Re: Unindentifiable motherboard port (II Plus clone)

[Michael Black <blackm00@CAM.ORG>]

I have a II clone board that I found in the garbage at one point.  It was
missing parts, so it's scrap.  But it had two DB-9 connectors on it.  One
of them I took off for something else, but the remaining one is male and
I assume the missing one was male too.  They are both labelld (in silk
screening on the board) "Game I/O".  The IC's that would be in the
joystick circuitry are right near it.

With a little time, mainly to get around to it, I could trace the pins on
the DB-9's too see what's what. Would that be useful?  I guess I hesitate
to simply do it because if nobody sees DB-9 male connectors as standard
for some joystick (I can't think of anything) then can we assume that two
clone boards would use the same pinout?  If you have a multimeter and feel
capable of tracing the circuitry, at least you could verify a match from
my data, though there is also the chance that the pinout is the same but
different sections of the IC's are being used.

There is no marking about model or manufacturer on this board.  If you
align it the same way as an Apple II board sits in it's case, the slots
are at the left at the back.  On the right, towards the front there is
a 5pin DIN socket labelled Keyboard.  It's a serial port, I believe.  I
have a II clone that uses a serial keyboard, and I got it from someone
who included a ROM that made that changed the keyboard into one for the
IBM.

Towards the rear, at the right side is a four pin "aux video" connector,
then the two DB-9 I/O connectors, then the two cassette jacks and the
video output phono jack.  There's a forty pin socket (empty) near the
slots that I've always guessed to be for a Z-80, though I've never done
any tracing.

   Michael


On 26 Nov 1998, Mitchell Spector wrote:

> In article Frank Carney <frankc@cyberhighway.net> writes...
> 
> >If you are missing a port  then I would guess it is serial port.
> >Hooking a joystick probably shorted something out causing a reset.  I
> >would be careful what you hook to it.  You could burn something up.
> >Most IBM serial ports use a DB9 port.  Also, I think there are programs
> >that will tell you what is installed in your machine.  Use one of those
> >to see if you can get a clue to what it is.  I have never used one of
> >these programs before but have heard people talk about them.  Good Luck.
> 
>     Perhaps, although I don't recall seeing a 6551 or any other
> type of chip on the motherboard that could be used to provide 
> serial I/O. If it is a serial port, I would suspect something
> similar to the original Apple Serial Interface Card (capable
> of driving a printer by not much else).
> 
>     I'd be inclined to guess against it though, the computer's
> previous owner sold it to me with an Apple Super Serial Card
> *and* a clone of the Apple Serial Interface Card.
> 
>     Jeff's guess about it being a digital RGB port is another
> possibility (the connector is next to the composite out port)
> although the gender is wrong. I'll have to try one of those
> programs that scans slots and reports what is in the machine.
> 
> Mitchell Spector
> spec@vax2.concordia.ca
> 
>