Another dual PDS Adapter for SE/30? 🤔 (PDS only, no cache connector)

[retr01]

I was browsing through buyee.jp, and this caught my eye:

https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/w1053871353?conversionType=service_page_search

It is another dual PDS adapter for the SE/30, not by Artmix nor Bolle. Pricing hovers around $93 USD. @Kay K.M.Mods, can you look that up and let us know if you know the seller and if a good buy?

If anyone knows about this card, feel free to share.

 

[Crutch]

What is that little daughtercard there? It looks like it wants to support DC-in and Ethernet?

 

[retr01]

What is that little daughtercard there? It looks like it wants to support DC-in and Ethernet?

One of those looks like a +12v / +5v power supply to the cards.

The other is simply an adapter for the PDS slot opening on the back of the SE/30 that facilitates hooking up RJ45, possibly thin client TBASE10, video connector, etc. The last two connectors are for feeding +5v / +12v power. Finally, there is space for inserting an SD card, probably with an SD card extender, into an SD SCSI drive.

It's kinda strange because the way the PDS slot opening connectors are oriented seems backward. Hmmm.

​

 

[retr01]

Searched with Google "marushin pds adapter card" and apparently it lists the following web page that explains more about this PDS adapter. However, the page is not coming up.

 

[Trash80toG4]

That looks like an actual, straight thru card with two stock PDS Slots. I looks nothing like an adapter for PowerCache or any other IIsi Cache Slot interfaced card as there's no indication of trace orientation change or the PAL IC logic required for conversion?

Don't think I've ever seen a straight up TwinSlot PDS adapter but for the IIsi?

Dunno why that PDS blunder thread is mentioned in relation to this board. More questions than answers there I think?

@Bolle what's up with this thing? Wish there was a picture of the solder side. Red Aux. PSU for PDS looks interesting. Hella breakout board. Looks like external power in jack/header for the simple, blue, passthru only Aux. Power Board?

 

[retr01]

That looks like an actual, straight thru card with two stock PDS Slots. I looks nothing like an adapter for PowerCache or any other IIsi Cache Slot interfaced card as there's no indication of trace orientation change or the PAL IC logic required for conversion?

It's for the 120-pin SE/30 PDS slot. The seller's direct web page I found in the screenshot of Google results posted above may have other PDS adapter cards.

@JDW or @Kay K.M.Mods, can you bring up that marushin web page?

Don't think I've ever seen a straight up TwinSlot PDS adapter but for the IIsi?

This card is a dual slot PDS adapter for the SE/30. However, the PDS cards (video, NIC, accelerator, etc.) need different slot addresses that will not conflict, e.g., the slot address set with jumpers.

Dunno why that PDS blunder thread is mentioned in relation to this board. More questions than answers there I think?

*shrugs* Google must have thought the first result was related. I was looking for a web page that may belong to the seller, which might be the second result I circled and highlighted in that screenshot.

 

[JDW]

Searched with Google "marushin pds adapter card" and apparently it lists the following web page that explains more about this PDS adapter. However, the page is not coming up.

View attachment 7844

Here's the rough Google Translation of that web page (except graphics, of course):

ORG_DualPDS

Kay Koba has long told me that the market for vintage Mac stuff is quite large outside Japan, so it is not in the best interest of the gentleman who created those products to not also have a dedicated English page. Due to the current pricing structure and profits sought, it's probably difficult for the seller to do cooperation with Kay, although if Kay did pitch the item in English it would definitely have a positive impact on sales.

Overall, the concept of having the added power supply is an interesting one. I look forward to hearing Kay's thoughts on it.

 

[retr01]

Looks like external power in jack/header for the simple, blue, passthru only Aux. Power Board?

Yes, I read the link @JDW provided (thank you, James! ), roughly translated from Japanese to English. Now I understand why there is an option to connect to external power to support if the SE/30's stock Sony CR44 (or Astec) PSU falls below the threshold needed to continue running or starting up.

Has anyone had power dipping down too much when running two or three cards in the SE/30?

 

[Trash80toG4]

It's for the 120-pin SE/30 PDS slot. The seller's direct web page I found in the screenshot of Google results posted above may have other PDS adapter cards.

Exactly, but the IIci Cache Slot connector is exactly the same as the PDS. Very strange to find a TwinSlot type card for SE/30. I'm surprised I've never seen another.

@JDW have you seen a card like this before? Pretty nifty.

@retr01 I was talking about the power connectors on that breakout board with Video and SD Card openings. Pretty slick!

edit: some confusion from my clumsy use of "straight up" in its non-directional sense e.g. standard?

 

[retr01]

It looks like the seller has two versions of this card, depending on which video and accelerator cards. Also, I noticed the seller is saying that the standard hard drive will not work, so we have to move to a different orientation, such as vertical. Interesting.

 

[Trash80toG4]

He said: Genuine HDD mounter cannot be used with the Radius Pivot card compatible adapter with horizontal, non-slanted slots. HDD is probably OK, just gotta bin that stupid big, overlong HDD cage of SE origin and use the simple flat type. Half height drive is a given.

Says there are three different adapters, I've only found pics of two versions so far, but it's past my bedtime.

 

[retr01]

He said: Genuine HDD mounter cannot be used with the Radius Pivot card compatible adapter with horizontal, non-slanted slots. HDD is probably OK, just gotta bin that stupid big, overlong HDD cage of SE origin and use the simple flat type. Half height drive is a given.

Says there are three different adapters, I've only found pics of two versions so far, but it's past my bedtime.

Yeah. I'm not too fond of the stock oversized HDD bracket I have in the SE/30. Since I use BlueSCSI F4 (and might swap for MacSD later), I can easily take it out and put it elsewhere. Print a new bracket.

