The "Lian Li I/O Adapter EX-10 Media Bay", an interesting 5.25" Front Panel accessorie \ VOGONS

The "Lian Li I/O Adapter EX-10 Media Bay", an interesting 5.25" Front Panel accessorie

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First post, by aegisk

Posted on 2022-12-02, 10:42

aegisk Offline

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I came across a "Lian Li I/O Adapter EX-10 Media Bay" (NOS) on a local online market place and decided to buy it for a whooping 7,50€. It's still in its box, waiting to be installed in a DOS/Win98 build I'm working on (Epox 8KTA3+ / Athlon XP-M 2600+ [Barton] / Ti4200 / Voodoo 2 (12MB) / Audician 32 Plus w/WP32 McCake / 5x USB 2.0 PCI Card w/NEC chip), but I thought people here might find the device interesting.

Besides the more common 2x USB connectors (probably meant for USB 1.0 and since it's using some kind of hub internally, no chance it will work at USB 2.0 speeds, alas..), 3x audio and 1x Firewire, it also includes a PS2 and Gameport connector.

It all connects to the back ports of the system (i.e. externally), through an interesting bespoke setup that uses 2 cables:

One to connect the bay to slot-plate on the back of the PC's case;
One to connect the connector fixed to the slot-plate to the different ports.

My reason to want to use it is primarily due to the possibility of using the Gameport directly on the front, so swapping controllers and the like becomes more convenient. A downside is that the PC case and other devices I will be using are beige, and not silver like this device, which might end up looking ugly. Anyway, let me know what you think and I will share any interesting findings when I start using it.

Reply 1 of 7, by RetroGamer4Ever

Posted on 2022-12-02, 11:19

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That was designed for LAN-party users who wanted front access for peripherals and it's also useful for business desktops. Like almost all Lian-Li add-ons, it was intended to be used in their premium metal cases and not others, but you can certainly use it with whatever happens to work. It's from the early 2000's, so you won't find any trace of it on Lian-Li's website, though you can find some seller listings and a write-up or two.

Reply 2 of 7, by wiibur

Posted on 2022-12-02, 11:32

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That cable is funky but overall I like it. My socket 7 build is in a silver Antec case that might match well with this and needs some front i/o.

Reply 3 of 7, by TrashPanda

Posted on 2022-12-02, 13:24

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its an interesting way to bring the rear ports to the front panel, cable is certainly interesting.

Reply 4 of 7, by rasz_pl

Posted on 2022-12-02, 15:36

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ps2 there is kind of dicey, afaik those are initialized on startup and arent supposed to be hot plugged.

Open Source AT&T Globalyst/NCR/FIC 486-GAC-2 proprietary Cache Module reproduction

Reply 5 of 7, by Errius

Posted on 2022-12-03, 05:41

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I once fried a game port joystick by hot pugging it. Not certain if it was the plugging that did the damage or if the stick was faulty for some other reason. Nevertheless, I've never hot swapped the game port since.

ETA: Maybe I'm paranoid, but I avoid hot swapping anything that isn't a USB port. FireWire is also dangerous because of the high currents carried in the connectors. I've never had a FireWire malfunction, but I've heard of it happening to others.

Even audio jacks are dangerous because the live connector makes contact before the ground. Normally this isn't a problem, but if one of your devices is faulty and carrying abnormal currents, it can zap expensive hardware into oblivion.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 6 of 7, by aegisk

Posted on 2022-12-04, 14:02

aegisk Offline

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Errius wrote on 2022-12-03, 05:41:

I once fried a game port joystick by hot pugging it. Not certain if it was the plugging that did the damage or if the stick was faulty for some other reason. Nevertheless, I've never hot swapped the game port since.

ETA: Maybe I'm paranoid, but I avoid hot swapping anything that isn't a USB port. FireWire is also dangerous because of the high currents carried in the connectors. I've never had a FireWire malfunction, but I've heard of it happening to others.

Hot-plugging is definitely not a good idea with almost anything but USB, but I think having the Gameport on the front will be useful even without being able to do so. Depending on the placement of the PC, it can be an absolute pain to plug/unplug cables on the back.

Reply 7 of 7, by Repo Man11

Posted on 2022-12-04, 15:23

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One of these would be a nice addition to a Lian Li case I have since it has no provision for front sound ports, and the front USB ports are on the very bottom of the front panel making them difficult to use. Thanks for posting this.

"I'd rather be rich than stupid" - Jack Handey

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