Connector hole in the back of (some?) Unix PCs? (for HD2?)

[Dave Hanna]

In article <1990Oct22.233531.9378 at shibaya.lonestar.org> afc at shibaya.lonestar.org (Augustine Cano) writes:
>
>I'd really like to have a clean connection to the outside once I install
>John's HD2 board.  Any counter-indications to have the external HDs
>plugged in into a suitable connector?  Which connector would do?
>(hopefully it would fit into that cutout.)  I'd be all for developing
>a net-wide standard pinout for such a connector that would allow access
>to all the hardware capabilities of John's board (1 external floppy and
>up to 4 HDs once the gd driver is suitably modified.)

One difficulty with that is that ST506/412 type drives require one
daisy-chain control cable that runs to all the drives, a la floppies,
but they also require a radial data cable that runs one to each drive.
That means you'd either need a lot of pins, or, four 4 drives, 5 cables.

>How is everybody else thinking of the external aspects of the HD2 upgrade?
>I have recently read in a local group that the cheap alternative (putting
>the external disk(s) in an AT box with an AT power supply) might not work
>very well.  The person who tried this approach said that cooling was poor
>and the PS was not loaded enough to work properly with one drive.

I'm not sure about the cooling, but I was planning to use one, perhaps
with a smaller supply (e.g., the XT-type supplies are rated at about
135 watts, if I remember right, instead of the AT-type rated at 200 or
more), and pull the drive out of the 3b1.  With them both mounted there,
that ought to be enough load on the supply.

>
>Comments, anyone?
>
>-- 
>Augustine Cano		INTERNET: afc at shibaya.lonestar.org


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Dave Hanna,  Infotouch Systems, Inc. |  "Do or do not -- There is no try"
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