To all the adapters I’ve loved before…

June 9, 2018 7:56 AM

The Adapter Museum hasn’t seen a new post in years but it’s still a lovely trip down memory lane that examines, celebrates, and perfectly lightbox captures those random connectors we all keep in a box somewhere. Entries earnestly describe the technology and ingenuity required for each adapter with a reverence that elevates the seemingly mundane into what it truly is: a curated museum.
posted by mathowie (60 comments total)

Is the adapter museum accepting contributions? I have like twelve shoeboxes worth.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:58 AM on June 9, 2018 [17 favorites]

I’ve never seen this site before today and after I got over my initial shock that someone actually built this, somewhere around page 5 in the archives I was like “how did someone make adapters this interesting that I’ve read about 50 of them and I’m bummed they aren’t publishing regular new entries?!”
posted by mathowie at 8:26 AM on June 9, 2018 [5 favorites]

I have that EXACT TRS (stereo) to dual-TRS (stereo stereo) adapter. I mostly use it so to split the output from my Monotron Duo to headphones and to the input on my sampling synthesizer.
posted by SansPoint at 8:29 AM on June 9, 2018

Let's talk about our rares.

I still have a Mac/VGA monitor adapter with a physical thumbwheel for changing resolutions on it around here somewhere. (I still have a Centris and Quadra too but I doubt they'd boot at this point.)
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:32 AM on June 9, 2018 [8 favorites]

We need a museum for "small box that you buy off Amazon that purports to do something useful with HDMI but stops working after a week". I could contribute all the exhibits.
posted by selfnoise at 8:43 AM on June 9, 2018 [17 favorites]

Also a museum for two factor key fobs. I have some really weird ones.
posted by selfnoise at 8:45 AM on June 9, 2018 [4 favorites]

I’ve noticed that thanks to wirelsss and increasingly standardized cables that I’ve never needed fewer adapters than I do today. There are still too damn many remote controls, though.
posted by sjswitzer at 8:51 AM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

^_^
When, I was just a young es_de_boy, I discovered the joys off digging thru my dad's tool bench in the garage, figuring out the hand tools and fasteners. Seeing how he'd sorted all the nails and bits into draws.

Then, in my teens, I got into music and home recording, and I discovered his other tool bench in the basement, the one he used as a tech engineer. Smaller, cleaner, shinier tools. And about a hundred draws filled with wires, adapters, and terminations. This was back in the days when you could still go into a Radioshaq and stock up on such things like so much penny candy. I would learn to make a mixing board out of an old pre-amp and a tangle of whatever wires and adapters I had. goood times.

It's taken me till very recently to be able to toss out old wires and adapters. I've dragged VGA cables and ether net termination equipment across so many apartment moves.
posted by es_de_bah at 8:56 AM on June 9, 2018 [5 favorites]

Pluto Nash: So how's it going with you and Babbet?

Bruno: Me and Babbet? I don't think that's going to happen. I found out that I'm 110 volts and she's a 220.

Pluto Nash: Just go to the hardware store and get an adaptor.

Bruno: Nah. That just ruins it for me.
posted by eye of newt at 9:02 AM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Based on the various drawers, boxes, bins, and random floor piles, I assume this is my husband's secret project.
posted by VioletU at 9:05 AM on June 9, 2018 [6 favorites]

Okay this is super useful for identifying the contents of the boxes full of adapters and cords I have and can't bring myself to get rid of. I have a ton of Apple adapters, including a Mini-VGA to Composite Video/S-Video.
posted by elsietheeel at 9:06 AM on June 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

I’ve noticed that thanks to wireless and increasingly standardized cables that I’ve never needed fewer adapters than I do today.

I've noticed that thanks to the rise of MacBook Pros with only two USB-C ports, I've never needed more adapters than I do today. When my old laptop got stolen, I had to buy so many adapters and dongles just to be able to use the adapters I bought the last round. I also once did a lightning talk on kludging together like 3 adapters to be able to use an old iSight. This is kind of one of my favorite things.

