NETWORKING HELP—Trying to get my SE (OS 7.1) to talk to my Mac Plus (OS 6.0.8)

[mloret]

Hey guys. I decided to try to do something I’ve never done before—network a couple of my ancient compact Macs. I found in the bundle of wires that came with my Plus the cable that is pictured. I connected the smaller end with 8 pins to my SE and the bigger end with 27 pins to the Mac Plus. I made apple talk active on both and launched chooser on both. Crickets. Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong? (Ignore the PowerPC)

 

[mdeverhart]

That cable is probably a Mac serial (Mini-DIN 8) to PC serial (DB-25). The only 25 pin port on the back of the Plus is a SCSI port, which is not electrically compatible with a serial port. I’d unplug it right away and not try to use that cable for this purpose. Hopefully nothing was damaged.

A LocalTalk network between these two machines needs one of the following:
1. A Mac “printer” serial cable with Mini-DIN 8 connectors on both ends, and the TX and RX wires swapped internally, or
2. Two Apple LocalTalk adapters and associated cables, or
3. Two PhoneNet adapted and associated phone cable and terminators