Identifying Adapters



  Identifying Adapters

Adapters can usually be identified by examining the adapter and looking for special chips, sockets or connectors. I/O adapters can be identified by looking at the number of PINs in the I/O connector and the gender of the connector.

F connectors (TV type) indicate a broadband network adapter.

BNC connectors (mini twistlock) indicate a 3270 emulation adapter or possibly, if it is an AT Bus  adapter, it could be a Cluster adapter. The 3270 adapter does not have switches, the Cluster adapter does.

9-pin Male connectors usually indicate a serial port.

9-pin Female connectors usually are display adapters but could also be Token Ring adapters, if it is an AT Bus  adapter. If it is a short card, it is a Token Ring. If it is a long card, it is a display adapter.. If the adapter is for the Micro Channel, it is a Token Ring adapter. IBM does not market 9-pin display adapter for Micro Channel systems.

15-pin Male (2 rows of PINs) adapters are 5250 or 36/38 Emulation adapters. These two adapters are the same and differ in name only, depending if it is an AT Bus or Micro Channel adapter.

15-pin (2 rows of PINs) Female connectors could be the Page Printer adapter (double card) or an Ethernet (single card), if it is a Micro Channel card, or it could be a game adapter (short card) or a Page Printer adapter (double card) if it is an AT Bus adapter.

15-pin (3 rows of PINs) Female connectors on an AT bus, indicate a PS/2 display adapter. If it is a Micro Channel adapter, it might be an 8514/A adapter (double card with many sockets on the full-length daughter card), an XGA adapter, (single card with no sockets except for the 8 memory modules), or an Image Adapter (two sets of memory sockets and connectors for daughter cards).

25-pin Male connectors indicate some type of serial adapter. It could be a Multiprotocol adapter or a Scanner adapter. Many 25-pin connectors do not use all of the PINs. Some of the PINs might be omitted on both adapters and system board ports.

25-pin Female connectors indicate a parallel adapter.


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