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Comment by devindotcom | Hacker News Reader

I knew when I wrote it that someone would point this out — the feeling in the old connectors was like plugging in, for example, a multi-head RCA connector or something. It felt like putting a plug in a socket, connecting two analog devices like a speaker and amp - and unlike putting in a USB micro connector or DVI cable. But your point stands :)

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I think what you're saying is definitely indicative of what I was trying to get at: that analog is more of a "feeling" and less of a technical term nowadays. I didn't mean to vilify you for that; I think it's a fairly widespread phenomenon, and you just happened to illustrate my point well :P

Great article, by the way!

I know that feeling, I would describe it as "robust". A chunky, solid feeling. But I would classify DVI and VGA the same, along with parallel ports, DIN (but not mini-DIN), and basically all mains power connectors.

At the opposite end are USB (especially micro), HDMI, 1394 and other dainty connectors that feel like they would break (and they do) if you don't take utmost care in mating them.

That being said, I don't think it's a feeling unique to "old" connectors; besides the mains plugs mentioned above, modern industrial, military, and avionics equipment connectors remain equally satisfying to mate. It's just that most consumer equipment has sacrificed robustness for compactness and cost.

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