Connect Raspberry Pi to Samsung SyncMaster B1940 Monitor using HDMI to DVI

The Raspberry Pi has an HDMI output for video display, this worked OK with my living room Smart TV.

I've now acquired a Samsung SyncMaster B1940 monitor that was destined for the skip, but is fully working.

It has a VGA input port, I connected a Windows laptop to the monitor using a VGA cable to prove that the monitor was working OK.

It looks like HDMI to VGA adaptors are available for purchase, however the cheaper ones have to be bought online, rather than high street shops.

The Samsung monitor also has a DVI-D input port.  Fortunately this is what the Raspberry Pi needs for HDMI to DVI to work.  I bought a Nikkae HDMI (female) to DVD-D (male) adaptor from my local Maplin store.

When I connected this up, and started up the Raspberry Pi, I got nothing on the monitor screen. It flashed from “digital” to “analog” and back a few times, but that was all.

This blog gave me the answer

http://charlespatricknewman.com/blog/?p=446

I had to connect back to the living room TV so I could edit the config.txt file.

Save the config.txt file, just in case.

sudo cp /boot/config.txt /boot/config.txt.save

Now uncomment the command

hdmi_force_hotplug=1

i.e. change this

# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output

#hdmi_force_hotplug=1

to this

# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output

hdmi_force_hotplug=1

I connected up to the Samsung again and the Raspberry Pi now displays on the monitor OK.