• BigDaddySlim@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    2 hours ago

    The Box ^TM just came in handy for me to find a VGA cable to change a BIOS setting on an old PC to output through PCI on boot. Had to reset the BIOS after installing a new CPU and it reverted that setting.

    The Box ^TM will stay with me until death.

    (Most of these old cables are organized, I haven’t gotten to this box yet)

  • atmur@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10·
    3 hours ago

    I finally went through my box of cables and Goodwill’d or threw away stuff that I’m absolutely never going to use. Gotta say, the feeling of going to The Box™ and not having to dig through a million cables to find what you need is pretty nice.

    The hardest thing to throw away was the mystery power cables/bricks. Even though everything I own has its power cable with it and labeled with no exceptions, and even though I haven’t touched the mystery power cable for 10 years, I still felt like I’d discover its purpose the moment I got rid of it. Hasn’t happened yet, but I’m still anxious.

    • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
      6·
      2 hours ago

      The hardest thing to throw away was the mystery power cables/bricks. Even though everything I own has its power cable with it and labeled with no exceptions, and even though I haven’t touched the mystery power cable for 10 years, I still felt like I’d discover its purpose the moment I got rid of it. Hasn’t happened yet, but I’m still anxious.

      I keep those but convert their use to replace disposable battery powered devices.

      All those spare USB wall warts you have are 5 volt and at least 1 amp DC power supplies. Anything you have that takes 3 AA or AAA batteries is a 4.5v supply. Almost all of them can tolerate the extra .5 volt. Clip the mini-USB/micro-USB/classic iPod/lightening connector off the cable and run those (I usually solder them) to your device. Now you can plug it into the wall and never have to worry about batteries again.

      6 volt DC wall warts can be used to replace things that take 4 AA or AAA batteries.

  • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
    3·
    2 hours ago

    My cable box of doom – boxes, I have eight of them – are categorized by overall type of cable and everything is bagged for tangle-free storage.

    I know what I have and I know approximately where I have it. And often enough, I do indeed need to produce a specific able on demand, albeit usually just to give away to other people who are in a bind with some damn fool device or another.

    Retro video game cables in one crate, “modern” (like, PS3 and up) in another, legacy and modern computer data cables in two more crates, video cables in one crate, audio cables in one crate, AC power cables in one crate, and assorted DC power supplies and wall warts in the last crate.

    When it comes to old junk cables, I am not fucking around.

    • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      1 hour ago

      Same here, although I’ve got to admit that needing parallel ATA ribbon cables seems unlikely at this point.

      • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
        2·
        47 minutes ago

        You fuck with enough industrial automation equipment and you absolutely will find yourself needing those 40 pin IDE cables, not to mention 25 pin (ugh) serial cables, and BNC.

        Still.

        Technology in some sectors changes very slowly.

  • cron@feddit.org
    71·
    3 hours ago

    No dad, YOU never know when you might need them. I know for sure that keeping charging cables and headphones with proprietary connectors will never again be useful.

    • kamenLady.@lemmy.world
      10·
      3 hours ago

      My father overdid it by keeping everything you might need one day. Life went on, he got old and circumstances forced him to throw everything away, without the chance of going through all the stuff and maybe keep things that really had value to him, in any way.

      This experience is teaching me to get rid of things.

    • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      7·
      3 hours ago

      Your guys’ box isn’t full of HDMI and USB mini/micro?

      Oh and I have 150ft of coax, don’t ask why, I don’t fucking remember

      • cron@feddit.org
        3·
        2 hours ago

        Does anyone need some old SCART, VGA, DVI, serial, parallel, USB type B, coax, RJ11 cables? And that’s only the stuff I know the names of.