 

[JDW]

@JDW have you seen a card like this before? Pretty nifty.

@retr01 was the one who first brought it to my attention. I had not seen it before.

And just to be clear (for those who don't like to read the entire Google translation of the product page, this is a PDS splitter. You get 2 PDS slots instead of one. The TS Adapter and the TS Adapter clone from Bolle (which has added functionality) is not the same in that they offer 1PDS connector (pass-thru) and then a very different connector called "Cache" for accelerator cards which require it. Not all accelerators need the cache slot, such as the DiiMO card which is made for the SE/30 and which plugs directly into the PDS slot (or PDS pass-thru).

Plugging a "Cache" type accelerator card (i.e., one not originally made for the SE/30) into the PDS slot will kill the accelerator. I know this all too well because I accidentally plugged my precious Daystar Turbo040 into the topmost PDS pass-thru slot in the past and it died. More specifically, the big ASIC chip on the card was fried. Amazingly, Joethezombie at the other forum was able to find a batch of Daystar ASIC chips, and he sent some off to Bolle in Germany. I sent my dead Turbo040 to Bolle. Bolle swapped the ASIC chip and tested, and everything was fixed! Simply amazing.

Point learned: never connect an accelerator into the PDS slot or adapter's pass thru-PDS slot unless it's a DiiMO or similar made specifically for connecting to PDS. Cards like the Turbo040 must be connected to the Cache slot (the one that makes the card jut out to the side), and note the dual-PDS adapter card we are discussing in this thread is NOT that type because both the top and side connectors are PDS -- it does NOT have any Cache connectors on it at all.

If the PDS and Cache connectors were keyed and of different types, none of this would matter. But sadly there are the same, so you must be very, very careful.

 

[Trash80toG4]

@retr01 was the one who first brought it to my attention. I had not seen it before.

I was curious if you'd ever seen any kind of PDS splitter for the SE/30. TwinSlot for the IIsi is the only classic era example of a similar approach to expansion that I can think of offhand.

Given very high costs of PCB development/production until about a decade ago, I'm not much surprised the gamba gang never did this. I'm surprised it took this long for someone to come up with what I think may be a novel approach to SE/30 expansion? I especially like the version that supports Radius Pivot IIsi installation, Assumption there, he might mean the full size SE/30 version?

The flexibility of mounting any full size SE/30 PDS Vidcard atop a horizontally oriented PDS NIC (again assumption of configuration) is unprecedented?

Can't wait to see a workup done on these PDS splitters.

Nice, concise differentiation terminology, James.

 

[retr01]

Point learned: never connect an accelerator into the PDS slot or adapter's pass thru-PDS slot unless it's a DiiMO or similar made specifically for connecting to PDS. Cards like the Turbo040 must be connected to the Cache slot (the one that makes the card jut out to the side), and note the dual-PDS adapter card we are discussing in this thread is NOT that type because both the top and side connectors are PDS -- it does NOT have any Cache connectors on it at all.

If the PDS and Cache connectors were keyed and of different types, none of this would matter. But sadly there are the same, so you must be very, very careful.

EXCELLENT point, @JDW! Thank you for pointing that out. I will adjust the thread topic to point out that this DOES NOT HAVE any cache connectors, only PDS connectors for cards that are actual PDS cards, NOT cache cards.

 

[Kay K.M.Mods]

The problem seems to have been solved without me having to answer.

I'm sure he is the best SE/30 repairer in Japan. He has a lot of skills and his website has a lot of hack ideas. I exchanged emails with him twice.

I don't think there is any possibility that I will handle his product at this point. When I read his feelings, he said that he didn't want to end up as a repair shop, so he was making a new product.

However, if you want to use both the accelerator and the graphics card, there are only Artmix or Bolle adapters. I think the problem is which accelerator it supports. The Artmix adapter is unfortunately a bit problematic and requires a jumper. Bolle's adapter works fine.

 

[retr01]

Thank you, @Kay K.M.Mods, for letting us know about this seller. I am glad that this adapter can be used for PDS-only cards sans the cache connector cards. Yeah, it will not work with an accelerator unless the accelerator can work in a PDF connector.

@JDW, the accelerators that only connect to the cache connector cannon handle more power load than the PDS pass-through typically provides, correct? I am asking this related to your experience that the ASIC chip on the Daystar 040 had fried.

 

[Trash80toG4]

Anytime you plug something in where it doesn't belong, power and ground pins can be randomly connected to logic signal sockets.
Poof, magic smoke released.

 

[JDW]

Here is why plugging a cache card into a PDS slot is a bad idea…



The entire story is in my old thread…

SE/30 PDS Adapter Epic Blunder

Friends, my heart is in the depths of despair at the moment. I was swapping multiple PDS cards in and out of my SE/30 today at a rapid pace and made an epic blunder. I say "epic" because in all my years of using these Macs I've never done something so thoughtless and stupid. I have a...

68kmla.org

 

[retr01]

Here is why plugging a cache card into a PDS slot is a bad idea…

View attachment 7867

Nice pinout comparison between the cache connector in the IIci and the PDS connector in the SE/30! I saved it since I have an IIci and SE/30. Thank you.

And that makes sense how the wrong connector could mess up and fry something.

The entire story is in my old thread…

SE/30 PDS Adapter Epic Blunder

Friends, my heart is in the depths of despair at the moment. I was swapping multiple PDS cards in and out of my SE/30 today at a rapid pace and made an epic blunder. I say "epic" because in all my years of using these Macs I've never done something so thoughtless and stupid. I have a...

68kmla.org

Wow. I am glad you were able to get your Daystar fixed.