[AusNOG] Friday question

[Scott Wilson]

DB25 RS232 null modem converter?

On Sat, 17 Nov 2018 at 17:46, Karl Auer <kauer at biplane.com.au> wrote:

> > > > > What tools do you carry around for work.
> > > > > Whats the oldest - krone tool ?
> > > > > Whats the newest
> > > > > Whats the most useful !
>
> A bent-out medium size paper clip.
>
> It gets lost and replaced often, but it is the answer to all four
> questions.
>
> Here is a short story I wrote a few years ago. See if you can guess
> what used-to-be-essential item is telling its tale:
>
> "I don't remember being made; don't remember the quick staccato
> movements of the American robots that put me together, tiny puffs of
> acrid smoke rising as my dozens of solder spots were placed, my twenty-
> five wires brought skillfully but mindlessly to their final positions,
> my label slapped on just before I hit the conveyor belt to the blister-
> packing machine. I do remember being in the blister pack though,
> looking out, rather mystified, over the shelves and spotty customers of
> a Tandy store in Civic.
>
> "And I remember being bought; how huge hands split the blister pack and
> threw me into the darkness of a toolbox. I remember rattling around for
> eternity, making the painful acquaintance of the other residents of the
> toolbox.
>
> "The first time I was used is clear in my mind too; spliced into some
> hairball cable, I saw so obviously, so properly where the bits needed
> to go. I recall switching them like little carts on parallel
> rollercoasters. This goes there; and that goes here... It all made
> sense and I revelled in being part of the flow, part of the
> functioning.
>
> "But I've not been that for a long time now. For a long while I rode in
> the toolbox, but then I was placed on a shelf in a workshop. I used to
> be able to see the workshop, but now I see only the backsides and
> elbows of the things that cover me, other plastics and metals, casings,
> cables and chips.
>
> "I have no moving parts. I don't decay. Patch me into your cable again,
> and again I'll bring your data through. But I guess that won't be
> happening. Cables are different now; standardised, correct, the right
> cable for the right job. I was only ever a fixer, a translator, a
> corrector of errors, a twister of pairs.
>
> "The future is a very long time for an obsolete immortal."
>
> Regards, K.
>
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)
> http://www.biplane.com.au/kauer
> http://twitter.com/kauer389
>
> GPG fingerprint: A0CD 28F0 10BE FC21 C57C 67C1 19A6 83A4 9B0B 1D75
> Old fingerprint: A52E F6B9 708B 51C4 85E6 1634 0571 ADF9 3C1C 6A3A
>
>
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