"Andrew Mawson" wrote in message news:...

"Johnny B Good" wrote in message ...

Andrew Mawson wrote:
OK wrong forum I know but there are a lot of knowledgeable people on
this forum

I need some software that will run under DOS 6.22 that will allow me
to copy files to a CD/DVD-ROM Drive. This is on a legacy CNC machine
- I'm replacing a dying Viglen PC where the only exchangeable media
is 4.5" Floppy for a Compac DC7600 SFF PC that I have which also has
CD/DVD read / write drive that would be very handy for data exchange.

NB this is running genuine DOS 6.22 NOT a DOS window under Windoze !

Any pointers very welcome !


Andrew
If he can supply a bit more info on how this PC interfaces to the CNC
machine, we might even be able to advise him on setting up virtualisation
software[1] running under the SFF's original winXP Host OS (or even under
a Linux host), assuming a serial or printer port was used for the CNC
interface, which can be passed through[2] to a suitably configured VM
clone of the MSDOS 6.22 installation as it was originally set up on the
old Viglen.

--
Johnny B Good

Johnny,

A/ The original Viglen is fully functional but mechanically a write off

B/ The Viglen runs DOS 6.2 and has a floppy drive and HDD and two serial
ports

C/ One serial port is for an operators panel, the other is for the machine
CC controller

D/ I took an MSBACKUP of the VIGLEN HDD under DOS6.2 on 13 floppies

E/ The COMPAC DC7600 SFF was running Windows 7 and has floppy, SATA HDD and
CD/DVD writer, one serial port and a network 10/100 port and 4 Gb RAM

F/ I Repartitioned and formatted its HDD and loaded DOS 6.22 from the three
original Microsoft disks

G/ I copied the full DOS 6.2 MSBACKUP suite to a folder on the DC7600

H/ I ran DOS 6.2 MSBACKUP under DOS 6.22 and restored all the VIGLEN files
to the DC7600 EXCEPT the DOS folder

I/ (You need to know the MSBACKUP 6.22 cannot read MSBACKUP 6.2 floppies)

J/ At this stage I had a fully functional DC7600 running DOS 6.22 and the
original controller software from the VIGLEN (except it only had one serial
port)

K/ Being an SFF I needed a small form factor PCI serial card - the only one
I could source with DOS drivers was a StarTech PEX2S5521P

L/ The machine now has three serial ports and I just need to configure the
IRQ to match the original

M/ I sourced some DOS drivers for the CR/DVD which allowed me to read but
not write CDs

N/ This is when I posted asking for assistance for DOS software to WRITE CDs
so that the machine files can easily be transferred in future

O/ I have (Thanks to TIM) loaded a USB stick with Linux MINT and K3B CD
software allowing me not only to boot up MINT and generate CD's but also
connect to my network and transfer files that way !!!

P/ The only oddity left is that the CDs generated read properly under MINT
in the DC7600 and also und WIN7 on another machine but under DOS 6.22 in the
DC7600 are rather flaky and rarely read ok.

Q/ I am assuming this is due to the DOS drivers I'm using (can't name them
at the moment as I'm on a different PC)



Thank you all for your assistance but I do feel that some are digging deeper
than required - all I was asking was to be able to write CDs under DOS 6.22
so perhaps someone may have know of a DOS application to do this
Andrew

On 15/02/2018 09:17, Andrew Mawson wrote:

Thank you all for your assistance but I do feel that some are digging
deeper
than required - all I was asking was to be able to write CDs under DOS 6.22
so perhaps someone may have know of a DOS application to do this
Andrew

The only ones I know of were DOS SCSI CDRW drivers - no support for
anything else. Back then writing your own CDs was quite esoteric.

There may be a UDF shim for DOS that will help it cope with Mint written
CDs a little better. Long time since I did anything on DOS 6.x

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On 15/02/18 10:48, Martin Brown wrote:
On 15/02/2018 09:17, Andrew Mawson wrote:

Thank you all for your assistance but I do feel that some are digging
deeper
than required - all I was asking was to be able to write CDs under DOS
6.22
so perhaps someone may have know of a DOS application to do this
Andrew

The only ones I know of were DOS SCSI CDRW drivers - no support for
anything else. Back then writing your own CDs was quite esoteric.

