Buying external SMD cables for Sun gear

[Alan Perry]


As previously discussed here, I have a Sun 3/260 that connects to a Sun external storage subsystem containing two 8” SMD drives. The external cabling is a 0.7m D-sub 25-pin (male both ends) data cable for each drive and a paired set of 0.7m D-sub 25- and 37-pin (male both ends) command cables. These cables are straight through connections between internal ribbon cables from the drives (CDC 9720-368 and Fujitsu M2372) to the controller board (Xylogics 451 on a VME adapter).

For reasons described below, I have been unable to buy the original Sun cables. Should off-the-shelf D-sub 25- and 37-pin cables work? I guess electrical shielding/noise could be a concern?

As to why I am looking for alternatives, MemoryX has been my source for this kind of stuff, but they have lost my trust. I ordered a full set of cables from them on 2 Jan and they have gone silent responding to my queries on that order. Then this month they were selling a couple sets of the control cables on eBay. I bought the second set. They marked it shipped, left positive comments about the transaction on eBay, but the cable set didn’t arrive as scheduled last Friday and yesterday they cancelled the eBay auction and refunded what I paid, all without any explanation. They still list the cables on their website, each $100 more than what they were when I ordered them on 2 Jan.

alan