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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?

#631

Post by netcraft »

stevenjgarner wrote: post #628

Slightly off-topic, but a "lesser known accessory I use(d)" back in the 1970's was the Microwriter [1], a chording keyboard that provided for a typing speed not possible with normal keyboards. I am a proficient (Pitman) touch typist, but after a clumsy learning curve, the Microwriter more than doubled my input speed. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwriter

I had forgotten all about these! I have a vague memory of being a kid and seeing someone in a store with one of these hammering away - I assume doing inventory of some kind? I was amazed at their speed.

Interestingly I cant seem to find any youtube videos if someone using one.

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

#632

Post by ja27 »

idontwantthis wrote: post #65

I recently ditched my external monitor and I’m finding myself less distracted. 16 inch MacBook Pro screen is all I really need. Anyone else prefer working with minimal peripherals?

That's me. I definitely feel like I focus better with a single display and not having things like Slack, Spotify, etc. visible. The 16" MBP is about the minimum screen space I like.

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

#633

Post by mincer_ray »

adrian_b wrote: post #451

After experimenting for many years with many kinds of mice, trackballs, touchpads, trackpoints etc. in the search for the most comfortable graphic pointing device, I have settled to use, instead of a mouse, a small Wacom Intuos graphic tablet (usually with Linux), configured in its "mouse" mode, i.e. with relative coordinates, not with its default absolute coordinates. At least for me, using a stylus has proven to be…

came here looking for this. i would HIGHLY recommend trying this if you, like me, suffer from wrist pain due to extended mouse use

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

#634

Post by bhandziuk »

ainiriand wrote: post #560
user3939382 wrote: post #557

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mapped all my IDE’s debug buttons to it, I could never go back. Debugging by hitting sequences of 3 button hotkeys isn’t fun and there’s no alternative without a collision.

You mean like F7, F8, and F9 in IntelliJ?

In Visual Studio there are lots of subtle actions that start with ctrl+k then some other letter. They can be hard to remember/discover.

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

#635

Post by adrian_b »

bornon5 wrote: post #626
adrian_b wrote: post #451

After experimenting for many years with many kinds of mice, trackballs, touchpads, trackpoints etc. in the search for the most comfortable graphic pointing device, I have settled to use, instead of a mouse, a small Wacom Intuos graphic tablet (usually with Linux), configured in its "mouse" mode, i.e. with relative coordinates, not with its default absolute coordinates. At least for me, using a stylus has proven to be…

Nice to see this here. I’ve using a tablet for cursor movement since around 2010, and I find it amazing except for one small issue I’ve never been able to solve: tapping with the pen in order to click is finicky, because if I even drag a few pixels during the tap, it turns into a drag gesture. Right now I’m using a Huion tablet, which does not appear to allow customizing the drag-to-disable-click distance. Is there a…

I believe that there should be a way to increase the drag-and-drop threshold that is independent of the pointing device that happens to be used.

I have stopped using MacOS many years ago, so I do not know how this is done there, but on Linux I always increase the drag-and-drop threshold, because on high-resolution displays this can be a problem even with traditional mice, not only with tablets.

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

#636

Post by terrabitz »

I have a cheap drawing tablet I purchased for about $20. It works wonders for whiteboarding and diagramming things for my remote coworkers. Especially when used in conjunction with tools like Google Jamboard, it's almost as good as an in-person whiteboard.

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

#637

Post by user3939382 »

ainiriand wrote: post #560
user3939382 wrote: post #557

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mapped all my IDE’s debug buttons to it, I could never go back. Debugging by hitting sequences of 3 button hotkeys isn’t fun and there’s no alternative without a collision.

You mean like F7, F8, and F9 in IntelliJ?

It would be nice if it were that simple. You can just look at the default keymap and see there are tons of shortcuts that are not one button, and many are not even 2. Nor could they be, there are too many features. Step debugging alone uses like 10 features.

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

#639

Post by Karawebnetwork »

For me it would have to be the DELTAHUB Carpio 2.0 Ergonomic Wrist Rest.

Contrary to other wrist rests, this one is tied to your wrist using a magnetic clasp.

I'm aging, or perhaps I just gamed too much using cheap peripherals. Either way, my wrist hurt a lot when using the PC and this helped me a lot.

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

#640

Post by acidburnNSA »

jon-wood wrote: post #610
modeless wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perfect for mine. I think they usually don't need special drivers.

They almost all show up as a standard USB sound card to the OS, sometimes two on particularly fancy ones allowing you to separately balance chat and game, so you should be fine.

Same here. My Logitech gaming headset works great in Linux. I do have to use some third party thing to adjust the goofy LED colors and side channel volume, though.

https://github.com/Sapd/HeadsetControl

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