There may be a UDF shim for DOS that will help it cope with Mint written
CDs a little better. Long time since I did anything on DOS 6.x

DOS predates DVD. And nearly predates CD.

Dos 6.22 was released in June 1994

CDs had been around, as music, and the impetus for PCS was really just
to read them and play them - at that tiome a writable drive was more
exopensive than te computer, so we didnt see CD-R technology until mid
1990s and later.

Dvds made little sense until computers fast enough to play video
emerged, and then subsequently read-write optical drives came along but
that was a few years later.

My point?

No one can be bothered to port DVD writing software to DOS 6.22

There is no need for it. DVDs are (as I discovered) a useless way to
back stuff up anyway, and even worse as a data transfer mechanism when
you have a network.

The only time I burn a DVD these days is to make a bootable linux image

Even making watchable videos is pointless when they are all on my server
anyway.

No point in burning CDs for the car CD player as everyone uses MP3...

So the correct solution to this problem is not DOS CD software, its
getting the CNC machine to run in a DOS virtual machine that can access
the serial ports correctly and has access to the host file sussyem and
host networking capabilities, and CD burning facilities IF you must.






--
Renewable energy: Expensive solutions that don't work to a problem that
doesn't exist instituted by self legalising protection rackets that
don't protect, masquerading as public servants who don't serve the public.

On Thu, 15 Feb 2018 09:17:15 +0000, Andrew Mawson wrote:

"Andrew Mawson" wrote in message news:...

"Johnny B Good" wrote in message
...

Andrew Mawson wrote:
OK wrong forum I know but there are a lot of knowledgeable people
on this forum

I need some software that will run under DOS 6.22 that will allow
me to copy files to a CD/DVD-ROM Drive. This is on a legacy CNC
machine - I'm replacing a dying Viglen PC where the only
exchangeable media is 4.5" Floppy for a Compac DC7600 SFF PC that I
have which also has CD/DVD read / write drive that would be very
handy for data exchange.

NB this is running genuine DOS 6.22 NOT a DOS window under Windoze
!

Any pointers very welcome !


Andrew
If he can supply a bit more info on how this PC interfaces to the CNC
machine, we might even be able to advise him on setting up
virtualisation software[1] running under the SFF's original winXP Host
OS (or even under a Linux host), assuming a serial or printer port was
used for the CNC interface, which can be passed through[2] to a suitably
configured VM clone of the MSDOS 6.22 installation as it was originally
set up on the old Viglen.

--
Johnny B Good

Johnny,

A/ The original Viglen is fully functional but mechanically a write off

Is the Viglen so proprietary that it isn't possible to transplant the
motherboard and other component parts into an industry standard ATX case?


B/ The Viglen runs DOS 6.2 and has a floppy drive and HDD and two serial
ports

C/ One serial port is for an operators panel, the other is for the
machine CC controller

Ok then, so no special proprietary adapters required then. Just a bog
standard ATX desktop PC then.


D/ I took an MSBACKUP of the VIGLEN HDD under DOS6.2 on 13 floppies

As I've already said, "Ouch!"


E/ The COMPAC DC7600 SFF was running Windows 7 and has floppy, SATA HDD
and CD/DVD writer, one serial port and a network 10/100 port and 4 Gb
RAM

So still relatively vintage hardware then. Mind you, this looks a higher/
later spec than the one I had googled (which claimed winXP as the OEM
installed OS). Does the FDD use an actual Shugart 34 pin interface on the
MoBo or is is simply a USB version connected to one of the internal USB
headers?


F/ I Repartitioned and formatted its HDD and loaded DOS 6.22 from the
three original Microsoft disks.

Ok, so no different to the process of installing it into a Virtual
Machine then. :-)


G/ I copied the full DOS 6.2 MSBACKUP suite to a folder on the DC7600

Ah! The utter simplicity of "installing" a basic dos app. :-)


H/ I ran DOS 6.2 MSBACKUP under DOS 6.22 and restored all the VIGLEN
files to the DC7600 EXCEPT the DOS folder

So far, so good.


