Recently made a new friend via my big box of cables! Moved to new street. Didn't know anyone. Joined local chat group. Someone looking for mini-b cable. Took one over. Got talking about old digital cameras and photography. W.
Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables
371–380 of 464 posts
Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables
#372Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh for crying out loud, I've spent my life believing if it fits it's right. %$@&#!
Right? And people say assembling a PC is just like LEGO!
I'm lucky so far that I've kept all the cables from all the PSUs I've had, and they matched in colour per PSU, so I've never had the temptation to pick a random one. Phew, saved by autism.
Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables
#373Oh great, grandad left an old pile of USB-A cables of wildly variable quality for my humanoid robot to shred
Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables
#374Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, this method does not work. I tried, got rid of all those stuff because why would I need it ever again. And of course a month later I needed that one stupid thing right there and then. And I remember throwing away... Not again, I keep at least one cable of each in a separate box to find immediately, the rest is stored, it is not asking for any money.
You’re not replying to the comment. If you’re using 20 year old hardware, okay - keep 20 year old wires and accessories. Most are not. Put an expiration date on your neuroticism. Old dirty stuff can literally consume you. Ask me how I know!
> Palm III dock, Linksys WRT54G, or Sony PSP charger
These are all >20 years old
Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables
#375Hot tip - buy a box of small / medium zip lock bags and bag them all up. Duplicates in the same bag are ok (10cm / USB-C) etc. For the last 10 years my "techno box" has been a box of bags - the cables don't get tangled and small bits (adaptors / notes) get to live with the cables. Its one of the rare few home environment hacks I actually have!
This post isn't convincing me. I spent so much time meticulously organizing my techno box. I bought a back of the door shoe holder for tech. Every wire, charger, usb key, web cam, airline earbud, everything. It's been beautifully organized for years. It's been beautifully organized and useless for so many years that it's all junk now. Nothing is using USB A/B. The airline earbuds are as much trash today as they were…
Yes, I guess its a balance - the inconvenience of sorting through odd-shaped defunct USB standards vs actually needing one of those weird cables for an ancient camera in 10 years time.
I naturally have the ~< £ from AZ mindset, but I try to challenge that by re-using avoiding waste. It doesn't always work (and there's a lot of eventual waste in those hundreds of zip-lock bags).
Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables
#376Earlier quoted context omitted.
Heatshrink?
Heatshrink is great if you're making cables but you would need a really high shrinkage ratio to fit over the connector and then shrink enough, the common cheap stuff is usually 2:1, maybe 3:1. You could cut the heatshrink tube, wrap it around the cable and then secure it with transparent tape. It would slide around but at least it wouldn't leave residue on the cable. Maybe clip-on cable markers like this? [1] Easy to…
I’ve thought about just putting it on the connector itself. It may look stupid though.
Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables
#377Key for me is to "group" cables. For example, I have a bag of USB-C cables, a bag of USB-A cables, etc. Grouping them is key to deduplicating. It's easy to look at a single legacy USB A-to-B "printer" cable in isolation and think "I might need this someday!" Because you really might need it someday. However, if you group them you might see that you have ten of them. And then you can get rid of... maybe 8 of them. I a…
Don't forget a baggy labeled "console cables" that's always empty because it's perpetually borrowed by someone and never where you need it !
Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables
#378I keep my cables hanging on an old coat rack. Each hook holds one category of cable: USB cables, ethernet cables, power cables, analog cables, digital data cables (other than USB and net), proprietary cables, etc.
It's much easier to find a cable than searching in a box or plastic bag.
Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables
#379Recently, I was screwed by my big box of cables, when I pulled out a SATA power connector for my modular power supply, and learned very quickly that though the ports universally fit across modular PSUs, the pinouts are not actually intercompatible, and you can and will fry your hard drives. I didn't know this; I had foolishly assumed that SATA power connectors were standardized on both ends.
Yeah, same cables but different specifications is a danger; I've got old HDMI / DP cables for example, they're backwards compatible and still fit into modern systems of course, but won't do 4K / 144 hz (or whatever).
One day I'll sort the box out. There's even SCART and PATA cables in there, as well as my old diskette holder.
...I should try and build myself a vintage PC sooner rather than later. Mind you, my dad got rid of all our old shareware diskettes years ago, unfortunately.
Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables
#380I happen to have TWO big boxes of cables. One for home and one for work. Just this week ago I was vindicated by having just the cable someone needed for something. Not having a big box of cables nearby would be make feel exposed and vulnerable. Its security blanket made of obsolete connectors.