Declutter the Space Between Gadgets and Computer with a Docking Pack

This is a quick and easy how-to piece, but it can dramatically clean up the space around your computer while making it much easier to "grab and go" with all your essentials.

I'm sure you know the problem. You probably have a pretty decent collection of portable gadgets: iPod, PDA, digital camera, camcorder, cellular phone... and perhaps a few of the more esoteric things like ham radio, GPS, and weather station. Every one of these items has some support requirements, ranging from a charging cable to a USB-connected dock that lets it interface with your computer while topping off its battery. For most folks, this translates into a big mess of cables and clutter in the general vicinity of the machine, and I bet you've fished around a few times for the right unlabeled connector to shove into the inscrutable socket on some seldom-used widget. Packing it all up to go is an even bigger problem, and it's easy to forget a dusty charger when you're heading out the door in a hurry.

All that was certainly the case here, and since I'm trying to get ready to move to a boat I am particularly interested in "modularizing" my systems as much as possible. On my last cross-country trip, I stuffed a huge tangle of cables and spare batteries into a bag and spent considerable time sorting it out at the other end (finding many things that I didn't need while missing one that I did).

The solution, it turns out, is a simple one-evening project.

Assembling the Docking Pack

Basically, this is just a packaging job; because the exact identity of individual components is subject to change as new toys arrive in your life, it doesn't make much sense to build custom power supplies or ultra-optimized devices stripped of their original plastics... or to cut and splice cables to length (rendering them less saleable when you are finished with them). The intent here is simple expediency, and it is thus not even remotely weight-optimized.

In my application, I wanted support for the contents of my stuffed-to-the-gills Podzilla:

• Palm TX PDA
• Panasonic PV-GS250 Camcorder
• Olympus DS-2 Digital Voice Recorder
• Canon SD500 digital camera
• Yaesu VX-6R tri-band ham radio HT
• Kestrel 4000 pocket weather tracker
• Motorola V710 cellular phone

This translates into some charger cables with wall-warts, a USB media reader to plug in CF and SD memory cards, a few docking stands that provide power and connectivity to their associated gadgets, a USB hub and outlet strip to minimize dangling wires, and some random support cables that just need a place to live. Here's the pile of related clutter, all of which was taking up desk space in the general vicinity of my Macintosh:

Actually, I skipped ahead a little with that photo. The plastic that most of the stuff is sitting on is a 16x12-inch piece of Lexan® Thermoclear® polycarbonate sheeting, a nice ultra-light material that I used for some of the sub-panels in BEHEMOTH long ago. Pretty much anything will work, however (including a scrap of paneling); the key is covering the bottom of a suitable pack with a flat surface that can accept adhesive-backed Velcro®. (Actually, you could use sew-on hook-and-loop directly attached to the fabric of a reasonably stiff pack, but that's a lot more work... and much harder to edit later).

The pack I chose to receive all this is a left-over laptop bag from long ago, extracted from a musty pile in the deep recesses of my lab. It's not too critical... you just need something that holds its shape, is large enough to accommodate the pile of stuff, and tall enough (in my case, about 3 inches) to accommodate the thickest item (an outlet strip carrying huge inefficient wall-warts).

The exact arrangement is completely non-critical, and you can get as fancy... or as crude... as you like. I bought a box of black Velcro® Industrial Strength Tape (2in. x 4ft.), and had plenty left over. To make occasional handling of the items more pleasant, I recommend standardizing with hook on the substrate and loop on the devices. Here's what it looks like, a couple hours later... with all of its associated gadgets plugged in:

Already, this has dramatically changed my workflow. It sits out of the way on my desk, with one AC cord snaking off to the wall and one USB cable making its way to the hub behind the Mac. I always know where my portable devices can find power, or where to plug in a media card full of images. And when I want to go mobile with the laptop, I have one bag already packed with everything that lies between the computer and the gadget pack. It would certainly be possible to lighten it by getting rid of the evil wall-warts and power strip (using a multi-output DC switching supply hard-wired to a power-entry module), but realistically, this particular combination of components is probably only good for a year... since today's whizzy must-have gizmology is tomorrow's eBay item.

Incidentally, most packs that are suited to this project have a few stray pockets here and there... providing storage for related but floating items like the DV (FireWire) camcorder cable, "battery eliminator cable" for same, USB extension cord, AC adaptors, backup batteries, and other things that are related to the gadget collection, yet are not worth carrying all the time. Let it evolve to fit your needs (ain't hook 'n loop wonderful?).

Next: Rechargeable Battery Management

Before I close this quick how-to piece, I should mention the second half of the project (to be detailed here when it's completed). A closely related need involves all the stray batteries, as opposed to those that are recharged within their corresponding hand-held devices. I have standardized on Ni-MH, and found this excellent package with 10 AAA, 25 AA, 8 9V, 10 C, and 8 D batteries... along with a tester and a smart charger:

This is about to get a similar packaging treatment... in a matching pack that zips onto the first. The binder will be included (yes, I know, paper is a retro and crude storage technology... but it is so non-volatile), since every battery is serial-numbered and has a corresponding page on which charge dates and current "assignment" are recorded. This allows wear-leveling across the entire inventory, as well as early detection of failing cells. It also eliminates that maddening problem with having a mixed inventory of batteries of unknown history: digging around trying to find power for an immediate need, eventually "borrowing" partly-discharged units from another device.

The Grand Scheme

At the beginning of this article, I mentioned that I am getting ready to move to a boat. This process enforces a more streamlined way of looking at the familiar clutter, since on-board space and weight budgets are severely limiting. I started realizing that it boils down to an issue of granularity, where the goal is to reduce the number of objects to a minimum... each one embodying a single clear function with a well-defined relationship to the rest of the system (just like object-oriented programming!). The docking pack is merely one step along this path; I am similarly coalescing tools, parts inventory, documentation, audio components, libraries, and other resources into well-defined and packable components. After all, it really should be possible to grab one's essentials and leave without spending weeks making lists and sorting things into boxes.

I wil report further on this as it develops...