I/ (You need to know the MSBACKUP 6.22 cannot read MSBACKUP 6.2
floppies)

This was par for the course with Microsoft. :-(


J/ At this stage I had a fully functional DC7600 running DOS 6.22 and
the original controller software from the VIGLEN (except it only had one
serial port)

In the I/O shield but there's probably a second com port header on the
MoBo waiting for a DB9 or DB25 connector to be plugged in. If not, then
you'll need a PCI serial port adapter card, assuming there is a spare PCI
slot - the specs page I was looking at neglected to mention this. :-(


K/ Being an SFF I needed a small form factor PCI serial card - the only
one I could source with DOS drivers was a StarTech PEX2S5521P

Before spending the dosh, just make sure that there really isn't a
second serial port option header on the MoBo - see above.


L/ The machine now has three serial ports and I just need to configure
the IRQ to match the original

Ah, too late then for my fine advice above. :-(

AFAICR, there were only two IRQ options for the serial ports. You may
have to share an IRQ line with between the third port and one of the
first two ports.


M/ I sourced some DOS drivers for the CD/DVD which allowed me to read
but not write CDs

N/ This is when I posted asking for assistance for DOS software to WRITE
CDs so that the machine files can easily be transferred in future.

FSVO "easily". Unless you're playing ultra-safe by deliberately not
networking any of your computers, a network file sharing solution
geberally represents a FLVO "easier" kind of solution than flinging CDs
around the premises.


O/ I have (Thanks to TIM) loaded a USB stick with Linux MINT and K3B CD
software allowing me not only to boot up MINT and generate CD's but also
connect to my network and transfer files that way !!!

You do realise that if you *installed* Linux Mint[1], you could install
Oracle's VirtualBox and set up a DOS virtual machine into which you could
install MSDOS 6.22 from those dos install disks seeing as how you've got
an actual floppy disk drive to insert them into. :-)


P/ The only oddity left is that the CDs generated read properly under
MINT in the DC7600 and also und WIN7 on another machine but under DOS
6.22 in the DC7600 are rather flaky and rarely read ok.

That could be for any number of reasons so I won't attempt to second
guess what the issue is or where the problem lies.


Q/ I am assuming this is due to the DOS drivers I'm using (can't name
them at the moment as I'm on a different PC).

Seems unlikely since, if this was the case, one could expect a more
consistent failure mode than mere 'flakiness' which suggests a problem
with the CD/DVD rom drive which might be compatibility issues with the
recordable media or else laser calibration issues or similar.


Thank you all for your assistance but I do feel that some are digging
deeper than required - all I was asking was to be able to write CDs
under DOS 6.22 so perhaps someone may have know of a DOS application to
do this

I'm afraid my last adventures with MSDOS 6.22 were over two decades ago
now and my memories of the nitty gritty details of this sort of fettling
are now rather faded. Perhaps if I'd felt nostalgic enough to create a
DOS VM to experiment with DOS 6.22, I might have been able to offer
better advice than just vague hints but I'm afraid I can't, other than to
suggest you try posting to uk.comp.homebuilt where you may find more
expertise from those with sharper recollections than mine (possibly even
fresh memories if any "Retro Computing" enthusiasts have been recently
experimenting with virtualised instances of DOS to 're-live the DOS
experience' of their youth).

[1] If you want to try installing VirtualBox, it doesn't have to be a
Linux host OS, You can install it on a windows machine (and win7 is
probably the optimum choice for this) and experiment with a DOS 6.22
virtual machine guest which can be copied to almost any other PC running
VirtualBox. You said you had a few of these SFF machines to hand, so why
not set another one up as a test bed and give it a go?

As I mentioned earlier, Virtualisation was more or less invented to
solve the very problem you're trying to tackle. Unless there's some
compelling need/advantage to sneakernet the data around via the medium of
CDROMs, it seems a little churlish to say the least to ignore what may
possibly prove to be the easiest and most flexible solution.

