Folks, thank you for your help so far.  I have made progress.  The image on my screen is still unacceptable.  It will be interesting to see whether linuxquestions can come up with something
 
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/belkin-sun-adapter-samsung-syncmaster-and-ultra1-dont-work.-749692/#post3654550
 
Ken Jones