Cable Select vs. Master/slave settings

[Claude Jones]

On Sun August 7 2005 3:19 pm, Gene Heskett wrote:
>
> Nice idea Claude, but can you tell us how to tell the difference
> between the cables so that we can properly identify them?
>

Sure. The cs cables are always marked. Look near the connectors. Different 
manufactures will use different terms, but there will nearly always be a 
clear set of markings (like HD0, HD1), printed on the cable  near the 
connector, or rarely, on the connector itself. I have encountered cables used 
by OEM's in cheap systems in the past, that were cs, but did not have any 
indication. That's why I qualified my 'always marked' statement by 'nearly 
always' one sentence later. In the past several years, I only encountered 
that once. 

So: if you're building a system, if the cable has no markings on or near the 
connectors, jumper your devices master/slave. If you see markings that 
intuitively denote 'device1/device2', then try the cs jumpering first. And, 
always double check yourself - maybe it's just me, but, I get wrapped in the 
details, especially when I start parts-swapping to troubleshoot, and have 
been burned by bad jumpering more than once. Several times, in the throes of 
intense concentration, I've left a device jumpered master or slave, and the 
other jumpered cs - and that will sometimes work, but, it can lead to strange 
problems down the road that are very hard to diagnose. 

-- 
Claude Jones
Bluemont, VA, USA