BEN RITCHEY wrote in a message to ROY J. TELLASON:

BR> * An ongoing debate between Roy J. Tellason and Ben Ritchey rages
BR> on ... 

BR>> I am using one of those IDE to USB I/F cables (works great)
| RT> Where'd you get it?  I think that this is probably just a bit more
| RT> complicated than being a "cable",  though.

BR> Right you are, but only $15 on eBay . The circuitry to convert
BR> the 40-pin IDE data to USB is built into the HD connector itself.
BR> Several VLSI chips that I can see.

BR>> and would like to add a remote LED "activity" light to
the device.
| RT> What kind of a device?

BR> Well, I will have several Seagate IDE drives (only one now) mounted
BR> in a homebrew external case I made and would like to know when
BR> it/they are active. 

BR> The Power LED is simple, but data is another matter 

Seems to me I recall a lot of Seagate drives having a 2-pin connector right
near the front of the drive for just that purpose.  Have a close look,  you
might get lucky there.

| RT> purpose you probably would want to give that signal some additional
| RT> drive capability with a transistor (or a logic gate buffer or

BR> Hmmm...or maybe a high speed op amp?

Probably overkill,  op amps tend to stress linearity and other
characteristics that you really don't need.

| RT> I don't have a URL handy,  but there has to be a spec for the
| RT> interface out there somewhere that should give some useful details.

BR> Yes, I'm sure I could Google something, but it's always of interest
BR> to know if others have done anything 1st hand, experience wise
BR> . 

Last time I did anything like that it was to "extend" the light
built into the front of an old ST225 (20M) drive so that I could put it in
the front of the external HD box that hooked up to one of my CP/M boxes. 
:-)

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