From the pictures below,  I’ve been trying to get keep them neat and manageable.  Unfortunately, those two words don’t go together.  I always started off neat, with cables twist-tied, labeled, and grouped together.  However, as the months go by, I would be adding new equipments and peripherals.  I would end up ripping cables out, and adding more cables in.  Taking everything out just to add one or two cables are not practical.  So I would just thread them back there, and tried my best to keep them out of sight.

Part of my efforts, to keep them under control, is to remove as much unused electronics and peripherals.  For example, I just got rid of the Dish Network satellite receiver, and managed to get rid of at least 8 different cables.  I’m also converting to HDMI cables where video/audio all go through one thin cable, instead of 2 big fat ones.

If I do have to add another box, I’ll pick one that requires less or no cable.  It’s a good thing Guitar Hero World Tour guitar and drum kits are wireless.

I’ve taken a gallery of photos of my electronics’ back sides.  It looks like I’ve got some work to do.

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Note: The New York Times has an article about cable issues.  I’m not alone in this mess!

This article was posted on Rudy Amid's Blog:

Wrangling Cables

Related posts:

1. Outage

To ensure my power needs are being met, I went out and got a new UPS.  This time, it’s a whopping 1500VA UPS from Best Buy.  It’s a re-labelled Cyberpower brand, into Geek Squad.  It can  handle a collosal 900 Watts of input, so I should have plenty of head room.  Another nice thing about this power supply is the LCD in front to show me the load and battery condition.   I really don’t need the supplied USB cable and software to monitor the UPS’ condition.

The outage also gave me the opportunity to clean up the tangle of cable mess near my server.  I only have a 15″W by 24″D space to work with, so it’s pretty cramped in there.  It’s like playing a jigsaw puzzle, trying to figure out how the mini-tower server, UPS, subwoofer, and the light fixture fit into the small corner.  After a couple of hours, it’s finally sorted out. Now it looks much tidier.  I still can’t avoid the gazillion cables back there, but I’m managing them using flexible tubes and twist ties.

My wife predicted in a few months, I’ll redo this setup.  I think she may be right.

This article was posted on Rudy Amid's Blog:

Outage

Related posts:

1. PC Build 2008: Part 1
2. Linux and hardware upgrades
3. Building An HTPC