Comment by jmclnx
8 hours ago
I did something similar with my old 286 system. The CMOS battery failed and I rigged up a replacement using velcro and 4 AA batteries. Worked great.
Sadly I had to toss that system when I moved to a smaller apartment :(
Looking back, tossing it was a huge mistake.
> Looking back, tossing it was a huge mistake.
On the other hand, being afraid of ending up with similar feelings like you, I keep stuff.
So I sit here in a room where I'm probably one or two arms-length away from VGA and DVI cables and other relics, "just in case".
If it makes you feel any better I’ve had to buy back cables that I have thrown away because I hadn’t used them for 15 years - and then found a project where I need DB9, SCSI, FireWire 800, Component to VGA converter or some relic.
Another reason they call me the cable guy at home ( though mainly because I probably have at least 800 cables in my studio )
If it makes you feel better, I just bought a used zoom h4 for cheap - it still works, but it uses mini-usb and I long ago toss those cables because I didn't have anything that used them. (I have a full audio workstation with a 18i20 interface in my office, but sometimes I want something portable)
Which is to say those might become useful someday again... Are they worth storing is a different question - since I'm looking for the cables anyway - both of the cables you mentioned can be bought for $5-$10, and the mini-usb I need is as cheap as $3. It will cost more more in shipping than the cable. (though I will likely look for something else I need to get free shipping)
I also have a hard time letting go of expensive cables merely because they were expensive. For this reason, I probably have as many parallel SCSI cables as I do USB cables, despite not having used a parallel SCSI device in years, including several 15+ meter HD68 cables that only work with high-voltage differential SCSI, despite owning exactly one HVD device.
OTOH, it's a large, loud, heavy, and ugly IBM 3590 tape drive that I'd rather not need to have at arms length to use.
Ebay has various 286s for about $200, some even working!