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Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

blog.jim-nielsen.com

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Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#441

Post by DragonStrength »

joshstrange wrote: post #34
booty wrote: post #24

Key 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…

This bags or bins or whatever your preferred organization method is. Don't just have "cables" group them. This is how I discovered "yeah, I don't need all these DVI/VGA cables and I can do with only 10 extra HDMI cables". I'll second "grouping" with "capability sorting". Get a cable tester and sort your cables by Charge/USB speeds. Even with my default "grouping" of things like "USB-C -> C", "USB-A -> C", etc I still…

The HDMI cables are a lie anyway with how many versions I've owned. I'm sick of squinting at the writing on the wires. Just buy new ones.

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#442

Post by 0x457 »

booty wrote: post #24

Key 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…

I 3D printed bunch of "tubes" where cables are stored, caps indicate what is stored inside. As a result, threw away a lot of A->C cables, preserved cursed cables like USB-C to 12V barrel jack.

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#443

Post by andix »

cma wrote: post #436
andix wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Transparent ziplock bags changed my cable organization significantly. I also put a lot of accessories into them. Preferably together with a small note about what it is for, or with the manual of the device it belongs to. Storing stuff in individual boxes takes up too much space. The transparent bags can just go into a box and it's easy to just browse through. Nothing gets entangled.

They make giant ones too for bigger stuff. I think Adam Savage has a video about them for grouping unfinished project parts together.

I usually just get them from IKEA. They have different sizes from 0.4l to 6l.

I try not to overfill them if possible, much easier to see what's inside.

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#444

Post by ryandrake »

kingrolo wrote: post #218

I decided years ago to limit myself to just one box of cables... So then I ended up having to keep finding a bigger and bigger box to switch them to. One thing that bothers me though (or an excuse my brain uses to justify it maybe) is that it feels so wasteful to dump so many cables that will probably end up in landfill when I know there's someone out there who could make use of them. If anyone has a suggestion on th…

> One thing that bothers me though (or an excuse my brain uses to justify it maybe) is that it feels so wasteful to dump so many cables that will probably end up in landfill when I know there's someone out there who could make use of them.

This prevents me from throwing away a lot of stuff. I can't stand the idea of this stuff just going into a landfill somewhere, adding to the world's pollution. I feel like every time I put something into the trash, I might as well be beating a baby seal with a baseball bat. I also put a (perhaps insane) amount of effort into reusing things and avoiding buying things in the first place, because I know eventually it will be polluting the world.

Often I just set up a folding table at the curb, and put my boxes of stuff there with a sign that says "free". Yes, I know the next person might throw it away, but somehow it's easier to ignore that fact.

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#447

Post by ryandrake »

ssl-3 wrote: post #346
kingrolo wrote: post #218

I decided years ago to limit myself to just one box of cables... So then I ended up having to keep finding a bigger and bigger box to switch them to. One thing that bothers me though (or an excuse my brain uses to justify it maybe) is that it feels so wasteful to dump so many cables that will probably end up in landfill when I know there's someone out there who could make use of them. If anyone has a suggestion on th…

I keep a lot of wires around because my interests and work require that, and I find great pleasure in being able to connect anything at a whim. Right now they're all pretty tidy, sorted by role into not-giant boxes on a shelf. I don't have too much any particular type, and every one I do have works with currently-used technology. It wasn't always that way, though -- I used to collect and keep all of the cables . It w…

> If direct re-use is very important: You can sell them on eBay, I guess. There's buyers there. But then you're doing all of the things that selling cheap stuff on eBay requires and that sounds like an awful way to spend time.

Yea, I would love to get a few bucks each for all this crap, but eBay sucks as a small time seller. I've got to take some pictures of each thing, guess how much it's going to cost to ship (or list free shipping and eat the cost) post it, wait for it to sell (or for the auction to end), go buy a cardboard box or mailer for it, go buy packaging/stuffing to protect it, go buy packing tape to tape the box up, go to USPS, UPS or whatever, to finally mail it off, and then wonder if you're going to be hit by the nonzero probability that the buyer is a scammer and will cause a problem. Repeat for each little thing you want to sell.

I wish eBay was more like consignment. Ship them off a big box-of-stuff, they pay you a small amount for it, and then it's their problem to sell and distribute.

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#448

Post by booty »

cma wrote: post #436
andix wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Transparent ziplock bags changed my cable organization significantly. I also put a lot of accessories into them. Preferably together with a small note about what it is for, or with the manual of the device it belongs to. Storing stuff in individual boxes takes up too much space. The transparent bags can just go into a box and it's easy to just browse through. Nothing gets entangled.

They make giant ones too for bigger stuff. I think Adam Savage has a video about them for grouping unfinished project parts together.

I didn't see his video, but after many years I finally figured that out independently and felt like a fool for it taking so long to realize. That's a real game changer.

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#449

Post by booty »

alias_neo wrote: post #360
tmountain wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes for an amazing cable? For USB, if it carries data and power, I’m usually pretty happy with it.

For USB, if it can carry 65W+ of power to my laptop as well as the Keyboard/Mouse inputs, 4K/60Hz display and audio back to the monitor as well as KB/Mouse and perhaps some external storage or network adapter, that's a pretty amazing cable. I also have preferences between my cables by the quality and aesthetic, I prefer some over others because they look or feel nicer even if in testing they contain the same conducto…

Wow... have you found cheap cables that are able to display video despite not being advertised as such?
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