A few years back I was in the process of building a proper database so I could store them, I got as far as CPUs and basic benchmarks, with the goal of allowing everyone to share their own machine and compare results, but I just haven't had the time with work 🙁

It's still up, and one day I will finish it!
http://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/PCB
http://pcb.vogonswiki.com/login/

I do believe their are some similar sites out now too, but I haven't looked into it recently.

I do. And it's really a lot of work.
I have a directory tree to keep track of my items. I upload online a copy of it from time to time (see my signature)

I now have a process to sort my hardware :
1/ If no visible physical damage : test it
2/ If working : clean it
3/ Take pictures
4/ Find docs/drivers/bios images and move everything to the collection directory.

I generally batch test/batch clean/batch repair.

I'm also a modest contributor to vgamuseum. (Awesome website. The main authors did an outstanding work)

I currently track my builds in a Google Sheet.

I list out all the specs, and keep a record of any benchmarks I've performed with that configuration.

I've also been further building a general list of hardware and software with release dates. Eventually I'll probably construct something that ties together builds and that more complete list of hardware.

This is a software/service that is sorely missing. I used to have it in Google Sheet, but its not suited for combining pictures with text. I've also started on building a webhosted database to run on my NAS.

Some good ideas guys, thanks. PCB sounds like it has some potential, but it's not a small development task. Maybe a good directory structure and a spreadsheet is a decent first step. I have half of that on a NAS already to be honest, I've been collating software/drivers/etc. for each build I do, including partition images for easy restore, with the idea to burn a DVD for each system in case they need rebuilding.

I throw all mine into a self-hosted Snipe-It asset system. I can then check out parts to builds.

I can also upload files to the database, so drivers for each card or motherboard can be right there on the page.

I also have software added like operating systems and applications.

paradigital wrote on 2023-11-26, 19:10:

I throw all mine into a self-hosted Snipe-It asset system. I can then check out parts to builds. […]
Show full quote

I throw all mine into a self-hosted Snipe-It asset system. I can then check out parts to builds.

IMG_2848.jpeg

I can also upload files to the database, so drivers for each card or motherboard can be right there on the page.

I also have software added like operating systems and applications.

Oh wow ! That looks very practical.
I will definitely try that.

They even provide a docker image. No reason to not test it.

Mostly everyone hates sharepoint, though using it as an online Access db it works pretty well! (see pic) I guess most of the hate comes from using it for things it's not good at.
I host my mail account through Microsoft 365 Business Essentials (pretty much same as the consumer version, but lets you use your own domain name). It just happened to include Sharepoint as well :^)

Also used a label writer to batch generate and print stickers with the "ST code" so I can find things both ways.

seri wrote on 2023-11-26, 19:44:

Mostly everyone hates sharepoint

Can confirm. Although for this purpose It's probably not bad, as you've found out.

paradigital wrote on 2023-11-26, 19:10:

I throw all mine into a self-hosted Snipe-It asset system. I can then check out parts to builds. […]
Show full quote

I throw all mine into a self-hosted Snipe-It asset system. I can then check out parts to builds.

IMG_2848.jpeg

I can also upload files to the database, so drivers for each card or motherboard can be right there on the page.

I also have software added like operating systems and applications.

I was looking at this very piece of software just before you posted! Had a play with their online demo. Blown away at the flexibility and the possibilities. I'm definitely going to spin up a VM and get this running. Ideal for tracking retro kit, homelab kit, day-to-day systems, anything really. Looks very impressive.

I have an Excel spreadsheet where I have a fan for spare parts and over fan for each computer I build.
I also colour code each fan to see their status

paradigital wrote on 2023-11-26, 19:10:

I throw all mine into a self-hosted Snipe-It asset system. I can then check out parts to builds. […]
Show full quote

I throw all mine into a self-hosted Snipe-It asset system. I can then check out parts to builds.

IMG_2848.jpeg

I can also upload files to the database, so drivers for each card or motherboard can be right there on the page.

I also have software added like operating systems and applications.

Oh wow I'm going to give this a try. I've been using a spreadsheet but I have so many parts that it's unruly and out of sync with reality.

I am still on first pass of finding everything, but intend to databaseify it somehow... I have lost stuff to google product discontinuation and terms changes before so not relying on google anything, or any cloud solution because the megaupload thing is still strongly etched in memory, so self hosted local for me. For some reason, maybe just the pure perversity of it, I keep tending toward the database feature of MsWorks for DOS 🤣 might need a VM/emu set up I can VPN into from whatever happens to be handy, and/or designate one of my netbooks as inventory machine for initial effort.

paradigital wrote on 2023-11-26, 19:10:

I throw all mine into a self-hosted Snipe-It asset system. I can then check out parts to builds. […]
Show full quote

I throw all mine into a self-hosted Snipe-It asset system. I can then check out parts to builds.

IMG_2848.jpeg

I can also upload files to the database, so drivers for each card or motherboard can be right there on the page.

I also have software added like operating systems and applications.

I think this is a really clever idea. I was actually planning on writing integration to that product to link to our RMM tool one day (bluetrait.io) but haven't got to that yet!

Having everything in a real database is very much worth the time IMHO.

I'm going to continue on PCB in future as I really like the idea of having it so you can compare benchmarks etc, but it needs some serious development before it would be useful for others.

You might try SQLite. I don’t track my stuff, but if I did personally I’d probably use notepad.

🤣 I use notepad and lots yellow stickies on things not fully catted. Another thing I do is use those blue green yellow and red large sticky dots, those with blue or green run perfect, those with yellow have an issue, those with red are dead.

mwdmeyer wrote on 2023-11-26, 23:11:

I'm going to continue on PCB in future as I really like the idea of having it so you can compare benchmarks etc, but it needs some serious development before it would be useful for others.

What if PCB evolved into an extension for Snipe-IT. A local service accessing the Snipe-IT API to manually or periodically post updates to something on the wiki in order to do benchmark comparisions etc. May require some coordination with how things are tracked in Snipe-IT of course, but that could just be a requirement of using the publishing extension.

Shadzilla wrote on 2023-11-27, 08:48:

mwdmeyer wrote on 2023-11-26, 23:11:

I'm going to continue on PCB in future as I really like the idea of having it so you can compare benchmarks etc, but it needs some serious development before it would be useful for others.

What if PCB evolved into an extension for Snipe-IT. A local service accessing the Snipe-IT API to manually or periodically post updates to something on the wiki in order to do benchmark comparisions etc. May require some coordination with how things are tracked in Snipe-IT of course, but that could just be a requirement of using the publishing extension.

Do you mean I would run a PCB service to pull data in from (read-only) remote Snipe-IT systems? Sounds cool. Would probably need to setup a template (I assume) in Snipe-IT to ensure the data is consistent with other installs.

mwdmeyer wrote on 2023-11-27, 08:55:

Do you mean I would run a PCB service to pull data in from (read-only) remote Snipe-IT systems? Sounds cool. Would probably need to setup a template (I assume) in Snipe-IT to ensure the data is consistent with other installs.

Exactly. It seems to me that Snipe-IT has already done the hard work of asset tracking/management and we just want to surface some of it in a custom and public way.

It sounds like a really cool idea. My only concern would be that for many people running an instance of Snipe-IT for themselves maybe too much effort/work, but I do really like the idea of everyone being in control of their own data etc.

I think I would need to cache the data locally otherwise making calls to every system would be very slow.

I would be interested to see how you store your data in Snipe-IT so I can get a better understanding of what works out of the box etc.