Thread

What is a DIN-8 PDS card in SE-30?

What is a DIN-8 PDS card in SE-30? Hardware 21 posts Jun 12, 2011 — Jul 17, 2011

#1 Sun, 12 Jun 2011 - 23:59

Found this in my latest conquest. Since the HD appears to be dead or missing (not detected and not powering up).

I don't have a photo yet, but I was wondering if anyone knew what this would be used for? I don't have the proper screwdriver ATM to open it up and find out more information.

Any assistance and/or links appreciated. I have googled and had no luck so far.

#2 Mon, 13 Jun 2011 - 03:36

Does it boot off floppy, CD or an external HDD?

Got "Gauge Series/SlotInfo?" :?:

Sounds like DeclROM spelunking time!

#3 Mon, 13 Jun 2011 - 04:28

Extra serial ports, perhaps?

#4 Mon, 13 Jun 2011 - 05:54

Does it boot off floppy, CD or an external HDD?Got "Gauge Series/SlotInfo?" :?:

It boots from Floppy. Not tried an external HD yet.

I don't have either of those programs on floppy at this moment.

Extra serial ports, perhaps?

Not a Mini-DIN, a full sized DIN (AT keyboard port style).

#5 Mon, 13 Jun 2011 - 07:04

MIDI?

#6 Mon, 13 Jun 2011 - 14:08

MIDI is DIN-5.

I don't know too much that uses full-size DIN-8. The only one I can think of is Commodore video

#7 Mon, 13 Jun 2011 - 20:40

The only thing that comes to mind that uses a DIN-8 connector would be either a video connection, like on the Commodore 64 (where the monitor plugs into) or it could be for an amateur radio HF rig, since most of them use an 8-pin DIN-like plug. That's what comes to my mind. I don't even recall serial connections using 8-pin DIN, unless maybe in Europe?

73s de Phreakout (KC8RLU). :rambo:

#8 Tue, 14 Jun 2011 - 03:20

I think that I will have to take it apart. Since no one has ever heard of this card, I should work at getting some good photo's of it.

The guy that sold it to me said that he was told that there was an 'awesome' card in one of them.

I assume this interesting card is just that.

#9 Tue, 14 Jun 2011 - 03:47

my guess is MIDI. but i dont know.

#10 Tue, 14 Jun 2011 - 16:55

Skynet? :lol:

#11 Tue, 14 Jun 2011 - 18:23

Coincidentally, my boss and I were just discussing old Atari computers and he mentioned that they used an 8-pin DIN for an external video connection also. It went to a break-out cable with four RCA jacks on the other end. He plugged his into a Commodore monitor.

#12 Wed, 15 Jun 2011 - 04:16

I've done a bit more google research and the only items that reference the DIN-8 port are either power ports or video.

Most of the video references were either to Atari, Commodore, or Sega MegaDrive/Genesis.

I wonder if this is some kind of Developer card of some kind...pity that the hardware store is closed right now and I can't go buy a tool to open this.

#13 Sat, 18 Jun 2011 - 05:26

Image Alert!

Here is the back of the SE-30. I hope to take it apart in the next week and find out what the card is.

#14 Sat, 18 Jun 2011 - 06:03

I've seen a similar connector on an SE at school years back. I was told it was for an early LCD projector panel that sat on the overhead machine.

#15 Sat, 18 Jun 2011 - 19:19

Right. There was an LCD panel that went on an overhead projector, called the Kodak Datashow. I believe it used a DIN-8 to bring the Mac video out. We designed a NuBus video card that put out 512 x 342 monochrome video same as a 9" Mac to use the Datashow with a Mac II. There were a lot of strange video adapters in early days. People wanted to use their Macs with projectors for large audiences, and shooting the screen with a camera pretty much sucked...

#16 Sat, 18 Jun 2011 - 20:30

I did a bit of googling regarding a Kodak Datashow, and I did find an auction with the nubus card. However it is a dual video port card and not DIN-8.

#17 Sat, 18 Jun 2011 - 20:37

Atari and Commodore used a DIN 8 cable to output what was essentially S-Video before S-Video was standardized on a 7 pin mini din. The breakout cable went into RCA-style plugs for luma and chroma.

From Wikipedia:

wikipedia.org[/url]"]Before the mini-DIN plug became standard, S-Video signals were often carried through different types of connectors. For example, the Commodore 64 home computer of the 1980s, one of the first widely available devices to feature an S-Video output, used an eight-pin connector similar to the DIN connector on the computer end and a pair of phono plugs on the monitor end. (Also available via third-party vendors was an eight-pin DIN-to-4-pin mini-DIN to connect the Commodore directly to a television.)

Seeing how it was a fairly common at the time, I wouldn't be surprised if that's all that SE/30s card is.

#18 Sun, 19 Jun 2011 - 23:05

I did a bit of googling regarding a Kodak Datashow, and I did find an auction with the nubus card. However it is a dual video port card and not DIN-8.

Note the cable that comes with it terminates to a DIN plug though...

#19 Fri, 24 Jun 2011 - 20:09

Well the mystery has been solved with a bit more googling...and the results are from our own forum!

Here is an older topic from 2007 detailing the same card removed from the SE-30.

So TylerEss was right, it is a LCD overhead projector connection!

Now to figure out what kind of card is in the other unit. Need to grab that slotinfo program when I get a moment and find out!

#20 Sat, 9 Jul 2011 - 02:42

Well the mystery has been solved with a bit more googling...and the results are from our own forum!
Here is an older topic from 2007 detailing the same card removed from the SE-30.

So TylerEss was right, it is a LCD overhead projector connection!

Now to figure out what kind of card is in the other unit. Need to grab that slotinfo program when I get a moment and find out!

I have the same DIN 8 port on mine as talked about in that older topic.. Same set up and all.. I had to use the logic board from the machine to get my SE/30 Back up and running..

#21 Sun, 17 Jul 2011 - 00:39

Funny, I kept thinking as I read this thread I've seen one of these before.... and it was my thread from 2007 that came up in your google search.