old dials, "new" Octane

Adam Smith · *nix forums beginner Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Posts: 27

Hope you are still around to check this.

What is the pinout on the old cables [i.e old dials on Indigo2], DB9F to
DB9F cable interfacing the buttons/dialbox to the serial adapter
hanging off the CPU.

Thanks

ohw0571 wrote:

Nat Echols · *nix forums beginner Joined: 15 Sep 2005 Posts: 2

ohw0571 · *nix forums beginner Joined: 15 Sep 2005 Posts: 3

Well, let me state first that using an Octane has hardly anything to do with refusing to use modern software, since - in my experience - nearly all scientific software is available for IRIX. In terms of so-called "standard software", e.g office applications, things are different - unfortunately...

As to your question, yes, the pin assignments are different. Pins no. 2, 3 and 5 of the Octane plug have to be connected to pins 3, 2 amd 7 of the dialbox (both are DB9F), all the other pins are unused. So you can easily build an adapter yourself - or rework the plug of the dialbox cable. We did the former for two Octanes and did not have any problems.

Greetings
Oliver

Nat Echols · *nix forums beginner Joined: 15 Sep 2005 Posts: 2

We have run out of dialboxes for the Linux systems that are replacing our
Octanes. We still have two left on our last remaining Octanes, which are
being kept in place for scientists who refuse to learn to use modern
software. These are both PC-compatible, but we'll get an earful if we
move them to the PCs.

We still have several older dialboxes left over from much older and
long-departed systems - mostly Indigo2, as far as I know. (The green
ones, if it makes a difference.) Ideally, we'd use these on the Octanes,
and move the Octane dials to our PCs. Our understanding was that the old
dialboxes are not directly compatible with Octanes. Has anyone had
experience with this?

Physically, at least, the plugs are not compatible. The old dialboxes end
in a male 9-pin serial plug, which is also what the serial port on the
Octane has. We also have an adapter that allows the boxes to plug into
the round 8-pin serial port on the Indigo2. If we simply get a
straight-through female-to-female serial adapter, will this be sufficient
to use the old dials on an Octane? Or is the pin order totally different?

If necessary, I'm willing to build something from scratch. (We would also
be willing to pay for Octane-compatible dialboxes if the price is
reasonable.)

Google