Daniel Lowe
Matthew SparbyFor nearly 5 years, I've been trying to figure out what this adapter is supposed to connect to. It's still a mystery. Someday, the right person is going to see this post and they'll finally solve this puzzle.
paulrickards@Cloudscout Looks like a KVM cable to me.
@paulrickards I haven't found any KVM devices that had a configuration like this. It would have been from the first Mac transition era (68k-PPC). I also considered some kind of presentation system.
@Cloudscout I remembered that the same cable was in a lot of stuff I was going to get (but ended up not getting). But I have the pictures of the other cables that likely came with it. Honestly reminds me of something Blackbox would make.
@paulrickards I wonder if it might be for some kind of digitizer tablet like an old Summasketch or similar...
Ryan The Red 🖥️🚲🍺🏳️🌈@Cloudscout @paulrickards It was a wild ride parsing all the replies, but digitizer hit me as a likely possibility.
MufasaWhen you add @paulrickards' photos as related, it overwhelmingly leans towards a mouse utilizing device, like a digitizer.
I've labeled Paul's 4 quadrant picture. Theory follows:
A - PC side serial port to Sun serial port
B - Mac side mouse port to Sun serial port
C - Used in conjunction with A to make PC side PS/2 port to Sun serial port
D - Sun serial port to Sun serial port
They unified a bunch of host mice ports into the Sun serial port.
Paul@Cloudscout the Atari ST has that same 15 pin DIN connector for video out, but yeah.. you got a puzzle there. I like the KVM theory; it’s gonna be some random, low-volume, specialty gizmo from the mid 90s, probably.
Evan Allen@Cloudscout I'm curious if the mac serial and pc serial are wired in parallel so you can use one or the other, or if they're independent. Care to do a continuity check on all the pins and generate a wiring diagram?
@abzman The cable is in storage right now. I'll map it out someday.
Robert Petersen 
@Cloudscout @pixel paging @ActionRetro and @foone
Is Adrian Black on Mastodon?
Mike Kasprzak 🦖@Cloudscout That's quite the mystery cable you have there. 😋
All I can gather is that it's some sort of serial breakout or multiplexing cable, but exactly what device it connects to is a mystery to me. My best guess is that it goes with some sort of industrial machine that needed a mouse (CNC, print, etc). It's unlikely that both serial cables were needed, but whatever industry it served had a mix of PC and Mac users.
Best of luck!
Steveg58@Cloudscout
Custom connectors (esp with pins blanked out) are very common in MilSpec equipment.
Custom connectors (esp with pins blanked out) are very common in MilSpec equipment.
Potato Enthusiast 🇵🇸
Darren@Cloudscout looks like this guy on ebay. link might be dead but useful content in the url
@Cloudscout tigertronics radio. You can buy another one on amazon if you lose this one !
https://www.amazon.com/Tigertronics-Cable-ICOM-13-PIN-PORT/dp/B00AR0BGBU
A ham radio that uses a mouse?
I think this a red herring. At least the 13-pin connector is a match though.
@ne1for23 @Cloudscout yes sorry I realized belatedly there are pictures of the other end and that deepens the mystery.
@ne1for23 @Cloudscout - actually, that model of ham radio does have a mouse! I think we have a winner https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mL7RPtvkmV4
Ham Radio Basics Icom 7610 Mouse Tuning Revealed and SOLVED!
A ham radio that uses a USB mouse isn't the winner (image from the video). 🫤
The ICOM IC-7610 manual also reveals this radio is from 2017, a far cry from the 90s this cable was made around.
https://icomuk.co.uk/files/icom/PDF/productManual/IC-7610_ENG_Basic_1.pdf
So what is at the end of the cable you found on Amazon? A mini din data port, not mouse connections.
https://www.passion-radio.com/interface-cable/slusb-13i-1487.html
This wouldn't be the first time someone has guessed a ham radio before and it still may ultimately be the correct guess as ICOM apparently has been using this 13-pin DIN for years.
@Cloudscout never did map out the cable wiring though.
https://nitter.poast.org/Cloudscout/status/1091570232320319488#m
The model referenced in the image (ICOM IC-7200) is from 2008 per the manual, so not the correct period and odd to be supporting a bus mouse that late.
https://icomuk.co.uk/files/icom/PDF/productManual/IC-7200%20instruction%20manual.pdf
In researching this, I found myself referencing this bus mouse page on the Deskthority wiki more often than I expected.
https://deskthority.net/wiki/Bus_mouse
@Cloudscout says this is "from the first Mac transition era (68k-PPC)".
https://oldbytes.space/@Cloudscout/110839857284372758
That page has me thinking it is older than 1994. Also, the fact that bus mouse can be adapted to a serial adapter would make the argument that the wiring all translates to serial and was only intended to use one port at a time with a mouse.
@ne1for23 @Cloudscout rabbit (sorry mouse) hole .. USB was 1996, so maybe had a previous serial technology before the usb but would they have had an lcd screen that early with mouse? That seems unlikely for ham radio though as you say they love their din ports.
"a previous serial technology"? Like RS-232 first introduced in 1960? 😏
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-232#History
But it would also have to be after the first bus mice in 1986 for the port to exist on the cable.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_mouse
And the LCD isn't relevant. You could benefit from mouse based tuning and click to talk on a ham radio without seeing a display output. Its just saying that the video of a modern ham radio you found isn't the device @Cloudscout's cable is for.
What if...? The missing piece to the puzzle is ham radio tuning software for classic Macs and PC? 🤔
This would address the desire for visual output without anything on the ham radio itself.
One thing that bothers me is that classic Mac serial port. Mice from Classic macs didn't plug into the serial port and weren't serial. It would have to be used for actual serial communication from a Mac, giving this software a plausible reason to exist.
