Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Cerebus]

The last week or two has seen a lot of rain.  I'm over it ... and so is everyone else.  I am, however, nowhere near as unfortunate as many who have had to deal with flooding.

However, tomorrow is going to be the day we rename the east coast here "Kamino".



I've never seen a rainfall forecast in the 3 digits before.... ever.  This is Sydney - we don't get monsoon rain!

Five to six inches isn't monsoon rain, it's just a wet Wednesday in Wales. Pukka Indian monsoon rainfalls can be as much as 500+ mm a day, the record is 897mm in a day.

[cyclin_al]

No wolves around these parts but we have plenty of these running around.

And their favorite prey isn't road runners. Domestic cats unfortunately top the menu.

Around here, there is some parkland where a study was done on the wild canines.  It turns out all the wolves had approximately 10% coyote DNA, if I recall the numbers correctly.  Similarly, all the coyotes had approximately 20% wolf DNA.  We do not see the wolves or coyotes around here, for a very specific reason.  We do hear the coyotes almost nightly in winter, and occasionally the wolves.

<SNIP>

 

Watch out for the wolves at vk5rc - lick you to death!

Those arn't wolves, this is a Wolf:
[/quote]

And this is why we do not see any wolves or coyotes:

[Vince]

Need some help from the vintage computer people.

Sorting old cables I was given, found these two that puzzle me.

 I assume they are computery related but I don't know what they are for exactly, so can't make a decision as to whether they are worth keeping around or not.
Again, trying to reduce clutter as much as possible round here, I don't hav a hangar to store everything and anything "just in case".

I am into old computers, so I do keep all the serial cables and DB9/DB25 accessories and misc stuff, so I can work on my old '90's Pentium IBM Aptiva computers but.... these two cables I don't recall ever seeing. I am clueless.

One has a DB25 female on one end, and that leads to TWO DB9 plugs. As you can see one has an extremely shore cable, like 10cm long, probably so yuo can connect to the device the DB25 was plugged in as well. Then another DB9 at the end of the long cable.

Other cable has a DB9 on one side and an RJ45 at the other end. Baffled.

I am prepared, you can throw all your vintage knowledge at me, I am ready to take it.

[m k]

1084 Monitor! The best monitor you can get for retro systems.

I beg to differ. I've run my Amiga computers with a DEC VR241 colour monitor originally intended for the Rainbow 100. Worlds apart.

Dang,
I used VR241 with Rainbow before Amiga.
It accepts RGBC and SoG but not composite video or H/V sync, it also has a pass through possibility and is BNC connected.

Other side have original NEC Multisync and EIZO Flexscan.
Those are BNC or DB9 connected H/V sync stuff but accept many frequencies.

It seems that for a complete set you'll always need at least one adapter box.
For now I'd say that best practice is an adapter with HDMI output with letter box and 4:3 pictures and free anamorphic scaling.

[THDplusN_bad]

Good Day,

my educated guess on the DB9 to RJ45 cable is that it's some sort of (potentially) proprietary adapter for RS-232C alias EIA/TIA-574.
Used for remote controlling or field firmware upgrades for commercial or consumer appliances.

One example from many:
https://rotel.com/sites/default/files/RJ45connection.pdf

Cheers,

THDplusN_bad

[Andrew_Debbie]

And this is why we do not see any wolves or coyotes:

Or UPS trucks.     

Our Pyrenees used to chase them away.

[Robert763]

Vince,
The D type lead is 9 pin to 9 pin OR 25 pin serial port. You don't normally use both the 9 and 25 on one end at the same time,  but they are very handy as break-in leads so you can monitr data using th unused connector.
Thay came in null-modem for data transfer and straight through for Modems.

The D to RJ is a "console" connector to run a dumb terminal on a server, router or managed switch.

[m k]

Vince,
The D type lead is 9 pin to 9 pin OR 25 pin serial port. You don't normally use both the 9 and 25 on one end at the same time,  but they are very handy as break-in leads so you can monitr data using th unused connector.
Thay came in null-modem for data transfer and straight through for Modems.

The D to RJ is a "console" connector to run a dumb terminal on a server, router or managed switch.

