40 PIN IDC MALE at the controller and CD-ROM
40 PIN IDC FEMALE at the cable
The Panasonic/MKE (Matsushita-Kotobuki Electronics) interface, also known as the SLCD interface, is a proprietary 40-pin IDC parallel bus used on Panasonic CD-ROM drives from roughly 1991 to 1995, covering the CR-521, CR-522, CR-523, CR-562, and CR-563 model series. Unlike the contemporaneous Mitsumi and Sony proprietary interfaces, it uses no DMA or IRQ lines; communication is entirely polled via four status bits (ST0–ST3), a WRITE/READ strobe pair, and an 8-bit data bus with active-low pulses of approximately 500 ns. The interface became commercially widespread because Creative Labs integrated it into the Sound Blaster Pro (CT1600) and Sound Blaster 16 MCD, and many ISA multimedia cards based on the OPTi 82C929 (MAD16 Pro) chipset also provided a compatible header; the DOS driver supplied with these cards was typically SBCD.SYS (Creative) or CDMKE.SYS (Matsushita generic). Up to four drives may share a single bus using the MODE0/MODE1 jumper lines for drive selection.
| Pin | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | GND | Ground |
| 2 | RESET | Reset |
| 3 | GND | Ground |
| 4 | GND | Ground |
| 5 | GND | Ground |
| 6 | MODE0 | Operation mode bit 0 (drive select) |
| 7 | GND | Ground |
| 8 | MODE1 | Operation mode bit 1 (drive select) |
| 9 | GND | Ground |
| 10 | WRITE | I/O write strobe (IOW) |
| 11 | GND | Ground |
| 12 | READ | I/O read strobe (IOR) |
| 13 | GND | Ground |
| 14 | ST0 | Status bit 0 (STCH) |
| 15 | GND | Ground |
| 16 | n/c | Not connected |
| 17 | GND | Ground |
| 18 | n/c | Not connected |
| 19 | GND | Ground |
| 20 | ST1 | Status bit 1 (DTEN) |
| 21 | GND | Ground |
| 22 | EN | Data enable |
| 23 | GND | Ground |
| 24 | ST2 | Status bit 2 (/STEN) |
| 25 | GND | Ground |
| 26 | S/DE | Status/data enable (CMD) |
| 27 | GND | Ground |
| 28 | ST3 | Status bit 3 (EOP) |
| 29 | GND | Ground |
| 30 | GND | Ground |
| 31 | D7 | Data bit 7 |
| 32 | D6 | Data bit 6 |
| 33 | GND | Ground |
| 34 | D5 | Data bit 5 |
| 35 | D4 | Data bit 4 |
| 36 | D3 | Data bit 3 |
| 37 | GND | Ground |
| 38 | D2 | Data bit 2 |
| 39 | D1 | Data bit 1 |
| 40 | D0 | Data bit 0 |
Signals
- RESET — Active-high reset line asserted by the host controller to initialise the drive.
- MODE0 / MODE1 — Drive-select and operation-mode bits, asserted active-low by the host; used to address up to four drives on a shared bus via jumper configuration on the drive.
- WRITE (IOW) — Active-low I/O write strobe; host clocks data onto D0–D7 during the low pulse (approximately 500 ns).
- READ (IOR) — Active-low I/O read strobe; drive places data or status onto D0–D7 during the low pulse.
- ST0 (STCH) — Status bit 0; indicates a status change has occurred on the drive.
- ST1 (DTEN) — Status bit 1; data transfer enable, indicates the drive is ready to transfer data.
- ST2 (/STEN) — Status bit 2; active-low status enable.
- ST3 (EOP) — Status bit 3; end-of-process indicator.
- EN — Data enable line asserted by the host to enable data-bus drivers (connects to a 74LS245 bus transceiver on the CR-562 PCB).
- S/DE (CMD) — Status/data enable line; selects whether the bus carries a command/status byte or a data byte (connects to a 74LS244 on the CR-562 PCB).
- D7–D0 — 8-bit bidirectional parallel data bus; active-low read/write pulses of approximately 500 ns. Carried on pins 31–32, 34–36, 38–40.
- Pins 16, 18 — Not connected on the CR-562; PCB analysis labels these pads ADPCM ENABLE and DRQ respectively, but they are unpopulated and electrically unused.
Notes
- The connector is a standard 40-pin IDC (0.1 in / 2.54 mm pitch) ribbon cable; the same physical connector used by the contemporaneous Mitsumi interface and by IDE/ATA, but the Panasonic/MKE signalling is entirely incompatible with both.
- The drive end and the controller (soundcard) end both use a 40-pin IDC male header; the cable carries a 40-pin IDC female connector at each end.
- No DMA or IRQ lines are present; the host must poll the four status bits (ST0–ST3) to determine drive state.
- The Panasonic/MKE interface is electrically distinct from the Mitsumi 40-pin interface and the Sony 34-pin interface; standard ATA/IDE ribbon cables should never be used as substitutes, as this risks damage to the host or drive.
- The CR-562-J was sold as Creative CR-562-J and bundled with Sound Blaster Pro (CT1600/CT1740) multimedia kits from approximately 1992; the drive runs at 2× speed (300 KB/s) and is 5.25-inch half-height.
References
- Interfacing details of Panasonic SLCD CD-ROMs — Theo Markettos, University of Cambridge; PCB-level reverse engineering of the CR-562 confirming signal names and 74LS245/244 connections (2009).
- CD-ROM Drive Unit CR-562-J Instruction Manual, Panasonic 1994 — Original Panasonic OEM instruction manual for the CR-562-J drive (Internet Archive, CC0).