Re: Custom CAT-5 / DB-9 serial cables

Addendum to my lengthy missive above: I discover upon checking the help file that if using 8-conductor CAT5 cable and DB9 plugs on both ends, the pins you need to connect straight through are pins 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 8. That is seven pins total, and it means you could ignore pins 7 and 9. But since you have an extra lead in the cable, why not plug it into pin 7 for good measure? It should be easy to figure out which is pin 9 on each adapter and leave it blank; it would be at the end of a row on either adapter. Again, remember to carefully match pin numbers with the same-color lead at each end, so that, for instance, red goes into pin 1, brown into pin 2 and so on. At the risk of beating this point to death, the order of the colors DOES NOT matter; matching a given color to a given pin number at each end is what matters. The most important part of this whole operation is to pay very close attention to the tiny little pin numbers on the plastic adapter housing so that you wind up with a cable wired straight through, pin 1 to pin 1, pin 2 to pin 2, and so forth. The pins are not necessarily numbered the way you might think and it takes 20/20 vision or a magnifying glass to see the damn little numbers.

A final wrinkle would be the case of somebody who needs to use a DB25 plug, instead of a DB9, to attach to the serial port in back of the computer. I haven't done this but I believe DB25 adapters will be labeled with pin numbers that correspond to the numbers on your DB9 adapter at the Slink-e end. So just wire pins 1 through 8 straight through and you should be good to go.