@ne1for23 @Cloudscout I’m reading the icom docs :) dammit I’ve been #nerdsniped. The 13 pin port on ICOM devices is an accessory port for all sorts of hookups so it would be plausible for controlling a radio and sending / receiving data even over it.
@Cloudscout @ne1for23 here’s a possibly modern relative with USb. it seems the cable carries data and audio
@ne1for23 @Cloudscout so god way too much reading but it makes sense. The ICOM 13 pin output is for data mode. If you are using it for a data link, it’s how you get your PC/Mac modem transmitting from serial port on PC to the ham radio link. (struggling to get a clean link from search engine but search for “ Digital Setup Examples for ICOM 718”
Is this what you were trying to get out of Bing?
The 13-pin ACC port of ICOM radios doesn't seem directly consumable by a computer serial connection, so the cable would have to have circuitry in it for sure. The injection of a bus mouse continues to seem out of place as far as function goes.
It only makes slightly more sense if the mystery cable connects to a TU or TNC, not directly to the radio.
(IC-706, a period approximate model)
https://www.icomjapan.com/support/manual/2849/
@ne1for23 @Cloudscout is it possible that it’s using the mouse port but not as a mouse? Maybe just for data input. That would be quite a hack.
This just doesn't make sense. You would be adding a cable between the mystery cable and the computer so that the radio can send data to the computer?
The mouse port on the computer isn't going to be an output device, mice don't work that way and the radio won't do this bit-banging.
Unless a middle device with two 13-pin ports surfaces, I think the ICOM radio is out as a possible use for the cable.
@ne1for23 @Cloudscout yup. danke
Andrew@Cloudscout @stufromoz some sort of old school KVM is my first guess.
Cycling Stu@ausfestivus I had no idea, but I know that people in my followers have a chance.
Marcus@Cloudscout That looks like a serial port https://www.cs.uaf.edu/~olawlor/ref/mac_ports/index.html If you scroll down you'll see this image
So matching up the ports with their names has me really focused on the mouse port.
Is the intent to use a mouse and serial connection simultaneously or is it that this one cable represents one mouse (serial mice for Mac/PC)? 🤔
That isn't your run of the mill PS/2 mouse port either. It's a bus mouse port. Perhaps this is from a 3rd party product that bundled with a Microsoft InPort ISA card and a Microsoft bus mouse?
All signs are that this is 3rd party, proprietary & uncommon.
@ne1for23 Once upon a time, this exact cable was for sale on ebay. I messaged the seller to see if they knew what it was for (there was nothing in the description) but they never responded.
What did they even call it in their listing?
The guesses as to what this cable is from 2019 aren't that helpful either. You're getting a better response on Mastodon.
https://nitter.poast.org/Cloudscout/status/1091126831833595904
@ne1for23 the ebay auction I mentioned earlier was a suggestion from that thread back then but the person deleted their account so it's gone.
Even if the tweet wasn't deleted, the auction wouldn't be accessible anymore anyhow.
Was hoping you'd remember the auction title, but if its as much a mystery to them they probably called it a "Mouse/PC Serial/Mac Serial" cable and called it a day.
Adam ♿@Cloudscout might be worth asking on forum.vcfed.org or vogons.org
My first thought is that it's some kind of passthrough cable for one of the cards that had Apple hardware for use on IBM or IBM hardware for use on Apple.
Hound@Cloudscout hmm. The 13-pin end looks like an ICOM DIN port, which would be for a radio (maybe other things too, not certain).
Winston Smith@Cloudscout for an early/old PowerBook?
Maurice Milligan@Cloudscout The first pic is a SLCAB13I Cable for ICOM 13-pin DIN ACC Port Connector.
The radio cable p/n SLCAB13I is designed to work with the SignaLink USB sound card radio interface as well as the older SignaLink SL-1+ model. It is ~3 feet in length and has a male 13-pin DIN plug on the radio end and an 8-pin RJ-45 plug on the SignaLink end
From - https://www.ebay.com/p/1542643899
The radio cable p/n SLCAB13I is designed to work with the SignaLink USB sound card radio interface as well as the older SignaLink SL-1+ model. It is ~3 feet in length and has a male 13-pin DIN plug on the radio end and an 8-pin RJ-45 plug on the SignaLink end
From - https://www.ebay.com/p/1542643899
Hamish The PolarBear@Cloudscout I was excited at first as I instantly recognised the Atari ST monitor port.🥴 then I spotted the other picture with the "serial" markings. I have boosted though so hopefully the mystery will be solved one day...
Nixie
Justin Skists@Cloudscout it looks like something @NanoRaptor cooked up!
Elias Mårtenson@Cloudscout that looks like an Atari ST video connector.
@Cloudscout the ST connector is described on this page. https://info-coach.fr/atari/hardware/interfaces.php
WWSchoof 📯@Cloudscout maybe @MacLemon knows
Doctor Memory@Cloudscout I actually have a guess! There was a hardware PC compatibility product for the original toaster style macs that literally bolted a PC onto the side but let you use your Mac keyboard and mouse.
I’m having some trouble turning up the name of the damn thing but I’ll update this thread when I get it.
@Cloudscout ah here we go, the “Dayna MacCharlie”: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacCharlie
Can’t find any decent screenshots of its backside though, so this remains a wild guess.
@memory Grabbed this still frame from a YouTube video. Doesn't look like it's for the MacCharlie.
@Cloudscout Huh, no, definitely not -- and for some reason I thought the MacCharlie was an ADB-era product but that's the original db9 mac mouse port in use there.
"Some sort of mac/pc integration product" still seems like a solid guess but alas I don't have any more specific ones. I'll be curious to know if you ever find it!
Simon ZerafaSomething audio related perhaps? 🫤🤷♂️