First one was standard modem issue here.
France may have had completely different modem side, I remember something very own there, like that teletype something.

https://www.kenable.co.uk/en/computer-cables-/other-computer-cables/serial-rs232-cables/1951-25m-db9-db25-serial-data-transfer-null-modem-cable-001951-5055383419517.html

Other modular connector you may bump into.
It's also RS-stuff but lower voltages RS-423 or -422.

https://ie.rs-online.com/web/p/ethernet-connectors/3316370

Edit,
stuff.

[Cerebus]

Need some hope form the vintage computer people.

Oi! I'm not vintage, I'm a classic!

Sorting old cables I was given, found these two that puzzle me.

 I assume they are computery related but I don't know what they are for exactly, so can't make a decision as to whether they are worth keeping around or not.
Again, trying to reduce clutter as much as possible round here, I don't hav a hangar to store everything and anything "just in case".

I am into old computers, so I do keep all the serial cables and DB9/DB25 accessories and misc stuff, so I can work on my old '90's Pentium IBM Aptiva computers but.... these two cables I don't recall ever seeing. I am clueless.

One has a DB25 female on one end, and that leads to TWO DB9 plugs. As you can see one has an extremely shore cable, like 10cm long, probably so yuo can connect to the device the DB25 was plugged in as well. Then another DB9 at the end of the long cable.

Best guess is that the end with the 25 and 9 pin on is to simply provide a way of connecting one 9 pin PC standard device (the other end) to either a 9 pin or a 25 pin at the other end.

Other cable has a DB9 on one side and an RJ45 at the other end. Baffled.

Highest likelihood - Cisco serial console port to standard PC 9 pin DTE serial cable. Quite a few people did this for serial ports, most adopted the same pinout as Cisco use, some rolled their own different pinout. You could check the pinout against this:

[med6753]

Around here, there is some parkland where a study was done on the wild canines.  It turns out all the wolves had approximately 10% coyote DNA, if I recall the numbers correctly.  Similarly, all the coyotes had approximately 20% wolf DNA.  We do not see the wolves or coyotes around here, for a very specific reason.  We do hear the coyotes almost nightly in winter, and occasionally the wolves.

The coyotes here originate from that Canadian stock of 20% wolf DNA. They have spread that far in an amazing amount of time. They even have invaded Manhattan. The reason? Lot's of kitty kats and raccoons to feast on. They're officially called "Eastern Coyote" and are larger than the Wiley E Coyote Western Coyote because they are the hybrid wolf/coyote.

They also have little fear of humans and I had a close encounter with one. Came within 20 feet of me and refused to back down until I started yelling and flailing my arms. Even then it walked off like "yea right". 

[mnementh]

It smelled the Smurfberries on your breath. 

mnem
*toddles off to do something, even if it's wrong*

[mansaxel]

One has a DB25 female on one end, and that leads to TWO DB9 plugs. As you can see one has an extremely shore cable, like 10cm long, probably so yuo can connect to the device the DB25 was plugged in as well. Then another DB9 at the end of the long cable.

Best guess is that the end with the 25 and 9 pin on is to simply provide a way of connecting one 9 pin PC standard device (the other end) to either a 9 pin or a 25 pin at the other end.

Concur. Most likely "straight" (i.e. DTE-DCE cable) because of the gender difference on the 9-pin connectors. Females toward DTE, Male toward DCE. These rules of thumb have been treated as suggestions by many a 11-fingered computer builder, so considerable variationchaos present.

Other cable has a DB9 on one side and an RJ45 at the other end. Baffled.

Highest likelihood - Cisco serial console port to standard PC 9 pin DTE serial cable. Quite a few people did this for serial ports, most adopted the same pinout as Cisco use, some rolled their own different pinout. You could check the pinout against this:

Also concur. Of note in the Cisco pin-out is the seriously clever trick of placing TX and RX symmetrically around the two ground conductors in the middle.  This achieves two things;

• If the console cable is plugged in to a phone line, the phone line is shorted, and ringing voltage won't fry your terminal or router.
• If a "rollover" cable -- where the 8p8c connectors are placed upside down in one end, creating a 1->8, 2->7 et.c. scheme, is connected in-line a null modem is created, that can connect two DTE to each other. Quite useful.

