Yes, a blast from my past. I was playing with these things when it was common to have to do this:
Standardization? Sure – but only to a point. Frankly, I hated printer cables. Period. And serial cables were often on my “oh, crap” list especially when Device A HAD to connect to Device B for the CFO who had to get something done a half hour ago.
I remember having a bag a bag of “converters” like that shown in the image in trying match up the pins and then the genders (male and female – plugs and holes). I also remember having, at times, having to do some really weird gymcrackery to get some situations to work. And yes, a “three plug converter chain” was a rather simple one. I’m betting that there are those of you out there with heads going “yep, that’s right”.
And I’m also sure that there are those of you out there going “what ARE those things?” as you never had to deal with this. USB has made life much easier – and WiFi/Bluetooth have made it almost a no brainer. You folks will never feel the frustration at having to do this and will never share in the victory of seeing your “redneck technology” actually make those two devices talk to each other.
CERTAINLY, some of you out there have a history like this, yes?
(H/T: Cheezburger)
