Spyke
lemmy.world

Who unplugs a cable by pulling on the wire?

211
Smeereply
poeng.link

Please elaborate, I tried searching for images of croc and aligator tails to compare but all I got was barbeque recipes for aligator tails. And posters of aligator cuts.

2

The same people who complain on Amazon reviews that the cable broke for "no reason"

40

Me too but what can you do? I can't remember ever seeing a non techie using tech hardware in the right way.

0
lemmy.blahaj.zone

Had this at my company some time ago. People just don't understand retention mechanisms I don't think

160
Malixreply
sopuli.xyz

when your main stat is strength, and you've entirely ignored int/wis

Seriously though, if the cable doesn't want to come out with reasonable force, the solution is PROBABLY NOT to apply more force. What kind of cavemen do you have working there?

87
lemmy.world

cavemen

Worse. University students.

I'm a sysadmin at a university. Last semester, we lost five DP cables, two DP-VGA adapters, one graphics card, and one motherboard to these acts of barbarism. Plus the non-DP stuff -- keyboards with missing or broken keys, mice with buttons bent out or just smashed to bits, RS232 connectors broken because they forgot to unscrew them, all kinds of USB cables cracked at the connector because students unplug them to use with their own laptops and plug them back into the front IO creating a nice little 180° bend, countless ethernet cables ripped out of the motherboard, stolen equipment, monitors that were straight up broken off their stands...

Calling them "cavemen" is an insult to cavemen.

67
pawb.social

There is a community for that kind of stuff if you're into it - ![email protected]. It's kinda inactive and only has a new post once every other month, but there's a photo of basically the same thing done to an HDMI cable seven posts down.

22

Mechanical retention plugs are fading away, sadly. Long live the era of loose, wiggly plugs that may one day need to be held at a 20 degree angle to work.

That being said, I hate the retention clips on RJ45 and RJ11 jacks... I've had a few that wouldn't release at all. Then I wind up struggling with my router for 4-5 minutes because its hooked up in my entertainment stand. If you accidentally snap those suckers in the process and plug them back in they will slowly slide out and you're left wondering why your ethernet connection isn't working a couple months later.

I've debated getting a spool of cat5 and a bag of RJ45. Much cheaper than replacing a whole cord every time and saves a lot of landfill. On the days my PC repair teacher was busy with a full IT backlog he'd sit us in a circle and had us put plugs on Cat5e, so the process isn't unknown to me.

10
lemmy.world

Back in my day you would rip your arm off before the cable breaks.

10
Obinicereply
lemmy.world

I've never actually seen a display port cable, so if there was one in the back of a PC I had to pull out, I'd initially treat it like a HDMI cable and just pull it out.

It doesn't look like it has screws, so if it has some way of locking in place it must be sneaky about it right?

4

My rule of thumb for technology is "don't force it". If it doesn't come out with a light pull that's when the flashlight comes out and I start inspecting. This rule doesn't always work, though. Sometimes it takes the strength of 10 gorillas to put RAM in and I'm always scared to push harder.

9

It has two teeth like things and usually a barely noticeable "button" to press to release.

3
sheogorathreply
lemmy.world

The funny thing is that their comment is the one not federated properly.

33

Holy shit I never knew that just putting pics was part of the issue. So many threads where I couldn't see the joke.

Also it's fine on my end

5
lemm.ee

I lived with my gfs family for a short while. We had a breakin one day (South Africa). Guys tried taking a pc that was plugged in with a vga cable. They couldn't get the cable off (the thief probably never used a pc in his life). They left the monitor (heavy crt type) with the vga cable, with a piece of the motherboard still attached to it.

87
muusemuusereply
lemm.ee

Africa sounds terrible. You live in a place where they still use VGA? How horrible.

-13

Don't you go knockin my VGA. I still have about 10 in my attic. If nothing else, they're great self-defense weapons. They could do some serious damage to a potential attacker and probably still work after.

13
tetris11reply
feddit.uk

Well it's about time my flowerbed got some fresh pixels

28
NeatNitreply
discuss.tchncs.de

You anarchist!

Real talk though, I think specs are literally my favorite thing in the world. The truly great ones are so good that there's never a real reason to deviate from them - if you do, you're either doing something wrong or you're taking a shortcut for a hobbyist project (which is fine, but not for anything mass-produced). USB is mostly one of those great specs. The cable you posted is an abomination. There is always a better way.

23
lemmy.world

Yeah! Arbitrarily make one of those ends USB-B, then require it for nearly every damn printer in existence and don't include the cable with the product.

Yes, I am aware that those are all separate decisions made by different assholes.

8
NeatNitreply
discuss.tchncs.de

Every part of that is fine except not including the cable with the product. But I don't think I ever got a new product with a USB-B connector that didn't come with the cable.

4

I sold printers at a big box store for a few years. Do not count on those things having cables in the box.

4

There are certainly better ways, but I suspect this way is cheaper as the only need to stock one connector type.

