I built an RS232 cable from parts from RadioShack 25 years ago, with no soldering, just electrical tape. It's surprisingly easy if you don't need speed. Mine capped out at 1200 or 2400 baud. Was it good? No. Did it work? Absolutely.

[–] collapse_already@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 day ago

Yeah, the protocol itself is pretty robust. The cable I had didn't have enough noise immunity for the dirty power the building had in India (afternoon brown outs when the voltage dipped when the air conditioners ran). The Faraday cage that I made around the cable helped with the noise and also (and I believe more crucially though I had no scope to confirm) gave the two boards a common ground. I had a little trouble with before I left, but it didn't work at all in India until I modded it. Made the hardware engineer buy me a beer when I got back.