So yeah, y'all, I have so many adapters. And most people I know do too; I walked into a friend's house in L.A. and immediately spotted one of the million tiny USB A female–to–USB C male adapters we all have now.
posted by limeonaire at 9:44 AM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

This is the craziest adapter in my collection. It lets me connect my 2003-vintage Apple Cinema Display to a recent MacBook Pro. Has a fairly large power supply brick that plugs into AC (because the monitor itself doesn't connect directly to wall power; it has a single ADC cable that supplies power as well as display signals) and connects to the host with separate DVI and USB cables. That DVI cable needs yet another adapter (DVI-HDMI in my case) to complete the kludge. And the USB cable is basically useless since the monitor's embedded hub is good for USB 1.0 speeds only, but that connection is required to adjust brightness on the display.
posted by HillbillyInBC at 10:18 AM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

I have two identical HDMI to display port adapters, except one of them refuses to do 4k for political reasons.

I have a 220 German to 110 US adapter that I have literally never plugged in because there's just obviously no way it won't set the house on fire. It's mostly heat sink.

I have a 5-adapter (~$115) chain of Apple widgets that, when plugged in, will summon Steve Jobs from the dead. And then you get to give him a wedgie.
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 10:27 AM on June 9, 2018 [11 favorites]

Let's just say I'm ready when AppleTalk returns as a networking protocol.
posted by TedW at 10:49 AM on June 9, 2018 [6 favorites]

I never tested it, but when someone asked if it would be possible to use a modern mouse on an Atari I came up with Atari rs232 | 25 → 9 pin serial | serial → ps2 | ps2 → usb | usb mouse

I know rs232 | 25 → 9 | serial mouse worked, so I guess it should be doable.
posted by farlukar at 10:57 AM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

Man, this is actually making me miss my cable hoard.

Do you have ANY IDEA how hard it is to find a plain old MIDI cable these days? I used to see them all the time in thrift stores and junk piles. Even random homes often had one, sometimes from a computer audio card or a MIDI keyboard.

Also, I can't find straight Firewire cables any more for an affordable price. You know, the plain FW800 cables with the same larger connection at either end, used for connecting two Macs in target disk mode for recovery.

I'm also starting to hoard and stash high quality mini USBs cables, you know, the size we had before micro USB that didn't actually break every month. I need them for USB MIDI/audio devices, and I've discovered the hard way that crappy or intermittent mini USB cables can cause things to crash at bad times, like in the middle of a DJ set.

Things I don't miss are bizarro world proprietary connectors and cable harnesses. Anyone remember the original Connectix QuickCams with their parallel/serial + PS/2 pass through connectors? Did you know that hotswapping PS/2 was actually generally considered to be very bad for the computer or port? Hell, I worked in IT and most of us didn't know that and we swapped PS/2 all the time.

How about proprietary dongles on PCMCIA modems and ethernet cards? How about having to keep a dongle store at the help desk because the stupid fiddly things broke so often and so easily that it just became policy to hand the damn things out like candy?

Hell, I once had a PCMCIA multi channel 5.1 audio card that had the cthulhu of dongles, a width edge connector that bloomed into an ungainly black mix of tentacle-like pods, that when connected to speakers turned any laptop into something that looked like the Olympic Stadium scene in Akira where he rebuilds his arm with wires. If you so much as dared to try to move the laptop after everything was connected you risked tearing out the PCMCIA card with enough leverage and force for auto body sheet metal work.

Fast forward 15 years and now we're struggling to get OEMS to keep enough USB ports in their ultrabook to be useful. Yeah, I really don't want to have to carry around a fucking hub to be able to use a wireless mouse and charge or tether my phone at the same time, you jerks.
posted by loquacious at 10:57 AM on June 9, 2018 [4 favorites]

But let me add, the one adaptor I truly want is HDMI to component video, which doesn't seem to exist, at least not in useable form (I have a circa 2003 Panasonic plasma hdtv that has a great picture, but only component inputs for HD functionality, thus forcing it into the analog sunset.)
posted by TedW at 10:57 AM on June 9, 2018

This is the craziest adapter in my collection.

