Yes, yes. Make the jokes... Forget all those times the box of cables saved the day.
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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!"
looks at token ring hardware
You never know.
What if i need that coax cable 10 years from now, what am I going to do, buy another one?
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?
Dude, it's a law of the universe: If you throw away something, you will desperately need it soon after. Everybody knows that.
I threw away an RCA cable a while ago. Yesterday I needed it and had to buy a new one 😞. Never again.
Listen, some day I will need to hook up a dot matrix printer.
If it's a differential SCSI printer that only works under OS/2, I think have that somewhere...
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.
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 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.
Mine are pipecleanered neatly (couldn't find the Velcro) and grouped into gallon Ziploc bags.
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.
What if I need my firewire cable this year?!
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...
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
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.
Only 2002? Amateur
Right? I still have a charger cable for a 1987 Black and Decker Dust Buster. The dust buster has been missing for two decades.
2002? Amateur.
We are all Man on this blessed day.
I'll keep my growing box of crap I'll never use forever and ever... ya never know, I might need that old DB9 cable for something...
Literally needed a DB9 cable the other month, I had actually moved it from my standard cable bins to the vintage cable box that I was going to drop off at the e-waste facility. This was the second cable I've had to rescue from that box. I am now just keeping that box.
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!
I just threw out my mum's CRT TV last week (unfortunately was beyond repair, RIP). I decided to keep the SCART cable just in case I might need it some day...
I think it's fair that this is posted annually, but I don't like that it is.
I used to have a collection of cardboard boxes for this stuff, but I organized everything into ziplock bags and then a set of transparent storage drawers, way nicer setup, can actually find things if I need them again.
Hey he’s me! Ten of the same power bricks. A bundle of Ethernet cable that I keep for just in case. 5 power cables. Six hdmi cables. A box of computer case fans even though I’ll never need them. Like 50 micro usb cables.
Only cables?
Don't you have Sound Blaster for ISA bus in that box, for when... you know... just in case?
Or a Pioneer U03-S SCSI DVD-ROM drive for when you need something that plays all region codes?
Or a Pentium 60 for when you want to see that bug again?
Some things are just gone when they're gone. And no, the PS/2-USB adapter isn't up for grabs!
Sound Blaster for ISA bus in that box, for when... you know... just in case
I felt that right in the cabinet in my office closet. And like 5 NICs and nv 7xx GPUs.
I've got a shitty 3ft cube Ottoman in my living room full of cables I'll never need again...
I'm talking about VGA, DVI, DVI/HDMI, VGA/DVI, coax, Component, composite, mini USB, micro USB, USB extention, 3.5m audio, 3.5 audio extention, digital optical, mini HDMI, HDMI and Ethernet.
Last week my wife was redoing her desk and asked for a long micro USB for her calculator and extension cables for USB speakers.
That box became a chest from a Zelda game when I dug in and pulled out the exact three cables she needed. 10ft micro USB, 6ft USB extension and 6ft 3.5 audio extension.
I have the chest open sound AND hyrule morning theme cued up to play on my smart speakers to annoy my family and kiddo, you should too
holy shit. yeah!
but that'd be a lot of sensors to rig up over here
Nah, just one. Use this with a magnetic door sensor. https://www.adafruit.com/product/2133
A few years ago, I organized mine into bins by rough category. (AV, USB, Dongles, AC power, DC adapters) I pull and use something probably at least once a month.
I felt so called out by this that I just threw away a box of cables. Thank you for giving me the push I needed to wait hold on I think I still need those USB-A cables for that old printer I've got in storage so I should dig those out of the trash real quick
By reading this comment you are now cursed:
One week after you choose to dispose of any of those cables, you will need one of them.
How is this satire?
I still have my old AT power supply and IDE cables and one day again, it'll be my time to shine!
I had to go digging for a micro usb cable yesterday to charge a flashlight and a micro-b for a scanner
Hey, those old power supplies can be re-purposed for all manner of things. Of all the old kit you could hang on to, that's probably the most useful.
The world is so crazy right now the only possible satire is mundane normalcy.
I swear that power cables breed.
Until you need a specific one.


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