further than one of the initializing steps..  Gotta love the looks I get, bringing a small rolling vertical suitcase into the library (My home ADSL was cancelled due to lack of subscribers in the area) , opening it, pulling out the Gateway Monitor, the USB hub, the full-sized keyboard, the HDMI to DVI cable, the mouse, the power supply for the hub, a few extra cables, then a Ethernet cable.. (Oh-Joy! my micro WiFi-N adaptor is not recognized!) , then pull out this dinky little case with the Pi in it, and wire everything up to one of the open Ethernet sockets and a power socket.   The lock-up, resulted in needing to wipe the SD card clean (Ultimate Edition 3.5 on a USB stick, running Disk Utility to wipe the partitions on the card, then re-formatting with a single FAT-32.)...