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Connectors for swappable control panels
wee beastie:
I just numbered the jacks and the ethernet cables with a Sharpie.
Even if you plug it into the wrong jack, it won't screw up your setup, it just won't work when you try to play a game. So, just disconnect and reconnect it the proper way, and everything will work fine.
mahuti:
About numbering... you can buy wire lables from Radio shack in packs of 4 sheets for about 3$. Letters a-z numbers 1-0 plus some extra characters. they come in handy for numbrering undersides of controls & wires where legibility is important and surface area is small.
Carsten Carlos:
I use an external SCSI-1 cable and some internals to easier interfacing- they are damn cheap (at least where I got them), and very stable plugs.
Got some pictures on my homepage of this.
pmc:
--- Quote from: Carsten Carlos on June 04, 2003, 10:11:22 am ---I use an external SCSI-1 cable and some internals to easier interfacing- they are damn cheap (at least where I got them), and very stable plugs.
Got some pictures on my homepage of this.
--- End quote ---
Nice photos. Seems a little convoluted (4 connections), but sounds like it works well enough. I almost went a similar route, but decided I didn't want to wire up the black SCSI connectors (like the one you have on the PCB upstream of your IPAC). I figured it'd be easier to use one ribbon cable and splay out each end. But the IPAC looks pretty silly with a ribbon cable stretched out along it's length and I'm only left with perhaps 1-foot of slack on the other end). Not pretty, but it works OK. The CP end is pretty messy too.
I wish I had a Centronics SCSI cable with a male on one end and a female on the other. A 3-footer would be perfect. Cut it in the middle and wire either end direct. I even looked at an old hard drive case last night and considered plundering it for the female Centronics connector... but I left it alone and turned my vengence to something else...
I'm still considering improving this mess with a barrier strip but can't figure out how to mount the strip itself.
Carsten Carlos:
--- Quote ---Seems a little convoluted (4 connections), but sounds like it works well enough.
--- End quote ---
:D I must admit that there are a lot of connections - but I had reasons for it :) Unfortunately most scsi-cables won't have different colored wires inside, so I started with the ribbon cable and then crimped the scsi-plug to it. The idea behind all is - the only thing I move is a) the scsi-cable on on end b) the scsi-external to internal cable.
Both of them are readybuilt and I can buy them cheap so I don't have to worry if they should break due to hard using. And most important for me, I only had to strip one wire-end for the I-PAC and never have to do this again for all the additonal panels I still have to made.