At least, if you do set up another machine to experiment with
virtualisation, there's nothing to stop you continuing with your current
quest to get the existing SFF DOS box writing to CD-R media. That way if/
when you reach an impasse with one project, you can turn to the other
until you succeed or else get fed up by hitting another dead end by which
time, the respite from the first may have provided a new insight to its
problem. It's surprising how such breaks can make something suddenly
click in your mind to reveal a sought after solution.

--
Johnny B Good

On Thu, 15 Feb 2018 22:19:40 +0000, Johnny B Good wrote:

K/ Being an SFF I needed a small form factor PCI serial card - the only
one I could source with DOS drivers was a StarTech PEX2S5521P

Before spending the dosh, just make sure that there really isn't a
second serial port option header on the MoBo - see above.

I know this is now sorted, but for the record...be careful of the pinout
on that header. There are two different, incompatible, conventions!



--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £1 a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

"Johnny B Good" wrote in message ...

On Thu, 15 Feb 2018 09:17:15 +0000, Andrew Mawson wrote:

"Andrew Mawson" wrote in message news:...

"Johnny B Good" wrote in message
...

Andrew Mawson wrote:
OK wrong forum I know but there are a lot of knowledgeable people
on this forum

I need some software that will run under DOS 6.22 that will allow
me to copy files to a CD/DVD-ROM Drive. This is on a legacy CNC
machine - I'm replacing a dying Viglen PC where the only
exchangeable media is 4.5" Floppy for a Compac DC7600 SFF PC that I
have which also has CD/DVD read / write drive that would be very
handy for data exchange.

NB this is running genuine DOS 6.22 NOT a DOS window under Windoze
!

Any pointers very welcome !


Andrew
If he can supply a bit more info on how this PC interfaces to the CNC
machine, we might even be able to advise him on setting up
virtualisation software[1] running under the SFF's original winXP Host
OS (or even under a Linux host), assuming a serial or printer port was
used for the CNC interface, which can be passed through[2] to a suitably
configured VM clone of the MSDOS 6.22 installation as it was originally
set up on the old Viglen.

--
Johnny B Good

Johnny,

A/ The original Viglen is fully functional but mechanically a write off

Is the Viglen so proprietary that it isn't possible to transplant the
motherboard and other component parts into an industry standard ATX case?


B/ The Viglen runs DOS 6.2 and has a floppy drive and HDD and two serial
ports

C/ One serial port is for an operators panel, the other is for the
machine CC controller

Ok then, so no special proprietary adapters required then. Just a bog
standard ATX desktop PC then.


D/ I took an MSBACKUP of the VIGLEN HDD under DOS6.2 on 13 floppies

As I've already said, "Ouch!"


E/ The COMPAC DC7600 SFF was running Windows 7 and has floppy, SATA HDD
and CD/DVD writer, one serial port and a network 10/100 port and 4 Gb
RAM

So still relatively vintage hardware then. Mind you, this looks a higher/
later spec than the one I had googled (which claimed winXP as the OEM
installed OS). Does the FDD use an actual Shugart 34 pin interface on the
MoBo or is is simply a USB version connected to one of the internal USB
headers?


F/ I Repartitioned and formatted its HDD and loaded DOS 6.22 from the
three original Microsoft disks.

Ok, so no different to the process of installing it into a Virtual
Machine then. :-)


G/ I copied the full DOS 6.2 MSBACKUP suite to a folder on the DC7600

Ah! The utter simplicity of "installing" a basic dos app. :-)


H/ I ran DOS 6.2 MSBACKUP under DOS 6.22 and restored all the VIGLEN
files to the DC7600 EXCEPT the DOS folder

So far, so good.


I/ (You need to know the MSBACKUP 6.22 cannot read MSBACKUP 6.2
floppies)

This was par for the course with Microsoft. :-(


J/ At this stage I had a fully functional DC7600 running DOS 6.22 and
the original controller software from the VIGLEN (except it only had one
serial port)

In the I/O shield but there's probably a second com port header on the
MoBo waiting for a DB9 or DB25 connector to be plugged in. If not, then
you'll need a PCI serial port adapter card, assuming there is a spare PCI
slot - the specs page I was looking at neglected to mention this. :-(


K/ Being an SFF I needed a small form factor PCI serial card - the only
one I could source with DOS drivers was a StarTech PEX2S5521P

Before spending the dosh, just make sure that there really isn't a
second serial port option header on the MoBo - see above.


