On 21 Dec 2012, at 14:55, Clem Cole wrote:
Good point, I took a DEC tool and turned the plate around for Mind Storms hacking. But my point is that the tools and plugs are findable - as they are even on amazon.
They are findable, I have them and I only bought them a few months ago, but the investment required to get started is significant. The cable is only available in either short lengths to order (which is expensive ) or 100m drums (which his cheaper but involves significant outlay). The plugs are readily available on eBay - probably not the finest quality but good enough for what we need. The crimp tools... well finding a good one took a while but they, again, a significant outlay even for a basic one.
I charge my cables based on 50p per metre of cable plus 25p for each of the MMJ terminations. I can do other terminations such as RJ45 and DB9 but they are more expensive, especially if they require cross-wiring. I don't think that's unreasonable given the investment I made to in equipment and parts and the time it takes me to make and test each cable.
--
Mark Benson
http://DECtec.info
Twitter: @DECtecInfo
HECnet: STAR69::MARK
Online Resource & Mailing List for DEC Enthusiasts.
On 21/12/2012 14:43, sampsa at mac.com wrote:
Clem,
Mark Benson has already volunteered to make the cables at cost - I just need to know if the console cables are wired straight across or crossover?
Console cables are crossover, so as you hold the connectors in the same orientation the wires run in opposite order.
Regards Mark (consulting a real-life BC16E-10 to be sure)
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE [mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE] On
Behalf Of sampsa at mac.com
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2012 08:01
To: hecnet at Update.UU.SE
Subject: Re: [HECnet] Totally off-topic: Free Data General MiniNova
But yeah, let's take this off-list - anyone interested in picking up
this gear please email me at sampsa at mac.com, I'll put you in touch with
the chap who owns it.
Sampsa
On 21 Dec 2012, at 14:43, sampsa at mac.com wrote:
Sorry, I figured we could wire it up to HECnet somehow..
Sampsa
On 21 Dec 2012, at 14:36, Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se> wrote:
On 2012-12-21 03:55, sampsa at mac.com wrote:
Any of you guys interested? Chap I know has one sitting in a garage
(last booted in 2004) in Ohio...
Aww. C'mon. And just as we finished talking about perhaps keeping OT
down a little?
Johnny
On 21 Dec 2012, at 03:59, Jordi Guillaumes i Pons <jg at jordi.guillaumes.name> wrote:
El 21/12/2012, a les 4:42, Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> va escriure:
While you're at it, DECnet/DOS was really nice for the time. I
believe (but am not certain, can anyone clarify?) that it is what grew
into Pathworks.
We used it extensively in our network back at the early 90's. IIRC the name evolution was DECnet/DOS => PCSA => PATHWORKS. The main problem with the DOS version was it ate a lot of "real" memory (about 300KB if my memory does not betray me). That left a very small space for applications...
On the nice side, it came with an EDT compatible editor (SEDT... I miss it :)) and a XServer for DOS which worked nicely with DECWindows. That was the reason the puck mouse interface was in the LAN card.
Ooooooh! EDT-compatible DOS editor! I might like that more than EDIT.COM ;)
We had a DEC-centric office system back in those days. ALL-IN-1 running in the VAXen and WPS-DOS running in the peecees for word processing (BTW, does anyone have a WPS-DOS disk set arount? ;)). 20/20 for spreadsheet at both sides. And TEAMDATA to allow the end users to browse the databases. We bought 3300s for the remote offices. 3 of them I think. We linked those to our main site using 1200bps point-to-point lines with DECRouters at each side (1 port models at the remote end, a 4 port one at our central office). One of those 3300s ended at my home, and is now called BITXO2 :).
DEC made an 8-bit ISA Ethernet card, that also (inexplicably) had a
port on it for one of the DEC "puck" mice.
Yes, the DEPCA!
Jordi Guillaumes i Pons
jg at jordi.guillaumes.name
HECnet: BITXOV::JGUILLAUMES
Good point, I took a DEC tool and turned the plate around for Mind Storms hacking. But my point is that the tools and plugs are findable - as they are even on amazon.
