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Outdoor Computing with a Deck Desk

mgsloan.com

41–50 of 63 posts

Re: Outdoor Computing with a Deck Desk

#41
post #5

Some questions if there are outdoor hackers around: What are some laptops that work well with Linux and have max screen brightness suitable for outdoor use? A web site comparison said one Dell XPS 15 model[1] could do 626 nits - what kind of outdoor conditions would this be suitable for? It seems advertising displays advertise an order of magnitude more nits[2] so I assume the laptops would at best be suitable for ov…

I have an xps13 9360 (1 generation ago I believe) and I use it outside regularly. The matte screen helps a lot

Re: Outdoor Computing with a Deck Desk

#42
post #18
post #3

I used an identical zero gravity chair and a lap keyboard. After about 8 months, I developed serious issues with my wrists (pain all the time) I went back to a traditional setup with an ergonomic split keyboard so my wrists were completely straight, and my wrists only slowly recovered. I'm now on 6 months of not using a computer at all and finally feeling close to 100% My advice is leave ergonomics up to people who k…

I wonder how much of the wrist pain has to do with diet and exercise. In my teens and early twenties I had chronic wrist pain. Now in my mid twenties I've been doing weight training that includes wrist/grip strength exercises (wrist curls, dead hangs, plate pinches) and making sure I get enough protein. The wrist pain is gone and hasn't come back for years. The reason I'm mentioning protein is that apparently joints…

I have some anecdata in support of your comment.

Both of my wrists were broken in my youth on separate occasions. Since then my wrists would ache when the weather changed, or when I spent too much time typing at the computer, or did certain physical activities like pushups.

The computing pain I mostly ignored, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't interfere with my life as I became increasingly immersed in programming and computers in general. It worried me that as I aged this career path would be a dead end, or one requiring chronic pain medication, because of my wrists.

But in my late 20s-early 30s I became interested in nutrition as my weight had been slowly climbing over the years and it was starting to noticably affect my overall quality of life. After my weight corrected itself with just an improved diet, I had a renewed interest in physical activities because being physical was so fun again becoming the same weight I was at ~17 years old, having lost ~26% of my weight in just a few months. Simple things like standing up had become entertainingly easy, running, jumping, everything was so easy and pleasant that I wanted to go for a run just to experience the ease of it.

The interest in physical activities escalated into a daily exercise routine, becoming curious about improving my performance beyond that of my ~17 year old self. Not wanting to acquire a bunch of heavy and expensive gear I'd have to store and move, I ended up doing just calisthenics and pushups became a major component of my morning ritual. For a year my wrists were the limiting factor in how many pushups I could do. I'd have sharp pains and aches well before any muscles were fatigued in that exercise. But I just kept doing them every day, with the reps slowly increasing as the months went by, adding multiple sets to morning and evening.

At some point, the wrist pain was no longer the limiting factor in my daily pushups and I was limited entirely by muscle fatigue and cardio instead. A nice side effect of this was that my wrists stopped hurting at the computer too.

I'm over 40 now, still doing hundreds of pushups daily, and my wrists have never resumed hurting. It's been really nice! Still ~165lbs too. Pushups have become the core of my daily routine, it's like brushing my teeth at this point. This experience has led me to suspect most sedentary people could achieve a relatively fit existence by just controlling their diet and spending as little as a few minutes every day doing pushups before they shower.

Re: Outdoor Computing with a Deck Desk

#43

Outdoors = air quality, lighting With advancements in high NITs lighting and decreases in outdoor air quality, it might be easier to recreate the solar spectrum indoors (with a very high nits monitor) than to work outdoors during wildfire season.

Outdoors = breeze, birds, scents, wildlife, variety

Our minds arent so easily fooled by a truck lighting setup

Re: Outdoor Computing with a Deck Desk

#44
post #18
post #3

I used an identical zero gravity chair and a lap keyboard. After about 8 months, I developed serious issues with my wrists (pain all the time) I went back to a traditional setup with an ergonomic split keyboard so my wrists were completely straight, and my wrists only slowly recovered. I'm now on 6 months of not using a computer at all and finally feeling close to 100% My advice is leave ergonomics up to people who k…

I wonder how much of the wrist pain has to do with diet and exercise. In my teens and early twenties I had chronic wrist pain. Now in my mid twenties I've been doing weight training that includes wrist/grip strength exercises (wrist curls, dead hangs, plate pinches) and making sure I get enough protein. The wrist pain is gone and hasn't come back for years. The reason I'm mentioning protein is that apparently joints…

I don't think it has much to do with it. I've been working out and am in pretty good shape and I have chronic wrist pain due to many years of repetitive manual labor involving my wrist. And recently I've also started to feel pain in my right hand from using the trackpad so much... will go back to a mouse soon.