L/ The machine now has three serial ports and I just need to configure
the IRQ to match the original

Ah, too late then for my fine advice above. :-(

AFAICR, there were only two IRQ options for the serial ports. You may
have to share an IRQ line with between the third port and one of the
first two ports.


M/ I sourced some DOS drivers for the CD/DVD which allowed me to read
but not write CDs

N/ This is when I posted asking for assistance for DOS software to WRITE
CDs so that the machine files can easily be transferred in future.

FSVO "easily". Unless you're playing ultra-safe by deliberately not
networking any of your computers, a network file sharing solution
geberally represents a FLVO "easier" kind of solution than flinging CDs
around the premises.


O/ I have (Thanks to TIM) loaded a USB stick with Linux MINT and K3B CD
software allowing me not only to boot up MINT and generate CD's but also
connect to my network and transfer files that way !!!

You do realise that if you *installed* Linux Mint[1], you could install
Oracle's VirtualBox and set up a DOS virtual machine into which you could
install MSDOS 6.22 from those dos install disks seeing as how you've got
an actual floppy disk drive to insert them into. :-)


P/ The only oddity left is that the CDs generated read properly under
MINT in the DC7600 and also und WIN7 on another machine but under DOS
6.22 in the DC7600 are rather flaky and rarely read ok.

That could be for any number of reasons so I won't attempt to second
guess what the issue is or where the problem lies.


Q/ I am assuming this is due to the DOS drivers I'm using (can't name
them at the moment as I'm on a different PC).

Seems unlikely since, if this was the case, one could expect a more
consistent failure mode than mere 'flakiness' which suggests a problem
with the CD/DVD rom drive which might be compatibility issues with the
recordable media or else laser calibration issues or similar.


Thank you all for your assistance but I do feel that some are digging
deeper than required - all I was asking was to be able to write CDs
under DOS 6.22 so perhaps someone may have know of a DOS application to
do this

I'm afraid my last adventures with MSDOS 6.22 were over two decades ago
now and my memories of the nitty gritty details of this sort of fettling
are now rather faded. Perhaps if I'd felt nostalgic enough to create a
DOS VM to experiment with DOS 6.22, I might have been able to offer
better advice than just vague hints but I'm afraid I can't, other than to
suggest you try posting to uk.comp.homebuilt where you may find more
expertise from those with sharper recollections than mine (possibly even
fresh memories if any "Retro Computing" enthusiasts have been recently
experimenting with virtualised instances of DOS to 're-live the DOS
experience' of their youth).

[1] If you want to try installing VirtualBox, it doesn't have to be a
Linux host OS, You can install it on a windows machine (and win7 is
probably the optimum choice for this) and experiment with a DOS 6.22
virtual machine guest which can be copied to almost any other PC running
VirtualBox. You said you had a few of these SFF machines to hand, so why
not set another one up as a test bed and give it a go?

As I mentioned earlier, Virtualisation was more or less invented to
solve the very problem you're trying to tackle. Unless there's some
compelling need/advantage to sneakernet the data around via the medium of
CDROMs, it seems a little churlish to say the least to ignore what may
possibly prove to be the easiest and most flexible solution.

At least, if you do set up another machine to experiment with
virtualisation, there's nothing to stop you continuing with your current
quest to get the existing SFF DOS box writing to CD-R media. That way if/
when you reach an impasse with one project, you can turn to the other
until you succeed or else get fed up by hitting another dead end by which
time, the respite from the first may have provided a new insight to its
problem. It's surprising how such breaks can make something suddenly
click in your mind to reveal a sought after solution.


Johnny,

Frustratingly the DC7600 / SFF manual refers to an option cable to add a
second serial port, which looks to be just a 9 pin D type and bracket to a
'dual row of pins' header socket. These are available on eBay but cost as
much as my serial port card and search as I may THERE IS NO CORRESPONDING
HEADER on the mother board - believe me I've searched several SFF m/bs. - I
suspect it applies to the desktop version of the DC7600 and the manual is
wrong !!!

