Unfortunately I have 0 cords. sorry.

I'll try to think of where I can get some cheaply.

Ah, no worries, I can still do it myself probably. It's basically as simple as cutting each cord in half, then connecting all the copper wires to all the other coppers, the reds to the reds, and the whites to the whites.

just noticed, why when i am logged out it tells me when this were posted, but logged in it says -5?


* do they have to be stereo? or can they be mono?

That's weird re: the time. Stereo: they need to be the 2.5mm stereo plugs such as the unit-to-unit link cables are.

I have a better solution - build a link port hub!
I think these would work as ports: http://www.futurlec.com/Audio-Phono.shtml
And a case: http://www.polycase.com/

Just an idea.

It's a good idea, but it has a shortcoming: you could only connect half as many calculators, or would need twice as many I/O cords; look at it either way. It certainly would be good for people who would rather not slice up cords, though.

Actually, my idea is pretty much the same as the splicing idea, just connecting it together in a box with a board instead of a wire. (You might be referring to the Arduino hub, perhaps?) Of course, you/I could place a LED on top of the socket to indicate activity...

And I'm pretty sure 99% of the people in my school aren't happy with me or anyone cutting their I/O cables open.

My alternate plan to cable splicing was a row of 2.5mm stereo sockets on a box (or different boxes) with their contacts spliced appropriately together. Again, the only reason I have an Arduino on my breadboard is to feed network activity to my computer-based logic analyzer software.

Well, that was my suggestion in the first place.

Anyway, I'm digging LEDs just because they look pretty and interesting. Is that possible without some insanely complex circuit?

If I get something solid from this (and build a prototype), I might even start doing some selling of those boxes.

Actually, you just need two LEDs, two transistors, and two or four resistors. I'll make a prototype soon

Oooh, sounds nice! Is this for each plug? And I'm assuming the LEDs represent send/recv, right?

And what kind of transistors? NPN? PNP?

Also, bug for Netpong - leave it on for a while, and it dies. I've seen it on the "Point" screen, but it happens on the main screen, and other places too.

Can you be more specific about it "dying"? Do you mean it freezes, or it turns off, or it starts spamming gibberish, or what?

And you couldn't really do the activity lights per-plug, just for the whole network, because everything is in parallel. The LEDs would represent CLK (clock) and DTA (data), not send and receive. CLK is used to coordinate transmissions, while the actual data bits ride on the DTA line.

Ahh ok. This should be interesting. Any ETAs on the prototype and schematic?

And dying = frozen, can't exit = remove batteries to unfreeze (RAM clears).
If it helps, one calc's network indicator is solid, the other is blank.

Can you tell me what the two calculators are that you're using, and what OS on each? I'll try to get up schematics in the next few days, it's a pretty simple circuit.

Both are TI-84+ SEs. One OS is 2.43, another is 2.53MP.

OK, good to know. I can't say I've left it long enough for that to happen (or else I did leave it and that simply didn't happen for me); I'll try to work out what the problem was, and whether it was NetPong's fault or CALCnet2.2's.

i now have the 3 cords.
how would i solder 3 wires to ground, left, and right w/o having them tuch. I suck at precision.

One of these? You should be able to get away with stripping the wires, twisting them together then applying a small amount of solder, though.

I love Helping Hands; that device is excellent. But as Ben says, strip off the outer black covering, leaving the copper sheath and red and white wires intact. Separate out the copper sheath and twist it with itself so it looks like a wire. Strip off about 1/4" of the red and white plastic wire covering, but make sure that there's still at least 1/2" of red and white to where they go into the outer black plastic to avoid shorting with the copper. Repeat with all the other ends. Next, twist all the reds together, all the whites together, all the coppers together
Hold an iron briefly at each twisted bit of wire and touch the solder, melting it over the join. Finally, wrap each join in a small amount of electrical tape.

I'm still waiting for a schematic and a prototype....