EU Makes USB-C Charging Port Mandatory for Mobile Phones, Tablets, and Cameras, including Apple iPhones

[Zarathustra]

Still rockin' S-Video over here. My SNES, Super Famicom, N64, Gamecube, and Saturn all use S-Video on my CRT TV. I also previously used S-Video with PS1 and Dreamcast. In the 2000s I upgraded Dreamcast to VGA and it's been on that ever since. For PS2 I used Component cables. Wish I could've used Component with GCN but I laughed at Nintendo's $30 prices for the cables (there were no 3rd-party ones). Joke's on me cuz in the following 20 years the price range of those things ha been $200-$300. I could and did use Component with GCN games on Wii, but I've seen stuff online that showed that GCN's Component video output quality is better than Wii's. Ah well. X360 was the first system I had with HDMI output. My Neo-Geo C-MVS supports S-Video, Composite, Component, and RGB/SCART. I have the cables for all of those, but I am currently using Component. My NES and Genesis are the only systems on Composite.

S-Video was a huuuuuge jump for me. I was still on RF switch and RF modulator most of the way through 5th-gen (so I had to deal with mono sound on top of sh1t video quality). I eventually started plugging in Composite cables for game consoles into my VCR, but the VCR still went to the TV through RF. It wasn't until 2003 when I got a new TV for my berfday did I finally have access to S-Video (and Component). Going from RF to S-Video was a world of difference. I was always pissed off that my HDTV from 2009 (which I am still using) didn't have S-Video. Of course modern HDTVs don't have analog inputs at all anymore. Not that it really matters, 6th-gen-and-earlier consoles look like @ss on HDTVs without an image processor like the xRGB Mini Framemeister or the OSSC (Open Source Scan Converter) anyways. At the very least you should be using a decent HDMI converter for your classic systems. But yeah, I still love me some S-Video. Quite a noticeable jump over Composite.

Aaaaaaahhhhhhh, those final Trinitrons, so awesome...

I had all kinds of switch-boxes back in the 4th-gen, 5th-gen and 6th-gen days. Most of the ones I used were from Pelican. I like Pelican's stuff but most of the switch-boxes I had from all brands eventually crapped out on me. Some of them needed external power to prevent degradation of the video signals, so they had tiny AC adapters I had to account for on my surge protectors. The ones I am using now are Sony SB-V40S units (which hold image/audio quality without needing external power), and so far they've been the best I've ever used. No Component support though.

Ah, I played with friends older brothers 2nd gen consoles (mostly Atari's) and owned a 3rd gen (NES) but after I got my first PC of my own in 1991, I never looked at a console again. It was all VGA connector from ~1991 until ~2005 when I tried tried my first DVI connector

I briefly tried using a VGA to BNC adapter cable in 2001 on my Iiyama Visionmaster Pro 510 after hearing it supposedly could increase visual quality, but the quality was actually worse than just using the VGA input (color fringes etc.), so I stuck with VGA.

 

[DrezKill]

Ah, I played with friends older brothers 2nd gen consoles (mostly Atari's) and owned a 3rd gen (NES) but after I got my first PC of my own in 1991, I never looked at a console again. It was all VGA connector from ~1991 until ~2005 when I tried tried my first DVI connector

Yeah on the PC side I was VGA, then DVI, then DisplayPort. I don't remember exactly when I switched to DVI though. 2010 or 2011 is when I switched to DP.

My family's first game console was my mom's Atari 2600 (so we started out during 2nd-gen), then my Game Boy, then her NES which I inherited, and after that the consoles have either belonged to me or my brother. PC has always been my focus for gaming (as I feel it is the ultimate game platform), but as a video gamer I never quite left the world of consoles behind. I would either borrow consoles/games or eventually end up with some consoles myself each generation. Now I would be absolutely thrilled if I never end up with XBSX or PS5 during 9th-gen because any games I might wanna play on those systems also end up on PC.

