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Need help Iding cards.
- Thread starter crazyben
- Start date
cheesestraws
Well-known member
Modem for the Portable.
Thank you.
Yes, there’s supposed to be a breakout panel with a 15-pin monitor connector, with a cable that connects to the grey 10 pin connector on the card.
I have the same card (a RasterOps ColorBoard 264/SE30) and have a note of the pinout somewhere if you want to make up your own cable. I’ll post another reply here when I find it.
Thank you that would be great.
ArmorAlley
Well-known member
The card in pics 1 & 2 is from Sequential Systems.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ImageWriter
Add-on accessories
The printer had an expansion socket under the front cover which could accommodate either Apple's AppleTalk network card or 32K memory buffer card, but not both at the same time. Sequential Systems produced a 2-in-1 solution card that combined both features into one card, as well as larger memory buffer cards up to 1 MB. With an optional AppleTalk networking card installed, it was a low-cost alternative to the vastly more expensive LaserWriter. Another third-party innovation was an add-on peripheral called the ThunderScan, which allowed the printer to work as a low-cost optical scanner (in which the scanner mechanism temporarily replaced the ink ribbon cartridge).
Phipli
Well-known member
Heh. Says them.
The difference between a Laserwriter's output and an ImageWriter is more than the networking!
LaserWriters were... Incredible
Sorry it took so long getting back to you, I only just found the breakout cable for my card!
Pins on the ColorBoard connector are numbered as follows, looking at the component side of the board with the PDS connector to the left:
Code:
--------------
| 2 4 6 8 10 |
| 1 3 5 7 9 |
------ ------The pinout of my cable is as follows. I've added the equivalent pin on a PC-style VGA connector if you want to build a cable for that, although you will need a monitor that either supports sync-on-green, or accepts a composite sync signal on the horizontal sync input.
| ColorBoard 264 | Signal | DA-15 Mac video | DE-15 VGA video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | Red ground | 1 | 6 |
| 3 | Monitor sense 1 | 7 | - ** |
| 4 | Composite sync | 3 | 13 * |
| 5 | Green | 5 | 2 |
| 6 | Monitor sense 0 | 4 | - ** |
| 7 | No connection | 8 | - |
| 8 | Green ground | 6 | 7 |
| 9 | Blue | 9 | 3 |
| 10 | Blue ground | 3 | 8 |
* VGA pin 13 is horizontal sync, but some monitors will accept composite sync on this pin. Leave unconnected for sync-on-green.
** While the ColorBoard connector has pins for monitor sense bits 0 and 1, my board at least does not seem to care about them, you can leave them disconnected and it will still output video.
Info on the ImageWriter card here: https://web.archive.org/web/20000311043933/http://www.sequential.com/printer.html
Thank you.
Wow thank you. I have never done this before. Do you know anyone who does it make a guide in YouTube?
If you're not comfortable soldering, you could cobble together a cable using jumper wires like these (the socket ends fit perfectly onto the pins on the video card), and a screw-terminal VGA connector like this (or for Mac-style video, use this). The picture quality likely won't be ideal, and it'll be a bit ugly and fragile, but it'll work at least for trying it out.
Last edited:
Ah, sorry for misunderstanding! I just fixed the links anyway, it was a copy/paste mistake.
The connector that goes to the circuit board is an insulation-displacement connector, it's meant to be crimped onto a ribbon cable rather than soldered to (like an internal SCSI or floppy disk cable). The original cable has small wire pigtails coming out of this that are then soldered to coaxial cable and encased in a blob of epoxy. It looks very janky, to be quite honest.
If you're OK with soldering, what I'd recommend doing is to buy a pre-made ribbon cable with the connectors crimped on (something like this), chop one end off and solder it to your connector of choice (the pin numbers I gave in the left column above will match the order of the wires, starting at the one with the red stripe). It won't be quite as good as a 'real' coaxial cable, but it'd be cheaper and easier to make, and given the short length involved, probably be perfectly adequate.
Thank you for detailed information. I will it a try and let you.
i see that composite sync and blue ground are same number 3 for Mac. Just want to confirm that is correct.
Oops! That is absolutely not correct!!! Must have made a typo.
Composite sync is 3, blue ground is 13. Here's a revised pinout table.
| ColorBoard 264 | Signal | DA-15 Mac video | DE-15 VGA video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | Red ground | 1 | 6 |
| 3 | Monitor sense 1 | 7 | - ** |
| 4 | Composite sync | 3 | 13 * |
| 5 | Green | 5 | 2 |
| 6 | Monitor sense 0 | 4 | - ** |
| 7 | No connection | 8 | - |
| 8 | Green ground | 6 | 7 |
| 9 | Blue | 9 | 3 |
| 10 | Blue ground | 13 | 8 |
Thank you.
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