The X1531 cable
Construction
You need the following parts to build this cable:
- One solderable 15-pin male D-SUB plug (PC game port)
- One solderable 25-pin male D-SUB plug (PC parallel plug)
- One solderable 7-pin female mini-DIN connector (C= 1531 Datasette)
- A length of 6-wire cable, approx. 50 cm
- Some heat-shrink insulator material
Step 1. Use a sharp knife to strip off the insulation from about 2/3 of the length of the cable. Seperate the wires into two strands, 2 and 4 wires each. Use heat-shrink insulator material to insulator the two strands again, so in the end your cable represents an Y-fork.
Step 2. Solder the 2 wires of the first strand to pins 1 (+5V) and 4 (GND) of the 15 pin plug.
Step 3. Solder the 4 wires of the second strand to the appropriate pins of the 25 pin plug.
Step 4. Solder the 6 wires on the other end of the cable to the 7-pin mini-DIN connector. Solder the two GND wires from the different plugs together, and add short lengths of wire to connect pins 1-7 and pins 2-5. You should have the following connections:
| Mini-DIN plug | 15-pin D-SUB plug | 25-pin D-SUB plug |
|---|---|---|
| 1, 7, GND | 4, GND | 18-25, GND |
| 2, 3, +5V | 1, +5V | not connected |
| 4, Read | not connected | 10, Ack |
| 5, Write | not connected | 3, Data 1 |
| 6, Sense | not connected | 12, PaperEnd |
Circuit diagram:
Source: The Joe Forster-STA homepage
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