It's a breakout cable, masquerading as an adapter.

I'll allow it.
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:08 AM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

Lovely. (And not just because the overlap of electronics geeks and genuinely skilled photography geeks is so unusual it's rather shocking.)

Someone who isn't me should really step up and revitalize this.
posted by eotvos at 11:16 AM on June 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

→ HDMI to component video, which doesn't seem to exist

The numerous black metal HDMI/SCART → SCART/HDMI boxes on Amazon will do this. Getting a SCART cable in N. America is always fun, though.

I use one of these boxes to get usable video from an Apple Ⅱɢꜱ. It's a little noisy, but better than the composite output.
posted by scruss at 12:06 PM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Ahh, this brings back memories. Despite my efforts to avoid becoming an adapter-hoarder (I mean, you never know when you might be in a pinch and need that One Weird Adapter again, right?) I have several of these and I've had or worked with quite a few of the rest in the past. The thing I currently have the most of is audio cables - so many cables - to pair up every conceivable combination of just about every audio connector known to humankind, extending back to before there were such things as computer connectors and adapters to collect.

During my last move I managed to pare down one giant box of mixed adapters and doodads, getting rid of duplicates (how many serial-to-PS/2 cables can a sane man really use?) and anything I could convince myself was truly obsolete and useless, and separating the audio and computer stuff into to two smaller boxes. That job alone probably accounted for 15-20% of the packing process, but when I was done I felt pretty righteous.

So far I've had no regrets...
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:07 PM on June 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

I have a 220 German to 110 US adapter that I have literally never plugged in because there's just obviously no way it won't set the house on fire. It's mostly heat sink. --kleinsteradikaleminderheit

Note that many modern electronics are designed to work with 110 or 220V. Laptop power bricks are a good example. They will be clearly marked (although usually with tiny print) that they can handle both. Then you can safely use the adaptor.

If it isn't clearly marked, then you are right--you could set the house on fire.
posted by eye of newt at 12:08 PM on June 9, 2018

Let's just say I'm ready when AppleTalk returns as a networking protocol.

That reminds me, I have an old AirPort Base Station (the flying saucer one) and its wall-wart power cable that I'm willing to send to an interested MeFite for the cost of shipping. Avoid the rush and MeMail me early!
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:17 PM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

(how many serial-to-PS/2 cables can a sane man really use?)

The answer, naturally, is 42
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:22 PM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

One of my goals in the current round of purging is to dig out all my old electronics, old phones, external hard drives, whatever... then take my giant box of random cables, match everything up, and dumping the rest of the box. Because it's like keys: I'm always afraid to throw away my old key rings in case there turns out to be one in there I need for some box or door I still have. So I have sooooo many random connectors and cables.
posted by tavella at 12:41 PM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

Power Mac 6100 DOS Compatibility Card monitor+joystick adapter cable.
posted by tss at 12:54 PM on June 9, 2018 [4 favorites]

kleinsteradikaleminderheit, one of the reasons I got turned off on a career in AV soon after getting into it in the late 2000s: HDMI and other 'two-way' cables meant that media and tech companies were allowed to sell you broken products in order to protect their content. Not only that, they were mandating them as state-of-the-industry. Big note: this wasn't just to stop folks from making a profit distributing stolen content. This was to stop YOU using what YOU paid for with the platforms YOU paid for. This is the recording industry vs cassette culture times fuck-you-end-user.

I got into AV because, as a kid, I could link up a bunch of disparate devices and put on a show.
I got out when our sales people were hawking E-dit codes to hack HDMI for preferred customers.

