What the hell type of connector is this?

[Shawn Stanford]

I'm not familiar enough to be able to tell if it's an XT or AT...

[ch_123]

The connectors are identical.

Keep looking, my son.

[EverythingIBM]

The connectors are identical.

Keep looking, my son.

Which also happens to be identical to MIDI ports.

I wonder what would happen if I hooked up the XT keyboard to a MIDI connector... hm....

[ch_123]

Are you sure?

[EverythingIBM]

No they're not.

Look harder...

Yes they are! I even connected the keyboard to a MIDI connector. They're probably not compatible, but they are the EXACT same connector.

[EverythingIBM]

Are you sure?

It was a little stiffer to get in the MIDI connector (due to the little metal latch thingy to hold it in place), but all pins fit in nicely.

[didjamatic]

CH, what is your Avatar?  Hard drive enclosure?  Air freshener?  Prophylactic dispenser?

[microsoft windows]

All that plug is is a standard DIN plug. I see them all over the place from keyboards to loudspeakers.

[ch_123]

Yes they are! I even connected the keyboard to a MIDI connector. They're probably not compatible, but they are the EXACT same connector.

I have a keyboard (Piano variety) set up near my PC, so I see the Midi connector a lot. I kept on thinking that it had a shorter spacing between pins, but looking at a picture, I can see that they are the same. My bad.

CH, what is your Avatar? Hard drive enclosure? Air freshener? Prophylactic dispenser?

All of the above - it's one of these.

[EverythingIBM]

All that plug is is a standard DIN plug. I see them all over the place from keyboards to loudspeakers.

Which makes you wonder what kind of crazy stuff you could do...

Although, wouldn't want to short any of my MIDI equipment (or my intellistation) for that matter... with a stupid XT keyboard.

[EverythingIBM]

I have a keyboard (Piano variety) set up near my PC. I kept on thinking that it had a shorter spacing between pins, but looking at a picture, I can see that they are the same.

You're always taking the devil's advocate when I state something.


hmmmm....

[EverythingIBM]

Just to confirm again, AT and XT use the exact same DIN shell. However, I believe the actual form of the plastic part differed between the AT and XT Model Fs. I don't know for sure but I believe XT is a metal housing and AT is the black plastic...but again, I don't know for sure.

The XT connector head is plastic except for the pins & cylindrical metal shell.

[EverythingIBM]

All of the above - it's one of these.

Show Image

I thought he was just joking. Surely everyone knows that lavender box which was copied from IBM's netvista:

(okay I'm joking. I still think the IBM one looks better)

[didjamatic]

That O2 is pretty unique.  Google images says some of them came with (or were used with) the dampened alps SGI 101's.

[HaaTa]

Just to confirm again, AT and XT use the exact same DIN shell. However, I believe the actual form of the plastic part differed between the AT and XT Model Fs. I don't know for sure but I believe XT is a metal housing and AT is the black plastic...but again, I don't know for sure.

Just checked my XT (dunno) and AT (1988) cables, identical connectors. Logo artifacts are nearly the same.

However, the cable itself is different. The AT cable is a bit thicker.
I'm not going to cut them to compare, but I'd say the AT cable is about 1mm thicker. It's easier to compare the coiled portion, as I can see the difference there, rather than having to feel it out.
Oh and the XT cable on my board is quite a bit shorter than the AT one.

XT:
Coiled portion: 1/2 as long
Coiled to Board: 1/2 as long
Coiled to DIN: 1/3 as long

Interesting.

[ch_123]

I think by that late stage it was mainly NMB rubber dome keyboards. The AT-101 was more associated with the Indy and Indigo 2. The original Indigo had a dampened Alps keyboard that was PS/2 incompatible despite having the same plug...

[Findecanor]

CH, what is your Avatar?  Hard drive enclosure?  Air freshener?  Prophylactic dispenser?

The Silicon Graphics OČ.
It was pretty fly for '96. I programmed VR cube software on one in college. Everyone at the lab referred to it as "the toaster". The one I used had a SGI granite keyboard with Alps switches assigned to it.

I think that the standard keyboard that came with it was a rubber dome made by NMB, but in the granite colour scheme. 3.5 mm key travel. Very low resistance so that you bottom out easily, but hard. It has a curved steel back plate with all keys the same profile. I used that keyboard on a SGI Octane at work later the same year. The same keyboard but in white was also bundled with the Dec AlphaStations that I also used in college.

The mice that was bundled with the late SGIs was a Logitech Pilotmouse in "granite" plastic. It had three buttons and not a stupid mouse-wheel. I got a SGI mouse / keyboard (NMB) combo for 3 euros at a computing recycling center a few years ago ... just so that would have a replacement when my current Pilotmouse fails ... but it hasn't done so yet.

[Shawn Stanford]

And if I remember my GH-lore correctly: XT keyboards are not compatible with modern PCs, but AT keyboards need an inexpensive in-line adapter. Correct?

[ch_123]

I found two SGI mice in a skip once, both work fine, but I've never really used them...

I'd like to find an O2, but I don't really have the money to make buying one for the lulz feasible. Hoping that my college will dump out some of the ones that they have buried away somewhere.

[microsoft windows]

Maybe you should ask for them.