I've been ignoring this for a long time, and it's come to the forefront again.
I have a Panasonic PT-M1085U CRT projector that's been gathering dust in my basement for about 2 years. Why? Because I lack the remote to do the convergence. There's a Pronto file on RemoteCentral with the IR codes for this machine, but I don't have a Pronto remote, and the projector only cost me $50 CAD (and I have a gorgeous XGA LCD projector ceiling-mounted with a 10' screen), so purchasing a $300 remote solely for it is pretty pointless. If I can't converge it, and I'm unlikely to find someone who will want to purchase it, I'll have to toss it. I had it jury-rigged through Omniremote on my father's palm pilot, but Omniremote doesn't continually send an IR code when you hold a button down so it was taking FOREVER to even try to reset the convergence parameters, let alone adjust them perfectly. To make matters worse, my father no longer has room for the software on his palm, and even if he did, him and the pda are out of town more often than they're around.
Anyway, my point is this:
There's an RS-232 remote control port on the back of this projector...
There doesn't seem to be any technical data available from Panasonic regarding RS-232 control codes for this projector though. Are they often analagous to the IR codes somehow? And can I send codes through a standard PC serial port? If anyone can give me any advice, that'd be truly excellent as I'm very new at this. Thanks!

You've got to be able to get an old pronto on e-bay for less than 300, I would think... Sounds like the 232 option will take many hours of your time...

My .02

A quick look at the Crestron module for the PT series projectors yields this for RS-232 control. You can send these out of a serial port on a laptop configured at
9600 bps,
No Parity,
8 Data Bits,
1 Stop Bit.

The commands that you'll probably need:
(HEX) 02 PON (HEX)03 : POWER ON
(HEX) 02 POF (HEX)03 : POWER OFF

(HEX) 02 IIS:SVD (HEX)03 : SVIDEO
(HEX) 02 IIS:VID (HEX)03 : VIDEO
(HEX) 02 IIS:RG1 (HEX)03 : RGB1
(HEX) 02 IIS:RG2 (HEX)03 : RGB2

(HEX) 02 OST (HEX)03 : STD RESET
(HEX) 02 OIX (HEX)03 : INDEX WINDOW
(HEX) 02 OAS (HEX)03 : AUTO SETUP
(HEX) 02 OLP:0 (HEX)03 : LMODE OFF
(HEX) 02 OLP:1 (HEX)03 : LMODE ON

(HEX) 02 OMN (HEX)03 : MENU
(HEX) 02 OCU (HEX)03 : UP
(HEX) 02 OCD (HEX)03 : DOWN
(HEX) 02 OCL (HEX)03 : LEFT
(HEX) 02 OCR (HEX)03 : RIGHT
(HEX) 02 OEN (HEX)03 : SELECT

I'm not sure how you'd send the hex characters through Hyperterminal, perhaps someone else can chime in on that. Don't include the spaces or the literal "(HEX)", I put it in there merely for clarity.

Let me know if this helps!
-Jon

You need a lot more than a remote to converge a CRT projo...

You will need someone with experience on that chassis to get a picture at a level that will outshine the LCD projector you own.
Also, if it came to you for $50 CAN I might suspect that it has raster damage or perhaps something is not quite right with it.

Old CRTs are a gamble...