You *can* use the offset adapter on the webplayer. It's not particularly elegant, but it works if you just want to put an image on the DOC.
The problem with the offset adapter is that there's not enough space between the Webplayer's IDE header and some other components on the motherboard; the adapter just won't fit. However, if you can live without the power and LED connections, you can just turn the adapter around, move it over a bit, and install it. Here's the details:
You will need:
- a 44-pin to 40-pin adapter
- a desktop hard drive
- a desktop IDE cable (a 40-conductor cable)
- a power source for the drive
- a paper clip
1. Preparing the adapter:
Make sure that all the pins on the adapter are intact. If it has been used before, chances are that someone has already bent down or removed one of the pins. You're going to need this pin back in place. If it's bent, carefully bend it back in place. If it's broken off, you have to desolder it, push the stub of the pin out, and solder in another pin salvaged from something else.
2. Installing the adapter:
Position the adapter, turned backwards, over the Webplayer's IDE header. The two pairs of pins near the front of the machine are the power and LED pins. You don't need them. Move the adapter toward the back of the machine a bit, so that, as you push the adapter on to the connector, those first two pairs of pins are left exposed. (This is very important. Those pins contain voltage that will fry your hard drive.) Push the adapter onto the pins now.
3. Attaching the cable:
The connector on your IDE cable probably has a hole that's filled in; this will get in the way, so drill a new hole (or use a hot paperclip). The connector should also have a "key," a raised bump of plastic on one side. Position the connector over the adapter so that the key faces the side of the motherboard that has all those capacitors and stuff that got in the way of the adaptor in the first place. Now push the cable onto the adapter.
4. Connecting the hard drive:
Attach your hard drive to the IDE cable and an external power source.
You're ready to go. I hope no one is annoyed at the length and detail of this post; I tried to write the instructions that I wish I had had when I figured this out yesterday.
"It's enough to put one off war." - Graham Chapman
