iOpener

From: allisonp_at_world.std.com <(allisonp_at_world.std.com)>
Date: Mon Mar 20 15:43:21 2000

Hit the web pages, there are vendors listed there. I believe Digikey was
one of them.

Allison


On Mon, 20 Mar 2000, Richard Erlacher wrote:

> Do any of you fellows know of a ready/reasonable source of the 44-conductor
> connectors and cables used with notebook drives? I believe the spacing of
> the connector pins is 2mm. I need a limited about of this stuff and a few
> of the IDC connectors to be used at each end of the cable. The adapter I
> have for this drive type has a typical HD power connector on it along with
> an inline pc-mount connector that would also be of interest.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Dick
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Wilson <wilson_at_dbit.dbit.com>
> To: classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
> Date: Monday, March 20, 2000 12:19 PM
> Subject: Re: iOpener
>
>
> >On Mon, Mar 20, 2000 at 09:13:56AM -0800, Ethan Dicks wrote:
> >> There's great hack running around where you take a regular 44-pin cable
> >> that's long enough and attach a second connector immediately adjacent to
> >> the connector on one end. You use the inner pins of the end connector
> >> and the outer pins on the new connector to attach to the motherboard.
> >>
> >> -------------------
> >> || ||||
> >> ^^ (use these "pins")
> >> drive end motherboard end
> >
> >Cute! Well that sure beats slicing the cable up into 22 pairs and trying
> to
> >get them stay down in the "twisted" position while you put on a connector.
> >
> >> ||
> >> --------------------
> >> ||
> >>
> >> Wouldn't that simulate having a connector on the wrong side and reverse
> >> the effect of the motherboard wiring?
> >
> >Unfortunately not, IDC connectors don't work that way. You'll just tap the
> >same wires in different places, it's as if you took a regular cable and
> just
> >folded one end over, nothing has changed. I remember confusing the hell
> out
> >of myself with this the first time I tried to get a DZ11A cab kit
> working...
> >
> >> AFAIK, there is no ready source of 12V. Also, consider the power draw.
> A
> >> laptop drive pulls 500-700mA (2,5-3.5W), a desktop drive draws closer to
> >> 9W-15W. It's even a consideration when choosing a different
> >> CPU (ISTR the WinChip180 is rated at ~9W, most Pentia suck around
> 13-17W).
> >
> >Yeah actually I was wondering if the laptop drive is already pushing
> things.
> >The power supply is really tiny (integrated on the main board) and it's
> >powered by a puny wall wart transformer, the label says 81VA but even
> that's
> >hard to imagine given how light it is.
> >
> >> ObClassic: there's plenty of space on the flash disk to stick a small OS
> >> and a variety of apps including Kermit.
> >
> >I was thinking, making a PCMCIA flash card adapter for the 44-pin cable
> >wouldn't be hard at all, that might be another easy way to get stuff in
> >and out.
> >
> >> If you hacked the flash and disabled
> >> the hard disk (or had a way to specify the boot order), you could bring
> it
> >> up by default into a terminal program and use it as a console if it
> weren't
> >> running some other app. Yes, a dumb terminal is cheaper and probably
> more
> >> VT100 compliant (double-high characters spring to mind immediately), but
> a
> >> real DEC terminal is not as portable.
> >
> >Yeah I *wish* someone was making ASCII terminals like this box, it's
> perfect
> >for one, at least part time. But the box has too much potential to
> actually
> >*dedicate* your only one as being just a small/light VT100 replacement,
> which
> >is sort of a shame.
> >
> >But I figure, even if the Netpliance folks close the loophole (which seems
> >inevitable given all the press it's gotten) and we can't buy these boxes
> for
> >$99.95 for much longer, the regular users will get tired of them eventually
> >and there will be piles of them on eBay in a year or two, probably for even
> >less than the $99.95. *That* will be the perfect time to put one on every
> >flat surface in the whole house! Meanwhile, gotta get an order out to
> Digikey.
> >
> >John Wilson
> >D Bit
>
Received on Mon Mar 20 2000 - 15:43:21 GMT