After using a laptop for more than ten years, I went back to a desktop computer a few months ago. A former company’s compact PC and a large widescreen monitor are placed on a stand, along with a suitable mouse and the trustworthy IBM Model M that I have served me for decades. Suddenly, the ergonomics of my work area became better because I no longer need to bend a little to see the screen.
The previous desktop computers came from an earlier time. I think it has any AMD competitors that compete with Pentium 4, and if I remember correctly, its 512 MB memory is considered quite important. On the back, it has a set of sockets completely different from my new socket, a set of serial ports, a SCSI port, and a parallel printer port. Inside the chassis, its various drives are served by a set of ribbon cables. It even boasts a floppy drive. In contrast, the wiring of its successor products is much lighter, and the size of the connector is much smaller. Several USB plugs and a network cable, as well as SATA for its disk drives. The vast era of multiple interconnections is over, and most of us may be relieved.
The problem with multiple cables is that they were usually very expensive at the time, so I still think they have a certain value. So even though my last SCSI drive or VGA monitor has gotten rid of this deadly coil, I still hang on the cable, you know, just in case. There is a bulging box hidden on a shelf somewhere, or if you are in my makerspace in Milton Keynes, a bunch of bulging boxes. Before I finish cleaning up, let's take a closer look at these artifacts, assuming you won't be offended by taking the cutter to other perfect cables. Scan a bunch, and the most are divided into four main groups. Parallel SCSI, VGA, parallel printer, and because this is a SCART multi-channel audiovisual cable written in Europe.
As you would expect from the parallel interface, the SCSI cable takes the form of a bunch of wires, but when you look closely inside the plug, the surprise is that there is neither shielding nor twisted pair between the wires. The parallel printer cable has a very similar structure: it is just an 8-bit port on the host. On the other hand, VGA and SCART cables contain a series of coaxial shielded conductors for video signals and some single wires for control signals.
It was when thinking about how to reuse such cables that I really realized how much progress we have made since the age of multiple cable interfaces. USB now covers most desktop devices that were once served by parallel SCSI, parallel, and serial ports, and almost all audiovisual connections are rapidly shifting to HDMI. These fast serial interfaces provide higher data rates with fewer copper wires.
It seems that there are a lot of cables that I have seen everywhere, and they have actually become useless. Unlike other technological changes, such as from vacuum tubes to transistors, their usefulness has not diminished with the new technology, so their service life has not exceeded their service life. On the contrary, when their technology reaches its peak, they immediately become e-waste, where we can find the source of their attribution value. If you have a bunch of SCSI cables somewhere, do you hold on to them because you think you will need them again someday?
Burning cables to recover copper, 2018, Accra, Ghana. Muntaka Chasant [CC BY-SA 4.0]. So what should we do? Can they be used for other purposes? In any case, who uses a 40-way wire bundle or a bunch of not-so-good coaxial cables these days? I would love to hear your opinion in the comments.
At the same time, I have a lot of cables to deal with, and this is the problem. The copper they contain is valuable, but in most cases, their insulating material is PVC. Recycling may be problematic. If the combustion efficiency is low, it will release toxic chemicals. Over the years, there have been a series of scandals involving the export of electronic waste from developed countries to developing countries. The waste was burned in the open to extract metals. Although measures have been taken to end this practice, there are still concerns about cables being disposed of responsibly. .
Here, my local government has centralized recycling facilities, and then transfers sorted recycled materials to specialized recycling companies. For PVC-coated cables, they are shredded to separate the copper from the plastic, and then the plastic is decomposed to produce hydrocarbon raw materials for the chemical industry.
In my hacking space, we will hold a working group to reduce the cable pile to a manageable proportion. We have experienced the passing of an era without knowing it, even though Brian Benchoff called it Hackaday a few years ago. Inevitably a few years later, we will find a SCSI peripheral and regret throwing away those SCSI cables, but considering the space we will get, I think we will take a risk. The question is, will you?
You have to pry open my 30-year handbag from my cold dead hand... I have worked in AV, POS, corporate and health IT and I got a cable... (with Ram, an ISA modem or 2): P
"So even though my last SCSI drive or VGA monitor has gotten rid of this deadly coil, I still hang on the cable, you know, just in case."
I have seen some with HDMI/DisplayPort, but even brand new servers still have VGA (EG, HP DL380 Gen10). No one wants to throw away (the adapter we bought) all the KVMs that are still in the server room. (Or if you can't afford a KVM, you can use a "display located next to the rack with a very long cable"). However, USB has successfully replaced the PS2 port, so I suspect that we will eventually eliminate VGA.
If the cost of the HDMI adapter is less than the $5 microcontroller you want to use it, then I admit that VGA is outdated.
You can buy one on AliExpress for $3.75 with free shipping. I think it’s time for most people to move on. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32947446707.html
https://www.banggood.com/HDMI-1_4-Micro-HDMI-D-Male-to-Standard-HDMI-A-Female-Connector-Adapter-Support-3D-WiFi-For-HD-Image-p- 1159840.html
I tried to connect HDMI to my LCD on a console built by FreeNAS, but it didn't work properly. Had to buy a VGA cable from a local geek store for $5, and now I can go again. Ha ha
DIY computers like Arduino computers and FPGA development boards still use VGA, because a few resistors can produce a good analog video signal. However, I must be wondering if DVI-A is compatible with cables, or at least as simple as that?
VGA cables are still useful for connecting data projectors to laptops, because long HDMI cables are fragile-they either work or don't work. The VGA signal just looks a little fuzzy, but no one will notice.
