On Sun, 20 Jan 2008  John Williamson wrote:
>David Rance wrote:
>
>> Well, that's exactly the same as the UK one, except that the S/PDIF 
>>line reads:
>>  1xS/PDIF (optical), type: memory slots (1 to configure)
>> number of expansion types: 2
>>  and it is listed under "expansion" rather than "interfaces".
>>
>There is a portable standard of S/PDIF optical connector that looks 
>like a 3.5 mm socket. You may need to plug a connector in to enable the 
>led. It might be worth having a word with the dealer.
>
>If you google for TOSlink, there are cables availaible. The one you're 
>likely to need has what looks vaguely like a 3.5 mm plug on one end and 
>a standard TOSlink connector on the other. If you get one, plug it in, 
>& it glows red at the far end, you've got it made.

Very many thanks for that pointer, John. In fact I have just such a 
cable (I've had it for years - it came with a Soundblaster Live Drive) 
which I've never used because I had nothing to connect it to. So I took 
the plastic stopper off the end, plugged it in, and .... yes, the other 
end glowed red!

So now, how do I use it? I wanted to plug it in to an Edirol R-4 digital 
sound recorder but that doesn't have an optical connector on it. So the 
only other thing is my desktop which has the Soundblaster installed on 
it

Anyway, thanks again for your help. At least I know that it works now.

David

-- 
David Rance        writing from Caversham, Reading, UK
david.rance@rance.org.uk http://www.mesnil.demon.co.uk