Cabling is hard, let's go shopping ...

Picture: desk before

I’ve decided to redo the cabling for my workdesk and entertainment system …

That picture is the “before” .. working, but more than a bit annoying. And some things have changed - mostly, a new projector requires some re-doing of the HDMI stuff, and my newly recapped Amiga needs proper integration.

So, after demantling, it .. looked better. Bascially, all the cables are exploded around in the room (outside picture. Don’t ask.)

Picture: clean slate
After quite some time, I got to a clean slate. At that time, I also decided to document stuff with Graphviz .. which I gave up rather soon.

Then I decided to at least lay the cables nicely, and clean everything from dust etc before I put it back .. but .. nicely cabling was a hopeless endeavour.

Picture: rack side view
As you can see, cables are piling up anyway, and I don’t really have good idea on how to address that with reasonable (!) effort.

Picture: rack front view
There’s plenty of stuff in that rack, too …

For the curious - its plenty of somewhat dated stuff, mostly several years old - but still in good working condition, so I didn’t replace it .. I believe in using stuff while it lasts, instead of always buying the latest and greatest - I usually skip two or three or even more generations, same as on mobiles.

From bottom to top:

  • Koukaam NetIO-230B - to control the power supplies for the retro computers individually (not networked right now, though - not enough free ports)
  • Yamaha RX-A1040 - somewhat outdated receiver, can switch HDMI but barely do 4K, but no HDR .. good receiver though, connects to Canton Cinema Set
  • Katrein UFSconnect 916 - DVB-S receiver, connected via SAT>IP, can show 1080p and decrypt with CAM
  • Tendak 4xHDMI 2.0 / HDCP 2.2 switch - can do HDR and passes through the PS4 and Chromecast pictures to the Epson EH-TW9400W projector
  • Aukey 2-way HDMI switch - doesn’t really work as expected, can’t passt through PS4 signal correctly so its out of the loop mostly
  • Nintento Switch Stand with HDMI connected
  • Netgear GS108T 8-port network switch, for local distribution
  • Roland MT-32 - MIDI Sound Processor
  • Sony PlayStation 4
  • Commodore C64-C with Ultimate-II+ cartridge
  • Sinclair QL with memory extension - Mouse and internal SD drive still to be added
  • Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128 - “Toastrack”
  • Nintendo Wii (original, no ‘U’) in black case plus Wireless Nintendo Gamecube Remote Receiver
  • Commodore Amiga 1200 with HDMI connector plus audio injection - sadly, the Yamaha can’t deal directly with the signal :(
  • Reloop RP7000 - what you get when Technics SL-1210 MK2 lovers improve on it

Picture: desk after
And this is what the result looks like

From left to right:

  • nuPro A-100 active speakers - pretty damn good sound
  • Behringer U-Phoria UMC404HD Audio interface
  • Superlux HMC-660 Broadcast-Headset for Video Conferences as online Coaching
  • Dell U2410 24” monitor, capable of handling just about any frequency and retro device
  • NEC MultiSync PA302 - very color correct, sharp, professional display .. just not 4K yet, but still very good
  • Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 - for conferencing
  • Roland UM-ONE Mk2 MIDI Interface
  • XBox360 Controller connected to PC via Wireless receiver
  • Wacom Intuos 4 Graphics Tablet
  • Lexip Pu94 Mouse
  • Cherry G230 Keyboard

The NEC monitor is switchable (well, pluggable) to the 4xHDMI switch so the picture from the rack can be seen there. The Dell monitor show the HDMI picture with sound from the Amiga, which also can use the USB Mouse & Keyboard via a built-in RapidRoad controller (at least under AmigaOS itself).

The PC connected runs Windows 10 (latest) with an Intel Core i7-4790K 4 GHz (8 core), NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti and 16 Gb RAM, Samsung boot SSD, WDC data drive on an ASUS Z97-A-USB31 … I have yet to find a game I really want to play that doesn’t work okay on it (well, Tomb Raider would have been nicer with raytracing, but hey …)

All in all, I’m happy with the setup - and happy it’s plugged back together again … :D

– count, 02.12.2019 00:49, Berlin

P.S: WTF?!?
Picture: weird plug

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