In article <9NOV92.21231170@uwpg02.uwinnipeg.ca> aleung@uwpg02.uwinnipeg.ca writes:
>I have a question about DIN plug. There are many product using DIN plug right now.It is very common in Car Stereo. If someone wants to test his car stereo at
>home, will he use the plug of the modem in the car stereo? Therefore, it is your
>responsibility to hook up everything correctly.
Unfortunately, not everyone can tell that they are not supposed to plug
their car stereo into their toaster mains cord, or their stereo speaker
outputs into their color VGA monitor's 30,000 volt cord. DIN thought that
they could produce a standard series of plugs/jacks that could be used
_intelligently_ by all; unfortunately, it looks as though every maker of
equipment has to invent his own proprietary standard connector (at great
cost not only to the maker but also to the user) so that one cannot plug
his car battery charger into his flashlight.
It appears that Apple Computer liked the idea of using one eight-pin
(I believe) connector for everything on the back of their computers; it
must have saved them, say, seven cents per computer. And since (most)
Apple computer users appear to like staying as far away from knowing their
computers as possible (else they'd buy cheaper, faster computers like IBM
clones or the "not-for-the-'rest-of-us'" machines), it probably would have
been a good idea to put different (VERY different) connectors on the backs
of Apples for different devices. But then again, Apple does seem to
encourage Apple Factory Service Technicians be hired to install these
things, for only a measly few dozens of dollars per hour.
