5 Jan
2002
5 Jan
'02
6:52 a.m.
On Sat, 5 Jan 2002, Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) wrote:
Not to be picky (well, OK, I do tend to be :-), "IDC" stands/stood for
"Insulation Displacement Conector", which meant virtually ANY crimp-on
connector, INCLUDING the card edge connector on drive cables for 5.25, and
the computer end of model 1,3,4 printer cables when they used ribbon
cable.
I know that ;)
Both connectors on that cable are IDC connectors.
Model 2 and 100 used a dual row header, and of course,
the PC clones used
an "RS-232 connector" :-)
Right, the model 2 typically used a ribbon
cable with IDC connectors. I
have one of these with its DWP printer out in storage :) Since the "centronics" connector
(Amphenol Blue Ribbon 36
pin) wasn't very available in IDC, those cables were kinda hoky, with
either a non ribbon "centronics" soldered to ribbon cable, or a card edge
crimped onto spread out non-ribbon cable.
Well, my model 2 printer cable uses one of these, as does quite a number
of my Apple II machines. I have tons of brand new 36 pin connectors in a
box somewhere that I got as part of a bulk deal. They seem to be very
common for printer cables for Tandy and Apply computers made around
1983-1988. (I don't remember if the box I have is full of male or female
36 pin connectors, however.)
The one model 2 cable that I remember using (20 yrs
ago) did NOT have IDC
connector. It was a round cable (I don't know whether it was shielded),
with a 20 pin dual row header sloppily put onto the end.
Well, I'm speaking based on the one I currently own, which certainly does
have IDC connectors on each end of the ribbon cable.
-Toth