Connector Transition Hydra

Just look at this mess ...

It’s the 4th of July, mid-afternoon, and I’m suiting up for an EVA, gonna go watch some fireworks or something with a girl … which could turn into an overnight adventure, so I’m packing appropriately.

This mess is my dedicated “hit the door running” cable setup, as I transition from USB-A laptops and Androids that use micro-USB, to USB-C Apple laptops and iPhones with the deprecated lightning connector. It’s got a little velcro wrap so the components stay together in the scrum of my desk & laptop stand.

Left to right, there’s a USB-C cable with optional DIY magsafe for Pinky, an Apple USB-A ethernet dongle, an ancient but flawless ONN battery pack I found by the side of the road, and a dinky 20 watt USB-C charger. I have to be able to charge USB-C, micro, and lightning, from USB-A or USB-C.

So I have two male host and three male client interfaces, along with A to C transition fittings. *YUCK* …

The ONN shows no signs of getting tired and while I’ve retired everything with microUSB except the power pack itself, I do encounter others in need of a boost. I’ll continue to have a USB-A only HP workstation for the foreseeable future and again I may run into USB-A in my travels.

If I were well heeled and a bit more self-centered, there’d be a new USB-C only battery pack, a new USB-C to ethernet dongle, and the only oddball would be the lightning connector for the iPhone. I really don’t want to let the XR go - that generation of chip has never been jailbroken, so any intrusion is transient, there would never be a long term Pegasus style problem.

While not well heeled, I’m finding I am very well supported. This last month has seen the arrival of Pinky & Brain, a new iPhone XR, and I passed on an older iPad that needed a screen replacement. Wonder of wonders, the resource request in Disinfodrome Proffer 2024-07-03 has netted a much newer iPad - this beastie.

I have kept, old man not discarding stuff that just works style, a 2019 Kindle Fire. It’s been dropped on every corner and once on its face, spidering the screen protection … but not so much that I’m willing to replace it.

Conclusion:

Those of you with jobs and such who are reading this sometimes don’t appreciate that the old stuff you don’t use any more is actually TREASURE. The new to me four year old laptops led to an older Mac Air getting handed down. I won’t cling to this iPhone 8 if someone truly needs a replacement. I doubt the Kindle will find a taker, so it might get “lost” at the 16th street BART station, complete with a charger and a sticky note with the PIN on it.

If you’re sitting on a laptop, tablet, or phone that’s only four or five years old, I can either use it immediately, or some of the activist types in my circles will give it a good home.