<br><div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">I think it was Alan that mentioned solder bridges etc. I realised a couple<br>of years ago that that was why computers are not as much fun as they <br>used to be.  When I started you had to know how to use a soldering iron,<br>you had to know that a paperclip was the perfect tool for testing that<br>a dumb terminal's RS232 port was working properly, you had to be able to <br>solder RS232 cables and later centronics cables if they broke.  We have</blockquote><div><br>We were very technological at Foster Yeoman in the late 80s... we crimped our RS232 plugs and sockets... the fact that you only put in the pins that you needed gave a useful visual clue to which end was which... 1,2,3,6,7 and 20 were the most common connections I recall, but sometimes a piece of hardware would need some other pins connected... not sure I ever used a paperclip to test a dumb terminal, mind you... I did have a "dummy" plug with pins 2-3 and 6-20 connected inside at one stage, I recall... never quite figured out why people paid out money for "test plugs" when it was simple enough to make them yourself... guess it's the "grated cheese" syndrome... <br></div><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Now, you can't even have a soldering iron without a qualification from<br> the safety inspector and lead in solder - whoa there - toxic material -<br>can't have that - you'll need hard hat, eye protection, fume protection,<br>gloves and a leather apron before you can touch it.  We were so poor we <br>couldn't afford evo-stik - we got our highs breathing in resin cored<br>solder fumes :-)</blockquote><div><br>lol!! I still have a soldering iron somewhere, can't remember the last time I used it... do hardware shops still sell solder? <br><br>Sean<br></div></div>