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

Posted by Brajeshwar 1 day ago

Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables(blog.jim-nielsen.com)

679 points | 411 commentspage 10

dekhn 16 hours ago|

I 3D print cable rocks and mount them in my garage and then hang them in groups by type. I also get rid of every cable type I haven't used in 10 years because you can always just buy more of that cable.

axus 19 hours ago||

If you have children, at least one of them may become fascinated with retro hardware, and play with all of this stuff, reinstalling OS and connecting old drives. Once they grow past that phase, THEN you can bring everything to the e-Waste center :)

anotherevan 16 hours ago||

I have at least one box of old A/V cables and such sitting in my cupboard that I've been thinking I need to sort through and probably throw out.

Things like big, thick composite cables and extra long VGA cables.

Now… maybe not?

jsisto 23 hours ago||

Wife forced me to consolidate my boxes of cables to a single bin. I joke the retail price of the bin is hundreds of dollars

juliie 18 hours ago||

I had to pull out a VGA cable to connect a screen to my server the other day. The motherboard has IPMI so I hadn't used that cable for years, possibly a decade now. I'll never throw it away.

Havoc 14 hours ago||

USB has been a blessing in this regard. That dramatically reduced the scope of my cable salad.

I wish the power vs data ones were easier to tell apart though

yoggies_bro 19 hours ago||

1. it is easy to buy a cable and have it delivered to your home in 24 hours 2. You have to be able to remember -where- the box of cables is 3. box of cables takes up space and clutters your environment

Throw out the box of cables.

windowsrookie 19 hours ago||

1. I always know where my box of cables is, because it’s never moved from its location . 2. It takes up less than two shoeboxes of space, which is hardly anything in my home. 3. If I need the cable right now, I don’t have to wait 24 hours. 4. It costs me nothing to keep them.

anon7000 19 hours ago||

> it is easy to buy a cable and have it delivered to your home in 24 hours

* for now, in certain locations, from certain retailers

jwilliams 16 hours ago||

You want to do task X and discover you need cable Y. You go to find cable Y missing, then discover a new one is $55 and 2 days delivery. Never again.

stavros 16 hours ago|

You buy it. You do task X, and go to store cable. You discover old cable Y exactly where you were going to store the new one.

joeconway 23 hours ago||

do yourself a favour and buy some zip mesh bag on amazon (often used for children's toy sorting; they're much more robust than zip-locks) and use them to group your cables. the big box(es) goes from a source of stress to an absolute delight.

booty 23 hours ago|

Grouping is also key to de-duplicating IMO. Can be tough to throw away a single cable. But when you have 10 of them grouped together, you know you can safely get rid of them.

IM/FWIW: I personally have found 4mil ziploc-style bags to be pretty close to indestructible. They're like thick evidence locker bags

gr4viton2 9 hours ago|

I do group them using one "type" per box too. However I do not use zip-bags, instead I use core of toilet rolls - suitable to add length labeling too.

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