Comments on: Connectors Quiz!

By: Eric Rucker

Eric Rucker — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 22:34:00 +0000

Nope.

Micro ribbon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centronics_connector

Centronics is only correct for a 36-pin connector being used for the Centronics parallel standard, or a derived (IEEE 1284) standard.

By: lecti

lecti — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:40:00 +0000

Too easy!

By: Daniel Hull

Daniel Hull — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 21:37:00 +0000

Actually both the 36-pin and the 50-pin are “Centronics” connectors. The key factor is the plastic bar in the center of the connector body that holds the contact pins, regardless of how many there are.

By: Shawn D'Alimonte

Shawn D'Alimonte — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 21:34:00 +0000

RJ-45 also implies a certain type of phone circuit is connected to the connector.

Also I was annoyed that the F connector was just called “Coaxial RF connector”. Do they not realize just how many RF connectors there are?

By: Robert Cruickshank

Robert Cruickshank — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:25:00 +0000

If there was some kind of quiz that would keep people from jamming 3.5mm phone plugs into the holes in RCA connectors, I would support that.

By: Bryan "bytehead" Price

Bryan "bytehead" Price — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:29:00 +0000

Yeah, I missed one as well.

By: Just Thalia

Just Thalia — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:45:00 +0000

Umm, yeah that was way too eassssy. 100% here yo!

By: Henry Goodwin

Henry Goodwin — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:40:00 +0000

I only got the spade connector correct because I have one as a necklace.

By: .

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:17:00 +0000

Yeah, I was expecting something challenging. I suppose we could use it a work to weed out the dimmest of job candidates.

By: Eric Garner

Eric Garner — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:06:00 +0000

RJ-45 isn’t exactly right either. That’s an 8P8C connector. True RJ-45 connectors are keyed.

By: nixiebunny

nixiebunny — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:55:00 +0000

I was hoping that there would be some obscure connectors. The USB 3 was the closest thing to obscure, as it’s brand-new. And to the person who called the SCSI connector a Centronics connector, the number of pins is important. SCSI is 50, Centronics is 36. They’re actually Amphenol ribbon connectors, dating from the 1960s and first used in telephone systems. A larger version was used in the back of Tektronix oscilloscope plug-ins in the 1950s.

I could go on, but I won’t.

By: Chris Hudson

Chris Hudson — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:01:00 +0000

I totally shouldn’t got 100% and been proud of it, right?

By: Robert Cruickshank

Robert Cruickshank — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:51:00 +0000

Yes, don’t confuse connector styles with the signals carried on them. For instance there’s no such thing as an “RS232 connector”- while it’s common to see it on a DE9, there’s actually no connector specified in the spec.

By: Quibbler

Quibbler — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:50:00 +0000

Number 4 is a phono and number 6 is a centronics.

By: bibulb

bibulb — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:37:00 +0000

Their testing methodology leaves a bit to be desired – as someone else noted, they have some examples named by their use and others named by their connector type. Also, if you’re going to ask us to identify a type of connector, don’t show it to us in such a way as to occlude part of the connector. The PS/2 example where I couldn’t see half the pins made that one a little harder.

By: bibulb

bibulb — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:34:00 +0000

Oh, man, good times. “I’ve got a Jaz, a Zip and an external CD-ROM, and they’re all SCSI, and they all have different ports.”

(Bonus fun : “Which one(s) need a terminator and where, and what order do they need to go in?”)

There are some things I miss about the old Macs. SCSI voodoo is not one of them.

By: Maverick

Maverick — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:17:00 +0000

I’m nitpicking, but the RCA connector is also coaxial.

By: webmonkees

webmonkees — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:10:00 +0000

“Ethernet connector” should be labelled ‘RJ45 connector” (It’s used for more than Ethernet)
(bonus question should have been ‘straight-thru or crossover?’)

VGA connector might be known as a SVGA connector (wrong # of pins) Although I will admit VGA connectors don’t show up much in the field, but that’s a topic for legacy nitpickers.

By: phisrow

phisrow — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:04:00 +0000

Oh, they really turned up the easy mode on this one.

I absolutely knew that I was out of the woods when the correct answer was “SCSI connector”, rather than “Which http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCSI_connector? May god have mercy on your doomed soul…”

By: Rob Kendrick

Rob Kendrick — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:47:00 +0000

The correct answer is not offered on several of the questions, so I selected the least wrong ones. And got 100%, even though I’ve never heard of that spade connector thingy.

By: betatron

betatron — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:47:00 +0000

i missed one. turning in my card…

By: Digilante

Digilante — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:42:00 +0000

Come on, give us a real challenge ;-)