On Feb 2 2005, 16:23, Sean 'Captain Napalm' Conner wrote:
> It was thus said that the Great Paul Koning once stated:
> >
> > Never underestimate the eagerness of manufacturers to use utterly
off
> > the wall non-standard connectors. (Ditto with screws -- why the
heck
> > are Japanese Phillips screws different from real Phillips screws?)
>
> True. My first digital camera had an odd serial cable. The Newton
120 I
> have uses a special serial cable. And the DEC VT320 termainal I have
> requires yet another special serial cable. Oh, and the Coco with
it's
> special serial cable.
That's four and I'm sure Sean wasn't even trying. Let's see what I
have nearby:
three modems with normal female DB25
assorted computers with standard DB25 male
one with a DB25 female with two DTE serial ports in it
at least one printer with DB25 female but still wired as DTE
at least one computer with DB25 male but wired as DCE
a Sonix ISDN device with a DA15 (but jackscrews, not slidelock)
VAX with DE9, DEC's usual 9-pin pinout
computers, hubs, and a switch with DE9 to IBM pinout (which I
recently discovered, to my surprise, *is* a standard, EIA-574,
no doubt retroactively)
assorted DEC and Wyse serial cables with MMJs
assorted cables (and adapters to DB25/DE9) with RJ45s wired to the DEC
"standard" that puts Tx+/Tx-/Rx+/Rx- on RJ45 pins 1,2,3,6
assorted cables/adapters with RJ45 wired to "YOST" standard (like
Cisco, most Sun, and some other equipment use)
a few cables with RJ45s wired for an Annex terminal server
a few cables with RJ45s wired yet another way, for a Shivaport
[ interestingly, I've never ever seen an RJ45 wired to EIA-561 ]
BBC Micro cables with a domino-style 5-pin DIN plug
cables for a couple of SBCs with 5-pin 180-degree DIN plugs
half a dozen MAC/SGI cable with 9-pin miniDIN
cable with a wierd flat plug for the RS232 port on my Sharp Zaurus
cable for my AgendA handheld (another oddball plug)
(similar to some PCMCIA connectors, but much more solid)
serial cables for my Cybikos, another wierd miniature connector
at least two different Nokia cables (but you could argue those aren't
so much "cables" as "interfaces")
cable for my Psion Organiser (again, more an "interface" so perhaps
it doesn't count)
DE9-to-modified 3.5mm stereo jack for a digital camera
DEC BC05 cables with 40-pin Berg connectors
I can probably find more if I look, and no doubt so could others on the
list. And people wonder why I have several boxes of adapters, two
breakout boxes, one line analyzer, and mild hair loss :-)
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Received on Wed Feb 02 2005 - 17:19:41 GMT