On Fri, Dec 21, 2012 at 9:19 AM, Brian Schenkenberger, VAXman- <system at tmesis.com> wrote:
Clem Cole <clemc at ccc.com> writes:
>--e89a8f8396e3415d4a04d15d84f3 Content-Type: text/plain;
>charset=ISO-8859-1
>
>I would suspect you should be able to find them in Europe as LEGO uses
>the MMJ connector for Mindstorms (which is a pain in the neck). Amazon
>carries the tool and plugs, so it's easy to make them. The tool is
>$40-60 US and the plugs cost under a dollar (and I have seen them as low
>as 4 for a dollar). What is hard to find is the female connector, I
>have not find a reliable source, so I find myself making custom MMJ to
>RJ11 cables for the kids when they want to make a custom interface to
>connect to their robots.
Doesn't the LEGO's version of the MMJ have the tab on the right?
--
VAXman- A Bored Certified VMS Kernel Mode Hacker VAXman(at)TMESIS(dot)ORG
Well I speak to machines with the voice of humanity.
Clem,
Mark Benson has already volunteered to make the cables at cost - I just need to know if the console cables are wired straight across or crossover?
sampsa
On 21 Dec 2012, at 16:17, Clem Cole <clemc at ccc.com> wrote:
I would suspect you should be able to find them in Europe as LEGO uses the MMJ connector for Mindstorms (which is a pain in the neck). Amazon carries the tool and plugs, so it's easy to make them. The tool is $40-60 US and the plugs cost under a dollar (and I have seen them as low as 4 for a dollar). What is hard to find is the female connector, I have not find a reliable source, so I find myself making custom MMJ to RJ11 cables for the kids when they want to make a custom interface to connect to their robots.
Clem
On Fri, Dec 21, 2012 at 7:36 AM, <sampsa at mac.com> wrote:
I could really use two of these, I know they're like gold dust to find, but am happy to pay a reasonable price for them.
Ideally within the EU as I'm in Finland at the moment...
Sampsa
I would suspect you should be able to find them in Europe as LEGO uses the MMJ connector for Mindstorms (which is a pain in the neck). Amazon carries the tool and plugs, so it's easy to make them. The tool is $40-60 US and the plugs cost under a dollar (and I have seen them as low as 4 for a dollar). What is hard to find is the female connector, I have not find a reliable source, so I find myself making custom MMJ to RJ11 cables for the kids when they want to make a custom interface to connect to their robots.
Clem
On Fri, Dec 21, 2012 at 7:36 AM, <sampsa at mac.com> wrote:
I could really use two of these, I know they're like gold dust to find, but am happy to pay a reasonable price for them.
Ideally within the EU as I'm in Finland at the moment...
Sampsa
But yeah, let's take this off-list - anyone interested in picking up this gear please email me at sampsa at mac.com, I'll put you in touch with the chap who owns it.
Sampsa
On 21 Dec 2012, at 14:43, sampsa at mac.com wrote:
Sorry, I figured we could wire it up to HECnet somehow..
Sampsa
On 21 Dec 2012, at 14:36, Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se> wrote:
On 2012-12-21 03:55, sampsa at mac.com wrote:
Any of you guys interested? Chap I know has one sitting in a garage (last booted in 2004) in Ohio...
Aww. C'mon. And just as we finished talking about perhaps keeping OT down a little?
Johnny
On 21 Dec 2012, at 12:36, sampsa at mac.com wrote:
I could really use two of these, I know they're like gold dust to find, but am happy to pay a reasonable price for them.
Ideally within the EU as I'm in Finland at the moment...
I've got all the kit to make MMJ cables, just e-mail me off-list with the spec (straight or cross-over, length etc) and I'll make them up.
--
Mark Benson
http://DECtec.info
Twitter: @DECtecInfo
HECnet: STAR69::MARK
Online Resource & Mailing List for DEC Enthusiasts.
It might help you to know that farnell still has some MMJ connectors in stock at a reasonable price.
http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=2025+203449&Ntk=gensearch&Ntt…
I did not reply to the list in order to keep OT down :)
All the best,
Mihai
On Dec 21, 2012, at 14:36, sampsa at mac.com wrote:
I could really use two of these, I know they're like gold dust to find, but am happy to pay a reasonable price for them.
Ideally within the EU as I'm in Finland at the moment...
Sampsa
