On 2015-02-12 19:23, Cory Smelosky wrote: None of the pins on the connector are ground. That'd explain some things. I just want to check here, how you asserted that? The signal ground is not the same as chassis ground, so I hope you didn't just measure against some random point on a chassis, or some random pin on a DB25... Johnny Sent from my iPhone On Feb 12, 2015, at 13:22, Peter Lothberg <roll at Stupi.SE> wrote: Straight gives me gibberish, null gives me output. I'll find my straight. FWIW, if the SC40 is wired like a "real" DEC computer, then a null modem cable would be required between the console DB25 and a VTxxx. If the wiring (ground) was even close to correct, either crossed or non crossed should give NO characters. -:) --P