Tiny Undervalued Hardware Companions

I don&#x27;t lug all of this day-to-day but keep it in a bag for hackathons, preso days, &quot;can you fix my blah&quot;, etc.<p>HDMI to mini + micro HDMI, HDMI to&#x2F;from DVI, Display Port to HDMI (would like to find a HDMI to DP), HDMI to HDMI coupler. Cheap HDMI to USB capture lets your laptop act as a monitor for a Pi or whatever. Composite&#x2F;RCA to HDMI for old console games.<p>Of course &quot;dongle town&quot; of USB-C to almost everything like ethernet, DP, HDMI, VGA, USB-A, etc. (I also have Lightning and Mac&#x2F;Thunderbolt 2 versions of some of those that I take to events as loaners.)<p>A little USB power meter (USB-C, USB-A and I think micro USB but never tried that) is damn handy.<p>I keep a little headphone case full of USB flash drives (mostly Sandisk Cruzer Fits) with different distros &#x2F; installers &#x2F; etc. including a couple installed Linux environments. I miss the really flat Verbatim ones.<p>Lighting and USB-C to 1&#x2F;8&quot; headphone (and a good old pair of wired earbuds with mic).<p>USB to 9-pin serial and even to 25-pin printer port.<p>I keep a couple Anker cables that are USB-A to combo USB-C&#x2F;microUSB&#x2F;Lightning with a USB-C to USB-A adapter. Slow but they always work.<p>Those adapters that adapt USB-C cables to fit USB-A ports can be hazardous if you end up creating a USB-A to USB-A cable.

Neat! I knew about the existence of all of these individual things, but I appreciate the article laying out the photos and use cases for each. By the way, I recommend against &quot;RJ45 Join Adapters&quot; and instead towards &quot;RJ45 Keystone Connectors&quot;. They do the same thing, but they&#x27;re intended for patch panels for full speed CAT-6 applications, so they&#x27;re pretty high quality, and dirt cheap.

Not a single mention of a few of the things I always keep in my bags:<p>* eyeglass screwdriver mini pen kit * 100w usb-c pps pd charger bag with out of spec 10ft cable and 10ft extension. lots of tips for laptops. it works since most things don&#x27;t draw a ton of power and it&#x27;s saved my butt a lot of times * 5 port switch is handy. unifi has a cheap USBC powered one I&#x27;ve moved to * tp link travel router * spare mini mouse and dongle

If you have an old car with no bluetooth, there are adapter kits for around $200 that allow you to splice bluetooth directly into the audio system. The audio quality will be much better than the FM transmitter and you won&#x27;t have to constantly switch frequencies on long trips. Many also come with a microphone for phone calls.<p>The install is easy, generally requiring only interior pry tools (&lt; $10), screwdriver, and some adhesive&#x2F;zipties to secure the module inside your dashboard.

My old boss had a cable with an RS232 connector with configurable pins. Back in the 90s and 2000s, there was a lot of equipment using RS232 but there was no reliable standard pin configuration. That often meant building a cable specifically for a given device.<p>By the time I came along in the 2010s, everything was Cisco or at compatible with the Cisco cables, so it wasn&#x27;t needed much any more. It was such a neat idea, I almost regretted not being around to enjoy it when it was useful.

Oh, this is delightful; so many things that I somehow never thought of and now I&#x27;ve got to go buy:) The only one that gives me pause - for all that I very much want it - is the power cable adapters; is that kind of &quot;dumb&quot; adapter quite safe? I wouldn&#x27;t have necessarily expected ex. a thinkpad power cord to have the same volts&#x2F;amps as a USB(-C) cable.

I occasionally refresh the various cables and adapters in my backpacks.<p>The addition the other day was this little tube that includes a short USB-C-to-USB-C plug cable, plus various USB-C-to-other-plug adapters, and a SIM extractor.<p>Also handy is a longer USB-A to USB-C cable that supports data (since my laptop and chargers are still USB-A), a reputable USB-A data blocker, a USB-A charger wallwart, and a very small USB power bank.<p>I love the idea of the USB-power-to-ThinkPad-barrel adapter in the article, and will have to find one that doesn&#x27;t scare me. (Currently &quot;rocking&quot; X200, T520, and W520 that would be hard to replace if fried.)