Can't even begin to trace my PC history. I'd have to ask my dad to get really deep into his memories to try to figure out any kind of PC timeline for our family. The first system that was my own system was a P3 system I built with parts lying around the house. First system I spent my own money to build was an Athlon Tbird.

 

[Zarathustra]

Can't even begin to trace my PC history. I'd have to ask my dad to get really deep into his memories to try to figure out any kind of PC timeline for our family. The first system that was my own system was a P3 system I built with parts lying around the house. First system I spent my own money to build was an Athlon Tbird.

Yeah, this is starting to get thoroughly off topic, but it can be really tough to remember.

I remember most of my builds in broad strokes. CPU, GPU and screens. The details on the older ones start getting hazy.

Back in the late 80's / early 90's I started getting into PC's by playing with my parents early Toshiba laptops. My dad had a Toshiba T3100sx (I think?) with a 386 and an orange and black monochrome screen.



My mom had a Toshiba T1100LE(I think?) with an XT-class CPU (can't remember if it was 8086 or 8088) and a blue on white monochrome screen:



It was on these I started to be introduced to such classic DOS games as Lemmings, Ports of Call, Sid Meier's Civilization, etc.

After I accidentally formatted my moms hard drive in ~1990, I think they decided that maybe - since I showed great interest in computers - I should be able to tinker on my own. My birthday is early in the year, so Christmas 1991 they presented me with a 286, built together cheaply with spare parts by a friend of my dads. In order to accept it, I had to agree it was both my Christmas and birthday present, and I would have to forfeit all of my allowance for the rest of the year.

A 286 may have been all but obsolete in 1991 (the year the 486 launched) but I was still elated.

Specs were:
286
1MB Ram (640K + 384K)
256k VGA adapter
11" or 12" Hyundai 640x480 capable VGA monitor (can't remember size, but 11 oe 12" feels about right)
A single 5.25" HD floppy drive
20MB MFM Hard drive

A week after getting it my mom came to get me for dinner, and I had completely disassembled the thing on the floor in my room. She was horrified that I had ruined it, but I put it back together again, and only continued learning from there on out.

Here is a little cringe-worthy recording I took with the family camcorder showing off my PC in the early 90's. Probably 1991. I can't remember for sure:

Sierra's Police Quest 3 anyone?

I had forgotten about this, but apparently I had my Autoexec.bat point towards a DOS menu launcher at that time.

Not sure why I recorded this, but heck, I was what, 11 or 12, so cut me some slack. And it's fun to have the memory.

At some point I put together a progression of my upgrades since then. I don't know if I still have the file, I may have to revisit it. From my perspective, I've only ever really had one PC. My main desktop has never undergone a new "from scratch" build. The desktop I am using today is the spiritual successor, upgraded one or a few parts at a time since 1991. Oldest part still in use is is probably my 400GB Intel SSD750 PCIe SSD still occupying a slot as a tertiary drive in there, or my 20" Dell 2007 FP side screens, if I include external parts, but it is really a piecemeal upgrade ever since then, even though it looks very very different today.

 

[MadMummy76]

SCART was a European only standard as I recall.

I didn't know that, lucky us I guess, for this once.

Even growing up in Europe though, I don't ever remember coming across any equipment that had a SCART connector.

Most European stuff had it, as I recall some cheaper Japanase made VCRs and TVs didn't have scart, but everything else had at least one, possibly two connectors from the late 80s. My 2012 Plasma TV has it too, although I never used it at that point with HDMI being available, but it was still there for backwards compatibility with VCRs and earlier DVD players.

You know, fake wood paneling,no remote control, like 12 channel buttons on the front of the unit that clicked in when you changed the channel.

Every TV had that design in the 80s, including ours.

I do recall the SCART connector being HUGE.

It was relatively large, but it had the huge advantage of being multi functional. In a traditional setup it could serve as both input and output, or even passthrough.