Re: AE PC Transporter

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

stephen e buggie <buggie@ben09.unm.edu> wrote:

> The PC-TRANSPORTER that I got in a junked IIgs cpu has a mini-card called
> "AE COLOR-SWITCH." (1987).  A 5-pin db-15 plug connects to the RGB socket,
> then to the mini-board, then to PC Transporter.  The color-switch has a
> db-15 socket on the board.
> 
> What does color-switch do?  What plugs into it????

The ColorSwitch is intended to be used in a IIgs only.  It is used to
switch the video output between the PC Transporter's CGA output
(converted to analog RGB by the ColorSwitch), and the standard IIgs
video output.

The IIgs monitor is supposed to be plugged into the DA-15 connector on
the ColorSwitch.  The cable from the PC Transporter includes a signal
which selects the active video source, which is controlled by the PC
Transporter software.

(This may be the mysterious tenth pin on the PC Transporter CGA video
connector, since CGA only needs nine pins.)

Incidentally, note that the connector is a "DA-15", not a "DB-15".  The
"B" in "DB" refers to the size of the connector, and this is only
correct for the DB-25 (standard RS-232 connector, also used on parallel
cards and for SCSI ports on Apple computers).

If there was such a thing, a "DB-15" would be physically the same size
as a DB-25, but with less pins.

Another data point: the 9-pin connector used for the Apple II joystick
(and for serial port connectors on the PC/AT and later machines) is a
"DE-9".  The VGA connector uses a plug which is the same physical size
but with 15 pins (in three rows).  This connector is a "DE-15".

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand