popey
Hey nerd friends! 🤓
🚨 In an “emergency” at home, how quickly could you lay your hands on an Ethernet cable?
I cleared out my box-o-cables a while back.
Thankfully the drawers under the TV have spares!
HBU?
Nov 2 at 12:44pmPubler
Show threadBeko PharmNov 2
@popey I have like 50 meters on a roll here at all times - and connectors, of course 🤓
Show threadJoshua LeeNov 2
@popey about 30 seconds. Then again I recently built a new network rack and still have plenty of spare 3ft cables.
Show threadRussell PhillipsNov 2

@popey quickly and easily. There's one in my office, and at least one in my box of cables.

I've also got some BNC T-connectors and terminators in the office, for no readily apparent reason 🙂

Show threadHankBNov 2
@popey I have a tub of various length cables on hand and a spool of Cat 5e cable + connectors + crimper + tester to make more if needed. (Usually to the exact length needed to minimize cable sprawl.)
Show threadHankBNov 2

@popey
I have cables sorted into tubs:

* Ethernet
* USB
* Video/audio
* Storage including SATA SCSI wide SCSI floppy disk IDE disk and possibly MFM/RLL disk.
* A tub holding some power supplies includes power cables for HDDs and SSDs
* A Tub for 120V A/C stuff has extensions, power strips, smart outlets and those funny power cords that computer equipment and my Instant Pot use. And some retired laptop power bricks.

In case I need any of that some day.

Show threadHankBNov 14

@popey
I got so frustrated trying to get all of the wires properly slotted in the blind RJ45 connectors I was using that I ordered pass through connectors and crimping tool and received them this afternoon. That's still a bit fiddly but much easier than the blind connectors. But...

Note to self: PUT THE CABLE HOODS ON BEFORE INSTALLING THE CONNECTORS. 😛

Show threadMark JohnsonNov 2
@popey I have a couple of short ones to hand, plus some longer ones in the loft and the means to make more
Show threadJonathan CappsNov 2
@marxjohnson @popey I got into making organic Ethernet cables during covid but I never kept it up
Show threadBen Lavery-GriffithsNov 2

@popey Ethernet cables were tidied out a few years ago.

Now I’d need to get the reel out and make a new one…

Show threadDiogo ConstantinoNov 2
@popey I have a box of Ethernet cables, today the box is out because I'm working on my home network, but usually, it's on a shelf in my home office.
Show threadDiogo ConstantinoNov 2
@popey I also have different boxes for: power cables, storage devices, USB cables, video cables (VGA, HDMI, etc), IOT devices, Raspberry Pi and accessories, power bricks, audio cables, streaming and recording (audio and video) related devices, miscellaneous stuff that go inside stuff, miscellaneous stuff that stay outside stuff.
Show threadStuart LangridgeNov 2
@popey six minutes. Two minutes to take all the cables out of the Big Box of Cables, one minute to take an Ethernet cable out of its little bag, three minutes to put them all back again in what’s supposed to be the compartments separated by type
Show threadmarosgNov 3
@sil @popey I use the exact same system! Never fails!
Show threadPaul RichardsNov 2
@popey pretty fast.. I have a few devices connected by Ethernet that aren’t important. I usually just borrow one of those cables.
Show threadBob BeakerNov 2

@popey There's two 5m coils about 2 meters to my left, one already plugged into the house switch, also a 3m 4 way mains block. A couple of spare USB cables in arms reach. So 30s.

Anything more and I'd have to go to the garden office/workshop so a couple of minutes.

Follow up nerd question. How many DHCP leases does the home router have active at the moment? Ours has 19.

Show threadHugo MillsNov 2

@bbeaker @popey

I have a drawer full of 1m and 2m patch cables just behind my office chair. I don't have a reel of cable left to go with the plugs and crimp tool any more.

DHCP leases? Only five. Some machines are statically allocated.

Show thread⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️Nov 2
@darkling @bbeaker @popey even our static allocations are done over DHCP because one time I needed to change DNS and it was a PIA for the non-DHCP machines
Show threadTim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPENov 2

@bbeaker @popey Cables in the drawer a few feet way from me. Plugs and crimp tools in another drawer, reel of cable within sight not much further away.

DBCP leases? Think it's a couple of dozen, but my (new) router has chosen to require me to re-authenticate and I CBA to look up the password.

Show thread⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️Nov 2
@bbeaker @popey 18. But no laptop or desktops are on
Show thread⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️Nov 2
@popey minutes, in a box on too floor #geek
Show threadAdam Trickett  Nov 2

@popey ethernet is in a big box with other network stuff, behind my desk, plus a few spares under the TV.

DHCP leases controlled by dnsmasq on server, there is a range of 100 and only a handful are in use. Most of my kit has static IPv4s, IPv6 are all automatic plus with some fixed private addresses.