1

Those devices should always use type B (standard, mini, or micro) connectors. Type A should always be used on the host side. The reason is that a type A connector on a host or a hub acts as a power source. A male-A-to-male-A cable allows two hosts to send power through the cable, which will likely blow the USB circuitry or kill the entire device. This is why connecting a keyboard to old micro-B smartphones required an on-the-go adapter, or an AB socket and supporting electronics that can act as both a host and a peripheral device.

Type C can be symmetric because the specification requires compliant hardware to perform this kind of negotiation (and more) between the two sides.

14
sh.itjust.works

The latch is optional. Most of my DP cables don't have them, and I'm glad for it because they're sometimes a pain in the arse to unlatch.

27

It's a strength check. It takes the might of Thor to squeeze the plug enough, in a tight space, at an odd angle, behind the computer.

21
Lucy :3reply
feddit.org

I have a hell of a lot of DP cables, and only have one or so with clips.

9

I never seen one with a clip until recently. I just purchased a new monitor and the DP cable it came with had the clip. First time for everything I suppose.

2
5tooreply
lemmy.world

Why do they even make them with the clips? If someone trips on a cable or something, and there's no clip, it's a mild inconvenience to plug it back in. If it's clipped, you can bring the whole computer crashing down!

16
vivendireply
programming.dev

Cable strength. Loose cabling can cause contact and thus signal issues

12
frezikreply
midwest.social

Or stretch out the twists in the individual wires. That will also cause signal issues.

IIRC, cat5 cables are rated for 50lbs of force on them. They'll technically hold a lot more than that, but you can't guarantee the twists will stay in spec.

5

If you stretch, kink, or squish a CAT5 cable, there is a good chance that it will not work at 1G even if none of the conductors are broken or shorted. Sometimes they will initially connect at 1G, then fall back to 100M after some random amount of time making troubleshooting more annoying.

2
Rhaedasreply
fedia.io

Designed so they wouldn't become another HDMI fiasco, where you have to search for aftermarket clips so your plug stays in. Now, do Displayports need it, probably not. They feel about as secure as a USB. But there is that fear going back to even VGA, where most worked fine without screwing them in, but just to make sure... (I can't recall, did EGA have screws?)

4

I think all of the serial style connectors did, but some were considered optional in the spec.

1

Yep and the DisplayPort standard says the latch is optional

13

Do they also make cables that dont have the power pin (21 iirc?) Connected so both gpu and monitors try to power each other and never actually power up?

2
discuss.online

Kids nowadays don't know about DVI, VGA, COM, Parallel or Gameport. I loved the days when one could accidentally remove the screw on the board side.

49
lemmyngreply
lemmy.ca

In some cases those were load bearing cables, too

119
feddit.org

When the engineers specifically design a connector to never disconnect accidentally, they shouldn't be surprised by people who take it as a challenge.

20

Design something sensible, then go over it again and redesign it with stupid and stubborn users in mind. Probably this is how things should go.

1
lemmy.world

I just never bothered with the screws, some cables even came without them.

17
lemmy.world

Just do what I do. DVI to HDMI to an HDMI audio extractor to DVI.

All that for one of these guys, with the speaker bar (not pictured)

[Picture removed]

18
BoxOfFeetreply
lemmy.world

Hah, no. Kinda looks like it, though. It's a lamp, made out of a big glass vase and some LEDs, and the inside is a burned out resistive load that helped dissipate the excess energy from an old automated welding station. Basically, a big heatsink with a bunch of huge resistors. Just meant to dump a ton of energy out as heat for a few seconds at a time. I don't have any better pics of it, I'm afraid.

11
chiliedoggreply
lemmy.world

So... batteries on a radiator that dumps heat into a space.

Totally different than a space heater.

13

It's non-functioning industrial trash that was upcycled into a decorative lamp.

2

... better pics of it or it didn't happen ... ?

Sounds like it looks cool af.

1

Oh snap, just giving out personal information over here. Ill have to edit that in a minute.

2
muusemuusereply
lemm.ee

Many monitors have an audio out port in the monitor itself now. Really useful if you have multiple inputs.

5

Yeah, that is super handy. I wish this one had that. That's what I was trying to emulate with the audio extractor.

1

I miss my DVI to HDMI. Had to trade it off to a friend because his BenQ tinted everything lime green over HDMI. I gotta get another one to put in my big bag of cords I'll never use but really like to have around.

1
lemmy.ca

Why do display port cable connectors have these stupid latches with a crappy button that will, even when the button is fully depresses, still stick out so that removing the connector nis always a draaaagggg..

Yeah, HDMI licensing sucks but at least you can plug and disconnect HDMI in a normal way. Dispkay port is the worst

14

I do like the hooks on Display Port, honestly. There were quite a few times where HDMI cables came loose while adjusting my screen due to the cable being tied together with other cables for organisational purposes. Putting it back in always a chore then.

I don't think it is even much of a hassle when unplugging it from a machine, such as a PC. I do agree it's a pain for monitors however, as the ports usually are in a more indented position.