I bought several EMI VGA extenders at the 2nd hand store last weekend, each for $0.50. But I did not find any of their documents through Internet search.
"Bundling" is mostly useless. But separate them, and you have a lot of "free" cables. Solid wire is ideal for making breadboards or permanent prototypes. Stranded cores are rarer, and in many cases are superior to solid cores. It is very suitable for connecting custom interconnects.
You can also string together several colorful threads, twist them into a loop, and roll up the ends to form a flower-like spiral. About 4 years ago, I got a
Come here for this. It is the cheapest source of a large number of different colored connecting wires. I don't want to buy 40 spools of different colors, but sometimes I need to prepare a bunch of colors for a project, and then I will find one of these old guys and peel it off.
When you discover an old SCSI drive, the challenge is whether your system has a working controller, software that supports that controller, and the correct cable to connect them-this SCSI end to another SCSI end... .
A few years ago, when I found an old drive that I might not have used in more than 10 years, I crashed. I spent an hour or two looking for equipment to connect to it, you know, just to see what's on it. Then I realized that I hadn't used it to do anything for years, and the answer was obviously "I don't care"
I found some older cables and good sources of wires (yes, I know they are made of this material, but not all "wires" are the same).
The wire in the SCSI cable in the picture is very useful-it may be a real copper conductor with good insulation in many colors-very suitable for making things, and better than the copper foil on the nylon core, as it is today Like many wires.
But even so, how much do you need? Not long ago, I passed through my cable box and finally got a few nice multi-connection cables (which can be separated into individual wires after removing the sheath). The rest is really not suitable for readjustment. The amount of space after getting rid of 3, 4, or 5 bankers' boxes full of cables is a good return.
"Then I suddenly realized that I hadn't used it to do anything for years, and the answer was obviously "I don't care" "
I have about six IDE drives waiting for me to search for them. I'm pretty sure there are some digital photos (some of them) worth recovering.
Regardless, many specialized equipment (such as medical equipment) often require legacy parts to keep running. About 15 years ago, an acquaintance of mine asked me if he knew where he could get a 20 Meg hard drive. (IIRC, he needs an ST-225)
There are several old synthesizer devices that use SCSI. RaSCSI is great, but to make it work, I actually need to _buy_ a SCSI cable. 2018!
(Actually, they are not bad. They are available at the local online store for $10 and will be delivered in a few days. There is no reason to stock up on cables.)
I still have some ST-225 and ST-251 (40MB!) lying in the old 286. The sound of their spinning is so nostalgic.
After keeping my old scsi stuff for 1 to 2 years, I finally threw it away, but never really used it, and then not 2 months later, someone gave me a SCSI card and faulty hard drive A2000.
This is my story. Every time I finally overcome myself and throw away what I have hoarded for years (or decades) within 6 months, I finally find its use and no longer own it.
I threw the last Zip drive in the trash can, and the next day I received a request to copy data from a box full of Zip disks. As a paid job, I became a dumpster diver in my own dumpster.
The keyboard and mouse have become wireless, as is the Internet, and you may find a system with only video and power cords! (On Mac, these may even be the same cable)
Before the 3rd generation, M.2 hard drives were the standard configuration on the motherboard, and they were inserted like a wifi card in a laptop. Another cable is missing.
DisplayPort is where it is used for video. Thunderbolt is catching up. You can choose to send display port data or PCIe, and equip the display or external GPU.
A little off topic: I have some discounts on the old Lenovo Tiny models, M72e M92p M93p M900 M700, etc. If you want to go crazy, P320 P300 has actual PCIe card with 4x video output (+2 onboard from iGPU)
Approximately 7"x7"x1.5" and use actual desktop processors. Amazing! (I know they were rare low-power processors at first, but I believe regular processors can work, maybe use throttle stop or Intel XTU to lower the voltage. My 4570t low-power chip uses 40 watts on the turbocharger, even though it’s a bit of a 35w chip. So I increased the turbo tdp to 40 and lowered it by 60 millivolts, keeping it a 36-watt turbo increase Pressure. If you want a cheap system, I believe you can increase the 51w desktop chip to 40-45w, or use a non-turbo low-speed chip)
No...not all keyboards and mice are wireless. Yes, there are wireless keyboards and mice for those who need them... but many are wired, and depending on the application, wired keyboards/mouses are better in many ways.
No longer because they are connected via USB, because it limits the refresh rate to 125 Hz, and you can no longer perform n-key rollover. The reason is that PS/2 transmits the on/off code, while USB updates the changed key value, and there are only six keys that can be updated per frame.
In contrast, the PS/2 port is basically a serial port operating at a "refresh" rate of approximately 1500 Hz, because this is how long it takes for a code update to pass. The host keeps track of which buttons are pressed or not pressed.
As a result, all keyboards (and mice) today are severely slowed down by USB and have no real advantage over well-designed wireless implementations.
For me, the killer feature of a wired keyboard and mouse is that there is no battery to recharge or replace.
My wired mouse sometimes hurts and slips off the back of the keyboard tray. But this is definitely better than letting my daughter take a wireless mouse, because she lost her!
For the mouse, the difference is not much, because the way the computer reads the PS/2 mouse is slightly different. It sends interrupts at a frequency of 200 Hz, so the USB wired mouse is not that slow, and because of the different HID classes, it can be set to a refresh rate of 1000 Hz.
I switched to a wireless mouse sometime in the late 1990s, or maybe it was very early. Since my mouse battery is dead, I cursed and tripped on the key combination shortcuts for a few years. After I grew up, I cut out that shit. Now I only use a wireless mouse on portable devices such as mobile phones or tablets.
Post time: Nov-23-2021