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Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

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Re: Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

#101

Post by sourcecodeplz »

riceart wrote: post #90
Our_Benefactors wrote: post #56

Here’s an actual lesser known accessory: a mouse bungee. It is a small weighted disc with a spring arm that holds the mouse cord up and away from the mousepad. I don’t like the lag, connectivity, and battery issues of wireless mice, this fixes all of that! It feels _better_ than a wireless mouse, because it has no wires in the way also with zero lag.

There’s essentially no lag in a dedicated wireless receiver mouse - the additional latency is dwarfed by the baseline latency of the hardware and software. https://www.rtings.com/mouse/tests/control/latency Yes connectivity issues can be a problem in certain environments but luckily this has usually not been a problem with receivers not in close proximity to interference, including USB3. Battery wise I have had cheap…

I use wired mice because I like the feeling more. Difficult to explain.

Re: Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

#102

Post by qwerpy »

pama wrote: post #87

Not much is less known in the tech world, so I use as a dock the CalDigit TS3 Plus, connected to two external mechanical keyboards, the blue yeti mic with wired headphones, a Logitech MX vertical mouse, and a huge monitor with a simple ring light and a webcam on top. My favorite headphones throughout the pandemic were the Drop THX pandas, but they broke a month ago and I haven’t fixed them yet, so now I use the Monol…

I got that thunderbolt dock for my work MacBook, and now that I own a steam deck I wish I had gotten a USBC hub instead. The dock is great, just doesn’t work with the steam deck, so I can’t swap devices quickly.

Re: Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

#103

Post by riceart »

bufferoverflow wrote: post #98
riceart wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s essentially no lag in a dedicated wireless receiver mouse - the additional latency is dwarfed by the baseline latency of the hardware and software. https://www.rtings.com/mouse/tests/control/latency Yes connectivity issues can be a problem in certain environments but luckily this has usually not been a problem with receivers not in close proximity to interference, including USB3. Battery wise I have had cheap…

The problem I have with wireless mice is they always die when I'm in the middle of something important or an fps game. Switched back to wired because of that.

For what it’s worth mice like the Mxmaster have a usb-c charging port in the sensible location and can be used while being charged. They also give you pretty fair warning before they die.

Re: Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

#104

Post by jodrellblank »

Sadly, not much. The Datahands[1] are long gone. The keyboards I bought for their n-key rollover for Plover[2] are there but I can’t stenography. The Cykey chording keyboard[3] gone I think. The software I made to use a normal keyboard as chording input like that, unused. https://talonvoice.com/ free edition couldn’t make any sense of my accent I think. The webcam from when multitouch was new and could be done in software with the shadows of your hand on paper and camera, I still have but don’t use. The Remarkable tablet and pen mostly unused. Going back a lot further the infra red receiver and software to use a standard TV style remote control, nope.

I never got the Griffin PowerMate or the Leap motion or the new LED button boards aimed at streamers.

Just AutoHotkey survives. And it’s sad, computers could be so much more but I guess I don’t have much use for anything else.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DataHand

[2] http://www.openstenoproject.org/plover/

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CyKey

Re: Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

#105

Post by DanHulton »

- Dygma Raise split keyboard (https://dygma.com/) with IJKL + a layer key mapped to arrow keys, similar to some other folks on here have set up. Massively improved my posture. - MuteMe physical mute button (https://muteme.com/). No longer need to have to dig through windows to find the Zoom window to un-mute when I want to speak, but I have to look at another window.

Re: Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

#106

Post by SethKinast »

bloodyplonker22 wrote: post #59

I built one of those custom mechanical keyboards with some "fancy linear switches", but I am not a fan of the mechanical keyboard enthusiast community because it is so sanctimonious, elitist, and close minded.

I feel like this sort of broad-brush can be applied to almost all communities larger than a trivial size. Guns, cars, collectibles.

There are pockets of elitism where people are comfortable in their insular group and use it as a status symbol. But there are plenty of welcoming subgroups; it's just that they may take a little digging.

For keyboards, RGBKB, customMK, and Zenclack have been some of my favorite little Discord communities.

Re: Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

#107

Post by midoridensha »

_JamesA_ wrote: post #96
coder4life wrote: post #5

Lighted USB volume knob - they're inexpensive, the large aluminum knob is on a sturdy base, can be pressed down for mute. ReMarkable2 e-ink tablet -- okay, it's a standalone device, but interfaces to the computer in cool ways (like screen sharing), and it's changed my life as far as note-taking goes

> Lighted USB volume knob - they're inexpensive, the large aluminum knob is on a sturdy base, can be pressed down for mute. Any particular recommendations with Linux support?

This isn't standalone, and doesn't have press-for-mute, but the DasKeyboard 4 Pro has a nice, large aluminum volume knob (and a separate mute button near it). Works perfectly in Linux, along with the "sleep" button. It's part of the keyboard so it's close to your hands and doesn't have any separate cabling.

Re: Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

#108

Post by papandada »

rr808 wrote: post #47

Audio Interface which I plug XLR mics into. I use a shotgun mic (Deity S-MIC 2S) so dont have a stupid boom in your face like most podcasters.

I hide the boom pretty well out of sight but it nags at me. I looked into shotgun mics but there seemed to be a lot of advice to avoid using indoors because of comb filtering. Have you noticed that?

Re: Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

#109

Post by Yoofie »

zwayhowder wrote: post #8

Left handed trackball (Elecom). Sits to the left of my Moonlander while my vertical mouse sits to the right. Not only is it convenient, as an old school Diablo player I get to tell people I duel wield. I also have a cheap X-Pen graphics tablet that I use for ‘white boarding’ on zoom calls. Almost forgot I also have a usb wireless numpad that I pair with a usb hid remapped on a pi zero to make hot keys for frequent ac…

+1 on graphics tablet. I got a Huion HS611. Surprisingly cheap and it becomes much easier to draw diagrams, annotate images, sign signatures, etc with your hand instead of a mouse. Highly recommended for those who need to draw, make diagrams etc.

Re: Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?

#110

Post by TylerE »

riceart wrote: post #103
bufferoverflow wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem I have with wireless mice is they always die when I'm in the middle of something important or an fps game. Switched back to wired because of that.

For what it’s worth mice like the Mxmaster have a usb-c charging port in the sensible location and can be used while being charged. They also give you pretty fair warning before they die.

Battery adds significant weight. The mxMaster weights almost 50% more (141g vs 97g) than the wired mouse I use (Zowie EC1, NOT a small mouse, it's like the glorious old MS Intellimouse)... and the 97g is counting the cable.

Also, from my experience USB-C likes to giggle itself loose under really energetic movement.

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