Re: [9fans] PowerPC Booting

[Jack Johnson <fragment@nas.com>]

On Thu, 2003-07-03 at 05:14, Tomas wrote:
> On Thu, 3 Jul 2003 at 7:15am, northern snowfall wrote:
> > I'd love some assistance in building a serial cable from the
> > MiniDIN8 to a standard i86pc serial port. I'm very willing to
> > try things out, as long as the factors are known and I'm not
> > putting the hardware at a risk of shorting out, etc.
> So far it's been impossible to find a MiniDIN8<->DB9 serial cable
> (or a MiniDIN8<->DB25 plus a DB25<->DB9 converter), or even a
> MiniDIN8 connector.

I've got a Wyse 60 from a garage sale and I went to some random Mac
store and bought a standard Macintosh modem cable (MiniDIN8<->DB25) and
have had zero problems.

Another trick you can use if you need a serial console from a Mac (and
maybe the Indy, too) is to use another old Mac and find an appropriate
cable.  You'll find they come in two types: ones with a little Apple
symbol on the connector and one with two-way arrows:

<---
--->

The latter seem to make fine null modem cables.

As for rolling your own, I'm also a wiring loser, but your local
severe-geek store (looks like a Radio Shack on steroids) should have
MiniDIN8 connectors, and if you're lucky or brave you may be able to
find a MiniDIN8<->RJ45 adapter, which means you could get a
DB9/DB25<->RJ45 (very easy to find) for the other end, some cable, ends
and a crimper and do some experimentation pretty easily, sans soldering
iron.

Good luck!

-Jack