Quest For an imac dvd adapter

GuRuGoD · 10-31-2002, 05:31 PM

from what i can gather, vic was the only one to sell an adapter that correctly fits the imac slim slo tloading dvd rom drives. If I am worng, please let me know where I can get them. I have taken it upon myself to find a suitable adapter. Here's what I have found so far.

I went to a local Mac shop today and the tech gave me a peek inside an imac with a slot loading drive in it. The way macintosh has them configured (and this is every imac with a slot loading drive) there is a board exactly the height of the drive that screws into the back of the drive in the holes provided. On 1 side is the 50pin JAE connector with 50 of the worlds smallest pins. On the other side os a 50 Pin (25x2) male connector. The iMac I say used only the first 40 pins and hacked off the other 10 right at the connector. I can believe that this is the same adapter vic was selling. And vic, if you are reading this, please PM me with the pinouts from that drive, it would help me a bunch in my quest.

Here's whats weird: all of the adapters that work, but stick out have the 50 pins divided up as such:
40 -> IDE
4 -> Molex Power
6 -> Audio (3x2)

But the imac I say only used 40 pins. I thought it was a regular ide device. How does the mac get power to the drive? Does it even use an audio cable? Who knows.

Anyways, i thought that if i could get my hands on one of those adapters, i could do the same thing that vic was doing. Use a 50 pin SCSI cable, strip 10 wires off for power and sound and run the other 40 to an ide connector.

So I got to thinking. If these mothers are in every imac sold with a slot loading drive, ther has to be a place to buy them for a adecent price. So i had my local mac guy check apples prices on them. Low and behold, apple wants $50.00 for them. Google, here i come. After talking to about 20 macintosh stores around the country, i find a guy in minisota that has a spare sitting on his bench that hes going to unload to me for 25.00 (not too bad from 50). But that leaves everyone else in the dark, plus where am i going to get another after i break this one? So i got ahold of allmac in california. The have the boards listed for 29.95 (Part no: BRD-4525). I couldnt find it on thier web site, but if you call them they can get it.

SO now i have a board in the mail. I will play around and get the mother working keeping you fellas updated. I can only imagine that this is about the exact same thing vic went through getting his to work, so any help from him is also appreciated. Thanks!

Shades · 10-31-2002, 07:26 PM

Hi.

I have a Panasonic SR-8185C, it's the one that all the adapters stick out. I was going to make the adapter myself, i even got a PCB but soldering that JAE connector was a pain (too small), so i discarded that ideia.

If you can get these adapters i'll buy one of you. My drive is sitting here collecting dust right now. Oh and for everyone else, if you want these Slim Line Slot loading DVD drives go to http://www.yourdrive.com/ they have them for 35USD.

Thanks

GuRuGoD · 10-31-2002, 08:24 PM

yeah, i took a look at the JAE connector and immediatly discarded the idea. I'm not en expert at soldering to boot so....

Oh, for kicks, I emailed a sales associate at phethean.com and asked them what it would take to fab me an adapter. his reply... "$100+" ouch. I think i will stick with my current route. I will let you know when i get everything to gether. My guess is that after its all said and done, the price will be around the same as the adapter Vic was selling.

PTCruiser · 11-01-2002, 02:48 AM

I was also looking for this adapter for a while!

I sent several mail to Phantean, adapter king, Esskabel…always negative response!

So I looked back on the thread on this forum and saw that Vic was selling a kit for 40$
(that's sound expensive but on the other hand the drive are 35$)

I contacted him by E-mail and he will get some additional adapter.

I need 4 adapters!

Perhaps you can contact him to get those adapter...

Thanks a lot for you research!

GuRuGoD · 11-01-2002, 08:49 AM

Last I heard, vic was out of those adapters. If you have some left let me know vic! I neeed one. I agree, 44 is expensive considering the cost of the drive, but the only reason the drives are soo cheap is because every imac already had an adapter! They dont sell the adapters by themselves usually. Plus its a mac part. so get ready to pay through the nose.

vickumar · 11-01-2002, 11:15 AM

I am willing to acquire and sell more of them. PTCruiser, I will get 4 of them for you. And if anyone else wants them... tell me now.

Quantity is no issue. Price still the same, for $40 u get adapter, instructions and a 50pin plug that will connect to your 40pin ide cable. Everything u need to get it working except the drive.

Please vocalize your interest and give me an exact count before November 10th.

Vic

vickumar · 11-01-2002, 11:18 AM

Oh, a small change. If you want to pay via paypal, +$2.50 to cover their commission.

You can also send me a cheque, money order.

GuRuGoD · 11-01-2002, 11:37 AM

Vic-
Would you be willing to send me just the instructions and pinouts? I can get my hands on a board and cable, just need to know how to hook it up. THanks

Shades · 11-01-2002, 12:09 PM

Viclumar: I send you a PM with my order.

vickumar · 11-11-2002, 07:50 PM

Gurugod: i will return your mail shortly.

I will contact you all by Thu regarding the adapters.

Vic

GuRuGoD · 11-11-2002, 09:25 PM

I got the adapter in from some random mac place in minnesota. And got a cable all hakced together. I am waiting to hear from vic with the exact pinouts. I will let you all know what I find out.

PTCruiser · 11-19-2002, 09:45 AM

This will help you!

Table A-14 CD-ROM JAE Connector
Pin Signal Pin Signal

1 Audio L-Ch 2 Audio R-Ch
3 Audio GND 4 GND
5 RESET- 6 DD8
7 DD7 8 DD9
9 DD6 10 DD10
11 DD5 12 DD11
13 DD4 14 DD12
15 DD3 16 DD13
17 DD2 18 DD14
19 DD1 20 DD15
21 DD0 22 DMARQ
23 GND 24 /DIOR
25 DIOW- 26 GND
27 IORDY 28 /DMACK
29 INTRQ 30 /IOCS16
31 DA1 32 /PDIAG
33 DA0 34 DA2
35 /CS1FX 36 /CS3FX
37 /DASP 38 +5 V
39 +5 V 40 +5 V
41 +5 V 42 +5 V
43 GND 44 GND
45 GND 46 GND
47 CSEL 48 GND
49 RESERV 50 RESERV

Table A-11 CD-ROM 40 IDE Connector
Pin Signal Pin Signal
1 RSTDRV 2 GROUND
3 DD7 4 DD8
5 DD6 6 DD9
7 DD5 8 DD10
9 DD4 10 DD1
11 DD3 12 DD12
13 DD2 14 DD13
15 DD1 16 DD14
17 DD0 18 DD15
19 GROUND 20 KEY PIN
21 DRQ 22 GROUND
23 DIOW 24 GROUND
25 DIOR 26 GROUND
27 IORDY 28 CSEL
29 DACK 30 GROUND
31 IRQ 32 No connection
33 DA1 34 No connection
35 DA0 36 DA2
37 CS1P_L 38 DS3P_L
39 DHACT_L 40 GROUND

Found from:
http://www.ccd.bnl.gov/visualization...7-4276-001.pdf

So normally it’ll be a piece of cake to wire this!

I'm waiting for my slot-in (bought)
& my adapter from Vuk if he is still alive…

Otherwise I will try the allmac adapter and wire this slot-in by myself