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  3. What is the weirdest item you have in your box of spare parts?

What is the weirdest item you have in your box of spare parts?

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  • R RoswellNX

    I recently came across a VGA to USB adapter. Not quite sure what it's for, but it may be useful someday i guess. I used to also have an internal tape drive circa '91 that used a "clip" type floppy cable. I had a few other things, but i don't remember anymore, though nearly everything i wouldn't intentionally buy is salvage stuff. Roswell :)

    "Angelinos -- excuse me. There will be civility today."
    Antonio VillaRaigosa
    City Mayor, Los Angeles, CA

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    blackjack2150
    wrote on last edited by
    #34

    How could that work? Because VGA output in analogue, while USB is numeric. Does it have a build-in converter?

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    • R Ray Cassick

      I have a Bernoulli Drive[^] and 2 8" Floppy drives :)


      My Blog[^]
      FFRF[^]


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      Rocky Moore
      wrote on last edited by
      #35

      I still have one out in the garage also (at least I think it is still there ;) ).. Along with my old ZIP drives.

      Rocky <>< Blog Post: LINQ Scores a Yahtzee! Tech Blog Post: Cheap Biofuels and Synthetics coming soon?

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      • T Tom Delany

        Malcolm Smart wrote:

        I also have a small plastic container holding 4 of my teeth and the complete toe nail from my right big toe that came off whole as the nail bed had a severe fungal infection.

        :omg::wtf:

        WE ARE DYSLEXIC OF BORG. Refutance is systile. Your a$$ will be laminated.

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        Gary Wheeler
        wrote on last edited by
        #36

        Tom Delany wrote:

        WE ARE DYSLEXIC OF BORG. Refutance is systile. Your a$$ will be laminated.

        Oh God. Anybody got a towel? I just spewed coffee all over two monitors. :laugh:


        Software Zen: delete this;

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        • R RoswellNX

          I recently came across a VGA to USB adapter. Not quite sure what it's for, but it may be useful someday i guess. I used to also have an internal tape drive circa '91 that used a "clip" type floppy cable. I had a few other things, but i don't remember anymore, though nearly everything i wouldn't intentionally buy is salvage stuff. Roswell :)

          "Angelinos -- excuse me. There will be civility today."
          Antonio VillaRaigosa
          City Mayor, Los Angeles, CA

          G Offline
          G Offline
          Gary Wheeler
          wrote on last edited by
          #37

          If you apply the rule that the item from the box of spare parts has to be something actually useful, my weirdest item would be my TRS-80 Model 100. It's useful for debugging small embedded processor projects that use RS-232. Program it in BASIC, speeds up to 19.2K; pretty :cool: for its day.


          Software Zen: delete this;

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          • C cp9876

            It was about 1981 when I was using them - much the same as a 5 1/4 inch but bigger - they held about 100k, see pic[^]


            Peter "Until the invention of the computer, the machine gun was the device that enabled humans to make the most mistakes in the smallest amount of time."

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            Pheadjack
            wrote on last edited by
            #38

            Yep that looks familiar. One of the first Architecture firms I worked in had a Lanier word processing machine. It used two 8" floppy drives; one for the OS, one for the data. The thing sounded like a small aircraft on boot up, but we did all our specification writing on that sucker. I have in my garage/tech museum an Alloy Tape backup drive w/ four 40Mb (wow !):laugh: tapes, the floppy bidirectional interface card, cables, and software on 5 1/4" floppy with manual. I believe it would still work. Along with other assorted detritus of technology of old, I have the first computer I bought from a friend. It is a USIT 386 SX 16Mhz small form machine. It had a whopping 40Mb harddrive and I added one of those Kingston memory boards to boost the RAM. I did freelance design work on this computer for several years using AutoCAD 12 for DOS, then upgraded to 12 for Windows and Window 3.1 (whooo Hoo) :cool:. It still have the harddrive and I bet it would still boot up. I try it every once in a while just for laughs; or when REALLY bored. Pheadjack My Purpose is to encourage others to question.... everything

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            • R RoswellNX

              I recently came across a VGA to USB adapter. Not quite sure what it's for, but it may be useful someday i guess. I used to also have an internal tape drive circa '91 that used a "clip" type floppy cable. I had a few other things, but i don't remember anymore, though nearly everything i wouldn't intentionally buy is salvage stuff. Roswell :)

              "Angelinos -- excuse me. There will be civility today."
              Antonio VillaRaigosa
              City Mayor, Los Angeles, CA

              D Offline
              D Offline
              Dr Walt Fair PE
              wrote on last edited by
              #39

              I have some old FORTRAN algorithms for making line printer plots. They are on some punch cards in my junk box. Anyone have a card reader handy? I also have a couple rolls of punch tape. One never know when a real TTY machine will show up ... As far as hardware, there were some memory chips from my old TRS80 Mod 1 and a single-sided 5-1/4 floppy drive with a TI99-4A interface in a box in storage. Wonder if I could run Vista on that?