(If that seems opaque, here's a scenario: A school wants to play a DVD that they paid for the rights to show for the student body. Most of the student body will be in the auditorium, but they also want to pump the movie into a smaller room for kids who don't do well in crowds for behavioral or developmental reasons or whatever. Pre-HDMI: Here's your solution! I can do it with stuff in my van! Post-HDMI: You're going to have to buy a new DVD player or submit a firmware complaint or buy three different systems and three different DVDs...you know....because pirates)
posted by es_de_bah at 1:45 PM on June 9, 2018 [9 favorites]

Yes! I was totally making a thoughtful comment on politicization and corporate takeover of standards in media technology. Not at all just implying that my adapters are sentient and have weird opinions that interfere with my daily life. Let me try another one:

"My box of random adapters unionized, and now I'm contractually obligated to keep using the same laptop until the end of time."

[You're totally right about the whole HDCP bullshit. And yay unions! ...I'll see myself out now.]
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 2:18 PM on June 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

1. This is my favorite adapter that I've come across recently. Let's hope that's a rotary switch on top, and the other plugs aren't live.

2. If you know how to solder and have a basic understanding of electronics, making your own cables and adapters is extremely satisfying. You won't be able to match the price of cheap stuff on Amazon/Monoprice, but you can build high quality stuff for less. You can also learn how to replace connectors when they go bad, or change an adapter into a different kind of adapter.
posted by scose at 2:19 PM on June 9, 2018 [7 favorites]

Yeah scose, especially the MIDI cable which was built from parts along with my first ink-resist pen and board etching to make a MIDI connector for my Amiga based on plans for an ISA board from a BYTE magazine that was 90% just a fast UART that my computer already had. (and many years as a child doing church-type audio wiring/mixing stuff.

I snagged a lot of stuff over the years, (my office was the keeper of the big box of that stuff every device comes with that you already have hundreds of and don't need any more of.).

All sorts of RJ45 to DB9 connectors that are oddly different for reasons. Great targets for opening up and rewiring as needed. RJ45 cables of flat and round with and without twists. A 120AC-48DC for industrial wireless (that looks like a cast aluminum heat sink with PCMIA slots.) Another that's 12V with a bunch of replaceable plugs for various countries, (also a wireless thing, they had cool power bricks.) Some sort of maybe S-video to RCA type thing I'd have to find again. Somewhere I have a 12 port RJ45 harmonica that connects to that teleco standard thing.

The weirdest is probably the IBM thing, some weird plug to PS/2 mouse/keyboard+VGA thing, (the servers had 2 of those ports and would daisy-chain so you only needed one dongle-thingy.) Eventually I was the only one using these old machines as throw-away-able playthings.

Does anybody know of a similar site for old cable? I have this chunk of "LOW VOLTAGE COMPUTER CABLE" that came from my grandfather that's supposed to be back WWII-ish or before (possibly from UNIVAC or Raytheon). It's at least 50yr old. So old that the imprinting they did on the outside insulation has flattened back out into almost unreadable.
posted by zengargoyle at 3:02 PM on June 9, 2018

making your own cables and adapters is extremely satisfying

I once made an RS-232 to TTL level adapter, to hook a ham radio to a PC. It had a mini DIN on one end and a 9-pin D type plug in a clamshell shroud on the other. It needed some electronics - you can buy chips that do it, but you can also put together a handful of resistors and transistors.

I elected to do that, and painstakingly assembled the circuit out of 1/8 watt resistors and the smallest through-hole transistors I could find, directly on the pins inside the shroud of the D type.

I am not by nature a neat man. I throw things together impatiently, because I want to get on. This time, I took pride, cutting leads to just the right lengths, forming angles with care, and using just the right amount of solder to cap the gold plated pins with a silvery line just so.

Reader, I created a jewel - the Faberge of adapters. I could have shown it with pride to anyone, from Marconi to Woz. Jobs would have hired me on the spot for understanding the aesthetics of raw technology. Not a cubic mm was wasted, even the colour codes on the resistors lined up, and the shroud snapped shut perfectly.