On Thu, 15 Feb 2018 22:48:47 +0000, Andrew Mawson wrote:

Frustratingly the DC7600 / SFF manual refers to an option cable to add a
second serial port, which looks to be just a 9 pin D type and bracket to
a 'dual row of pins' header socket. These are available on eBay but cost
as much as my serial port card and search as I may THERE IS NO
CORRESPONDING HEADER on the mother board - believe me I've searched
several SFF m/bs. - I suspect it applies to the desktop version of the
DC7600 and the manual is wrong !!!

And there are two different incimpatible pinouts anyway. I have always
made my own.

--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £1 a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

On 15 Feb 2018 23:47:27 GMT, Bob Eager wrote:

On Thu, 15 Feb 2018 22:48:47 +0000, Andrew Mawson wrote:

Frustratingly the DC7600 / SFF manual refers to an option cable to add a
second serial port, which looks to be just a 9 pin D type and bracket to
a 'dual row of pins' header socket. These are available on eBay but cost
as much as my serial port card and search as I may THERE IS NO
CORRESPONDING HEADER on the mother board - believe me I've searched
several SFF m/bs. - I suspect it applies to the desktop version of the
DC7600 and the manual is wrong !!!

And there are two different incimpatible pinouts anyway. I have always
made my own.

And where the good old RS232 / V.24 breakout box can come in handy
(assuming there is something to plug it into on the mobo of course).
;-)

Cheers, T i m

On Thu, 15 Feb 2018 22:31:48 +0000, Bob Eager wrote:

On Thu, 15 Feb 2018 22:19:40 +0000, Johnny B Good wrote:

K/ Being an SFF I needed a small form factor PCI serial card - the
only one I could source with DOS drivers was a StarTech PEX2S5521P

Before spending the dosh, just make sure that there really isn't a
second serial port option header on the MoBo - see above.

I know this is now sorted, but for the record...be careful of the pinout
on that header. There are two different, incompatible, conventions!

Yes indeed, there were! As I recall, the 10 pin header (one pin missing
to act as a key) were wired one way to correspond the DB9M pin numbering
which required the ribbon cable to be soldered to the pins on the DB9M or
DB25M socket and the other, seemingly random pinout was to cater for a
DB9M using an IDC connnection to the ribbon cable. I'm not sure but I
think the signal ground return pin location in the header provided the
clue as to which pinout scheme had been used on the MoBo or adapter.

I'd expect the later MoBos to use the seemingly random pinout scheme
designed to cater for the cheaper to manufacture DB9M IDC connected
sockets. Despite this all being ancient history now, I've still got an
ice cream tub's worth of assorted serial/parallel port backplate kits of
both types including loose DB9M and DB25M serial port adapters and some
DB25F printer port adapters. Unless I get a sudden urge to get into retro
computing (I think I have everything I need to resurrect the whole zoo
from 80286 technology onwards), I doubt I'll find a use for any of them
any time soon. I'm keeping them as a memento to my misspent youth.

--
Johnny B Good

On Thu, 15 Feb 2018 23:47:27 +0000, Bob Eager wrote:

On Thu, 15 Feb 2018 22:48:47 +0000, Andrew Mawson wrote:

Frustratingly the DC7600 / SFF manual refers to an option cable to add
a second serial port, which looks to be just a 9 pin D type and bracket
to a 'dual row of pins' header socket. These are available on eBay but
cost as much as my serial port card and search as I may THERE IS NO
CORRESPONDING HEADER on the mother board - believe me I've searched
several SFF m/bs. - I suspect it applies to the desktop version of the
DC7600 and the manual is wrong !!!

And there are two different incompatible pinouts anyway. I have always
made my own.

That's not his current problem since there doesn't appear to be such a
dual row header, as described in the MoBo manual, for him to plug one
into anyway. His only option is to fit the PCI serial I/O card (he can
disable the on-board serial port if needs be).

With regard to the two different pinout standards, I've already covered
the reason for the two standards in another post elsewhere in this thread.

--
Johnny B Good

On Thu, 15 Feb 2018 22:48:47 +0000, Andrew Mawson wrote:

"Johnny B Good" wrote in message ...

