Date : Fri, 01 Jun 2007 13:02:44 +0100
From : dm.hunt@... (David Hunt)
Subject: PC/Beeb serial cable woe
> > My cable is the same as Dom's, I used 4 individually screened core
> > cable and I get a reliable 19,200 baud over 5m. It works on
> all my PCs
> > including a
> > 1989 vintage 386, I just set the port for CTS/RTS hardware
> flow control.
>
> I have found that a 4-core cable will often work in practice.
> But there must somewhere be a common 0V line. So if the cable
> is working, and there is no dedicated 0V line, then the
> system has to be relying on something else. This must be
> either the screening (which must be connected at both ends),
> or else the common earth (via the mains plug).
>
> Although these may work in the right circumstances, it seems
> less chancy to connect the 0V pins together to make a proper
> signal ground.
>
> David Harper
>
The screen of the cables is ground. I can't see how an additional ground
wire is going to make any difference?
Dave ;)