LaCie 1992 Pocket Drive

[florr@mac.com]

Hi,

I have a vintage LaCie 40 MB Pocket Drive (a SCSI drive — not to be confused with the more modern FireWire LaCie PocketDrive, without a space between “Pocket” and “Drive”), with all necessary connectors, which seems to work with an old Macintosh Classic I have. However, the connectors have tiny toggle switches on the connectors, whose function I don’t understand. Here’s a picture:



The switches move vertically. The T and O supposedly relate to the left switch, the P and N to the right switch.

Would the T and O relate in any way to whether the SCSI chain terminates (T) there or continues further? But what about the P and N? Would anyone have information on these switches — or even (prayer!) a copy of the original manual? I’ve been unable to find information on this drive on the Internet, except for an old Macworld ad from 1992:

Macworld, August 1992, p. 36

https://archive.org/details/Macworld_9208_August_1992
 
In particular, no information seems to be available on the LaCie site, nor at www.noappleis2old4us.com
 
Thanks in advance for any help on this.
 
florr

 

[CC_333]

I would guess that the switch labelled "T" is termination. But "P"? No clue.

"O" and "N" are probably connected to each other, though, and I think it's there to indicate that the down position is the "ON" position.

c

 

[florr@mac.com]

Your idea about ON makes a lot of sense, c. I did think of this, but was unsure. This leaves the mysterious P. Maybe somebody will have an idea. Thanks!

 

[butterburger]

First thing to hit my mind is "termination power: on". My instant reaction after recognising letters, before even seeing the switches. Then, seeing two switches, I do not know what it means.

 

[olePigeon]

I think ON means On.  T is probably termination.  So you flip it to the ON to turn on Termination.  Maybe P is for Passive Termination?  So you'd set the T to ON and the P to not-ON, and that would give you active termination.

 

[techknight]

T = Termination Enable. 

P = Parity Enable. Thats the only thing I can think of that would make sense. 

 

[johnklos]

By 1992 all drives should've been supporting parity. There's a chance that on means on, that T means termination, and that P is termination power. Sometimes termination is powered by the cable (from the computer), and sometimes by the device itself.

 

[Macdrone]

i agree with the last statement as the 2 of these I have have power supplies that attach to the adb cable.

 

[olePigeon]

Maybe it's the first toilet paper SCSI attachment.  Make sure TP is set, or it'll get messy.

 

[Bunsen]

There are four possible combinations to try, soo ..... maybe try them?

 

[florr@mac.com]

Thank you all! Now I can indeed try the four combinations — but with an idea about the meaning of each!

 

[CelGen]

Come on you guys, really?

T = Termination enable/disable

P = Parity enable/disable (just because it was sold in the 90's didn't mean there was no assumption you might want to use it on something older like a Macintosh Plus)

O and N are exactly that....ON No point printing ON twice.

Failing that, crack the thing open and see where the traces go.

 

[olePigeon]

Are you saying my Toilet Paper theory isn't correct?

 

[florr@mac.com]

Thank you all for your comments. I tried all four switch positions on my Mac Classic and… all seemingly worked — at least for saving and opening documents on the drive. I didn’t try with a second drive along the SCSI chain, however… No matter, at least I have some good guesses at the meaning of those switches.

68LC04, I also tried the four combinations toilet on/off, paper on/off, and only one of them really worked. Thanks for the tip!

 

[register]

The LaCie Pocket Drive also works like a charm with a CF or SD card to SCSI adapter inside.