              The PetroNerd

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              • M Malcolm Smart

                I have a small box of screws, the ones that hold the expansion cards in. The box only has 6 screws in it and a 4" model of Nicole Kidman, painted in a suggestive way. I also have a small plastic container holding 4 of my teeth and the complete toe nail from my right big toe that came off whole as the nail bed had a severe fungal infection. Not sure why I keep them, but once you've had something like that for so long you are reluctant to let it go.


                Last modified: 1min after originally posted -- typo

                "More functions should disregard input values and just return 12. It would make life easier." - comment posted on WTF "This time yesterday, I still had 24 hours to meet the deadline I've just missed today."

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                Lost User
                wrote on last edited by
                #40

                I have some stitches from surgery I had. But, when I had some teeth pulled, once upon a time, I asked if I could keep them and the Dentist said no, that it was illegal to let us take the teeth. Still can't figure that one. My toolbox runneth over with my Father's old hand tools. Like wooden handled awls, augars, etc. Plus some very unique leather punching tools, including a piston style hand pump leather drill. My computer stuff all went bye bye with the wife!:laugh:

                ____________________________________________________________________________ "Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space." -- Douglas Adams -- Shohom67

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                • R RoswellNX

                  I recently came across a VGA to USB adapter. Not quite sure what it's for, but it may be useful someday i guess. I used to also have an internal tape drive circa '91 that used a "clip" type floppy cable. I had a few other things, but i don't remember anymore, though nearly everything i wouldn't intentionally buy is salvage stuff. Roswell :)

                  "Angelinos -- excuse me. There will be civility today."
                  Antonio VillaRaigosa
                  City Mayor, Los Angeles, CA

                  N Offline
                  N Offline
                  Name Deleted
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #41

                  I have a dataset from my old Commodore 64. An old 64 Meg RLL drive. Oh, and an old 6MHz/12MHz 80286 motherboard with individual ram chip slots. not sure where the actual RAM chips ever went though.

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                  • C cp9876

                    In the bottom of my filing cabinet I still have an 8 inch floppy from old PDP11 days.


                    Peter "Until the invention of the computer, the machine gun was the device that enabled humans to make the most mistakes in the smallest amount of time."

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                    Delphi4ever
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #42

                    We got a 8" floppy drive lying around in a dank room at the back of the building. It's a double dekker, one drive on top of another. No disks though, only drives.

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                    • R RoswellNX

                      I recently came across a VGA to USB adapter. Not quite sure what it's for, but it may be useful someday i guess. I used to also have an internal tape drive circa '91 that used a "clip" type floppy cable. I had a few other things, but i don't remember anymore, though nearly everything i wouldn't intentionally buy is salvage stuff. Roswell :)

                      "Angelinos -- excuse me. There will be civility today."
                      Antonio VillaRaigosa
                      City Mayor, Los Angeles, CA

                      D Offline
                      D Offline
                      deltalmg
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #43

                      Not sure what's weirder, that I have them, or that I need them on a regular basis. Bi directional, DVI-i to DVI-d converters. 2PS2 to USB converter. Heck I have some old PS2 KVM's that I have to put a DVI to SVGA converter on the monitor, a USB to PS2 converter on the keyboard and mouse to plug it into the KVM.

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                      • R RoswellNX

                        I recently came across a VGA to USB adapter. Not quite sure what it's for, but it may be useful someday i guess. I used to also have an internal tape drive circa '91 that used a "clip" type floppy cable. I had a few other things, but i don't remember anymore, though nearly everything i wouldn't intentionally buy is salvage stuff. Roswell :)

                        "Angelinos -- excuse me. There will be civility today."
                        Antonio VillaRaigosa
                        City Mayor, Los Angeles, CA

                        J Offline
                        J Offline
                        John Bonfardeci
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #44

                        Are you sure it's not a USB to Mac serial adapter? They look just like a VGA hookup, same number of pins too. I had one for a pre-USB Mac modem for my ancient blue and white G3. Probably the strangest device I have is an adapter for connecting a non-standard Mac 10 base T port to a standard Cat 5 jack. It's about 2.5 inches wide 3 inches deep and about an inch thick.

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                        • R RoswellNX

                          I recently came across a VGA to USB adapter. Not quite sure what it's for, but it may be useful someday i guess. I used to also have an internal tape drive circa '91 that used a "clip" type floppy cable. I had a few other things, but i don't remember anymore, though nearly everything i wouldn't intentionally buy is salvage stuff. Roswell :)

                          "Angelinos -- excuse me. There will be civility today."
                          Antonio VillaRaigosa
                          City Mayor, Los Angeles, CA

                          M Offline
                          M Offline
                          MrPlankton
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #45

                          Atari 800xl with dozens and dozens of video games on 5 1/4 disks, cartridges and my trusty Paper Clip word processor.... and it occasionly gets used. Oh, and did I mention my Time And Regional Displacement In Space vehicle I keep in my garage.

                          MrPlankton

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                          • P Peter_in_2780

                            Still got any single-sided 5.25" floppies? I've got (in original box, with KMart $10-48 price tag!) the chomper so you can turn them over and use the other side.:-D Peter

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                            Dan Neely
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #46

                            Peter_in_2780 wrote:

                            I've got (in original box, with KMart $10-48 price tag!) the chomper so you can turn them over and use the other side.

