> > >How are you handling the cabling issue?
> >
> > Cables :)
>
> :-) indeed.
>
> > (I also laid out a PCB to plug in the backplane and accept a
> > standard 40 pin IDC header connector). Had five fabricated and
> > made 3 foot ribbon cables.
>
> Sounds great. If several folks wanted to get into a bulk-buy, we
> could probably get a stack of those cheap. I was getting 12" long
> boards with inches of gold fingers (GG2 Bus+ - 100-pin Zorro plus
> 16-bit ISA) for well under $20 each, q 100., with silk screen and
> solder mask. Panelled out, something like this could be as cheap
> as a few bucks each in sufficient quantity.
>
> No matter what the device (external memory, external disk, etc.),
> I'd *love* to have a stack of inexpensive paddle cards to interconnect
> a variety of devices I have. Another bonus is that the modern
> end of the cable does *not* have to resort to hard-to-find DEC-style
> slots and fingers. 40-pin IDC stuff is about as cheap as it gets.
>
> Also, it might be interesting to experiment with them as a base for
> simple prototype modules (I keep kicking around an idea for a
> crystal-controlled M452 replacement for higher-than-110-baud use
> on an M706/M707 set) - just attach the "device" to the 40-pin
> spot and go.
>
> I could probably put dozens of these to use in the first few months,
> all by myself. I would probably even be willing to act as a point-of
> contact on a group order. The more the merrier.
>
As long as they were desigend to be flexible, so that traces could be
cut and jumper wires installed to make whatever type of cable connector
you might need, such as Omnibus or unibus connectors, they would be
very useful. I'd like to have a few myself, just to make a M993 cable,
or maybe omnibus extender cables, etc.
The company you were thinking of with the breadboards is Douglas
Electronics. These are scans of information i recieved from them.
http://www-users.itlabs.umn.edu/~lemay/computers/dec_breadboards.html
-Lawrence LeMay
lemay_at_cs.umn.edu
Received on Mon Mar 31 2003 - 19:32:28 BST