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Making
a Z88 to PC Lead
![[image of mismatching plugs]](../images/wrong_plug.gif)
When Cambridge advertised thier Z88 - PC Link we all thought
it was a lot of money to pay for the cable. I made up a cable
and discovered it was not as easy as I first thought.
Several years on and
people are still making the same mistake as I did back then.
The following was taken off a Z88 site.
I invite you to
- not burn your fingers
with a soldering iron or
- find out that you
can't fit the covers onto the plug that fits into the Z88
- or use the wrong
circuit diagran to wire up the lead.
Save yourself all
this hassle - buy the cable.
I have transferred various files types on my z88 to a
PC. The other day, I
wanted to do the inverse process for the first time.
I wasn't able. I tried the Z88XPort program and the MSDOS
command, without good results. The z88 complains about "Poor
data received".
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Have you checked serial settings? Reset turns Xon/Xoff
back on, make sure it's turned off.
Yesp; the problem is that I am able to send a file from
the z88 to the PC, but not in the inverse direction.
As Vic points out it is likely a cable problem.
So, is it possible to have a cable allowing transferrings
to the PC but
failing when transferring to the z88 ?
I'm using a Compaq PC Laptop with Windows98.
Z88-Xport needs a working hardware flow control. Z88 RTS
needs to be connected to PC CTS. See Help, Cable for the full
pinout. Xon/Xoff is ignored so doesn't matter.
The cable I am using is a self-made one. I have followed
the wirings given in the z88 book:
Thank you everybody. I've re-wired my link cable, so everything
works now. It's a shame I saw that wiring scheme before yours.
:-D
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Z88
to PC Lead
 
The Z88 to PC Lead consists of the moulded 9 way plug that fits
into the Z88 correctly and has a 25 way female connector for
the PC's COM port (which was the standard connector when the
Z88 came out). If your computer has a 9 way plug for the COM.1
serial port there
is an adapter lead available that you use on the PC end.

If the cable you have
has a 25 way male connector - it is the serial printer
cable, you cannot use it for the PC,
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Some users have been tempted to 'build their
own' only to find that the cover that fits over the plug stops
the plug from fitting into the Z88 correctly.

If you really want
to do it yourself make sure
- you use a moulded
plug with the locking screws removed to fit into the Z88 and
- have the correct
connections (it is not a standard cable)
- or better still
just buy this correct cable.
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