Hi,
Like most folks, I've accumulated a fair number of "I/O cards" over the years. Many I need to hold onto to give me certain capabilities (e.g., EIA485, certain digital I/O's, etc.) to maintain old designs. Others are worthwhile from time to time as I reorganize my machine herd and opt to support different peripheral sets.
[I'm currently only speaking of COTS cards -- ISA, PCI, various memory packages, etc. -- not custom stuff]Storing these has proven to be not trivial. I've tried different approaches over the years -- antistatic bags, small boxes (e.g., "Wide SCSI HBA's", "TR NIC's", etc.), big boxes (e.g., "Network cards", "Memory", etc.). None really seem to work well. :<
The REAL solution is probably just to sh*tcan the lot and when I come across a future need! :>
Has anyone come up with a slick way of storing cards that doesn't beat up on the cards, makes it relatively easy to locate the card you want *and* doesn't dramatically increase the volume required to store them (i.e., putting each in "retail packaging")? Right now, I think the most viable option (for me) is back to antistatic bags (to help the cards slide over each other without "catching" on protruding components) in *large* boxes :-(
Thx,
--don