hsu_wh@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (William H Hsu) (09/10/90)
I am trying to solder up a cable to connect my IBM 286 AT
clone (a CompuAdd 286-12, purchased in December of 1988) to a
Macintosh SE. By "connect" I mean that I would like to transfer
text and other files modem-style between the computers (I have
modems on both ends, but one is a 1200 baud and one a 2400, so
I'd prefer to bypass them both) using only the telecom software
on each machine. I surmise that this requires a male mini DIN-8
connector on the Mac end, but am not certain whether I have the
I/O hardware on the AT end to support a "null modem" connection.
In one of the expansion slots is an I/O card which came with the
machine, containing one female DB-25 port (apparently a parallel
port - a dot matrix printer is currently connected to it) and one
male 9-pin port which the CompuAdd salespeople insist is NOT a
serial port. I see no other place where, say, a serial mouse
could be plugged in (which I am also planning to purchase this
month), and believe that a female DB-9 connector is the correct
one for the IBM end.
Is this correct? I have no experience soldering cables, so
despite the tempting scenario depicted in the February '89 issue
of MacUser, I am a little leery of trying to make the connector
myself. On the other hand, the fifty-odd-dollars that I have
seen "custom-made-cables" advertised for seemed a little steep -
I had thought this would be a pretty popular connection! Perhaps
there's a mail-order place that I haven't heard of. I would
appreciate all advice and especially the phone numbers of good
(cheap) cable suppliers. Please mail responses to:
hsu_wh@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (BITNET) OR
hsu_wh@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu OR
hsu@cs.jhu.edu (ARPAnet)