Controlling the Cable Congestion?

JaytheMover asks: "I've just moved, and my wife won't allow me to set up my desk as I had before. I had a gaggle of cables under my desk which only NOW seems to bother her in the new house. How do you guys keep this mess under control? I Googled 'Cable Organizer' and found this thing called the cable organizer at cable-safe.com which hangs the cords like in a closet or this cable snake thing which binds them all together. What do Slashdot readers use to keep their cable clean and their wives happy?"

Comments

prenuptial agreement

[Froze]

Well, almost. Before we bought our new house I bargained with her. I get the garage and the nerd room (home office), she gets the rest of the house.

Avoid straight lines at all costs

[MarkusQ]

What do Slashdot readers use to keep their cable clean and their wives happy?

First off, I avoid straight lines like that at all costs.

-- MaruksQ

Zip or Twist Ties

[cgenman]

I've seen too many accidents with staple guns to recommend going that route...

Give her the requirements

[MerlynEmrys67]

And have her arrange the cables anyway she wants. All you care about is your stuff is connected - who cares what it looks like, so tell her what needs to run to what - and have her do it

Wire Management

[linuxwrangler]

Probably the cheapest is wire-ties. Simply bundling similarly routed cables (say keyboard, monitor and mouse for a given machine) helps a lot. Then coil and tie excess wire at the end. Use flush-cutting diagonal cutters to trim the ends of the wire ties so there are no scratchy points and you will have a reasonably tidy setup. Unfortunately, this is a PITA if you frequently move things since it requires cutting/replacing lots of wire ties and pretty soon you will be back to a mess.

You can try wire duct of the type that Panduit sells. Run a long channel or two along the back of your desk and you can pop the top and stuff all your extra cable inside the channel and route the wire neatly out the slots where they are needed. More expensive but easier to reconfigure.

Now, as to part two - keeping my wife happy:
I try to hit the toilet when urinating and wipe up if I don't. I do my share of the dishes, cooking, laundry, etc. I take out the trash. I surprise her with flowers when she isn't expecting any. I help fix problems at her mother's house. I stop what I'm doing and give her a hug and kiss when she gets home from work. Somehow, the issue of a couple of stray cables hidden under the back of the desk hasn't concerned her at all.

Velcro straps

[nmnilsson]

Firstly, my s/o always complained about cables, until I got her her own computer.
Only then did she realize that cables aren't just there to annoy her.
I'm not meaning she's dull either; we're often annoyed by stuff we experience the point with it
(think road work: "What the hell are they digging up the road for. Can't they see I'm trying to drive here?..." etc).

Second, velcro straps are good for getting the cables off the floor.
Our cables are now basically hanging rat's nests, but without the monstrous dust bunnies, and it's easier to vacuum.

Re:Mine

[x00101010x]

I combine that with the use of zip-ties and brackets.

I have a nice corner desk, but the box is on the left and the keyboard and mouse cords come from the right, I also have a ton of periphirals. I got tired of kicking the mouse out of my hand and wanted to be able to streach out my feet without fear of unplugging stuff, so...

First, I decided to group things by device, so i zip-tied the mouse and keyboard together, leaving enough slack to pull out the keyboard tray and get full range on the mouse. I then ziptied my right joystick to that bundle (i also have a left joystick).

Next I grouped all my coax cable together (Video and Data) in nice runs along the wall using some cheap nail in brakets. I then realized i could also use those to nail the bundle of keyboard/mouse/joystick cables to the underside of my desk. So I did.

Then I nailed my powerstrips to the wall and found the best routes the cables and attached them to the wall and bundled multiple cords going to the same destination from the wall runs.

I continued with all the other cables, bundling and nailing as needed.

Any excess slack was taken up and zip-tied into nice loops.

Where possible, I ran the cables at levels where they would be out of site by somebody standing around the office.

Took about 2 and a half hours, but well worth it. now i can see all my cables, and a flick of a knife is much better than the time it used to take to untangle things to extract a single cable.
It looks nice and organized. I can streach out without fear of unplugging things. and my cats have a new place to play (a little bitter apple spray keeps them from even thinking about biting the cords, and since they don't dangle they're not tempted to bat at them).