BBC printer port (ever used for anything else?)

[Tony Duell]

> > Ah yes, that stupid quincuncial DIN plug. Fits both ways up, only 1 
> > works....
> 
> 
> Just do what I did and solder a db9 onto the pads with flying leads. :D (and 

You mean a DE9, but anyway...

> yes, the DIN plug is still in place and works)

I'd probably do that on a normal Beeb, but this is an Acorn Cambridge 
Workstation. And while I don't normally worry about modifications, this 
machine is sufficiently rare that I don't want to do anything 
irreversable to it (I don't mind soldering bits on the circuit boards, 
doing the sideways RAM hack, etc, but I don't want to cut holes in it.

I have made up a serial cable anyway, I just have to remember to plug it 
it the right way up.

I have never figured out the reason for the pinout of the Beeb serial 
port. The Tatung Einstein [1] uses the same connector, but the wiring is 
sane in that turning the plug over swaps TxD with RxD and RTS with CTS, 
thus giving the null-modem swap.

[1] A machine that has a few Beeb-related jokes in the design. The 
Einstein's system bus is called the 'Pipe', Acorn called the second 
processor interface the 'Tube'. That itself was a joke -- the Tube is a 
slang neame for the London Underground (Subway to you guys across the 
Pond), which of course is an alternative to the bus....

-tony