Re: Need a Real Mac Plus Keyboard Cable...

[Tom Lee]

It is possible to cut a telephone handset cable in half and reconnect 
the wires while reversing them but that has problems with the tinsel 
wire often used for flexibility. The strand of string that is twisted 
with the wires makes it impossible to solder.


Best is a crimp tool and a handful of RJ10 connectors. The 
combination may cost less than the shipping cost.


If you're in a hurry, the cut-in-two-and-reverse-before-reconnecting method 
works just fine. Carefully cut away any string/foil junk before attempting to 
resolder, and you won't have any trouble. Use heatshrink tubing to stabilize 
the whole assembly (and if you are lucky, you can find a color that matches the 
cable's pretty well). If you do this relatively close to one connector, the 
splice won't be too noticeable.

Be sure to keep track of wire order. The way it's designed, you are virtually 
guaranteed to kill either the keyboard or the mac's keyboard interface chip (or 
both) if you fail to reverse the connections.

Finally, I've modified RJ-11 connectors to fit by using a dremel's emory cutoff 
wheel (a soldering iron would also work, but it would be a toxic mess). It 
sorta melts its way through more than it cuts, but it gets the job done very 
well. A little filing afterwards will make it look and fit ok. So, if the 
narrow RJ-10 connectors are hard to locate where you are, this cheesy 
alternative is worth considering.

--
Prof. Thomas H. Lee
Center for Integrated Systems, CIS-205
420 Via Palou Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-4070
http://www-smirc.stanford.edu
650-725-3709 ph, -3383 fax




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Re: Need a Real Mac Plus Keyboard Cable...

[Doug McNutt]

At 08:03 -0500 12/14/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I noticed on your site that the order of the wires are different 
from the ones listed at www.mac512.com/qamacplus. Which way works?


The US telephone industry, which created the RJ series connectors, 
also used as a standard a customary reversal of the wires in parallel 
wire cables. The crimps at each end are reversed so that wires 
1,2,3,4 are connected to pins 4,3,2,1 at the opposite end of a cable.


Because telephones use pins 1 and 4 for line 2 and pins 2 and 3 for 
line 1 The effect is to make the socket on the phone look the same as 
the socket on the wall while preserving polarity of the power 
provided by  the telephone company. Early touch tone dials required 
that.


The custom was carried on to the handset cable for which the 
microphone is on pins 2 and 3 while the receiver is on pins 1 and 4. 
(Actually that is from memory and might be reversed.)


An ordinary telephone handset-connecting cable with its RJ10 
connectors will fit into Apple's jacks for keyboard and processor but 
Apple did not plan for the reversal. In principle one can remove the 
connector from one end of a telephone cable, turn it over, and put it 
back on. Unfortunately the crimp operation doesn't make that easy.


It is possible to cut a telephone handset cable in half and reconnect 
the wires while reversing them but that has problems with the tinsel 
wire often used for flexibility. The strand of string that is twisted 
with the wires makes it impossible to solder.


Best is a crimp tool and a handful of RJ10 connectors. The 
combination may cost less than the shipping cost.

--

--> From the U S of A, the only socialist country that refuses to admit it. <--

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Re: Need a Real Mac Plus Keyboard Cable...

[ClassicMac500]

It would cost too much for you to send it to the U.S. Also, I noticed on your 
site that the order of the wires are different from the ones listed at 
www.mac512.com/qamacplus. Which way works? 

Thank you for suggesting this. :-)

Take care,
Tommy

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Re: Need a Real Mac Plus Keyboard Cable...

[Dylan McDermond]

On Dec 13, 2005, at 1:21 PM, Sean Billings wrote:


You don't say where you are, I may be able to make you a cable for the
costs of parts and postage but I'm in the UK.


and if you're in the US, I saw a real Apple one last week at the  
university surplus sale in the $1 bin. I can grab it for you tomorrow  
if you want it.


-Dylan

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Re: Need a Real Mac Plus Keyboard Cable...

[Sean Billings]

>Does anyone here happen to have a real Mac Plus keyboard cable they don't 
>need anymore? I could really use it. I can use the mouse on the Plus, but
>can't 
>type on it. :-(
>
>I'd REALLY appreciate anything anyone could do. :-)

Tommy,

I have details of how to make a Mac Plus keyboard cable on my site (in the
sig),  I made one myself which I use as I had the same problem when I
bought a plus keyboard of the net, the important thing is to make sure you
get the wires in the correct order otherwise you can damage the keyboard!

You don't say where you are, I may be able to make you a cable for the
costs of parts and postage but I'm in the UK.

Regards Sean.
--
Classic Computing Pages:
http://www.megadon.co.uk/syrinx/



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Re: Need a Real Mac Plus Keyboard Cable...

[Simon Rowlands]

Tommy

Not too sure which country you are in.


Simon


On 13/12/05 8:21 pm, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> 
> Does anyone here happen to have a real Mac Plus keyboard cable they don't
> need anymore? I could really use it. I can use the mouse on the Plus, but
> can't 
> type on it. :-(
> 
> I'd REALLY appreciate anything anyone could do. :-)
> 
> Take care,
> Tommy



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Re: Need a Real Mac Plus Keyboard Cable...

[Shaun Reynolds]

Hi Tommy,

As a suggestion: try searching on Google for "RJ10 plug" and then for
bulk telephone cable. That might be a better way of making your own
cable. I have a feeling that the reason your cable didn't work is
because of the wrong plug size.

Hope that helps,

  -Shaun

On 12/13/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hey all! Someone here was nice enough to send out a keyboard and mouse for
> the Mac Plus I recently acquired, but he didn't have a keyboard cable. I have
> tried making one myself using the pinouts on the internet, but I can't get it 
> to
> work. For one thing, no one around here has a package of the narrow RJ-11
> connectors. I tried to file down the regular size RJ-11 connectors to make it
> fit, but it didn't work.
>
> Does anyone here happen to have a real Mac Plus keyboard cable they don't
> need anymore? I could really use it. I can use the mouse on the Plus, but 
> can't
> type on it. :-(
>
> I'd REALLY appreciate anything anyone could do. :-)
>
> Take care,
> Tommy

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