Re: Tron Video Questions

On Fri, 04 Mar 2005 09:38:59 -0600, you wrote:

>> So where, what part #, cost, etc. are good replacements for these
>> interconnects? I haven't looked in a while, but are all the connectors the
>> same size? If I recall, I thought the interconnects on a Journey boardset
>> (another MCR) had some different sizes (I could easily be wrong on that).

        On an MCR-II stack, all of them are 24-pin single-row connectors.
MCR-III may be different, but I wouldn't know for sure as I don't own any
MCR-III games.

>I found a cable company out in California (if I had looked hard enough I
>could have found one locally I suppose) that made up a couple sets of
>cables for me. Just regular IDE flat cables & connectors. You could make
>them yourself if you have the crimping tool.

        You must use _SCSI_ cables, not IDE! An IDE cable is only 40 pins,
arranged in 2 rows of 20 -- that's not enough pins in a row to substitute
for the 24-pin MCR connectors. SCSI cables are 50-pin, arranged as 2x25.

        I wouldn't even bother with having them made; just go find a couple of
seven-device SCSI cables at your local Fry's Electronics, CompUSA, or other
computer-hardware store and just cut them up as follows:

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
| |______________|D|_C _|D|____|D|_C _|D|____|D|_C _|D|____|D|
| | |E| U |E| |E| U |E| |E| U |E| |E|
|H| |V| T |V| |V| T |V| |V| T |V| |V|
|O| |I| |I| |I| |I| |I| |I| |I|
|S| |C| |C| |C| |C| |C| |C| |C|
|T| |E| H |E| |E| H |E| |E| H |E| |E|
| | | | E | | | | E | | | | E | | | |
| |______________|1|_ R_|2|____|3|_ R_|4|____|5|_ R_|6|____|7|
|_| |_| E |_| |_| E |_| |_| E |_| |_|

        Just trim the ribbon cables off close to the body of the connectors,
and voila -- three suitable MCR interconnects per SCSI cable. :)

        (Well, four, technically, but usually the cable length between the
"host" and "device 1" connectors is quite a bit longer, and knowing how
fussy those boards can be to start with I prefer not to tempt fate by
having one cable longer than the others. Yeah, I know it _shouldn't_ make
any difference at the (relatively) short distances and low clock speeds
we're dealing with here, but why invite trouble? :) Especially since you
still need two more cabiles and will need to cut up a second SCSI cable
anyway.)

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A: Because it reverses the natural flow of conversation.

Q: Why is top-posting bad?
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solarfox@DON'TMESSWITHtexas.net (Gary Akins jr.)
http://lonestar.texas.net/~solarfox
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Received on Fri Mar 4 11:10:23 2005