Who has the most different types of cables?

TidBITS Talk
1

I wonder who has the most different kinds of cables? Such as…

  • Serial: DE-9, mini DIN-8
  • Centronics parallel
  • SCSI 50-pin, DB-25, HD50
  • USB
  • Apple Desktop Bus
  • Ethernet
  • Token Ring
  • AppleTalk
  • Display: VGA, DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort
  • Firewire 400, 800
  • Thunderbolt 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
  • Toslink optical
  • eSATA
  • Lightning
  • Dock (30-pin)
WhatCable Reports on USB-C Cable Power and Speed
2

I have all of those except for Token ring, but I have an Apple Desktop Bus cable that I use as an S Video cable. Can I count that one twice? :rofl:

3

Today I learned that Apple sold a Token Ring card for Macintosh: https://wiki.preterhuman.net/Apple_Token_Ring_4/16_NB_Card

4

Good list. I’m sure I have a couple of PhoneNet adapters in the garage - not strictly cables since those used RJ11 phone cords. The critical piece being the terminating resistor.

This reminds me of the kind of questions Adam would ask at that annual Macworld Expo after-show gathering of Mac nerds. The one I recall clearly is “Who has the most amount of digital storage on their person right now?”

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5

No Mini DIN-8, Centronics parallel, Toslink, Token Ring or TB 5. Everything else, though, plus various SCSI cables for for 68-pin drives.

6

Without explicitly searching my closet, I can say that I have:

  • Serial. Many different kinds including DB-25, DE-9, DIN-8 and min-DIN8
  • Centronics parallel
  • Many different kinds of SCSI, including 25-pin, 50-pin and 68-pin connectors. Round cables and (internal) ribbon cables.
  • USB. Many different connectors and bandwidths.
  • ADB
  • Ethernet. Including 10-BASE2 (thinnet) coaxial, T connectors and terminators. And transceivers (both AUI and AAUI)
  • Computer video (VGA, DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, and mini-DP) and analog video (composite, component, S-Video)
  • FireWire 400. Never used 800.
  • Digital audio (coaxial and TOSLink optical) and analog audio
  • SATA, both internal and external
  • Lots of Lightning and Dock USB cables
  • Ribbon cables of many different kinds, including 25-pin serial, 34-pin floppy disc, 50-pin and 68-pin SCSI
  • IBM keyboard cables. Their proprietary connector on one end and DIN or PS/2-DIN on the other end. (see also model M SDL to ps/2 cable 36in (standard) used – ClickyKeyboards )

No TokenRing or AppleTalk, but I do have some PhoneNet transceivers and analog phone cables.

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