The usual cisco light blue cable (and its black predecessor) is rollover by default. The 9-pin and 25-pin D-sub connector-adapters to 8p8c jack come in three varieties;

• 9-pin female TERMINAL, for connecting a PC (which is a DTE) to a router with a CONSOLE 8p8c jack. This, together with a blue cable,  is equivalent with the modern moulded blue cable
• 25-pin male MODEM, for connecting a DCE like a big router console to a 8p8c cable; this makes the 25-pin CONSOLE port like a new 8p8c CONSOLE.
• 25-pin female TERMINAL. Like the 9-pin, but for use when you've got an antique PC or an actual serial terminal, where the serial port is 25-pin.

Combinations of course exist;

• The obvious one is TERMINAL -blue rollover cable - MODEM. This makes a straight DCE-DTE cable. Same as Vince's cable.
• TERMINAL - ordinary network cable - TERMINAL. This makes a null modem, connecting DTE-DTE like 2 PC's
• MODEM - ordinary network cable - TERMINAL. A false-gendered null console cable for a SUN workstation. They had female D-sub 25 serial ports wired as DTE, so a gender changer was in order, but a network cable was required to flip tx and rx in order to compensate for the usage of a DCE wired connector in a DTE.

For work, I've got a USB-C to 8p8c cable with a IIRC CH340 chip. I'm a bit sceptic to industry leader FTDI, because I think they've gone too far with the bricking (they've been extensively copied/cloned, and to try ending that, if their driver finds it is driving a fake, it will try to brick it). If they didn't do that, I'd buy nothing else.

[Vince]

Thanks everyone for all your replies, wow I got a lot more than I bargained for, TEA rocks ! 

So looks like these cables could be useful then, so will keep them.

The DB9 / RJ45 one for consoles ? Hmmm.... it so happens that I was donated a terminal box !
Never used it, never looked at it in any detail... and never used a terminal box before... now is the time ! 

It's a " pizza box " form factor, like the some of the old Apple McIntosh.

Manufacturer :" Axel ", made in France it says on the tin.

Model : " AX 3000 ".

I don't know how "dumb" that terminal is...

At the back we have... oh, how fitting.... an RJ45 socket !    So I could try my DB9/RJ45 adapter to see if it does what's it's likely to be doing...

Has a DB25 serial port, and also a DB25 PRINTER port... so it must possess at least some.. smartness, if it can handle a printer...
PS/2 for the K/B.

I just could not resist, I sticked a monitor and K/B to it and powered it up see what that does !

It works !

It displays a black screen with a few words at teh bottom to identify itself. Then if you press any key it clears the screen and put a blinking cursor in teh top left corner of the screen.
Typing stuff on the K/B has no effect whatsoever from that point, though !   
I guess the "Echo" mode is disabled ?!

I made the hypothesis that it might be smart enough to have some kind of a " BIOS " to let one configure it... so I tried a few special key combination at random... and evenutally found the lucky one : ALT + CTRL + ESC.

Menus are in COLOUR, wow luxurious are we...

Lots of options in there, brrr...  scares me to think how many months one could spend in there, trying to configure everything to get it to behave just right ! 

You can handle / emulate 19 different types of terminals, should do it ! 

It can also handle virtual consoles / mulitple sessions, up to 8.

Can display 80 columns orf course OR... 132 as well !!!    Uh.... didn't know there was such a standard ?! Boy that must be hard to read ! 

Couldn't find how to configure what key or key combination triggers the printer... so I just assumed it must be the "Print Scree" key... tried that whilst in the menu.
Seems to work : after a few seconds it times out and says "Printer does not respond, do you want to keep trying or give up ? ".

My printer cable is not long enough to reach the terminal, too bad...

The RJ45 is labeled " Auxilliary" on the back panel... the menus let you configure what you can do with it. It's not just a duplicate of the maiun DB25 serial port. Nope, the RJ45 port can be configured as the console port of course, but also a a mouse port, how cool, and also as a printer port... albeit a serial one of course.

So overall quite a cool and flexible little terminal ??

Will definitely play more with it later... but it would be good if I could activate the Echo more so I can see on the screen what I am typing on the K/B... I did not find any option for the in the menus.
Maybe it is tied to the type of terminal that it is set to emulate ?? Some types give echo and some don't ?

It is configured for VT220 presently.

[mnementh]

There's probably a loopback mode somewhere in the BIOS you could enable... otherwise, you'll need to get/make a loopback dongle.