I was very proud. I plugged it in. It did not work.

Upon investigation, I'd mirror-imaged the pin numbers on the D-type. I had to pull it all apart, and of course nothing fitted right. So I bodged it together in one hairy, melted gouges in the plastic mess, and it worked, and it still does, and let that be a lesson to you.
posted by Devonian at 3:26 PM on June 9, 2018 [20 favorites]

Don't forget the Apple Desktop Bus to USB adapter back in 1998. Apple's first USB mouse, the infamous "hockey puck," was such a disaster that Apple fans bought the adapters so that they could continue using their favorite old ADB Apple mice with the USB-only iMac.
posted by JackFlash at 3:32 PM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

I've made a few people days over the last 10 years with my MicroSD to SD adapter getting old pictures off friends' flipphones
posted by Lukenlogs at 3:37 PM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

How about a microSD to miniSD to SD turducken?
posted by JackFlash at 3:44 PM on June 9, 2018 [4 favorites]

> the Apple Desktop Bus to USB adapter back in 1998. Apple's first USB mouse, the infamous "hockey puck," was such a disaster that Apple fans bought the adapters so that they could continue using their favorite old ADB Apple mice with the USB-only iMac.

The hockey puck mouse was awful but that was pretty far from being the main reason why people bought the iMate. It was also because they wanted to continue using their old trackballs, Wacom tablets, ergo keyboards, and other devices that would otherwise cost one or four hundred dollars a pop to replace with USB versions.

The iMate still has a surprisingly high resale value because it allows mechanical keyboard fans to use the classic Apple Extended Keyboards with modern computers. There are other adaptors available now -- for that matter it's relatively trivial to build your own ADB <> USB adaptor from parts and a teensy Arduino -- but the iMate is a known quantity and for the most part they're pretty robust.
posted by ardgedee at 5:06 PM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

Working up nerve for this challenge, I ran onto a 4in floppy external drive in a box, then pulling it out it WAS NOT USB at the end of the cable, nor nine pin sigh, will need an interesting chain of adapters if it's even possible.
posted by sammyo at 5:23 PM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

"You're going to have to buy a new DVD player or submit a firmware complaint or buy three different systems and three different DVDs...you know....because pirates"

Ironically, technology like that is literally the best reason to *be* a pirate; to not have to deal with that bullshit.
posted by el io at 5:39 PM on June 9, 2018 [4 favorites]

Interesting post. Hopefully we see more FPPs by this person.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:37 PM on June 9, 2018 [8 favorites]

I’m stopping myself before I favorite every post here. In a world full of all sorts of gear-heads, it’s nice to see a thread full of wire-kludgers. Big ups to y’all.
posted by es_de_bah at 7:27 PM on June 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

That reminds me, I have an old AirPort Base Station (the flying saucer one) and its wall-wart power cable that I'm willing to send to an interested MeFite for the cost of shipping. Avoid the rush and MeMail me early!

I will pay you to ship that abomination into the nearest volcano with an active caldera. Or, alternatively, for the hammer needed to smash it into a fine powder.

This is the craziest adapter in my collection.

Oh. Oh dear. That's one of the very Old Ones. I am on the worst timeline, aren't I?

Interesting post. Hopefully we see more FPPs by this person.

Da fuck is a math owie? It sounds very painful.
posted by loquacious at 10:23 PM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Do you have ANY IDEA how hard it is to find a plain old MIDI cable these days? I used to see them all the time in thrift stores and junk piles. Even random homes often had one, sometimes from a computer audio card or a MIDI keyboard.

