Re: db-19 cables from older Mac 400K 3.5" drives

[shack@onyx.southwind.net (Randy Shackelford)]

stephen e buggie (buggie@argo.unm.edu) wrote:

: 	Occasionally, I salvage an older Mac 400K single-sided external
: 3.5" disk drive at a flea market or yard sale.  This drive is TOTALLY
: INCOMPATIBLE with A2, and must not be connected to any Apple II.

: 	I salvage the chassis screws, the round pancake magnet (makes a
: great fridge-magnet), and the round db-19 cable.   The cable is short and
: has twin thumb-screws.

: 	I once did pin-out measurements on this short db-19 cable and
: found them to be the same as with Apple II db-19 cables.

: 	I've connected this short Mac db-19 cable to Apple Disk II drives.
: About half the time, the drive works perfectly.  Yet, with half the short
: cables, the drive does not work well.   WHY???   My _hunch_ is that
: possibly the male pins on the db-19 plug may be slightly thin, and some do
: not make good contact with the walls of the female db-19 socket.   

I dunno, but I tried the opposite once. I tried a Disk II cable in a Mac Plus
to test the internal floppy and the drive went into non stop eject mode until
I hit the switch. That'll learn you not to monkey with stuff that ain't made to
work together.

BTW you're not saying you waste perfectly good 400K mechs are you? That goes
against the spirit of tinkering with ancient Apple hardware.
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