Demolition-Man wrote on 2024-04-21, 17:23:

Hi,
I bought this board as a replacement because it was cheap. Now i know why. PS/2 mouse and USB would only be possible via a special bracket. I have already adapted a PS/2 bracket for an older ECS board, but how should I connect a separate PS/2 and USB bracket. Is that even possible?

Yes ofcourse it is possible to make yourself.

Would it be possible to wire it yourself with jumper cables?

Sure.

The pinout is known, but at least the voltage would have to be divided again. What do you think?

What do you mean the voltage would have to be divided again?

I think I might even have one laying around here somewhere.
Finding it though... that will be like finding a needle in a haystack filled with bolts and other metal scrap.

I had one of those and adapting a standard USB backplate is doable, but it is a PIA. The real issue is the size of the pins/spacing of the USB/PS/2 header. It's non standard and tiny, and the pins on any normal USB backplate will not fit. I found a four pin connector in a dead CDROM that had the correct spacing, trimmed down the plastic a little, then I had to make sure I had the pin out correct, then solder that connector to a standard USB backplate. I gave this computer to my aunt running a K6-2+ and Windows XP. With Windows XP a USB mouse was fine, so I didn't even bother with the PS/2 header, but the method would be the same.

What do you mean the voltage would have to be divided again?

One PS/2 bracket, and a standard 2x USB bracket. Each port requires 5V.

I think I might even have one laying around here somewhere.

Hehe, that would be awesome.

It's non standard and tiny...

So standard 2,54mm (sorry metric) won`t fit?

Serial would be the last option, but i like my modern optical PS/2 mouse.
And USB would be very usefull, like on my SS7 Systems now.

Demolition-Man wrote on 2024-04-21, 18:13:

What do you mean the voltage would have to be divided again?

One PS/2 bracket, and a standard 2x USB bracket. Each port requires 5V.

The connector pinout lists 2 or 3 5V pins. I don't see the problem.

So standard 2,54mm (sorry metric) won`t fit? […]
Show full quote

It's non standard and tiny...

So standard 2,54mm (sorry metric) won`t fit?

Serial would be the last option, but i like my modern optical PS/2 mouse.
And USB would be very usefull, like on my SS7 Systems now.

I doubt it's nonstandard, looks like a normal 2,54mm pitch connector would fit.
You have the board, such a question should be easily & quickly checked & verified.

The board is stowed away, but I'll take a closer look at it when I get the chance.

Another question: What is USB -5V?

weedeewee wrote on 2024-04-21, 18:18:

The connector pinout lists 2 or 3 5V pins. I don't see the problem. […]
Show full quote

Demolition-Man wrote on 2024-04-21, 18:13:

What do you mean the voltage would have to be divided again?

One PS/2 bracket, and a standard 2x USB bracket. Each port requires 5V.

The connector pinout lists 2 or 3 5V pins. I don't see the problem.

So standard 2,54mm (sorry metric) won`t fit? […]
Show full quote

It's non standard and tiny...

So standard 2,54mm (sorry metric) won`t fit?

Serial would be the last option, but i like my modern optical PS/2 mouse.
And USB would be very usefull, like on my SS7 Systems now.

I doubt it's nonstandard, looks like a normal 2,54mm pitch connector would fit.
You have the board, such a question should be easily & quickly checked & verified.

I do not take kindly to being accused of being a liar. When I disposed of this board in 2006 (I lost use of a storage unit I had, and had to have a major purge) I hesitated to send it to ewaste because of how much trouble I had gone to to connect the USB ports. The USB backplate I had modified went with it since it could only be used on this board.

This is CN4, look at how tiny and closely spaced the pins are compared to the serial ports.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2024-04-21, 18:50:

weedeewee wrote on 2024-04-21, 18:18:

The connector pinout lists 2 or 3 5V pins. I don't see the problem. […]
Show full quote

Demolition-Man wrote on 2024-04-21, 18:13:

One PS/2 bracket, and a standard 2x USB bracket. Each port requires 5V.

The connector pinout lists 2 or 3 5V pins. I don't see the problem.

So standard 2,54mm (sorry metric) won`t fit?

Serial would be the last option, but i like my modern optical PS/2 mouse.
And USB would be very usefull, like on my SS7 Systems now.

I doubt it's nonstandard, looks like a normal 2,54mm pitch connector would fit.
You have the board, such a question should be easily & quickly checked & verified.

I do not take kindly to being accused of being a liar. When I disposed of this board in 2006 (I lost use of a storage unit I had, and had to have a major purge) I hesitated to send it to ewaste because of how much trouble I had gone to to connect the USB ports. The USB backplate I had modified went with it since it could only be used on this board.

