[rescue] I got a new Octane! Why can't I talk to it?

[ajones]

All 13w3 connections carry the R, G, and B signals in the same places.  
All other pins' signals are up in the air.

Sun systems and SGI Indys output a composite sync signal on the pins 
that correspond to H and V sync on the VGA connector.   PCs, perhaps 
obviously, output H and V sync to the H and V sync pins.

An SGI Octane is sync-on-green exclusively.  It uses those pins for 
their SGI-intended purpose, which is utter garbage as far as your 
monitor is concerned.  Use a cheapo VGA cable and clip the VGA H/V sync 
pins out and it will work fine.  Your SOG monitor will notice the lack 
of signal on the H/V sync pins and fall back on looking for sync in the 
green signal.

You could yank the pins out of the adapter, but VGA cables are much 
cheaper than 13w3 to HD15 adapters :)