Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
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By mr_debauch Tue Aug 23, 2011 6:42 pm
ahh I see, well often both variations could have the single blocked pin, however an easy fix is to cut the blocked hole out with an exacto knife... that pin I dont believe is even needed by the mpc but as we know is still there in the machine.

I cut the blocked thing out of mine when I installed the CF reader in my xl... at the time the total cost of installing a cf reader was under 2 dollars.. including the shipping of the card reader.
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By locotesmjr Tue Aug 23, 2011 7:03 pm
mr_debauch wrote:at the time the total cost of installing a cf reader was under 2 dollars.. including the shipping of the card reader.



For real?! I paid $24.40 for the CF card reader itself (S&H included) since I work in the IT field I have access to lots of old wires and stuff so I have tons of those IDE ribbon cables laying around, the total cost for me was $24.40 hehe
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By locotesmjr Wed Aug 24, 2011 2:52 am
mr_debauch bro, do you know the name of the power connector which it connects from the motherboard to the floppy drive?

If you check the power cable one end it is the mini molex which connects in to the floppy drive, but I want to know the name of the other end...
Thanks in advance.
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By mr_debauch Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:46 am
wait, what thing are we talking about? do you have a pic of the connector in question?


yeah the CF reader I got costed 99 cents including shipping but plus roughly 50 cents for the transaction if I am not mistaken. I had the ide cable lying around...

the only issue is that it did not come with a bracket/caddy/enclosure or what ever you call it... but I had a broken floppy drive from an old pii lying around that I hollowed out. it didn't look amazing, but that wasn't really the point at the time.
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By mr_debauch Wed Aug 24, 2011 4:02 am
oh, I dont think I've run into one quite like that.. not that it's guaranteed to be a standard... but what color are the wires connected to the mini molex alternative (for lack of the proper term) haha.. we know the red should be 5 volts right? and that is all that's needed for the card reader I suspect. (well it's ground too)
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By locotesmjr Wed Aug 24, 2011 4:06 am
black and red, only 2 wires, really? your power cable it is not the same as mine? could you post some pics if you have any??
I would like to know all the scenarios, mine it is pictured already... actually I have another one here, so you can see both wires...

Image
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By mr_debauch Wed Aug 24, 2011 4:38 am
wait a sec, I know what the floppy from the mpc looks like.. that is normal. the card reader should have the pins for fitting a mini molex connector just as your mpc motherboard has... all I did was disconnect the floppy and if I remember correct I cut the power wire from the floppy to create an extension to the mini molex cable my card reader had cause I didn't have the loose cable as most atx power supplies have them and are hard wired to the power supply.

just use the power cable from the floppy drive if you need to
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By locotesmjr Wed Aug 24, 2011 12:09 pm
Yo bro, I do not have problem connecting my stuff... I know where and why I connect everything, what I need to know is the name of the connector that I marked with the red arrow, that's it... reason is because I would like to buy some so I need to know the name :P

Also to connect my CF card reader I didn't make any mod on power cables, I use the one that I showed you in the pic and it works perfect, my CF card reader (the Startech like the Addonics) use a standard floppy power connector so all that I needed to do was disconnect the floppy drive and replace with the card reader :)
By JVC Wed Aug 24, 2011 2:15 pm
mistamouse wrote:JVC...I bought the Addonics CF reader, it just arrived. Im going to try it out tonight, but it looks exactly like the one I bought form Startech last month.

One thing Im wondering is which power supply to use. It seems like the CF reader needs to be connected to a power supply that you would find from a regular computer Power Supply, but there is no such option with the XL.

Any advice on the power supply required?


I'm sorry for the late reply. If I remember correctly, a power adapter converter cable (MOLEX adapter) was included with the Addonics CF reader. I was going to make a cable from my old PC parts, but I didn't have to do that.

Check out this DIY cable that can be used for CF reader installation:

http://www.mpc2000xl.com/zip_install.htm

If you are upgrading XL from floppy drive, then you can just use the existing power cable, since Addonics CF reader uses the same MOLEX connector for floppy drive.

If you are upgrading from internal ZIP drive, I think you can use the included power connector between the power cable from XL and the CF reader. In case you didn't get the converter cable, them you can make one, if you have a junk PC laying around.
By JVC Wed Aug 24, 2011 2:24 pm
locotesmjr wrote:Yo bro, I do not have problem connecting my stuff... I know where and why I connect everything, what I need to know is the name of the connector that I marked with the red arrow, that's it... reason is because I would like to buy some so I need to know the name :P


I think you can just call it "four pin floppy drive MOLEX connector", although it is not official name.

But, here's very extensive information, including the part numbers and pinouts:

http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html#floppy
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By locotesmjr Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:00 pm
JVC wrote:
I think you can just call it "four pin floppy drive MOLEX connector", although it is not official name.

But, here's very extensive information, including the part numbers and pinouts:

http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html#floppy


Thanks bro, but yeah I know the name of that one, I was asking for the other one (the one with the red arrow), but nevermind I just find it, it is called JST 4 pin connector...

Now I have another question, does the internal zip drive with the regular molex connector use 5 or 12v?
By JVC Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:07 pm
locotesmjr wrote:
JVC wrote:
I think you can just call it "four pin floppy drive MOLEX connector", although it is not official name.

But, here's very extensive information, including the part numbers and pinouts:

http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html#floppy


Thanks bro, but yeah I know the name of that one, I was asking for the other one (the one with the red arrow), but nevermind I just find it, it is called JST 4 pin connector...

Now I have another question, does the internal zip drive with the regular molex connector use 5 or 12v?

I think it is 4 pin peripheral power cable:

http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnec ... peripheral

I think it does use both 5 and 12V DC.
By fewch Wed Aug 24, 2011 4:25 pm
i know this probably sounds stupid but im assuming you can save samples from the mpc onto cf card when the reader is installed?