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Comment by random3 | Hacker News Reader

You’re not serious about it if you only have one box

Challenge: come up with categories for the boxes such that every item has exactly one box that is correct for it.

I've got "USB", "AV" and "Networking & PC Accessories", which obviously has enormous overlap, but equally divides the cables I have pretty nicely.

I think I've got the same three boxes. HDMI cables and adapters fall into the Venn diagram overlap of the last two IMO. You could also make a strong argument for USB also falling into "PC Accessories". But there's nothing quite as satisfying as having the _exactly right_ cable or adapter on hand to solve a problem. Makes it all worth it!

Funny this came up hn today. this week I did some organization of my cable boxes. I use banker boxes on a steel shelving unit. I put the cables and parts inappropriate boxes and labeled them and feel that my corner of the universe is a little bit better organized than before.

Mine is similar but I split audio and video since I have a lot of audio-specific stuff. "Video" only has the various monitor cable standards going back 20-odd years.

Those are my categories!

"USB", "TV/HDMI", "Networking", "Every Audio Connector Known to Man", and the inimitable: "Plugs-to-Wall"

We have the same. Do you know why the ‘every audio connector known to man’ box contain every audio connector known to man but yet never a stereo 1/8” headphone-jack to headphone-jack cable?

don't know any audio engineers? If your bboc is simply a mishmash of things you've accumulated over the years, and not intelligently designed, it won't, but don't make the mistake of extrapolating from your own experience and thinking it applies to everybody.

I've routed around that problem with several RCA-to-Stereo plugs for "when in a pinch" (and their natural reverse, the "stereo-to-RCA") but am still stymied sometimes by the difference between the different 2.5mm and 3.5mm spacings for microphone support. Supposedly I must keep an eye out for "a TRRS-to-dual-TRS splitter cable to fork the signals into their respective ports"... Tip/Ring/Ring/Sleeve, who knew??!?

Easy! I put exclusions on my labels

"USB cables, standard"

"USB passive/special, except pigtails and USB->AV"

"AV, including USB-AV cables"

Audio, computer, electric!

Hey could you put these powered computer speakers away for me? :)

I have USB, Generic Power, IEC, Network, Audio/Video, Misc

AV, Network, Data, Power (if it doesn't fit the first category, try the next)

If one of those buckets is too full, prepend it with something more specific

i.e. USB, Data instead of just Data

For real, I have like 200 kilos of cables. I could very likely reduce that down to something less severe, but that involves sorting and inventorying 200 kilos of cables.

Just begin. You don't need an inventory. Just start by dividing them into piles on the floor, organized by role.

The biggest piles can get further subdivided into more-specialized roles.

There will be piles that consist of memorable cables that have interfaces you haven't used in years. Segregate these unicorns; they'll be handled with special care later on.

After that, you've got a broad selection of current-vintage stuff that is in active use -- all laid out before you. So just spend a few minutes to pick out a few nice examples from each remaining pile. A few cat5-ish cables of various lengths. Some AV interconnects of different descriptions. A few universal power cables: IEC, figure-8, and Mickey Mouse. Pick out the very best of the USB cables, and of the SATA cables, and whatever else you're making use of in 2026.

Wrap each of those selections up neatly and put them in appropriately-small boxes. Label each box by role. Put each of these boxes away somewhere that is both out of the way, and able to be quickly returned to later.

That was easy.

The remaining piles on the floor are just scrap. Make a plan to scrap them and package them appropriately. Put that package near the front door.

---

Now we get to the really fun part. All those precious historic artifacts that were carefully isolated before? It's time to sort those.

Who knows when a 24-pin dot matrix printer could turn up that you need a DB-25 to Centronics cable for testing with, or you might find a use for the 15-pin PC joystick splitter? That PSX controller extension was hard to find even when it was new.

It's all very important stuff with very specific roles. It's not like any of these things are being made in factories every day anymore. And it all has history.

So take a photo of this amazing collection of vintage cabling, and then package it all with the reverence and care that it deserves. After that, simply put that package near the front door with all of the other scrap cabling.

Nothin' to it.

My boxes been sorted by "what does the cable carry", one power cables, one data, one video, one patch cables, then some are split out, like sound production related cables, one with balanced 1/4", one unbalanced, one MIDI... I think in total 8 moving boxes by now.

It's always a miniature war with my wife trying to optimize all my cables away and me trying to keep as many as possible.

I have one for video cables, one for audio cables, one for computer gear. Does that make me serious our mildly interested?

Cable curious.

My categories are identical to yours. Home Depot had a sale on these stackable dewalt boxes that are much more cost effective for semi-junk stuff than Milwaukee pack outs.

Depends on how big that box is

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