• Thorry84@feddit.nl
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    3 months ago

    Power cables are probably still useful. At least here in Western Europe the power cables I used in the 80s are still perfectly fine today. Better even, since copper was cheaper they often have more than modern cables (which shouldn’t matter if they are within spec, but still).

    Those old centronics cables on the other hand, maybe it’s time for them to go.

    • Magister@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      3 months ago

      Those old centronics cables on the other hand, maybe it’s time for them to go.

      Yep, I bought a Centronics cable maybe 30 years ago for $100, for a parallel printer. I kept the printer maybe 10 years, then moved to a laser/ethernet at the time. But I kept this damn cable 20 years more in case of!!! It’s now in a thrift store bin for $1 I guess.

    • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      It depends. I remember (late 90s story). The company I was working with had just moved and we were short on power cables (they were probably still in a box somewhere). So I went out to grab a couple.

      Luckily, at the time there were still hardware stores to be found. So I were in the first one:

      “Hello, I need two power cables.”

      “Sure, what models are they for?”

      “Sorry? Just power cables, grounded power cables, like those (points helpfully at generic 1.5m cables just hanging there).”

      “But what model?”

      “No model, just regular PC workstations.”

      “Oooh, but those are Mac cables!”

      “… Ah, never mind, I’ll risk it, just give me two.”

      Sometimes you think they’re just cables, but they’re actually Mac cables. And then who knows what can happen?