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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?

#431
post #68

Wired headphones. I’ve never had to start a meeting by trying to mess with my audio settings, or had to think about charging another battery.

Headphones are a "lesser known accessory" ???

What about a USB radioactivity detector from 1998?

How does that sound?

If you like you can enable the audio and hear each time a particle hit the Geiger-Mueller tube, right through the headphones.

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

#432

I use a 60% keyboard that doesn’t even have dedicated arrow keys. My caps-lock is configured as the Fn key and, when it’s held down, the JKLI letters are the arrow keys. This (and other macros) are actually really convenient when you get used to them. Unfortunately, it’s hard for me to type on “normal” keyboards because when I end up tiYping thinks like that. My keyboard is a Mistel MD600 split. My favorite unusual a…

>My caps-lock is configured as the Fn key and, when it’s held down, the JKLI letters are the arrow keys

This is my favourite hack and I do it too, but I'm never giving up on having 105 keys in ISO format.

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

#435
Magnetic usb c adapters: adds universally compatible magsafe+data transfer to all devices for $10-20. Very convenient.

Kdeconnect, scrcpy (software): notifications, reply to messages, automute on calls... what MS and apple copied.

Keyboard with QMK or kmonad(software) or other software: e.g. caps works as both ctrl and caps. Easier umlauts. Multimedia keys, shortcuts etc on compact keyboards.

Screenbar: convenient lighting.

Droidcam, camo (software) or hdmi capture cards: again sherlocked, but the original software gives you much more control.

Wacom tablet or sidecar-like: since apple and samsung sherlocked the idea, the original apps dried out a bit. Use a tablet as a wacom contiq. Preferably wired.

Audio interface: use professional mic, headphones with your pc. Also eguitar.

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

#436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have some mid-grade Rode Wireless Go and nice >$100 Samsung lavaier mics I can use when needed, which is faultless, reliable, amazing prosumer gear no one could conceivably gripe about, but honestly the Actis Pro headset I have is probably a better choice for both cases. The Actis has better microphone positioning by far, which counts for so much. I'm interested to test the range versus the Rode, but given that I c…

> I continue to think there's a paranoia & level-of-concern that does not match what modern hardware can do. I think this is related to the fact that most wireless headphones people have experience with are Bluetooth. BT headphones have lag, and, when used in duplex mode, have terrible quality. And this lag adds to the one introduced by the conferencing software. I've got myself a Jabra headset that communicates over…

Agreed! I also use DECT based headset (Poly i.e. ex-Plantronics - recently acquired by HP) and it is amazingly good. Range up to f*ckintillion meters (anywhere within the house or garden basically), up to 8 hours use on a single charge (I regularly forget to charge it overnight and I can still use it the next day), no delays, no weird disconnects in the middle of a call, great mic quality and it works both with my PC and home landline.

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

#437

Portable screen. Didn't know that such exists, till about few weeks ago. Have a small apartment and sometimes have to work at the dining table. Using a big screen is not an option. Portable screen is light, size of the laptop and charges/sends data through one cable. Perfect!

Another possibility: if you own a mac, almost any ipad manufactured in last 6-7 years can act as an external screen.

Another possibility: if you own any computer and any tablet, they can act as an external screen. That has been around for years before apple sherlocked it.

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

#439
post #229

A Tidbyt: https://tidbyt.com/ It's next to my computer, and I use it for notifications and smaller dashboards: https://github.com/tidbyt/community

Is there anything like this but... not as nice? (and not as expensive) I wouldn't mind having something like this to mess around on but not for $180 USD

If you don't mind a wired connection and a smaller screen you can use a USB-I2C bridge (such as https://www.adafruit.com/product/4471) with an I2C OLED screen and a couple lines in Python.

If you want it to be wireless you can build it around an ESP32 module or similar.

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

#440

I am using a Librem Key, USB security token based entirely on free software, to ensure my coreboot is not tampered with.

Can you talk a little more about your setup? How does it ensure your coreboot is not tampered with?

It relies on Heads (https://github.com/osresearch/heads), tamper-evident boot software that loads from within coreboot and uses the TPM chip and the user’s own GPG keys to detect tampering within the BIOS. Here are some explanations: https://puri.sm/posts/pureboot-101-first-boot-first-update-a..., https://docs.puri.sm/Librem_Key/Getting_Started/User_Manual....
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