It contained a 1 GB SCSI drive, a EGA video card, and my old computer converter kit, assembled over a decade, used with hatred & swearing, and thankfully forgotten.
DB-9, DB-25, mac to VGA, VGA to mac, Serial to PS/2, PS/2 to USB...the cursed phrases I used to mutter in my nightmarish sleep.
Notice the two hand-made adapters? One was hacked together to get a HUGE and AWKWARD scanner running...I don't remember its brand name, but it was the size of a dumpster, could scan at approximately
angstrom resolution, and would take an aeon to transfer that scan over a parallel port, even at 112,200 bps.
Anyone remember 112,200? I do, the way an aged war veteran remembers the trenches.
The other one was a male/male null modem built for the singular purpose of playing Quake at a laughably termed 'LAN Party' where almost no one had Ethernet adapters.
If we'd been a smart and as clever as we all thought we were at the time, then we'd have called it the 'unLAN Party' and actually managed to have a good time: the only highlight I remember of that evening was listening to DJ Shadow for the first time.
And the point of this masturbatory nostalgia is that I am really really glad the USB has conquered the world, and if they would just hurry up and ditch all connector styles but one, my happiness would be complete.
My nagging suspicion is that a new connector will become fad in time, probably some sort of barrel jack to transfer DC (Probably something irritatingly non-integer like 3.3V), and with a single fiber optic down the center to allow terabyte connection to a freaking mouse.
Because I also found a box of of Wang Diskettes (5 1/4",double sided, double density), which bear scribbled labels suggesting the RenegadeMime used them to archive a disassembler, I'll let An Wang have the last word: "Markets change, tastes change, so the companies and the individuals who choose to compete in those markets must change."
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