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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?

#591

Post by framecycle »

hipplec wrote: post #75

I have a heating pad under my keyboard which keeps my hands warm in the winter. Was like $20 on amazon, and I can't even begin to describe how amazing it is, since I was really tired of always having a mug of hot water / tea / coffee to hold and didn't want to keep the heat on my house super high when I could just wear a sweatshirt and be fine except my fingers.

I have a heated mouse specifically for this same issue. Was experiencing arthritic symptoms in my fingers and tied it back to my extremities getting cold while working. There looks to be only one company that makes a heated mouse, if they ever fold up shop I don't know what I'll do.

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

#592

Post by ornornor »

shortrounddev wrote: post #533
ornornor wrote: post #308

Dual arm monitors to free up lots of space on my desk and more easily hold displays at eye level so I don’t get pain. A split ortho homebrew keyboard (helix) that I can program with qmk so that I have shift esc enter space and special keys on other layers right where I want them. Or a dedicated Ctrl-a key for tmux. It virtually eliminated my pain. The OLED screens are useless though and I retrospect I should just hav…

I tried getting a couple arms for my desk, but they required 8 inches of clearance behind the desk for the monitors to be at a reasonable distance from my face and my desk is backed up to a wall

Ah yes, i always get deep desks for myself so the arm can be flush with the wall because the monitors need to stick out further to be at arms length.

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

#593

Post by ornornor »

crimsontech wrote: post #495
helloplanets wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clearly Superior Technologies (CST) is the brand :) After a quick search, I think they're being manufactured by a different company now: https://xkeys.com/xkeys/trackballs.html

I've been using mine for 9 years, I just wish they would make a bluetooth one which can switch between mulitple devices like my keyboard does. I did email them asking but they said they had no plans to do this.

Yes it seems like they’re set on a proven design.

I used to use a USB hub and have the two cables next to one another on my desk, manually unplugging replugging it to transfer keyboard and mouse at once. With USB extenders so both machines have their plus right next to another.

But I saw in this thread there are USB switchers so maybe that’s a solution?

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

#594

Post by WorldPeas »

I use a usb polycom deskphone I trashpicked(bluetooth sucks, and I don't want another potential stop to the "oops, sorry" cycle when I join a video call), and a usb to ps2 for the microsoft ergonomic keyboard I've used since I was little. Also, I recently acquired a perixx vertical mouse that felt like holding a cheap taco so I filled it with pennies wrapped in gorilla tape. No problems so far

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

#596

Post by psychomugs »

Eisenstein wrote: post #419
modeless wrote: post #237

Gaming wireless headphones, not for gaming but for videoconferencing. Bluetooth headphones are universally terrible for videoconferencing because the Bluetooth standard sucks and requires downgrading to telephone audio quality whenever the mic is enabled. Plus terrible latency. Gaming wireless headphones that come with their own dongle completely fix these issues and are perfect for videoconferencing. Someday the Blu…

Don't use magnetic USB adapters. They run a decent risk of frying your device. The USB-C spec was not designed to have the connection broken in that way. You will have no issues 99% of the time, but you will eventually have that time when your device gets fried. It takes a very precise design and a lot of clever engineering to have a high-current power connector with tiny pins be able to break without having the grou…

Among the neurotic optimizations I’ve made to my cable setup - retracting USB-C cables and normal cables of any length, adapters for any and all devices I own - I have avoided magnetic adapters for the above reasons.

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

#597

Post by schneems »

haunter wrote: post #378

An Elgato Stream Deck but for general purposes https://www.elgato.com/en/stream-deck-mk2 Basically imagine having 15 physical buttons to use with any kind of actions, shortcuts, macros etc. but you have a visual feedback too. It’s pretty great! I know there are alternatives like the Adafruit RP2040 https://www.adafruit.com/product/5128 but the visual knobs make the Stream Deck much better imo.

What buttons/actions do you commonly use?

I got one to play the DJ air horn sound effect in meetings but between google hangouts, my m2 xlr device, and the stream deck something doesn’t work quite right.

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

#598

Post by bullen »

ycombinete wrote: post #347
bullen wrote: post #315

- DK2 VR camera so I don't need lights. (infrared) - GV-USB2/Elgato HD60S to capture C64/Amiga1200/Raspberry 4 on Windows my desktop and/or display them on monitors. - Many screens in a compact area (all 4:3/5:4, matte and low res): http://move.rupy.se/file/station.jpg - 40% keyboard for that Raspberry 4 so it fits in front of my HHKB JP: http://move.rupy.se/file/last_computer.png - Recently started using my old "Tab…

Is this a streaming setup? I'm quite interested in seeing point 1 in action, do you have some videos of it?

It looks terrible! :D

My github username on the HN profile on twitch.

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

#599

Post by enigma20 »

chandureddyvari wrote: post #331
enigma20 wrote: post #320

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!

Wow. Nice! Didn't know this exists. Planning to get one. Do you have any recommendations?

I got ASUS ZenScreen MB16AH.

Choosing one it's a bit confusing, Asus offers many models, and hard to understand the difference. There are some which have separate display port and power. Different covers. With a battery etc. I really wanted just one having only one cable.

On Amazon there are some other less/not known brands, offering bigger screens, but I felt more convinced by the mainstream brand.

Remember that your laptop has to support this. I tested it with an older MacBook Pro, and Lenovo ThinkPad. On my old Ideapad I don't have such port.

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

#600

Post by shmoogy »

jwr wrote: post #424
haunter wrote: post #378

An Elgato Stream Deck but for general purposes https://www.elgato.com/en/stream-deck-mk2 Basically imagine having 15 physical buttons to use with any kind of actions, shortcuts, macros etc. but you have a visual feedback too. It’s pretty great! I know there are alternatives like the Adafruit RP2040 https://www.adafruit.com/product/5128 but the visual knobs make the Stream Deck much better imo.

I used a Stream Deck XL for a long time, mostly as an app launcher, but the most useful feature was a "universal MUTE key". I used Keyboard Maestro to set up macros that would mute/unmute the microphone in any videoconferencing app, with the same physical key that also indicated the current status. This worked for Zoom, GoToMeeting and Google Meet. I sold the Stream Deck XL for two reasons: I didn't need that many ke…

I upgraded from regular stream deck to the XL and haven't used a lot of the space yet. The folder actions really make it unnecessary for me - but I still love it
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