Calling Color Classic owners: logic board floppy connector?

[bigmessowires]

Could any Color Classic owner tell me if there's something non-standard about the floppy drive connector on the logic board? Every Mac I've ever seen has the same 20-pin shrouded header on the logic board - a 10x2 arrangement of pins that's surrounded by a rectangular plastic guide. But recently I received some feedback from someone having trouble with a Floppy Emu connection on his Color Classic that I didn't understand:

All that I’d need to fix this is a male to female Floppy ribbon cable (instead of the supplied female to female). Do you think it could be possible to make such a thing and maybe even add it as an option to buy one for us Colour Classic users? Or has someone else thought of this?

and then

I can only use the female internal floppy cable in the CC which really needs to be extended out. Since that goes deep inside the machine and to the edge connector. Meaning I had to use that cable inside the machine directly to the Emu since it wasn’t the correct gender (female cable supplied with the Emu and female from the edge connector). It’s hard to explain clearly but basically the only way I’d get it to work without an extra cable or gender changer is to plug tthe Emu directly into the cable that was plugged into the internal floppy drive, which gives little slack. That’s why a simple gender changer for either ribbon would work and would be simpler solution.

He seems to be saying the CC floppy connector is the opposite gender from other Mac systems - is that right?

 

[Godzil]

I don't have a color classic, but I've just look at the official service manual ( http://tim.id.au/laptops/apple/legacy/color_classic.pdf) it sounds highly possible that the floppy ribbon is not replaceable (easily)

 

[MJ313]

"Every Mac I've ever seen has the same 20-pin shrouded header on the logic board - a 10x2 arrangement of pins that's surrounded by a rectangular plastic guide"

There is no standard floppy connector directly on the CC logic board (or LC 520, 550, 575...). The floppy is fed through the Flat Cable Assembly 922-1804 (see Godzil's link), which has a breakout cable to the floppy drive itself.

http://www.maccaps.com/MacCaps/Capacitor_Reference/Entries/1993/2/10_Macintosh_Color_Classic_files/Color%2520Classic.jpg

He's right that it's very awkward using the FloppyEmu with the CC.

 

[bigmessowires]

Thanks, that makes sense now. Where might I find a complete list of all the Mac models with this type of connector - is it just the CC and all LC 52x and 57x models?

I'm thinking a male-to-female cable like this could help, by serving as an extension to the CC's existing internal floppy cable: https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/assmann-wsw-components/H3CKH-2018G/H3CKH-2018G-ND/1043698

 

[MJ313]

Nice! Looks like a good solution.

I don't know about a comprehensive list, but you are going to hit a lot of machines... the 630, 54/5500 series, 62xx, 63xx etc.

I would bet macdrone could throw a good list together as he has all of these machines.

FWIW, I would guess people haven't complained too much about these machines not working with FloppyEmu because most of them are easily network-able.... or garbage.

 

[just.in.time]

+1 for networkable here. On one of my CCs, I dropped an Ethernet card in, loaded on some FTP server software to it, and can now connect from my MacBook using FileZilla to push and pull files drom the CC. Transfer speeds are decent. It can then LocalTalk to all my other vintage systems using phonenet adapters

 

[360alaska]

You can connect floppy emu by disconnecting the cable from the floppy drive and routing it back, that's the only way.

 

[techknight]

+1 on the who cares front for floppies on a CC. I have an external CDROM plus Zip drives, and ethernet so it doesnt matter. 

But I can certainly see how it could matter.

More importantly SCSI2SD wont work in the CC and LC5XX stuff because of the way the PCB is routed, its not "industry standard" on drive connector layout. So it wont work or plug-in unless you plug it in on the rear external connector. 

But I digress. 

 

[rsolberg]

The SCSI2SD works nicely in the CC's HD bay. It mounts to the sled and the CC's SCSI and power cables reach their respective connectors without difficulty. The LC 5xx series has the drive connector configuration you're thinking of- where an adapter must be plugged into the power and SCSI plugs on the drive, allowing it to mate with a connector at the far end of the HD bay.

 

[coalis]

You can connect floppy emu by disconnecting the cable from the floppy drive and routing it back, that's the only way.

I've just started working with a cc and floppy emu. Even when plugging it into an A/B switch to extend out of the case I can't get it to detect the emu. Other than failure of the IWM or something have you seen a emu work with a cc?