This is CN4, look at how tiny and closely spaced the pins are compared to the serial ports.

Neither me nor anyone else in this thread accused you of lying. That is a twist you just put in your own head so let's move on.

That photo you showed does look like it's a smaller pitch, more like 2mm pitch.
It's hard to distinguish that from the photo on theretroweb.
Thanks for the photo.

Edit: Wrong port. Sorry.

IIRC the right side of CN4 is a standard USB nine pin as far as the pin out is concerned, so that part is easy (of course with no breakdown of the pin out in the manual, you must verify with a voltmeter first). I only bothered to connect eight of the pins because the connectors I salvaged from the CDROM were eight pin only. I've never had an issue with only using eight of the nine pins when connecting a USB header.

Demolition-Man wrote on 2024-04-21, 19:17:

Sorry, i dont want to cause any trouble.
But normal pins with normal fit.

One problem less.

That isn't CN4 - CN4 is lower between the PCI slots.

Ooops.^^
Then the problem remains.
Not cool.

And sorry again. The manual cant be zoomed and is blurry? pixelated?

I`ll check again.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2024-04-21, 19:21:

IIRC the right side of CN4 is a standard USB nine pin as far as the pin out is concerned, so that part is easy (of course with no breakdown of the pin out in the manual, you must verify with a voltmeter first). I only bothered to connect eight of the pins because the connectors I salvaged from the CDROM were eight pin only. I've never had an issue with only using eight of the nine pins when connecting a USB header.

While the pinout isn't marked in the "settings sheet" link that OP posted as the second link. (there is something weird about that file, like something got recompressed and image data was lost)
I'd assume that pin 1 is top left, with the first four odd pins being one usb port, the first four even pins the second usb port (or vice versa)
pin 9 keypin, pin 10 god knows what.
11 & 12 PS2 mouse data&clk
13 & 14 gnd
15 IR Rxd
16 FIR
17 IR Txd
18 +5v

So found the right spot.
And yes, not useable for me.

What a waste of time, I apologize...

Will sell it at some point.
If anyone still has the right bracket and can send it to Germany, please get in touch, thank you.

Demolition-Man wrote on 2024-04-21, 19:38:

So found the right spot. And yes, not useable for me. […]
Show full quote

So found the right spot.
And yes, not useable for me.

What a waste of time, I apologize...

Will sell it at some point.
If anyone still has the right bracket and can send it to Germany, please get in touch, thank you.

This was exactly the sort of thing that made the ATX standard a great leap forward compared to AT with all of proprietary connectors that made life unnecessarily difficult. But in 2002/3 when I set this up for my aunt, I had more time than money and AT cases and motherboards were nearing the bottom of their depreciation curve and so were very affordable.

I had to do something similar with my TXP4 when connecting the USB and PS/2 since Asus used the MIR. But the pinout was easily found and (more importantly) the size and spacing of the pins is standard. This Chaintech board is the only one I've ever seen that has this nonstandard size USB header. It's a shame, it's a good quality Super 7 motherboard.

Thx for the info.
Don`t know if its even a real shop but:
https://www.komputer.de/zen/index.php?main_pa … products_id=208

Single socket would be better but still.
What do you think?

Demolition-Man wrote on 2024-04-21, 20:06:

Thx for the info. Don`t know if its even a real shop but: https://www.komputer.de/zen/index.php?main_pa … products_id=208 […]
Show full quote

Thx for the info.
Don`t know if its even a real shop but:
https://www.komputer.de/zen/index.php?main_pa … products_id=208

Single socket would be better but still.
What do you think?

If it can fit those tiny pins, you're good! Since you have the board, you can measure the spacing. Early on it was common for cases to have front USB panel connectors that were ten individual pins. They are more work to connect that way, but they work just fine.

Demolition-Man wrote on 2024-04-21, 19:38:

So found the right spot. And yes, not useable for me. […]
Show full quote

So found the right spot.
And yes, not useable for me.

What a waste of time, I apologize...

Will sell it at some point.
If anyone still has the right bracket and can send it to Germany, please get in touch, thank you.

Nope, mine is for a pcchips or similar board and uses a normal 2.54mm pitch connector.

Thx anyway. I doubt that anyone could still have such a bracket.

Edit: Is there no other way to adapt at least a PS/2 mouse port?

Nothing stopping you from soldering one on. aside from a lack of a female ps2 port, some wire, solder & soldering iron perhaps ?
and maybe some shrink wrap tubing for isolation of the pins