begin quoting Tracy R Reed as of Fri, Jan 05, 2007 at 11:03:56AM -0800: > Karl Cunningham wrote: > >What do y'all do to keep computer cables organized? This is a home > >situation with 8 or so computers and related stuff around and under a desk. > > > >Any good solutions out there? Hardware? Ideas? > > A number of good suggestions have been made already. > > I recommend and or second these recommendations: > > 1. Get rid of as much of your computer stuff as possible. Do you really > need those 8 computers?
/me looks around... Hmmm... Well, there's the mini, as a desktop OS X box. I have VirtualPC and QEMU on it, but that's not useful for anything serious. Beside it is the mini with linux installed on it, which runs far faster than linux under VirtualPC or QEMU. There's the Blade 100, my main machine (that is, the one I SSH _from_). It Just Stays Up [I should rename my computers after pharmaceuticals, as there are some ready names there]. My LFS machine is under the desk. Since that's a project machine, it's not really in frequent use. I haven't even powered it up yet this year. The Soekris box isn't set up yet. The Amiga is on top of the blade, but not quite hooked up yet either. The Netra *is* using virtualization to run a CVS server, web server, and DNS server, each in their own virtualized system. The virtualization is kinda nifty... but it isn't all sweetness and light. Doing anything with the hardware means that all three virtual machines go down. It's kinda like AV equipment. Some folks like the all-in-one approach, and thus are perfectly happy to have their DVD player, VHS player, and stereo built into their TV. Others prefer separate components. > I virtualized with xen and sold/gave away > old/unneeded hardware. I am not interested in collecting computer > hardware. I let others preserve the history. Different strokes, as they say. I don't have any one machine that could do it all, no matter what the virtualization scheme. > 2. Velcro ties. Not zip ties. And velcro tie up any excessive lengths of > cable. Also velcro any unused cables. I used to have a big box full of > crazy tangles wiring. Now I have a box full of neat little loops. Much > easier to find the one cable I need out of it now. I have some reusable cable-ties I need to use, my box o' cables has gotten messy. I had put the cables into envelopes and labeled the envelope with what sort of cable was to be found in it, and this worked rather well for awhile. The problem was the low density... > 3. Arrange things as sensibly as possible to minimize cable runs. The > racks here at my employer had stuff going everywhere. Over time I have > been able to move switches closer to patch panels and servers closer to > their switches and vastly simplified the wiring situation and pulls > hundreds of feet of unneeded wiring from the rack. Kelsey has/had some beautiful cable runs... -- You'd think I'd name my computers after kinds of rats. Stewart Stremler -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
