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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?

#641

Post by voicedYoda »

subsequentmask wrote: post #401
GuB-42 wrote: post #246

A Shure SM-58 microphone, with a XLR soundcard to go with it. I always wanted to get a good microphone for voice calls, thankfully a friend of mine had more than a dozen of them, of all styles: dynamic, condenser, long range, cheap, expensive, etc... We spent a couple of hours trying them. First thing: condenser microphones are great... in a studio. You are probably not in a studio, so if you use one of them, people…

I recently just got my self an SM7B. I love the thing. I don't do WFH so my work mates won't ever get to hear my wonderful voice on it but oh well, eventually they will! I love it. You do need a beefy interface to power it, I have an Elgato Wave XLR.

I also use an sm7. Love it. Rigged up reaper as my daw, and use and apogee duet. Everyone tells me to start a podcast...

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

#642

Post by bentcorner »

hibbelig wrote: post #588
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.

Could someone provide some link or picture? I struggle with cold hands and I have no idea what to look for :-(

I don't use a heating pad but I use a pair of fingerless gloves for this. They're nothing fancy, something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Finger-Touchscreen-Stretchy-Mittens-F...

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

#643

Post by aspyct »

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…

What kind of usage do you do with your pointer? I find that with code editing, it's annoying to pick up / put down the stylus all the time.

Have you tried a vertical mouse? That is the best for me: comfortable, yet mouse-y :)

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

#644

Post by sails »

arvinsim wrote: post #122
ja27 wrote: post #15

I wouldn't have thought they were lesser-known, but I've been surprised how many people don't know about today's cheap portable external monitors. They're essentially laptop panels with a USB-C+HDMI board. $100-$150-ish and easily found in 15.6" and 13-14", 1080p or 2K. All the ones I've tried have 2 USB-C ports, mini-HDMI, and speakers. This all depends on what USB-C ports your machine actually has and the right USB…

I think the reason why is that not many mainstream manufacturers are creating them. From the top of my head, I only know ASUS.

I tried the ASUS ZenScreen MB16ACE and the quality/resolution/rendering was bad compared to a Macbook screen, I returned it straight away.

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

#645

Post by Karawebnetwork »

WorldPeas wrote: post #625
wtk wrote: post #619

(not all are computer peripherals, but other comments seem wider than initial criteria) * whiteboard placed on a painting easel next to my desk (when I don't use whiteboard, I can use the easel it to paint acrylic) - about 90x120 cm. I put my tasks for work, but also pick exercises with checkbox to do during the day. * AKAI mpk mini - when tired of work, can jump over to Ableton like software and relax * MX Master 3S…

wait I thought that blue light at night was bad for your sleep? Are you using it as some sort of sleep suppressant?

Recent studies I've read explained that it's not so much the color that's the problem as when and how much we're exposed to it.

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

#646

Post by rationalist »

Aardwolf wrote: post #629
rationalist wrote: post #49

I was going to joke and say a cup holder (one company actually made a legitimate cup holder that fit in a 5.25" bay back in the '90s or so), but when researching for this comment, I discovered there are actual modern cup holder products that either clamp or magnetically attach to desks or other surfaces now.

I remember long ago a file "cupholder.exe" for windows, which when executed would open the CD ROM tray

In high school, we had computers with Windows and individual logins. When people weren't looking, I would copy over a file I made to their startup folder that would wait a random amount of time before opening the CD tray. It was great.

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

#647

Post by quercusa »

moxli wrote: post #471
modeless wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh yeah I have one of those no name brand USB switching hubs, they are great. Comes with several "illegal" USB-A male to male cables, which I find funny. If your monitor supports it you can also switch inputs from software, and you have a complete KVM setup without the ridiculously expensive KVM box.

I have the same setup and use the following software to send the switch signal to the monitor. https://github.com/haimgel/display-switch

Learned about this on HN a few months ago. Less than 20 minutes to set it up with a cheapo USB KVM switch and it works great. I have a Model M keyboard plugged into a PS/2-USB adapter and the switches don't even confuse the keyboard.

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

#648

Post by bentcorner »

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 was looking at getting one but couldn't stomach the price for an unknown benefit since I wasn't sure if I'd use it.

I ended up using Touch Portal[1] and put a phone on an old stand, and it pretty much does everything I want to do. Integrates with teams with mic on/off, hand raise, and reactions, and I created some nice graphs for cpu/gpu/disk load and a UTC clock for when I'm not in a meeting. Desktop app is free and phone app is like $13 or so. Works on Windows/MacOS and Linux support is apparently coming.

It's probably clunkier than a Stream Deck but it's a fraction of the price.

[1] https://www.touch-portal.com/

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

#649

Post by adrian_b »

mincer_ray wrote: post #633
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

Yes, my searches have also been initially been motivated by incipient problems with the wrist (and with the middle finger, caused by the scrolling wheel).

All hand discomfort has disappeared after switching to a tablet with pen and the fact that pointing with a pen is much faster and more accurate than with a mouse has been an unexpected bonus.

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

#650

Post by sotix »

ja27 wrote: post #15

I wouldn't have thought they were lesser-known, but I've been surprised how many people don't know about today's cheap portable external monitors. They're essentially laptop panels with a USB-C+HDMI board. $100-$150-ish and easily found in 15.6" and 13-14", 1080p or 2K. All the ones I've tried have 2 USB-C ports, mini-HDMI, and speakers. This all depends on what USB-C ports your machine actually has and the right USB…

I’m surprised no one has mentioned repurposed iPad screens[0]. I just received mine, and it’s fairly nice given the price. It uses a 4:3 aspect ratio, but that’s fine for secondary content when working on my laptop. It also works great for retro gaming as indicated in the link I shared. I only wish it were in the original iPad case and I could use an iPad stand. As it is, it’s housed in a photo frame with cutouts for the new buttons. I selected the USB C option for mine, which is how I connect it to my laptop. Very happy for $80.

[0] https://misterfpga.org/viewtopic.php?t=3373

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