This is the cable specifications for CUTILS v1.0


o Legal notice

  The author of this document shall not be held responsible 
  for any physical or material injury which could occur from the
  use of the information contained in this document. 
  The information is provided 'as is'. It is the responsability
  of the reader to take care of its own safety and of the safety
  of his hardware.


o What do you need to build the cable?

  DESIGNATION                                              QTY

  DB25 Male Connector                                      1
  12+12 Board fittable connector, step 3.96 mm step        1
  (Hard to find, but not impossible. 
   In France, you can find it at 'Radiospares'...)
  12 wires shielded cable                                  1-3 meters
  Push button, to provide a handy reset switch             optional

  Iron, solder, first aid kit, ... 


o How to connect the cable? 

  Please take a look at the 'pics' directory to see the connectors and
  connections before attempting to build the cable. 

  Remember, except for the RESET swith, all the connections at the VIC
  are made on the lower side of the User Port.
  
  Beware of the voltages on the upper side of the port. See the notes 
  below.


           _____
           _|_|_
       ___|     |___
      | Push button |                       /!\ = DANGER!
      | (OPTIONAL)  |
      |_____________| 
         U       U 
         |       |
         |       |
            /!\                             /!\ /!\
        GND +5V RST                         ~9V ~9V
         1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10  11  12
         _   _   _   _   _   _   _   _   _   _   _   _
   _____|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_____
  |                                                         |
  |    V I C   U S E R   P O R T   ( R E A R   V I E W )    |
  |_________________________________________________________|
        |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_|
  
         A   B   C   D   E   F   H   J   K   L   M   N      
        GND CB1 PB0 PB1 PB2 PB3 PB4 PB5 PB6 PB7 CB2 GND     
  
         |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
         |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
         |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   +--- CABLE SHIELD
         |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
         |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
 DB25
 PIN    18   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10  19   

      (The pin numbers are written on the DB25 connector) 



o Important Notes:

1. This cable works with an IBM PC as well as with a Commodore
   Amiga

2. I recommend to add the reset switch, which comes very handy,
   to perform a warm reset, insead of having to power off and on
   the VIC. You'll then be able to perform a RESET anytime.
   The CUTILS will persist in memory from one reset to another,
   as long as their memory space has not been tampered by another
   program (which rarely happens)


3. Beware how the VIC connector is to be plugged (With nearly all
   of the connections downside) because, it is easy to plug it
   upside down.


4. So, while you're at it, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND TO GET RID OF THE
   9V AC CABLE INSIDE THE VIC. It is usually the black cable which
   goes from somewhere near the power connector to the user port
   (you can actually see this cable arriving to the user port if
   you look back at the VIC).
   If you don't have any device using this 9V AC power source
   on your VIC, YOU SHOULD REALLY GET RID OF THIS CABLE.

   BELIEVE ME, YOU'LL THANK GOD FOR HAVING DONE SO THE DAY YOU'LL
   NOTICE YOU HAVE PLUGGED THE VIC CONNECTOR UPSIDE DOWN.

   You can be pretty sure to burn the parallel controller of the
   PC or the Amiga if you inject 9V AC on one of the data pins, or
   even worse, the VIC VIA controller...
   On the contrary, the +5V on pin 1 of the user port will be 
   pretty harmless if connected upside down, for +5V DC is the 
   usual TTL voltage expected on pin 10 of the parallel port (_ACK)  
    
5. BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL WHEN PLUGGING TO THE USER PORT.
   NEVER PLUG THE CABLE WHILE THE VIC IS POWERED.
   This is true. I've had the misfortune to burned one of my VIA
   chips circuitry by hot plugging the cable one day.
   You've been warned.

6. This cable cannot be made simpler, but it is fully compliant with
   the standard parallel protocol:
   The _STROBE signal of one machine is connected to the _ACK pin,
   of the other and vice versa.
   The data lines are connected to one another, that's all.

   But you will see, the simpliest things often turn out to be the
   most efficient...
    
