Background information

1 of 346277 adapters

29.10.2019

Translation: machine translated

Theoretically, I can connect anything anywhere with the right adapter. In practice, I always don't have the exact part I need to hand. As a countermeasure, I hoard adapters that might have been useful in 1997. It's time to make fun of myself.

Apple has always been a pioneer in removing connections. This also applies to the audio jack on smartphones. If you still want to listen to music via cable, you need an adapter. There are currently digitec advertising posters with the following review.

I think the statement by user davidrutatis is great, because it describes exactly what the problem with adapters is. You buy adapters to be on the safe side. Just in case. But if you want to cover all eventualities, you need all the adapters in the world. Plus a few more that are not yet or no longer available. In other words: adapters are something you can never have enough of.

An old box called Maria

The satirical magazine Postillon hits the nail on the head with the headline: "Man decides to keep box of cables he's had since 2002 for another year." I am real satire made flesh. At the top of my broom cupboard is the banana box of horrors. It dates pretty much exactly from 2002, and I've just decided to keep it for another year.

The banana box of horror. None of what it says is true.

The box is labelled "Maria". Its origin lies in such a distant time that I no longer even know who it could be referring to. Sorry, Maria. I intend to change the name label to "Pandora", which seems more appropriate. I have already opened Pandora's box several times and thus irrevocably brought disaster into the world.

Absurdity with a system

As a person who loves order (cough), I didn't just throw the cables randomly into the box. They would only get tangled up there because, for some mysterious reason, cables get tangled up without any outside influence. No, I divided the adapters and cables into five plastic bags, which are neatly labelled with:

Audio
Network/TV
Box cable
PC
Whatever (no labelling)

An HDMI adapter, for example, belongs in the "Network/TV" bag. Or rather in the PC bag? Although, maybe audio too. Or in the unlabelled bag, of course that works too. I'd better get more adapters of this type so that there's one in every bag.

Highlights from my adapter collection

I have parted with my TV, but not with my TV cables and adapters. I am the proud owner of a "2-way TV splitter", which I think used to be needed in very old flats. I have no idea. In any case, I'm still keeping it. You never know.

I don't have a landline telephone connection, not even for the Internet. However, I do have an "RJ11/TT83 telephone adapter" from Swisscom (where I have not been a customer for a long time). The thing is worth 14 francs, so I'm certainly not just going to throw it away.

I'm keeping the VGA-to-RGB adapter for purely aesthetic reasons. My heart beats faster when I see its shapely elegance. I don't know what the RGB to 7-pin S-Video adapter is good for, but it's a classic that belongs in every well-stocked adapter collection. And I'm sure that the adapter from the Apple 30-pin dock connector to RCA has become a collector's item. A sought-after gem that will be the envy of any adapter collector.

Three classics that no well-stocked adapter collection should be without: 2-way TV splitter, RJ11/TT83 telephone adapter and RGB to S-Video

The top of the adapter mountain

These are of course only the most important adapters. I have the less important ones in the basement. And I don't keep everything. For example, it was with a heavy heart that I parted with my actually indispensable 56k modem extension cable. My SCSI adapter is also no longer with us. I could use it to connect the 25-year-old mixing console in the band room. Provided the Windows 98 drivers still work ...

Whoever comes to visit me and secretly opens drawers or boxes is penalising themselves. Because the probability of opening more Pandora's boxes is high.

Adapters are not the solution. Adapters are the problem. I realise this in theory, but in practice I am incapable of drawing the consequences.

Apple Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter (Lightning, 3.5mm jack)

Mobile device adapters

CHF12.90

Apple Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter

Lightning, 3.5mm jack

81 people like this article

David Lee

Senior Editor

David.Lee@digitecgalaxus.ch

My interest in IT and writing landed me in tech journalism early on (2000). I want to know how we can use technology without being used. Outside of the office, I’m a keen musician who makes up for lacking talent with excessive enthusiasm.

Computing

Follow topics and stay updated on your areas of interest

Audio

Follow topics and stay updated on your areas of interest

Movies and series

Follow topics and stay updated on your areas of interest

Background information

Interesting facts about products, behind-the-scenes looks at manufacturers and deep-dives on interesting people.

Show all

These articles might also interest you

Background information
What’s in my bag: Flo loves music and is prone to losing stuff
by Florian Bodoky
Background information
What’s in my bag: Martin’s keyboard isn’t a crowd-pleaser
by Martin Jud
Background information
What’s in my bag: Domagoj’s got the power
by Domagoj Belancic