2026-02-15 23:27 UTC
@gumnos@mastodon.bsd.cafe When I worked at Bestbuy, we were supposed to sell gold plated parallel port cables for printing, because of oxidation and corrosion. I never went along with it, because it wasn’t based on science, and the standard cables were relatively cheap (1/3 the cost of the gold plated).
Replies (1)
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@gumnos@mastodon.bsd.cafe 2026-02-15 23:46
@JSkier The gold plating reducing oxidization has a modicum of scientific basis (gold being a non-reactive metal), but never worth the 3x cost you note. Every cable that ever failed for me was due to stresses of regular use (solder joints in the connectors breaking or metal-fatigue of the internal wires), never oxidization. On rare occasions I saw oxidization starting, a wire brush or nail-file helped keep the worst of it at bay. 🤷