14
tiddyreply
sh.itjust.works

You can buy cables without the latches on them, though idk if theyre technically to spec

12
Thtevenreply
lemmy.world

This thread has me trippin out, I have 3 display port monitors and none of them have that latch.

3

Oh thank whatever god you believe in, that is such a blessing

I once bought a displayport to HDMI converter, plugged it in, and I could never unplug it anmore, so I just got another HDMI monitor for it

1
communismreply
lemmy.ml

But have you considered that the DisplayPort shape looks kinda sexy

4
lemm.ee

Slightly OT, but what do you call people who role play as dragons/reptiles/etc? "Furries" seems inaccurate, but it's the first term that comes to mind when I see art like this.

13

Buggies? Or just "furries"

There are a surprising number of moth and bee 'sonas, but the terms aren't well defined

8

I thought that was just like a meme term. I didn't realise reptile furries actually called themselves that

1

A similar vein as this, at work I was talking about a heat gun:

"Look, the feet are molded into the cable so if you break it you have to buy theirs!"

I then pull the cable out to show it as an example and snap

I didn't realize it had a retention clip at all, so I lightly pulled it and snapped the thin plastic holding it in. I thought it was held in by friction.

Oops.

12

The cash registers at a place I worked had this for the PS2 keyboard connection, too. IIRC, you needed to slide back a sleeve before giving the cable a tug. All this was behind the tight counter, buried under a layer of dust and whatever else fell behind the register. A skilled coworker could do it with one hand, but I never mastered that skill.

9

I've cut my finger with that sharp metal bump in the DisplayPort cable head. I forgot what I was doing, though. but I was struggling to unplug it and accidentally pressing it abobe that sharp metal bit.

The cut was small but deep, I end up enjoying to see my fresh red blood for a while because it was quite a lot. I rarely bleed that much.

9

😂 fair enough. I've been /mostly/ enjoying the 1-connector for everything revolution myself. It is kind of annoying that I have to specifically search for cable brands that print what parts of the usb c standard they support on them though.

One connector to rule them all,

A maze of specs to blind them,

The consortium that forged them all,

in tangled cords will bind them.

9

No, I actually like DickPlay ports.

(Tho I think we should be using open standard ports overall.)

2
lemm.ee

When HDMI came along and replaced DVI, I thought that would have finally been the end of video connectors that lock into the slot.

Thankfully I've been lucky enough to never actually own a monitor with a DisplayPort. They've all been HDMI-only. I currently don't need more than 4K 120Hz anyway so HDMI 2.0 is good enough. Probably won't upgrade again until we have 1000Hz displays (which is what's needed to completely eliminate motion blur).

-10

There are DisplayPort cables that don’t have the latch if you prefer them.

3

DisplayPort as a standard is free of charge and better in every way. AFAIK, it can handle multiple 8K monitors without issues provided your GPU is strong enough.

1
lemm.ee

I gotta confess, as an IT guy I have never ever seen displayport in my life. Not a port, nor a cable. Which is especially weird given that I have 6 displays hooked up that technically use it without a single actual port.

-13

Yeah. It's a video interface but I have never seen the physical port, as I've said I have 6 monitors hooked using it's signalling protocol, but all the physical connections are either type-c(DP alt mode) or eDP.

1
bitchkatreply
lemmy.world

Have you bought a single monitor in the past 5 years or so? Mine all have hdmi and DP.

18

Yeah, MP Trios and glance which are type c only, latter also having hdmi. Though last time I dealt with desktop equipment I think was within 5 years but the pieces were probably more than 5 years old, think those were xiaomi a1's and some random chineese FHD panels, with either 1650 or 1050 cards when we've built some budget workstations. I swear I didn't try to avoid DP, just got lucky to deal with last pieces of equipment without it, and working remote on laptops got me severely out of touch with modern hardware.

2
itslilithreply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

Every single monitor I've seen that's built in the last 8ish years has at least one. All modern graphics cards do too. Are you sure you've not seen them?

13

If you've never seen that before, I've heard the internet has a lot of videos you can check out

2
drathvedroreply
lemm.ee

Just checked, there are still brand new monitors on the market with just VGA+HDMI (e.g. MSI MP223, DELL SE2722H), but you'd really have to scrape the bottom of the barrel nowadays to find one. I think I actually might have a GPU with one of those lying around somewhere, thought, but does it even count if I never used one?

2

Fair enough. I just thought it had become pretty ubiquitous in the desktop ecosystem, just because HDMI licencing fees are egregious

2
gamerreply

This is statistically impossible, unless "IT guy" just means "computer nerd" rather than someone who works in an IT role.

11

I don’t think you should have been downvoted, but what is it you do? Remote monitoring? We deployed hundreds of monitors last summer and I swear I almost memorized the goddamn DisplayPort pinout.

9

Have you never seen a discrete GPU as an IT guy? A monitor? I kind of doubt you're in IT if not.

4