I feel like 5 and 8 pin DIN cables were commonplace because it was like the USB pinout of the consumer analog gear of the era (as opposed to serial in the data world). They were used for all kinds of things, I remember when video cameras (which were huge) had a separate casette deck that you'd wear on a shoulder strap the camera was connected to the deck with an 8 pin cable. Later on we had a stereo component system that used either 5 or 8 pin cables to link the components in the stack. Other stuff like that.
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:40 PM on June 9, 2018

When I'm more mobile again, I really will have to dig into some of the boxes of cables I packed up (one of which is a storage ottoman I've been resting my broken ankle on during the workday) and find some of the more bizarre adapters in my collection. One interesting one is a sort of sharky-looking clear green–and–cream plastic SIM card reader that came with its own proprietary Windows software. Another one is this amazing octopus of USB variants that is meant to be convenient for charging but is in fact largely useless to me now because it was created shortly before the rise of USB-C, so it has every variant except the one I need. Then there are at least two specific variations on USB Fitbit charging adapters, an 8-port RF/coaxial–to–RCA dealy I bought to connect all my old game systems at once (but still haven't used), these little audio selector boxes I bought that let me switch between two inputs for my speakers back when I still ran both a Windows box and a Mac...
posted by limeonaire at 11:08 PM on June 9, 2018

I vaguely remember making (or trying to make) a digital-to-analog adapter for my Apple ][ using the annunciator outputs and some resistors.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 11:08 PM on June 9, 2018

I will pay you to ship that abomination into the nearest volcano with an active caldera. Or, alternatively, for the hammer needed to smash it into a fine powder.

Fair point, but I was hoping some poor sap wise person would consider it to have Historical Value and take it off my hands.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:28 AM on June 10, 2018

I recently saw a USB A to USB B cable for sale at BestBuy for 35 fucking dollars and almost lost my shit. Why are you encouraging hoarding behavior, BestBuy?


Also, if you've made it this far down the thread, you will probably be interested in Fran Lab. She's a great source for this kind of old school tech knowledge; she's been on the blue before.
posted by cosmologinaut at 1:00 AM on June 10, 2018

Well, the Mono TS to TS Connector is used to connect the (mono) output of one guitar effects pedal to the input of another, daisy-chaining or "stacking" effects.

(Says Chitownfats, the proud curator of about a thousand variations of this dingus).
posted by Chitownfats at 3:06 AM on June 10, 2018

The hockey puck mouse was awful...

I realize this puts me squarely at odds with the rest of humanity, but I liked the hockey puck. It nestled comfortably in the palm of my hand with my fingertips on the button, and it seemed to take a lot less fine motor control than other mice. I also liked the Mighty Mouse, and never seemed to have as many problems with the trackball as others did. The current Magic Mouse, on the other hand is annoying in that I often make an inadvertent finger gesture and leave a webpage or something else that I didn't mean to do, and why on earth did they put the charging port on the bottom where it can't be used while charging. My view towards wireless tech in general is that just because something can be wireless doesn't mean it should be.
posted by TedW at 4:27 AM on June 10, 2018

I have boxes of these, from old PC, Mac and Sun machines. But I could contribute my favourite... A piece of cable with a UK three-pin plug on one end and a 25-pin D connector on the other. Used once to test how computer savvy a new boss was...
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 5:37 AM on June 10, 2018 [2 favorites]

I periodically purge my collections of adaptors, not because I want to get rid of them, but because I have upgraded my MacBook Pro and need to make room for the NEW adaptors that will allow me to use the new machine.

My only solace is that in many places Apple has been right - no one has a floppy drive any more, no one has a CD/DVD drive any more, and the industry did settle on USB for example - at the same time I try hard to forget that no, FireWire didn’t make it, and Lightning was largely supplanted by USBC, so who knows.

