[SPARCbook] that 36pin scary scsi connector

[Pell Emanuelsson]

>I've picked up a sparcbook1 on ebay, in almost immaculate condition. I've
>built a neat little psu to cope with the monster amount of power
>(3.1A at 18V), but I just can't find pinnouts for that 36pin scsi
>(mini-centronics?) anywhere.
>
>Leads must be rare, but I'm happy soldering and crimping so all I'd need is
>a table to convert this thing to hd50 or regular 50pin centronics, then I
>could build the lead.

Hi,
It's unfortunately not a SCSI connector; the Sparcbook-1
only has a standard bi-directional parallel port.
You need an external unit to get SCSI support.  The SB-1
supports a SCSI Interface Adaptor from Trantor Systems LTD.
P/No. 600400 (probably Tadpole P/N, no Trantor model number visible).
Maybe you can find a compatible one on eBay -- they were not that
uncommon.  It's probably based on the NCR 5380 chip, so any
compatible adapter might work, like the Trantor T-348.  Who knows?
Someone is selling a T-358 right now, but it has a more modern
chip so might have less chance of working.

The cables originally provided by Tadpole were:
* Female 36-pin mini-D (MDR36) to female DB25
* Male DB-25 to male SCSI 50-pin mini-D (MDR50)

The first cable provides a "standard" PC Parallel port. The wiring
is as follows.
If you hold the connectors in front of you, the DB25 starts
with pin 1 in the top right corner.  The top row contains the
pins 1-13 and the bottom row 14-25.  The MDR36 also has pin 1
in the top right corner, and the pins are 1-18 and 19-36 in the
top and bottom rows respectively.

MDR36    DB25
-----    ----
1        1
2        14
3        2
4        15
5        3
6        16
7        4
8        17
9        5
10       18
11       6
12       19
13       7
14-18 nc
19       20
20       8
21       21
22       9
23       22
24       10
25       23
26       11
27       24
28       12
29       25
30       13
31-36 nc

That's based on visual inspection, but I'm fairly sure
it's correct since - as you will notice - it has a certain symmetry.

Regards, Pell