Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables • Hacker News Board

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#151

Post by CTDOCodebases » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 9:44 PM UTC

SmasherEpilepti wrote: post #106

Recently, I was screwed by my big box of cables, when I pulled out a SATA power connector for my modular power supply, and learned very quickly that though the ports universally fit across modular PSUs, the pinouts are not actually intercompatible, and you can and will fry your hard drives. I didn't know this; I had foolishly assumed that SATA power connectors were standardized on both ends.

Before you fry a whole 12bay drive array and backplane let me tell you this:

6 pin EPS and 6 pin PCIe power cables are not the same. Even though the connector may fit they are not the same pinout.

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#152

Post by michaelt » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 9:45 PM UTC

smw wrote: post #91

BeetleB wrote: post #66

I'm terrified of not being able to find old USB cables. My D2A converter I use to route TV audio to a small amplifier died. It was cheap, but decent. I wanted another cheap one. I had trouble finding any. Finally, I snagged a pair on Amazon/eBay, but it used ancient USB connections. Luckily, I had old USB cables, so I'm good. But what will I do if the USB cable stops working?

What are ancient usb connections? Type A? B?

How are you going to download photos from your USB Nikon camera to your USB iPod Photo if you don't even have a UC-E6 to 30-pin dock connector cable?

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#153

Post by tolerance » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 9:45 PM UTC

For evidence that Bluesky is a long-term living facility operating as a social media platform...look no further than how their users employ the word "skeet" to refer to "post".

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#154

Post by rubidium » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 9:46 PM UTC

exe34 wrote: post #145

SmasherEpilepti wrote: post #106

Recently, I was screwed by my big box of cables, when I pulled out a SATA power connector for my modular power supply, and learned very quickly that though the ports universally fit across modular PSUs, the pinouts are not actually intercompatible, and you can and will fry your hard drives. I didn't know this; I had foolishly assumed that SATA power connectors were standardized on both ends.

Oh for crying out loud, I've spent my life believing if it fits it's right. %$@&#!

I hope you never have to work with serial D9 cables. The variation of pinouts for legacy equipment is massive! Pretty sure every theoretical variation became some standard.

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#155

Post by fitzroy » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 9:46 PM UTC

criddell wrote: post #67

asah wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1000 did _exactly_ this right down to the ziploc. Also a bag for audio, HDMI, old apple cables, and "random" cables. These days, I store the ziplocs in a pelican-type case and that goes in a stack with cases for power cords, camera gear, SBC gear,etc - and the stacks all go on furniture dollies, so I can roll them out.

What bag does a cable with HDMI on one end and USB C on the other end go into?

Obviously, one cuts a small hole in the ziploc bags and runs the cable between them so that each connector can be in the correct bag.

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#156

Post by swalberg » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 9:46 PM UTC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICDRBVaH6Rc is an earworm of a song exactly about this.

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#157

Post by MisterTea » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 9:47 PM UTC

pdpi wrote: post #102

smw wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are ancient usb connections? Type A? B?

Mini-B cables can be somewhat hard to find.

There was also the Micro-A which I found on some dev boards. I think the Arduino Due (Arm Cortex M3 chip) used one for the USB host port as well as an Atmel Arm uc board.

Also that weird, really small USB connector that was found on some early digital cameras. I think Kodak was a big user of it. Sorta looked like a narrower and taller version of the Mini-B. Maybe the Mini-AB but that doesn't look like it. I have one in my box at home.

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#158

Post by avhception » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 9:48 PM UTC

pdpi wrote: post #102

smw wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are ancient usb connections? Type A? B?

Mini-B cables can be somewhat hard to find.

I hold on to my precious few mini-Bs. They also seem to have a tendency to break.

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#159

Post by OroPla » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 9:51 PM UTC

booty wrote: post #24

Key for me is to "group" cables. For example, I have a bag of USB-C cables, a bag of USB-A cables, etc. Grouping them is key to deduplicating. It's easy to look at a single legacy USB A-to-B "printer" cable in isolation and think "I might need this someday!" Because you really might need it someday. However, if you group them you might see that you have ten of them. And then you can get rid of... maybe 8 of them. I a…

Remember CD spindles? Those are were a quarter of my cables live now. They can be stacked! There's also a few boxes and one tech bag. Also, the 15m (50ft) HDMI cable doesn't fit anywhere so it got it's own space.

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#160

Post by samudrijan » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 9:51 PM UTC

CTDOCodebases wrote: post #151

SmasherEpilepti wrote: post #106

Recently, I was screwed by my big box of cables, when I pulled out a SATA power connector for my modular power supply, and learned very quickly that though the ports universally fit across modular PSUs, the pinouts are not actually intercompatible, and you can and will fry your hard drives. I didn't know this; I had foolishly assumed that SATA power connectors were standardized on both ends.

Before you fry a whole 12bay drive array and backplane let me tell you this: 6 pin EPS and 6 pin PCIe power cables are not the same. Even though the connector may fit they are not the same pinout.

Looks the same? Should be fine.