Of all the things on the list, the third item<p><pre><code> RJ45 Join Adapters </code></pre> Is one that has saved me (and others I work for) so many times. How many times have I been in some building&#x2F;area without my network tool bag with two male RJ45s looking at one another and I am going, &quot;hrmm I have to connect these&quot;.<p>I _literally_ just used one this morning... cable too short, no network bag in sight, but my laptop bag always has an RJ45 join adapter (not sure if that is the real name).

wordpress site, aliexpress links, random active hardware plugged directly into your computer.... i dunno....<p>ethernet couplers and angle adapters are the dew of the deities though.

Not mentioned are the magnetic charging connectors. I’ve found them useful for charging small appliances, like usb-c remotes and peripherals, and a micro-usb radio.<p>Word of warning: most of these are charge only, but a few do support data transfer. <i>Do not</i> use them for data. I am 79% sure that I bricked a USB-C monitor with one. I was well aware of the warnings, but did so anyway in a selfish pursuit of convenience.

In my line of work, I can&#x27;t go for long without a USB to Serial adapter.

I used to own an &quot;eight-inch coupler&quot; (sounds rude). It was a short piece of cable, joining two 25-pin female RS232 connectors.<p>Back when I acquired it, there were lots of computers, terminals and modems that used 25-pin RS232. You could use this thing to replace two modems and a telephone link. It was a handy thing to have in your bag on a field visit.

I always have a 500 lumen Petzl headlamp with me. They take a rechargeable battery or three triple-As so are extremely flexible and you don&#x27;t have to push and hold to get to the exact brightness like you do with Black Diamond lamps.

I have many boxes of different cables and adaptors like this. Nice to know I&#x27;m not the only one who likes collecting them.<p>My favourite addition in recent years is really long USB cables, like 5 metres, and HDMI 90 degree adaptors in every orientation.

for me:<p>- usb-ethernet adapters, since many craptops have no RJ45 port and many users have issues with their wifi crap setup... &quot;Hey, plug the adapter, forget the rest&quot;<p>- NVME&#x2F;M.2 SATA to usb case since allow good data storage in a small space (maybe with ventoy and a bunch of custom ISO)<p>- USB serial adapter, rare to use these days, but sometimes very useful with kermit or gtkterm as a companion (I do dislike minicom)<p>- for those who play with IoT, dupont lines&#x2F;a breadboard might be handy<p>- small USB&#x2F;battery powered lights<p>- RJ9 - 3.5mm audio ports and single to dual 3.5 jack adapter since sometimes audio need extras<p>These are mine &quot;most used, most cheap, generally not taken into account&quot; tools.

I&#x27;ve been looking for a USBC to MacBook circa 2008 charger. The voltage and power line up fine, just need to step (or negotiate ) to 16.5V and then get a MacBook 5 pin plug.<p>Anyone seen one of these?

Still looking for a high quality usb-c to audio jack adapter for my Galaxy S24, So far I only encountered garbage at Amazon et al.

I initially read &quot;hardware companies&quot;, which sounded like an interesting read as well.

I&#x27;ve just bought a couple of USB-C right angle adapters, in the hope of jogging the cable at the back of a keyboard up 1cm. Tilting keyboards backwards for ergonomic reasons has long gone out of fashion, so the cables get in the way.

i own a few of these in the list. i&#x27;d also add: usb-a &#x2F; usb-c data blocker.

I get a surprising amount of use out of a small $10 stamped-steel micrometer.

I have a bunch of those USB C to microUSB adapters since a lot of devices I have still use MicroUSB. They really come in handy

These are great but I’m always concerned that these adapters violate some spec or might fry my hardware…

See also this ExplainingComputers video on Very Useful Small Computing Things: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=K_yO7aaHd0o" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=K_yO7aaHd0o</a>