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How can I deal with this mess? I have way too many USB cables clogging up my desktop, not to mention the power cables for charging the USB devices. Is there any way to deal with this massive invasion of 3' cord? My monitor is surrounded by USB cable spaghetti, and I can think of no logical way of storing them.
I don't think I have an abnormal amount of USB cables. I have one for my digital camera, one for my MP3 player, a USB printer cable, a general 3' USB extension cable, and one for my cellphone. Sure, it's only 5 cables, but 15 feet of black cable piled up beside a monitor is an ugly eyesight.
I need to keep all of them convenient. I can't tuck them away in a closet because I use all of them on a daily basis.
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Hi,
Get some eye screws and some cable ties. Put an eye screw into the back of your desk for each cable. Drop all but a couple of inches of the cable behind your desk, gather it up in a loop, attach the loop to the eye screw with a cable tie. The cable mess is out of sight, off the floor. The cable ends are easily accessible. And the whole operation costs a few cents and a few minutes.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?
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No idea if this is an answer you're looking for, but... You might consider using twist ties to bind them all together so it's one bigger line in one place instead of 5 hanging wherever. After that it depends on your computer desk. If you have your case in a corner you can send the cables around from the inside (i.e. between the case and the part of the desk it's next to) and out, so all the cables are on the side. If your desk is open, you're not using a tower, or there's some other reason the cables have to go past the monitor, then you can just send the mass along the base of the monitor.
You could also invest in a USB hub, plug everything into that, and run your extension cable from that to the case.
Btw, noticed you were on Guild Wars a couple days ago (last time I was able to be on), getting back into it?
Alea Jacta Est - Caesar
Guild Wars account: Lurker Wyrm
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My solution to that problem is not having the USB cables plugged into my computer unless I need the connection. When the cables aren't needed they lie with whatever device they belong to.
Only a practical solution if you have easy access to the USB ports on your computer (which I do) or are using a hub.
Hugs are good, but smashing is better! - Clarence<!--sizec--><!--/sizec-->
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A bit of colored tape at each end of a cable will also help you to quickly identify which device goes with which cable.
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DeeBye,Dec 16 2005, 12:28 AM Wrote:How can I deal with this mess? I have way too many USB cables clogging up my desktop, not to mention the power cables for charging the USB devices. Is there any way to deal with this massive invasion of 3' cord? My monitor is surrounded by USB cable spaghetti, and I can think of no logical way of storing them.
I don't think I have an abnormal amount of USB cables. I have one for my digital camera, one for my MP3 player, a USB printer cable, a general 3' USB extension cable, and one for my cellphone. Sure, it's only 5 cables, but 15 feet of black cable piled up beside a monitor is an ugly eyesight.
I need to keep all of them convenient. I can't tuck them away in a closet because I use all of them on a daily basis.
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Tie straps and flexible wire sheathing. Wrap the cords in the tie straps where they're just clumped together (not where they need to split off), and then wrap that whole (now-straightened) length of cable in an appropriate-sized flexible wire sheathing. All of this can be picked up in any common hardware store like Home Depot or Lowe's, or any electrical supply shop.
This also works for inside your computer, as well, although the tie straps work better than the wire sheathing for that purpose.
Side note: This has the added benfit of "bunny-proofing" your computer, in case you have a rabbit like I do. :)
Roland *The Gunslinger*
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Thanks for all the suggestions. I've decided to wallpaper the wall behind my computer in velcro and wrap my USB cables in the alternate velcro stuff. I figure that this is the simplest way to go about it. When I'm done wrapping the wall and the cables in the velcro stuff, I'll just throw the cables at the wall and I'm done with it. When I need a cable, I can just simply peel it off, use it, and throw it against the wall again.
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DeeBye,Dec 18 2005, 01:48 AM Wrote:Thanks for all the suggestions. I've decided to wallpaper the wall behind my computer in velcro and wrap my USB cables in the alternate velcro stuff. I figure that this is the simplest way to go about it. When I'm done wrapping the wall and the cables in the velcro stuff, I'll just throw the cables at the wall and I'm done with it. When I need a cable, I can just simply peel it off, use it, and throw it against the wall again.
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A wall of velcro will look better than having cables laying around on the desk? Interesting final solution, I'm just questioning the aesthetic appeal :P
Cheers,
Munk
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