I can't honestly say this is project turned out 100% the way I wanted it to (as you'll see if you read on) but I think it came out OK in the end. But just the other week, I finally came up with an idea: make a kind of poor man's Mega Drive mini, using the parts taken from an old Radica Mega Drive Plug and Play. I also had a Hi-Fi (also Goodmans-branded) at the time of which the CD player also stopped reading discs - I continued using the system by rerouting the audio from the player to some make-shift Aux-In sockets (something the system lacked), providing further years of use until the amplifier seemingly got tired and it grew quieter and quieter! NOTE: This does not imply transparent resumption of system-level operation since data may be lost, the device may have to be re-discovered and initialized, etc. Regardless of the above definitions, the removal of a device, which is still rotating, is not recommended and should be prevented by the system designer. One odd and concerning thing I did discover was that I also found in the thrift store the Crown-branded AC adapter that was supposedly donated with this player; the ratings matched, but upon testing it with it plugged in (because the power jack was too small to do so independently with my multimeter) that instead of putting out the rated and required 4.5V, it was producing 7V. I was concerned that this over voltage (the player can also run off 2 x AA batteries which would be no more than 3V) would have caused damage.

It can be powered by battery or a 6v power supply. They are designed so when data is connected without power, some limited drive information can still be obtained (this is mostly used in RAID and backup setups where you want to keep some disks offline to reduce wear and tear, but still need to know what's installed). So if you plug in the power first, the drive turns on, recognizes there's no data cable, and waits for the data cable to be attached. When used in the same environment, such as industry, a power cable needs a thicker insulation and jacket than a control cable. Control cables are designed in automation control for sending signals that control the equipment, as well as for measurement and regulation. It turned out to be hardwired for A and the original computer used a normal cable, but had the signals twisted on the motherboard itself! The rest of the pins (read and write data, stepper motor control, head select, etc.) are bussed in the normal fashion, which is why the drive select pins are so critical. The terms control, instrumentation, and signal refer to cables that are not used to transfer power.

Signal cable includes coaxial cables, twisted pair cables, and fiber optic cables. SY cables have a steel wire braid for control applications that require extra mechanical protection. In addition, we have expanded our manufacturing capabilities and now specialize in making power and control cables too. While the distinction between power and control functions is quite clear, some cables cannot be placed in either of these categories. I found information from here detailing the signal functions of each colour coded wire, and here, detailing how it should be wired up to the Pi GPIO. The reason for this is that they perform both functions. This guide here explains how to wire things up to the Pi and get it all working. I used a permanent ink pen to make a mark through the pi mounting holes and I didn't get them all completely lined up, so maybe it would be smarter to measure them out first. Turns out both the prodigious amount hot glue that I'd used to secure the wires and the plastic casing around the USB cables were conspiring together to ruin my day. No doubt there'll be 16 years worth of grime and dust to clear out as well.

My goal for this project was to preserve as much of the original console as I could, while keeping the "plug and play" functionality of the system intact. The drive before the twist will be drive B while the one on the end will be A. This way, there is no need to "configure" the drives which drive (A or B) are they going to be and what they should listen to. Let's say both drives are hard-wired to be drive B. Now we don't have to setup them, but they both listened to the select B signal, while the motherboard would still want to send a signal to select A to select drive A. Here comes the twist! However, what is control cable signal cables transmit data. Unpowered OS-Aware Hot Plug / Removal: This is defined as the insertion / removal of a Device into / from a backplane connector (combined signal and power) that has power shutdown.