Re: Outdoor Computing with a Deck Desk

#45
post #15

I moved my desk outside in the last couple of years when the British weather obliged. A few notes: - temperature. if the temperature is right for you, chances are that it's a bit too warm for your electronics. Chips get hotter, which can result in all sorts of problems (particularly with big screens and graphics-intensive apps, but modern storage as well is often at risk by poor cooling). - cables. Even if you are in…

> if the temperature is right for you, chances are that it's a bit too warm for your electronics

I don't understand: we normally keep our houses at our preferred temperatures, and our electronics do fine.

Re: Outdoor Computing with a Deck Desk

#46
post #3

I used an identical zero gravity chair and a lap keyboard. After about 8 months, I developed serious issues with my wrists (pain all the time) I went back to a traditional setup with an ergonomic split keyboard so my wrists were completely straight, and my wrists only slowly recovered. I'm now on 6 months of not using a computer at all and finally feeling close to 100% My advice is leave ergonomics up to people who k…

Besides bad wrist angle, if the backside of your elbows rested on a pad, you could have aggravated the ulnar nerve. Same with a handful of other locations in upper neck and the other nerves in the arm. Nerve impingement/inflammation can show up as referred pain in the wrists.

It was wise to take the time off.

Re: Outdoor Computing with a Deck Desk

#47

I share the author’s preference to being outside. I have comfortable chairs outside on both the eastern and western sides of our house so that I can sit in the shade and work or read most of the day. I use a flat E&M shield to put my laptop on, with a small flat pillow under the E&M shield. Low ceremony and works well for me. Even though I have a great home office, sitting outside, or at our kitchen table, or at the…

Those wasted 40 minutes are doing wonders for your body. Absolutely not a waste by all meaningful measurements.

Re: Outdoor Computing with a Deck Desk

#48
post #32

Stephen Wolfram “ties/hangs” a laptop from his body so he can work while on the move. https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2019/02/seeking-the-prod... Personally, I'd like a better mobile solution so I can walk to, or around, a park, etc and work for an hour. What’s really missing is a better way to input into a device while not sitting. Add a little voice input, eye tracking, and gesture input: https://atap.google.co…

Just sharing for inspiration, this is the setups the google glass researchers have used (2015): https://youtu.be/sk7cjmYrKck?t=473

- mentions the twiddler: https://twiddler.tekgear.com/

- ..and emacs speak: http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net/

- not mentioned, but there's also been more recent startups like tap: https://www.tapwithus.com/

Re: Outdoor Computing with a Deck Desk

#49
post #5

Some questions if there are outdoor hackers around: What are some laptops that work well with Linux and have max screen brightness suitable for outdoor use? A web site comparison said one Dell XPS 15 model[1] could do 626 nits - what kind of outdoor conditions would this be suitable for? It seems advertising displays advertise an order of magnitude more nits[2] so I assume the laptops would at best be suitable for ov…

I found some laptop LCD screens turn reflective in bright sunlight, and are actually quite readable. They look like silver (mirrored) and black pixels.

Can't remember which ones unfortunately, but I've used a few out in the sun.

Re: Outdoor Computing with a Deck Desk

#50
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how much of the wrist pain has to do with diet and exercise. In my teens and early twenties I had chronic wrist pain. Now in my mid twenties I've been doing weight training that includes wrist/grip strength exercises (wrist curls, dead hangs, plate pinches) and making sure I get enough protein. The wrist pain is gone and hasn't come back for years. The reason I'm mentioning protein is that apparently joints…

I don't think it has much to do with it. I've been working out and am in pretty good shape and I have chronic wrist pain due to many years of repetitive manual labor involving my wrist. And recently I've also started to feel pain in my right hand from using the trackpad so much... will go back to a mouse soon.

Try a wacom tablet. The only thing that worked for my wrist pain
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