Are office people really that, umm shall we say...slow?

From: Chad Fernandez <fernande_at_internet1.net>
Date: Tue Aug 28 00:47:49 2001

Tony Duell wrote:
> Unless it's the floopy drives on this PC/XT. It has _6_. 2 * 5.25" (A:,
> B:), 2 * 3.5" (F:, G:) and 2 * 8" (H:, I:, but not directly available
> from MS-DOS, only from specially-written programs like PERQdisk). THe
> hard drive partitions are C:, D;, E: (just to confuse you more...)

I wondered how many drives you had :-)

> > > Slot 1 : Female DA15, Female DB25
> >
> > don't know
>
> That's actually a standard multi-function I/O card. The DA15 is a
> joystick port, the DB25 is the second printer port. The card also
> contains 2 serial ports (COM3: and COM4: and a floppy controller. The
> latter I hacked to be at the secondary address and to work with HD (and
> 8") drives.

Ok, I was thinking it was the high density 15 pin connector that VGA
normally uses. I would have recognized it as a Game/midi connector in
person.

> > > Slot 2 : 6 Ribbon cables come out (a) ending in a male DC37, (b,c) ending
> > > in female DB25s, (d,e) ending in male DB25s (narrower ribbon cables than
> > > b,c), (f) ending in a female DC37
> >
> > No idea, but from you, probably something homemade :-)
>
> Not really, but very unusual :
>
> (a) (male DC37) is the control cable for ST506 hard drives (the card in
> slot 2 is an ST506 controller)
>
> (b,c) (female DB25) are the data cables for those hard drives. I have an
> external box containing the hard drives and the 3.5" floppies -- the
> machine is _packed_ inside.

These aren't normally external drives are they?

>
> (d,e) (male DB25) are the COM3: and COM4: serial ports from the card in
> slot 1
>
> (f) (female DC37) is the floppy cable from the card in slot 1. It goes to
> an adapter box that they has a 50 way ribbon going to the 2 8" drives
>
> >
> > >
> > > Slot 3 : Pushbutton switch, Mini-DIN 6
> >
> > The switch might be a reset, but no idea on the mini-din 6, M$ bus mouse
> > perhaps?
>
> The button is a reset function for the card in slot 3(not a complete
> machine reset). The miniDIN is an I2C port. This one is a little unfair
> in that it's home-made from the Elektor design.
>
> >
> > >
> > > Slot 4 : RCA phono socket, female DE9
> >
> > That's your video card I think.
>
> One of them !. This is normal IBM CGA card.

I was thinking either CGA or EGA. Mine was EGA, on a 286.

> > > Slot 5 : Female DE9, female DB25
> >
> > serial ports
>
> I'm glad you're not setting this thing up, or I'd have some TTL to
> replace!. The DE9 is an MDA monitor port, the DB25 is the first printer
> port. It's a normal IBM mono/parallel card.

See, I get confused with that second letter. What makes it a DE9, and
not a DB9?

> > > Slot 6 : Female DC37
> >
> > again, I 'm not sure what a DC connector is.... is it a floppy
> > controller? I can't recall the pin count.
>
> Yes. Normal IBM floppy controller. The external 3.5" drives plug in here.
>
> >
> > > Slot 7 : Male DB25
> >
> > parallel port?
>
> No, a serial port (it's male). COM1: actually.

I guess I get the genders mixed up, because so many computer connectors
are compound connectors. You've got pins sliding in, surrounded by a
shell, that's getting something slid into it, etc. I guess your calling
it by the pins, and I'm calling it by the shell.

Chad Fernandez
Michigan, USA
Received on Tue Aug 28 2001 - 00:47:49 BST