===snip long treatise largely extolling the virtues of virtualisation===


Johnny,

Frustratingly the DC7600 / SFF manual refers to an option cable to add a
second serial port, which looks to be just a 9 pin D type and bracket to
a 'dual row of pins' header socket. These are available on eBay but cost
as much as my serial port card and search as I may THERE IS NO
CORRESPONDING HEADER on the mother board - believe me I've searched
several SFF m/bs. - I suspect it applies to the desktop version of the
DC7600 and the manual is wrong !!!

If you've got a PCI serial port adapter you can install, doesn't that
make this issue rather academic? I realise it'll prevent you from running
both projects simultaneously without having to swap the card between a VM
test machine and the one you're currently trying to get the CD writer to
work on but, apart from that, is the lack of an on-board com port header
really such a show stopper?

BTW, although it appears to be academic now, you need to be aware that
these com port headers were wired in one of two pinout standards so you'd
need to be sure to select the right one or else order one of each type (a
shoot first, ask questions later approach).

--
Johnny B Good

On Fri, 16 Feb 2018 04:27:06 +0000, Johnny B Good wrote:

Yes indeed, there were! As I recall, the 10 pin header (one pin missing
to act as a key) were wired one way to correspond the DB9M pin numbering
which required the ribbon cable to be soldered to the pins on the DB9M
or DB25M socket and the other, seemingly random pinout was to cater for
a DB9M using an IDC connnection to the ribbon cable. I'm not sure but I
think the signal ground return pin location in the header provided the
clue as to which pinout scheme had been used on the MoBo or adapter.

Yes, I was also mentioning this.

I have always made my own cables. It's a pain doing the wiring for the
'solder' wire order when you are using IDC, but I have done it on a
number of occasions.

--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £1 a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

On Fri, 16 Feb 2018 04:37:28 +0000, Johnny B Good wrote:

On Thu, 15 Feb 2018 23:47:27 +0000, Bob Eager wrote:

On Thu, 15 Feb 2018 22:48:47 +0000, Andrew Mawson wrote:

Frustratingly the DC7600 / SFF manual refers to an option cable to add
a second serial port, which looks to be just a 9 pin D type and
bracket to a 'dual row of pins' header socket. These are available on
eBay but cost as much as my serial port card and search as I may THERE
IS NO CORRESPONDING HEADER on the mother board - believe me I've
searched several SFF m/bs. - I suspect it applies to the desktop
version of the DC7600 and the manual is wrong !!!

And there are two different incompatible pinouts anyway. I have always
made my own.

That's not his current problem since there doesn't appear to be such a
dual row header, as described in the MoBo manual, for him to plug one
into anyway. His only option is to fit the PCI serial I/O card (he can
disable the on-board serial port if needs be).

With regard to the two different pinout standards, I've already covered
the reason for the two standards in another post elsewhere in this
thread.

Yes, but 5 hours after I posted that! No problem.

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Bob Eager Wrote in message:
On Fri, 16 Feb 2018 04:37:28 +0000, Johnny B Good wrote:

On Thu, 15 Feb 2018 23:47:27 +0000, Bob Eager wrote:

On Thu, 15 Feb 2018 22:48:47 +0000, Andrew Mawson wrote:

Frustratingly the DC7600 / SFF manual refers to an option cable to add
a second serial port, which looks to be just a 9 pin D type and
bracket to a 'dual row of pins' header socket. These are available on
eBay but cost as much as my serial port card and search as I may THERE
IS NO CORRESPONDING HEADER on the mother board - believe me I've
searched several SFF m/bs. - I suspect it applies to the desktop
version of the DC7600 and the manual is wrong !!!

And there are two different incompatible pinouts anyway. I have always
made my own.

That's not his current problem since there doesn't appear to be such a
dual row header, as described in the MoBo manual, for him to plug one
into anyway. His only option is to fit the PCI serial I/O card (he can
disable the on-board serial port if needs be).

With regard to the two different pinout standards, I've already covered
the reason for the two standards in another post elsewhere in this
thread.

Yes, but 5 hours after I posted that! No problem.

Takes a while to Google ;-)
--
Jim K


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