On 2025-02-01 13:25, Frank Leonhardt via cctalk wrote:
On 01/02/2025 17:33, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
Another pet gripe of mine is calling the old 50-way SCSI/etc. connector
a "Centronics" connector,regardless of application or number of
connections.
I prefer to refer to them as "blue ribbon" connectors, developed by
Amphenol in 1950 and used extensively in commercial telephone systems
long before Centronics or SCSI.
I've always called them Amphenol connectors, although strictly
speaking Amphenol made more than one design.
My #1 annoyances are IT types referring non-volatile RAM as CMOS and
motherboard configuration utilities as a BIOS.
Actually, in 1971 they were originally marked A-MP, which stood for
Aero-MarineProducts.
And as far as the statement that Epson standarised the Centronics
connector goes, I say 'hogwash' - it was being used by Centronics many
years before Epson came on to the market. I was servicing teh
Centronics 101, 103 and 306 back in 1975, including making cables to
hook them up to PDP11s. I still remeember the connector part nuer, it
was 57-10360 - the 36 meaning 36 pins, which is why I said there was
never a 50-pin Centronics connector. Centronics printers did sometimes
ship with another parallel interface, it was Dataproducts printer comp
and had a Winchester-style connector I believe, but I never worked on one.
And yes, the 50-pin version was called a blue-ribbon, I saw enough of
those while working for Bell! Common on key sets in small businesses!
cheers
Nigel
--
Nigel Johnson, MSc., MIEEE, MCSE VE3ID/G4AJQ/VA3MCU
Amateur Radio, the origin of the open-source concept!
Skype: TILBURY2591
