Tag: Cables

You always need the cable/connector you don’t have

john

I’ve got thousands of feet of spare cables. Cat 5, 5e, 6. Coax. Digital audio — copper and optical. Video with all flavors of DVI, HDMI, and older connectors. S-video. Component. HDMI. USB. FireWire. Audio. Speaker wire. Microphone cables. DMX512. AC power cables of all sorts — grounded, ungrounded, extension cords. DC power supplies and cables in many varieties.

And bags of converters of all types. Audio. Video. Male-to-female. Female-female. Splitters. Joiners. You name it.

With all these cables and converters, I needed storage solutions just for them. Bins, racks, etc. And I had to keep it all ordered so I could find stuff.

I am throwing it all out. Moving to a JIT system for cables — I’ll buy what i need on the fly. Because having a massive inventory of spares has never saved me a trip to Fry’s or a Newegg rush order. I always need the one connector I don’t have.

I count on Rich to solve the basics for me — batteries, cables

john 1 Comment

* “Rechargeable battery recos”:http://www.tongfamily.com/archives/2010/09/battery-geek/. Rich overbrains rechargeable battery selecting.
* “Rich on cables”:http://www.tongfamily.com/archives/2010/04/cables-and-cables/. Good tip on where to buy cheap cables. Amazon cable pricing is pretty good too. Best Buy is ridiculous, someone should go to jail for Best Buy cable pricing. Always better to stop at Radio Shack first for emergency cable needs, tho their pricing is not fantabulous either.

Rich, please advise on shredders next.

Connectors — 1 step forwards, 2 steps back

john

Rich points out that we may have some progress on using micro-usb as a universal device connector. That would be awesome. I carry the most disastrous bag of wallwarts and cables now to keep everything going.

On the other hand, a new connector type for HDMI is coming. Sigh. The A/V connector/cable world remains a disaster.

Many good refs on the net for cable and connector types. Just discovered Hardware Book for instance.

Stuff I Want But Don't Need — Geekhouse Bikes Powder Coating, Boynq Iris, Cyclone, Earthworm Hydro Drill

john

* Geekhouse Bikes Powder Coating Graphics — I never ride my bike, but wow could it look cool collecting dust
* Now that I’ve installed Edison, let me burn up all my savings with this dynamic LED keyboard
* Boynq Iris webcam-speaker-light-mic combo. I was just asking myself, where can I get a webcam-speaker-light-mic combo?
* Cyclone metal cleanup tool. As they say, if only this worked for sawdust
* Earthworm Hydro Drill. I actually could use this for routing cables for Halloween in the yard, tho it seems like it might be a disaster.