Appletalk wiring

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Wawavoun

Well-known member

• Jul 14, 2022

• #1

Hello,

I have a Mac Plus and a Powerbook 100 and hope to connect them via Apple network.

I got a lot of cables from my uncle and see two possibilities :

- try to use a Phonenet system with two small boxes and a phone cable but I miss the terminators so between what pins of the rj11 should I connect the 120 ohms resistor ?

- I have also found a 3 pins minidin 4 meters cable and I am wondering if I can simply put this cable into the minidin printer connectors of both computers and get the network working ?

Thanks for help on that topics.
Philippe

 

Last edited: Jul 14, 2022

LaPorta

Well-known member

• Jul 14, 2022

• #2

If you use PhoneNet, make sure you have an RJ-11 cable with all four wires, not just two. The terminators are really not needed; you will be fine without them.

 

C

cheesestraws

Well-known member

• Jul 14, 2022

• #3

Yeah, over short distances I wouldn't worry about the terminators at all. It's not like SCSI where it's vital.

You can't just wedge the 3-pin din between two machines in the serial port - it won't fit. But you can use a standard Apple printer cable, the 8-pin one, between two computers and that'll work too (so long as it's actually a mac printer cable and not an identical-looking cable which isn't, thankyou strange Internet vendors of cables...)

 

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Wawavoun

Well-known member

• Jul 14, 2022

• #4

Thanks.

Phonenet with terminators and a 2 m lenght cable works well !

 

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Wawavoun

Well-known member

• Jul 15, 2022

• #5

I would say WITHOUT terminators !

 

C

cheesestraws

Well-known member

• Jul 15, 2022

• #6

Glad to hear it

 

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theirongiant

Well-known member

• Mar 19, 2024

• #7

Just what exactly IS an Apple printer cable, and how does the wiring differ from most random eight pin mini DIN cables sold today?

I bought one of those from CablesToGo to connect two old Macs together locally, and it did not work.

 

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NJRoadfan

Well-known member

• Mar 20, 2024

• #8

Apple printer cable has a mini-DIN 8-pin on both ends. Pins 1-2, 3-5, and 6-8 are flipped.

https://whitefiles.org/tec/pgs/h10b8.png

Your random cable has all pins wired straight through. So pin 1 one end is wired to pin 1 on the other end

 

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theirongiant

Well-known member

• Mar 20, 2024

• #9

NJRoadfan said:

Apple printer cable has a mini-DIN 8-pin on both ends. Pins 1-2, 3-5, and 6-8 are flipped.

https://whitefiles.org/tec/pgs/h10b8.png

Your random cable has all pins wired straight through. So pin 1 one end is wired to pin 1 on the other end

Click to expand...

Thanks!

I have a Mac SE and the MacTest SE application. It is asking me to connect a serial loopback cable.

How does the wiring of a serial loop back cable different from a printer cable?

 

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NJRoadfan

Well-known member

• Mar 20, 2024

• #10

A loopback "cable" really isn't a cable. Its a pigtail connector that "loops back" the above pairs in the connector for testing. The Apple printer cable is technically a crossover cable.

 

Mk.558

Well-known member

• Mar 20, 2024

• #11

An Apple "printer cable" is shown at the bottom of this image.