On  8 Aug 98 at 21:05, Jim Meagher wrote:

> You MUST use the cables which came with the motherboard.  These
> cables are NOT universal, each manufacturer uses their own pin-out
> configuration on the motherboard side and then creates a unique
> cable to end up with the standard socket at the other end (where
> the mouse plugs in).

  I bought an EFA "Viking I" motherboard last week.  It turned out
that it wouldn't boot unless I disabled the 512K L2 cache, so I
returned it, hoping to exchange it.  [I have another system using
this board, and while it's not stellar, it provides a good solid
system foundation for an attractive price.]
  The Viking I, it turns out, has been discontinued, and so I wound
up with its replacement, the Viking II.  So far, I've found FOUR
differences between the two versions:

1.  The Viking I had 4 ISA and 4 PCI slots, 1 shared.  The Viking II
has 3 ISA and 4 PCI, again with one shared.  Since this machine only
needs one ISA slot for its intended purpose, that's no biggie.

2.  There is now a second DIMM slot, in addition to the four SIMM
slots.  The board claims to accept EDO or SDRAM DIMMs, and EDO or FPM
SIMMs -- very flexible.

3.  There are now keyed plastic frames around the motherboard port
connections, making it much harder to get these backwards or
incorrectly aligned.  This makes it much easier to recommend the
board for beginners, in case anyone is thinking about trying to build
their first system.

4.  The Viking I used a 5-pin (one keyed) connector for the PS/2
mouse port, which is what I'm used to seeing.  The Viking II uses an
8-pin (two rows of four, middle two keyed) connector, very similar I
think to the connector that was described by the original poster.  In
each case, the board came with a bracketed PS/2 adapter with the
appropriate ribbon cable and connector.

David G