Asante Micro EN/SC connection mod

[macclassic]

I can't find an Asante Mini EN/SC adapter in the UK to get my Mac Plus on an ethernet with IP, so I'm thinking of adapting a Micro EN/SC, made for Powerbook's, which I do have.

I've studied the pinouts of the Powerbook's HDI-30 SCSI connector and the Mac Plus's DB-25 SCSI connector and apart from the Powerbook's SCSI disk mode connection and four additional grounds I think I could solder a DB-25 connector onto the Micro EN/SC's lead without mishap.

As the Micro EN/SC takes it's power from an ADB port I could connect it to my Mac Classic's ADB at a pinch.

Does anyone have an opinion on the workability of this? would it matter if the Micro EN/SC was powered by another machine if both machines were plugged into the same mains supply?

Feedback please!

 

[Mac128]

Hmmm. I'm actually more concerned that you will be able to get clean, safely isolated connections soldered to the HDI-30 pins.

Someone else will be able to correct me if I am wrong, but I think you can take +5v power from the serial or floppy ports of the Plus without major impact on the power supply. Have a look at the pinouts. http://68kmla.org/files/classicmac2.pdf

If you wanted to take power from another Mac, that should work without issue as I've done it for a variety of peripherals, including running a CRT on one Mac with the flyback transformer of another. The same mains power supply shouldn't matter as long as they connected to the same ground circuit, i.e. the same outlet. Heck, that shouldn't even be an issue, but I'm no electrical engineer.

 

[MacJunky]

You might also consider getting an AC/DC "wallwart".

 

[LCGuy]

I've done it for a variety of peripherals, including running a CRT on one Mac with the flyback transformer of another.

Whoa!!! Talk about EXTREME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :O

If i may ask, why did you do it?

 

[Charlieman]

I can't find an Asante Mini EN/SC adapter here in the UK to get my Mac Plus on an ethernet with IP, so I'm thinking of adapting a Micro En/SC made for Powerbook's which I do have.
To this end I've studied the Powerbook's HDI-30 SCSI connector's pinouts and the Mac Plus SCSI connector's pinouts, - and - apart from the Powerbook's additional SCSI disk mode connection and five more grounds I think I could solder a DB-25 connector onto the Micro En/SC's lead without mishap.

Feedback please on what connections your EN/SC adapter has? Male and female HDI-30 connectors? I suspect that the Micro EN/SC is the one that does not have a pass through SCSI connection...

Is there such a thing as a female to female HDI-30 cable? If so, you could use it with a standard HDI-30 male to D-25 female SCSI adapter, in conjunction with a D-25 male to male pass through cable (as found on the Zip drive).

would it matter if the Micro En/SC was powered by another machine if both machines were plugged into the same mains supply?

Probably not a problem, if both share a common ground. But there are better ways to provide +5V as others have suggested.

 

[Mac128]

Charlieman, if his is like mine, it's HDI-30 on one end and DB-25 on the other. That's it – designed for converting the funky PB-SCSI port to a standard Apple port. I also have the one you are thinking of which uses an HDI-30 (on both ends) cable and has two DB-25 ports (which is also bus-powered), with which I have successfully used as a coupler for two DB-25 SCSI connectors without the HDI-30 port.

I have never seen a female HDI-30 to DB-25 connector and believe me I've looked ever since I had my first Duo. The only way to get one is off another PowerBook, or a device designed to use the PowerBook cables as a converter, with the custom HDI-30 male-to-male cable for use with a PowerBook.

LCGuy, this is not exactly the right thread, but in a nutshell, I needed to test whether the flyback transformer of an old Mac bought off eBay, or the CRT was dead. So I used the flyback transformer from a good Mac to drive the other Mac's CRT. This demonstrated that not only was the CRT good, but the rest of the video circuitry was good as well. So, the painstaking removal and replacement of the flyback transformer was not performed in vain! Both Macs were powered up and neither appeared to suffer any ill effects.

 

[Charlieman]

Charlieman, if his is like mine, it's HDI-30 on one end and DB-25 on the other. That's it – designed for converting the funky PB-SCSI port to a standard Apple port. I also have the one you are thinking of which uses an HDI-30 (on both ends) cable and has two DB-25 ports (which is also bus-powered), with which I have successfully used as a coupler for two DB-25 SCSI connectors without the HDI-30 port.

I have a Dayna adapter that is similar to the first that Mac128 describes: male HDI-30 at one end and a 25 pin D female at the other. To use that adaper with a Mac Plus, I'd connect data via a male to male 25 pin D connector pass through. Don't worry too much about termination when you are getting it running. For power, I'd adapt a wall wart psu. Alternatively, take +5V off the floppy port.

 

[macclassic]

WHOOPS!!!

I've just realized that my cable has a HDI-30 SCSI 'MALE' connector as on the EN/SC Micro, so I can't connect it.

So not wanting to open the Micro en/sc I need a female HDI-30 SCSI connector!!! - but wonder, if I can find some tubes from a suitable female connector, if I could fabricate a connector by pushing these tubes a couple of mm onto the ends of the male connector pins one at a time, and adding a blob of resin onto the side of each tube until I have a matrix of tubes trapped in a single block of resin.

P.S. and solder some wire on the end of the tubes first to make things easier.

 

[Charlieman]

So not wanting to open the Micro en/sc I need a female HDI-30 SCSI connector!!! - but wonder, if I can find some tubes from a suitable female connector, if I could fabricate a connector by pushing these tubes a couple of mm onto the ends of the male connector pins one at a time, and adding a blob of resin onto the side of each tube until I have a matrix of tubes trapped in a single block of resin.

