=== Z80 Bus cable ===
As I have stated several time in the forum thread (and on this page), a A "Z80 Bus cable" is merely a 40 way IDC ribbon cable with female plugs at either end. You find these in use inside old PCs, connecting the mother board to an IDE hard drive. If you want to make your own, the only thing to be aware of is the orientation of the cable with respect to the locating tab on the plugs. Consider these pictures:
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On the left is a typical cable. The red painted wire in the foreground is PIN 1. You can see that the tab is on the left hand side of the plug and this is standard. Now look at the right hand picture. With the plug flipped and the red wire again in the foreground, the tab is on the right hand side. There is also a strain relief bar fitted, which helps prevent the plug from coming apart when being removed from a socket. This turns the ribbon wire 180 degrees, so you can imagine there is room for error when making these cables up. My advice would be to lay out the cable, put the plugs in situ (but don't crimp them yet) and check them against the uIDE and expansion port adapter before completing assembly. For the Z80 shim, you just need to ensure that you can connect pin 1 to the pad marked "A11".
Some more pictures, this time with the strain bar removed and the cable folded out. Study these carefully before making your cable or connecting a ready made IDC cable.
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|[[File:Short Z80 Bus cable.JPG|thumb|Another shot of my short bus cable with the strain relief bars removed. Note the position of the key tab on the connectors, and that the two plugs are on opposite faces of the cable., one facing up, the other facing down]] ||[[File:Short Z80 Bus cable folded.JPG|thumb|When folded over, the tabs align in on the same side of the plugs.]]
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