It does make me sad that I still have to carry a VGA adaptor so that I can plug my brand new laptop into a new-ish digital projector.... because my workplace keeps only buying the ones that accept nothing nicer than a 30+ year old analog signal standard (ugh srlsly guys buy something that accepts HDMI at least)
posted by caution live frogs at 7:11 AM on June 10, 2018

I’ve recently needed the stupid lightning/headphone adapter that came with my phone. I can find every weird cable and adapter I’ve kept over the last 20 years except that.
posted by curious nu at 9:15 AM on June 10, 2018

> I recently saw a USB A to USB B cable for sale at BestBuy for 35 fucking dollars and almost lost my shit. Why are you encouraging hoarding behavior, BestBuy?

That's a big-box retail thing to do. In lieu of cutting the price on a TV or computer (and putting a dent in their commission), the clerk will instead offer to toss in one or two cables. Customers leave happier, feeling like they'd just saved $70 rather than the $5 the cables retail online.

The only times I've bought an HDMI or USB cable from Best Buy is when I planned to return it the next day, when my order from Monoprice arrived. It's been a while since I've heard of anybody buying a cable there that they intended to keep.
posted by ardgedee at 12:43 PM on June 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

This post gave me an idea of how to use all those old/weird adapters - arrange them all neatly around pegs on a large board, put glass over it, frame it and hang it up in the hallway. The best self-present, and useful too, should any of them become needed again.

Interesting post. Hopefully we see more FPPs by this person.
Da fuck is a math owie? It sounds very painful.

Been some time since /user/1 showed up. Only realized once you brought it up. Definitely should post more.
posted by Laotic at 1:01 PM on June 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

The adapter I most regret not buying was a 3-prong power to 13W3 I saw once. I assume the power conductors connect to the A1/A2/A3 pins, which in every other use of the 13W3 connector I've seen carry R/G/B analogue video.

I have no idea what it was actually for, but my plan was to just leave it lying around at one of the more annoying design houses I used to work for and wait for someone to go "well this end goes in the wall, and clearly this end goes into my very expensive 21-inch monitor".
posted by russm at 7:52 PM on June 10, 2018 [2 favorites]

I forgot to mention that this sort of thing is one of those things that William Gibson got right in Neuromancer. There's a point where Case is in the orbital and breaches a new area and has to shuffle around looking for the right adapter to connect his FOOBAR deck into the BARBAZ of the orbital.
posted by zengargoyle at 10:02 PM on June 10, 2018

Film cannisters were such an amazing side-effect of the camera technology of the 20th century. They had to protect the contents from light, damp, and dessication. The old ones tended to clutter up drawers and shelves, and usually you'd have one or two rolls you accidentally exposed while learning how to load your camera, so you had at least two empty cannisters around.

Once the smell was gone from the film's chemicals, you could use them for all kinds of crafts and projects. They made good pill cases if you stuck a cotton ball in, and people used to use them for water and soil samples around the watersheds where I grew up. I once took a biology class where we were given owl pellets to analyse, each delivered in its own film cannister.

I remember reading a story about someone incubating a bird's egg by packing it in grass in a film cannister and keeping it in his pocket until it hatched.

I suppose the cost of the things has gone up now, and there are probably other containers that are more prevalent, but I doubt they meet all the needs that these things did.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 5:35 AM on June 11, 2018

I suppose the cost of [film canisters] has gone up now

I once thought it would be handy to have a few of the old aluminum screw-top canisters around to keep small items in. Until I found out those things go for $8-10 apiece on Ebay!
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:05 PM on June 11, 2018

While sorting out stuff for a purge recently, I found a couple of film canisters that we had filled with 10 toothpicks, with 1 black, 4 colored tips, and 5 plain. I dimly recall using them as a draw-straws option for some LARP, but damn if I remember in what context. But they were indeed handy little containers.
posted by tavella at 2:59 PM on June 11, 2018

Film canisters certainly had very many use cases. As ad-hoc transporters for a party's-worth of, well, partying materiele, they were and are unmatched.
posted by Devonian at 4:47 PM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

Here's 25 of em for $9 from B&H. Plastic with threaded tops.
posted by snuffleupagus at 1:08 PM on June 12, 2018