                            :laugh: A hole punch will do the same for much less. :rolleyes:

                            -- Help Stamp Out and Abolish Redundancy The preceding is courtesy of the Department of Unnecessarily Redundant Repetition Department.

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                            • R RoswellNX

                              I recently came across a VGA to USB adapter. Not quite sure what it's for, but it may be useful someday i guess. I used to also have an internal tape drive circa '91 that used a "clip" type floppy cable. I had a few other things, but i don't remember anymore, though nearly everything i wouldn't intentionally buy is salvage stuff. Roswell :)

                              "Angelinos -- excuse me. There will be civility today."
                              Antonio VillaRaigosa
                              City Mayor, Los Angeles, CA

                              D Offline
                              D Offline
                              David Crow
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #47

                              How about a SnapIt2 Power Command box? I've yet to figure out what it's for. I've received plenty of speculation but nothing definitive.


                              "Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it." - Ellen Goodman

                              "To have a respect for ourselves guides our morals; to have deference for others governs our manners." - Laurence Sterne

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                              • M Malcolm Smart

                                I have a small box of screws, the ones that hold the expansion cards in. The box only has 6 screws in it and a 4" model of Nicole Kidman, painted in a suggestive way. I also have a small plastic container holding 4 of my teeth and the complete toe nail from my right big toe that came off whole as the nail bed had a severe fungal infection. Not sure why I keep them, but once you've had something like that for so long you are reluctant to let it go.


                                Last modified: 1min after originally posted -- typo

                                "More functions should disregard input values and just return 12. It would make life easier." - comment posted on WTF "This time yesterday, I still had 24 hours to meet the deadline I've just missed today."

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                                keeleyt83
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #48

                                I think we were talking about computer parts, not people parts.... :)

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                                • T Tom Delany

                                  Malcolm Smart wrote:

                                  I also have a small plastic container holding 4 of my teeth and the complete toe nail from my right big toe that came off whole as the nail bed had a severe fungal infection.

                                  :omg::wtf:

                                  WE ARE DYSLEXIC OF BORG. Refutance is systile. Your a$$ will be laminated.

                                  M Offline
                                  M Offline
                                  Mark J Miller
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #49

                                  Tom Delany wrote:

                                  WE ARE DYSLEXIC OF BORG. Refutance is systile. Your a$$ will be laminated.

                                  I need a tissue, I've been laughing so hard my eyes won't stop tearing up! :laugh:

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                                  • R RoswellNX

                                    I recently came across a VGA to USB adapter. Not quite sure what it's for, but it may be useful someday i guess. I used to also have an internal tape drive circa '91 that used a "clip" type floppy cable. I had a few other things, but i don't remember anymore, though nearly everything i wouldn't intentionally buy is salvage stuff. Roswell :)

                                    "Angelinos -- excuse me. There will be civility today."
                                    Antonio VillaRaigosa
                                    City Mayor, Los Angeles, CA

                                    B Offline
                                    B Offline
                                    bendodge
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #50

                                    I think my weirdest would be a serial to cat5 adapter.

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                                    • P PIEBALDconsult

                                      That's why they invented Viagra.

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                                      W Balboos GHB
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #51

                                      I nominate this for the "Best Answer To A Straight Line of the Year" Award.

                                      "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

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                                      • R RoswellNX

                                        I recently came across a VGA to USB adapter. Not quite sure what it's for, but it may be useful someday i guess. I used to also have an internal tape drive circa '91 that used a "clip" type floppy cable. I had a few other things, but i don't remember anymore, though nearly everything i wouldn't intentionally buy is salvage stuff. Roswell :)

                                        "Angelinos -- excuse me. There will be civility today."
                                        Antonio VillaRaigosa
                                        City Mayor, Los Angeles, CA

                                        W Offline
                                        W Offline
                                        W Balboos GHB
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #52

                                        A CD-ROM holder from my SONY External CD-ROM (1x $600). Actually, I've about a dozen of them.

                                        "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

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                                        • R RoswellNX

                                          I recently came across a VGA to USB adapter. Not quite sure what it's for, but it may be useful someday i guess. I used to also have an internal tape drive circa '91 that used a "clip" type floppy cable. I had a few other things, but i don't remember anymore, though nearly everything i wouldn't intentionally buy is salvage stuff. Roswell :)

                                          "Angelinos -- excuse me. There will be civility today."
                                          Antonio VillaRaigosa
                                          City Mayor, Los Angeles, CA

                                          P Offline
                                          P Offline
                                          patbob
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #53

                                          For a long time I kept a 5.25" floppy drive around, just in case :) These days the weirdest thing is probably the CueCat. Noncomputerwise, it's probably the CD personal cumulative radiation monitoring system (for those too young to remember, CD=civil defense).. ya just never know when it's gonna come in handy. There's also the SR-10, Amiga 1000 and CDC-6500 core, but not because I think those might be handy someday.

                                          patbob

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