Indeed, you could perform that act. Or you could salvage an HDI-30 female socket from a dead PowerBook and solder it onto a conventional SCSI cable (D-25 or D-50 "Centronics").

Don't do it yet. You are approaching the problem from the right way, but work slowly before you attack the kit that you care about. Experiment on some old radios or boom boxes. Learn how to solder a really tight, secure connection.

 

[equill]

Is it your wish to have the Plus and the Web hold hands directly, so that you have the satisfaction of having done it, or merely to get files from Web to Plus?

If the latter, why take the irrevocable step of modifying gear when you can use the PB for your Web connection and LocalTalk for the PB-to-Plus step?

Alternatively, if you are willing to look beyond Old Blighty, EN/SC adapters of all kinds are crawling out of hiding, on eBay, as interest in/use of older Macs fades in the wider consciousness. Three years ago G3/500MHz daughter-cards for PCI Macs made hensteeth seem dirt-common. This year I have picked up two for a song. Three years ago EN/SC adapters of any make were up there on Mt Olympus. This year I have seen a score of them on eBay, some going for even less than a song, as Bunsen, but not Moofo, can attest.

de

 

[MacJunky]

Um, do you have a Mac with ethernet and serial? If so you could just set up IPNetRouter and use that Mac as a gateway so as to not mess around with modding your hardware.

 

[macclassic]

Indeed, you could perform that act. Or you could salvage an HDI-30 female socket from a dead PowerBook and solder it onto a conventional SCSI cable (D-25 or D-50 "Centronics").

I'm now in the process of obtaining a HDi-30 Socket but I note that most pinout sources describe the pinouts as from the cable connector and not the socket - which could confuse?

 

[macclassic]

Um, do you have a Mac with ethernet and serial? If so you could just set up IPNetRouter and use that Mac as a gateway so as to not mess around with modding your hardware.

I do have an AsanteTalk Ethernet/Localtalk adapter but I want the Plus to have full IP Ethernet.

I did try IPNetRouter to turn my 6100/60 into a gateway once, which worked! but it seriously messed with my macine and I had to re-install Open Transport etc. to recover from it!

 

[macclassic]

Is it your wish to have the Plus and the Web hold hands directly, so that you have the satisfaction of having done it.

I want the above, and EN/SC's, or the equivalent, seem a bit thin on the ground at the moment.

 

[macclassic]

Feedback please on what connections your EN/SC adapter has? Male and female HDI-30 connectors? I suspect that the Micro EN/SC is the one that does not have a pass through SCSI connection...

The Micro has one male HDi-30 connector, one RJ45 ethernet socket and a thinnet socket, and one power socket.

 

[macclassic]

Just a thought.

How bad could it be if I got a SCSI wire wrong?

 

[Bunsen]

Ghostbusters bad

/edit/ Well, I don't really know, but I don't imagine it could be good for either device.

 

[trag]

Going back to your tubing idea...

The pins which fit into the Molex Mini-Fit Jr. "receptacle" housings are actually tube-like. I don't know if they'll fit snugly over the pins on your adapter, or not, but they're not terribly expensive--couple bucks per 100 (or about a pound). The shipping will cost you more.

In the US, one would shop at Mouser or Digi-Key, but I'm not sure who are the good electronic supply mail order houses in the UK. Still, Digi-Key's web site is well organized. You may wish to look up the Molex Mini-Fit Jr. line of housings. Then look on that catalog page to identify the corresponding pins for the receptacles. That'll give you part numbers. You can also probably find a mechanical drawing of the pins there which will give you dimensions.

Then you can try crimping wires onto the pins, and soldering them after crimping, if you wish. Connect the other ends of the wires to a DB-25 connector perhaps. Then when it is all done, simply slide the Molex pins over the appropriate adapter pins, and that way you needn't do any soldering on your adapter.

The odd thing about the Mini-Fit Jr. housings, is that the ones that look like plugs are called receptacles and vice versa. The reason for this is that the pins which install in the plugs are male and the pins which install in the receptacles are female. So even though the large plastic plug housing looks female, the pins inside are male and vice versa. Hence the odd naming convention.

Also, if the Mini-Fit Jr. pins are not a good fit, I'd look for some other crimp on pins which do have the proper dimensions. One of these two part numbers, WM2312CT-ND

WM2513-ND, is tubular, crimp-on pin with a smaller size than the Mini-Fit Jr. pins. The other is a springing action pin, so you'd need to look at specs to pick the right one. Or order both. Again, they're cheap. And don't forget to order a DB25 housing and pins while you're at it.

 

[MacMan]

I'm surprised that I've just found this thread.

Myself and a friend from uni tried to do this last year so he could get his Classic on the 'net with a Micro EN/SC. We took the totally scientific approach and mapped out all the connections on a diagram first, which showed that it theoretically could be done. Like yourself, we didn't want to hack into the EN/SC adaptor itself so we went about procuring a HDI-30 socket. That's where we hit a snag but fortunately I had a few PowerBook logic boards kicking about. Eventually though it ended up in a PowerBook re-build project and the adaptor was long forgotten. Sadly the diagram seems to have vanished as well.

We did get as far as planning the design which was basically a HDI-30 female connector wired to a DB-25 male connector for plugging into the Mac. I don't think anything like this existed commerically but I may be wrong.

I'll give the guy a shout and see if he's made any progress with it since then. Heck, if he doesn't want the adaptor any more then I'll try this as a Winter project!

It'll certainly be interesting if someone gets this working in the flesh.