@darryl123
SOME SUCCESS !
Retracing what I just said in case I was wrong, I was. The two cables to the display are both 10 pin and thus interchangeable. I had my end right, black and gray as they should but checking inside the controller they were swapped. Fixed that and I have a FUNCTIONING DISPLAY !
Now it's just a matter of following the setup instructions. So thanks for all the help, you kept me on track.