[rescue] Interface info for IBM Dials and Buttons boxes?

[Julius Sridhar]

On Thu, 21 Feb 2002, Eric Webb wrote:

> > > One oddity.  Pin 22 of the DB25 is tied _directly_ to the five
> > > volt supply.  My guess is that these critters support more than
> > > one machine (via more than one adaptor cable). I suspect that
> > > they could probably plug into a "special" mini-din port on the
> > > back of an RS6000 which may have supplied power along with data,
> > > or they could be used with other IBM systems via the RS232 cable
> > > and a power brick adaptor.
> >
> > The RS/6000 does indeed have a 9-pin tablet connector.  The way you hook
> > these up is:
> >
> > RS/6000 Tablet Port --> Spaceball --> Dials --> Buttons --> Tablet.
> >
> > The tablet must be on the end, because it doesn't have a daisy-chain port.
>
> When I last looked at the book for these things I remember seeing that an
> RS-232 port came in there somewhere in addition to the tablet port.  Now,
> where did I see that book at....

RS/6000's usually have two DB25 serial ports along with their Keyboard,
Mouse, and Tablet ports.  There are also add-in cards for 4, 8, 16, 64, or
128 (!) coprocessed serial ports.

Peace...  Sridhar