Atari ST cable question

[VERAULT]

thanks Chuck. I dont suppose you know of a document to back that up. These things are a pain in the ass and Id rather get it right the first time. Check twice do once...

 

[Chuck(G)]

I only know this from having disassembled and buzzed out such a cable. Back when I was still fooling with that hunk of plastic, I used this book as my reference. It did the job. Although, as an official Atari developer, I had thousands of pages of documentation, I was never steered wrong by the book.

You're not risking much if you get it wrong as the cable carries only signals and not power. You could hook the external drive to its power supply and probe/ground the various pins on the drive connector to confirm. (e.g., if the book says that pin 8 is MOTOR ON and pin 7 is ground, then jumpering the two pins will cause the drive motor to come on.)

 

[VERAULT]

Good stuff. Thanks Chuck.

 

[Towmater]

So I have begun making my own Din 14 cable as Chuck Speculated.

You found a source for these DIN connectors? Please share!

 

[VERAULT]

You found a source for these DIN connectors? Please share!

Umm no... No they are the things of legend at this point. 3D printing together a franken-cable! Will post photos when I build it. Its mostly done, just need to do the opposite male connector.

 

[Chuck(G)]

If that doesn't work out, drop me a line--I dug up a spare male connector in my junkbox.

 

[VERAULT]

I will thanks Chuck. I just need to finish wiring it as straight through. If this works I have enough parts to make 2 or 3 cables.

 

[1ST1]

USA.
-CH-

So then atari-forum.com has an 8 bit corner, there is also the atariage.com/forums/ and another very small mostly dead one forums.atari.io

The international Atari 8 bit computer community is not very big, most activity maybe at the german Abbuc comunity ( abbuc.de ) and in some east european countries.

 

[1ST1]

The french/english infocoach page for the Atari ST is quite good and with that cable it will work. But if you want the real ressources, go to the docs.dev-docs.org page...

 

[g4ugm]

My recollection is that it is indeed 1:1 "straight through".

It is 1-to-1 straight through. The trick is that the drive select is swapped inside the drive, so in effect the drive adds the twist you find in a PC Cable.
The signals from the ST are also different for Floppy and None-floppy models. A non floppy model outputs both ds0 and ds1 so the first drive on the cable is "Drive 0" and the second "Drive 1".
A "-F" model with a floppy inside outputs DS1 on the DS0 line so any floppy connected becomes Disk 1.....
Hope thats clear....

 

[clh333]

So then atari-forum.com has an 8 bit corner, there is also the atariage.com/forums/ and another very small mostly dead one forums.atari.io

The international Atari 8 bit computer community is not very big, most activity maybe at the german Abbuc comunity ( abbuc.de ) and in some east european countries.

Thank you for your suggestions. I found an active community of 8-bit Atari enthusiasts at AtariAge.com. (Sorry to intrude on this thread.)

 

[VERAULT]

Ok. So it took me 2 years but I just finished making my first homebrew DIN 14 Atari Floppy drive cable for the Atari ST. I Just got done making it and checking continuity and I havent tested it yet. I have made a new Thread for my Atari 520ST repairs and will post further tests and info on this cable on that thread which is found here:

https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/atari-520st.1243259/

This cable was a complete NIGHTMARE to make.... But future cables should be easier... I hope.