Here's the V220 User manual: https://vt100.net/visual/v220-ug.pdf

IIRC, it contains the pinout for a loopback dongle; you can make one or you can just cross-connect the port with Dupont jumpers.

mnem
*wheels up to get SWMBO*

[Neper]

Just got another warning from our Corona app, saying I've had a high-risk encounter, last Sunday. Haven't been out of the house since December 17th. No visitors either.

Happens all the time. We live in a flat on the floor above a restaurant with just a wooden/plaster ceiling between them and us. 

[mansaxel]

Manufacturer :" Axel ", made in France it says on the tin.

Model : " AX 3000 ".

I don't know how "dumb" that terminal is...

It is as you've concluded, basically a serial terminal, where you connect your own screen and keyboard, but some of them could also be connected to a network and use Telnet or SSH to log in to a host. I've got one too.

[BU508A]

What a nice coincidence! Today I received a package from Neomys with two dental probes inside. One of them was the perfect tool to change the wires from this Molex connector, type 51021-0200. With it, lifting the little plastic tongue was a piece of cake.
I had forgotten to clean the dental probe beforehand, so there was still adhesive tape all over it.



Thanks again, Neomys! 

[Vince]

Manufacturer :" Axel ", made in France it says on the tin.

Model : " AX 3000 ".

I don't know how "dumb" that terminal is...

It is as you've concluded, basically a serial terminal, where you connect your own screen and keyboard, but some of them could also be connected to a network and use Telnet or SSH to log in to a host. I've got one too.

Wow that's quite a fancy terminal there, impressed    Must be a recent one then, not early '80's stuff, I presume..

Anyway, just figured the echo 

[Cerebus]

Just got another warning from our Corona app, saying I've had a high-risk encounter, last Sunday. Haven't been out of the house since December 17th. No visitors either.

Happens all the time. We live in a flat on the floor above a restaurant with just a wooden/plaster ceiling between them and us. 

Coronavirus has been sufficiently in the background recently that when you said "Corona app" my immediate interpretation of 'corona' was as in 'corona discharge'. Bzzzzzzztttt!

[Cerebus]

I had forgotten to clean the dental probe beforehand, so there was still adhesive tape all over it.

For a second I thought that sentence was going to end "so there was still tooth all over it.". 

I'll look at a job like the one you had and go "What can I just hook that up with?" and I always completely forget that I've got a set of cheap dental picks in the tool chest. 

[Brumby]

.... these two cables I don't recall ever seeing. I am clueless.

One has a DB25 female on one end, and that leads to TWO DB9 plugs. As you can see one has an extremely shore cable, like 10cm long, probably so yuo can connect to the device the DB25 was plugged in as well. Then another DB9 at the end of the long cable.

That pic immediately said "Laplink cable" to me ... from the days where communications between computers - especially laptops - was a sought after dream.  There were a couple of variants, but that configuration was the most common that I saw.

If you did happen to have one, you guarded it jealously ... or some unknown colleague would surreptitiously "borrow" it, never to be seen again.

[Cerebus]

.... these two cables I don't recall ever seeing. I am clueless.

One has a DB25 female on one end, and that leads to TWO DB9 plugs. As you can see one has an extremely shore cable, like 10cm long, probably so yuo can connect to the device the DB25 was plugged in as well. Then another DB9 at the end of the long cable.

That pic immediately said "Laplink cable" to me ...

Yes, of course. I knew something was nagging at the back of my mind. Concur - pukka Laplink cable.

[VK5RC]

Watch out for the wolves at vk5rc - lick you to death!

Wolves, OK, we were talking about wolves, but why did you post a picture of some complicated sort of floor mop? Is it for mopping up wolf drool?

A real warrior knows when to show your hand! HiHi

[Zucca]

What a nice coincidence! Today I received a package from Neomys with two dental probes inside.

Yes. Every one of us should have a friend dentist.
Once they are dull/damaged, they will throw them in the garbage.

I saved some:


Sometimes also a oil free air compressor pops out (to clean IPA/Flux from board or/and for my Metcal desolder gun), but.....
the real deal is a small Xray dental device.... still no luck for me.

Which reminds me I have to ebay and look for some Faxitron

[mnementh]

Watch out for the wolves at vk5rc - lick you to death!

Wolves, OK, we were talking about wolves, but why did you post a picture of some complicated sort of floor mop? Is it for mopping up wolf drool?

A real warrior knows when to show your hand! HiHi

Who else immediately thought of this little guy...?

mnem