never worked with it before and I have a question about the standard pinout "pattern"... would it be something like this (e.g. for an 8 pin, 2 row ribbon cable):
1234
5678
xxxx
xxxx
xxxx
xxxx
5678
1234
Look on the connector. There should be either a number or a triangle indicating pin 1 on the connector. On most cables wire 1 is a different color. If you pop the back of the connector off you'll see that the numbering is like this.
1357
2468
The connections where the wires sit are staggered top and bottom. This is looking head on to the connector. But there will be some marking on the connector pointing out pin 1.
1 3 5 7
| 2 | 4 | 6 |
| | | | | | |
Also, if you can find it, get some multi-color or "rainbow" ribbon cable; the different colors can help with counting and function separation as you design things.
Yea, but what I was wondering about is the pinout pattern of the two ends of the cable relative to each other - my original graphic was intended to question where the "matching" pins would be on either side of the wire "bridge" denoted as the x's
The cable would be:
1 3 5 7
| 2 | 4 | 6 | 8
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| 2 | 4 | 6 | 8
1 3 5 7
The connectors would be either reverse of each other or straight through depending on how you attach them.
Straight Reverse
1357 1357
2468 2468
xxxx xxxx
xxxx xxxx
xxxx xxxx
1357 2468
2468 1357
IDC connectors are identical to each other so if facing the same way on the same side of the ribbon the pinouts are identical, just translated along the length of the cable.
Its basically a bus system.
Right, but if they "face" each other then the rows are reversed as Photo-Worx showed