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IBM-AUSTRIA - PC-HW-Support 30 Aug 1999 |
Identifying Adapters
Identifying Adapters
Adapters can usually be identified by examining the adapter and looking for special chips, sockets or connectors.
I/O adapters can be identified by looking at the number of PIN's in the I/O connector and the gender of the connector.
F connectors (TV type) indicate a broadband network adapter.
BNC connectors (mini twistlock) indicate a 3270 emulation adapter or possibly, if it is an AT Bus adapter,
it could be a Cluster adapter. The 3270 adapter does not have switches, the Cluster adapter does.
9-pin Male connectors usually indicate a serial port.
9-pin Female connectors usually are display adapters but could also be Token Ring adapters, if it is an AT Bus
adapter. If it is a short card, it is a Token Ring. If it is a long card, it is a display adapter.. If the adapter is for the
Micro Channel, it is a Token Ring adapter. IBM does not market 9-pin display adapter for Micro Channel systems.
15-pin Male (2 rows of PIN's) adapters are 5250 or 36/38 Emulation adapters. These two adapters
are the same and differ in name only, depending if it is an AT Bus or Micro Channel adapter.
15-pin (2 rows of PIN's) Female connectors could be the Page Printer adapter (double card) or an Ethernet (single card), if it
is a Micro Channel card, or it could be a game adapter (short card) or a Page Printer adapter (double card) if it is an AT Bus adapter.
15-pin (3 rows of PIN's) Female connectors on an AT bus, indicate a PS/2 display adapter. If it is a Micro Channel adapter, it might be an 8514/A adapter (double card
with many sockets on the full-length daughter card), an XGA adapter, (single card with no sockets except for the 8 memory modules), or an
Image Adapter (two sets of memory sockets and connectors for daughter cards).
25-pin Male connectors indicate some type of serial adapter. It could be a Multiprotocol adapter or a Scanner adapter. Many
25-pin connectors do not use all of the PIN's. Some of the PIN's might be omitted on both adapters and system board ports.
25-pin Female connectors indicate a parallel adapter.
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