DIN 41612

Standardisation of the connectors is a pre-requisite for open systems, where users expect components from different suppliers to operate together.

DIN 41612 connectors are used in Pancon,[1] STEbus,[2] Futurebus, VMEbus, Multibus II, NuBus, Acorn Archimedes expansion bus,[3] VXI Bus,[4] eurocard TRAM motherboards,[5] and Europe Card Bus, all of which typically use male DIN 41612 connectors on Eurocards plugged into female DIN 41612 on the backplane in a 19-inch rack chassis.

As a result, if two boards are designed to connect edge-to-edge with no backplane, one board would require a "normal" connector (male with right-angle pins) and the other would require a "Reversed" connector (female with right-angle pins).

Failure to appreciate this numbering subtlety led to multiple instances where prototype circuit boards had "mirror imaged" connections to their connectors: an expensive and embarrassing mistake[citation needed] (but at least one in which the circuit designer and the layout engineer could each blame the other).

[6] The headline performance of the connectors is a 2 amp per pin current carrying capacity, and 500 volt working voltage.

A NuBus graphics card with a male 3×32 DIN 41612 connector (white, foreground left).
VMEbus crate. 3×32 DIN 41612 female connectors can be seen on the green motherboard in back.
A NuBus motherboard, with six female 3×32 DIN 41612 connectors (black, centre left).