Yes, yes. Make the jokes… Forget all those times the box of cables saved the day.
People like to make fun of the ones with cable boxes, but they always come to them in times of need
Amateur, lol, that box will be lost in MY box of cables dating back to Y2K.
Quick note, the one time I did clean out my box after not touching it for years I needed to go buy a special cable that I had just disposed of.
BTW: anyone need a 486 laptop running win2k, little quirk, the screen won’t stand up on its own anymore
I constantly use cables from my box of cables. But, not all of them. The trick is knowing which cables are safe to throw away.
I thought I had a trick. I thought I was clever. I decided I’d only keep one of each. One DVI. One VGA. One USB type B mini. A bunch of USB Micro B because those are not quite obsolete yet. But then one time I needed a bunch of USB type B minis. I think it was bike lights. For some reason they all used that obsolete type B mini connectors. So, it was either go out and buy a new bike light or buy a new but obsolete cable. Ugh.
Rookie. My box has been growing since the '90s
Never know when you’re going to need an RJ11 POTS connector!
I just picked up someone else’s box from the roadside trash to add to my collection.
Great idea. Now you have to sneak it into the house without the wife knowing
“Whatcha got there?”
“Nothing, just some cables.”
“More cables? Don’t we have enough? Where did those come from?”
“Nowhere, just found’em”
“Found’em where?”
“Just around”
“Around where?”
“By…some trash.”
“Are you trash picking tech again? I told you, we have enough junk, we don’t need to collect other people’s junk, too!”
Wifegit, is that you?
looks at token ring hardware
You never know.
I think I actually finally threw out the token ring hub.
But I kept all the BNC cables and terminators.
Whole network down for want of a terminator.
BTDT
Now I have a box with several
I know when you’ll need it - 48 hours after you get rid of it!
Grandpa’s version of Pokémon cards.
I threw away an RCA cable a while ago. Yesterday I needed it and had to buy a new one 😞. Never again.
What if i need that coax cable 10 years from now, what am I going to do, buy another one?
You can buy them? Is that where they come from??? I have so many from cable boxes and modems over the years
@Noite_Etion
I just found myself needing one a couple days ago, but I had just given them to a nephew in preparation for a move overseas.
@ZeroCoolWhoa you know zerocool?? That dude is 1337
You never know. That’s why i keep like 5 of them… Just in case lol.
Listen, some day I will need to hook up a dot matrix printer.
To print data off my Zip drive.
When the apocalypse comes I will of course let people use my stores of micro USB and VGA cables, but I’m gonna be real smug about it.
If it’s a differential SCSI printer that only works under OS/2, I think have that somewhere…
My wife jokes about this a lot but there’s been at least 5 times over the past few years where I just happened to have the exact cable required in the box.
I do go through it every so often. I’m not hoarding VGA and DVI cables
Just keeping the one VGA cable which does get some use!
The dinky ones that come with monitors or industrial ones the size of a 30 foot garden hose?
They certainly come in all shapes and sizes. Maybe I should get the latter so it could double as rope.
Do you want the type with five BNCs on one end?
Yeah I keep a few gens back. But sensible. It fits one drawer :p
Dude, it’s a law of the universe: If you throw away something, you will desperately need it soon after. Everybody knows that.
Laugh all you want, but the week after I recycled the mini USB cable I had never used we were gifted a baby monitor that, of fucking course, needed a mini USB.
I fucking despise mini USB
Yep. One of mine uses mini. I have a second one, same brand, that uses something completely different. Annoying.
Just one box?
What if I need my firewire cable this year?!
Removed by mod
I still use firewire. When I eventually can afford to upgrade from my ff800 to a better rme, I will not be getting rid of any of it.
I got a free PC off Craigslist because the motherboard has Firewire built in, and when I dragged that heavy dusty PC into my closet, a box fell to the ground, it was a PCI Firewire card I bought for my Value Village PC… I already had solved the problem earlier and forgot about it…
since 2002
Amateur.
i keep them in labeled containers: data cables, audio cables, power cables and extension cords
I still keep them all in one giant box, but they’re all sorted and velcroed together
Amateur. You’re supposed to just throw them all in a giant tangled mess. I’m gonna laugh when you need one and you don’t even have to spend an hour figuring out what’s what.
That was me for the last 15 years lol
Finally spent some time on it after a move
Mine are pipecleanered neatly (couldn’t find the Velcro) and grouped into gallon Ziploc bags.
fancy
I’m organized like that too, but I’ve simplified it: They are all in the same box, labelled Cables, or it will be when I make a label, which I probably won’t.
Maybe I’ll write on it with a Sharpie, if I can find my Sharpie.
Just like the box of screws my great grand father passed down to my grand father, then to my father and finally to me. This multigenerational collection of screws from goodness knows where will keep growing until I bestow it on the heir to my estate.
At this point you cannot even get rid of it because it’s an heirloom
If I did, I guarantee every item in my life held together with screws will work its way loose out of spite, and that’s not a risk I’m willing to take
I got a cookie tin of washers, handed down from my father-in-law. I have dug into it often. I’ve added a lot to it, too.
I’ve showed it to my son, and told him that this is his family legacy. He’s not impressed. I don’t think he’s taking this seriously…
The solution is simple. Get rid of the son, you can always try for a better one later, or adopt one.
One day he will require the cookie tin, and then he will understand.
Exactly, that’s how it happens. He will realize that only the perfect washer will save him, and will remember the tin.
He will open it, and start trying different ones until one fits perfectly, but it’s a little oxidized. He digs a bit more, and finds a pretty shiny one! PERFECT!
This is a revelation! Suddenly, he totally understands what his old man was always talking about. The generational wisdom of the family has been successfully passed to the next generation. He looks to the heavens and says “I get it Dad.”
And from the next room, I call out “Hey, what’s going on? Need a washer for anything?”
And he says, “No, Dad, I got it.”
Kid successfully raised.
Do not lose hope brethren, and stay the course! I had critical need of a random audio cable I’d had for over 10 years just a few months ago. It is worth it! Your times will come! Keep the faith!
No joke. I did keep the cables and some became useful again!
