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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?

#761

Post by felurx »

Eisenstein wrote: post #664
denysonique wrote: post #544

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A power-only (2 wire) magnetic USB-C cable will be as safe as prior generation magnetic USB cables (it won't be more likely to damage your device)

Sure, it will be safe because it won't be able to go above 5V 3.0A (15W) at absolute max since it won't be negotiating PD. Most likely it won't have the proper termination resistors on the CC line and will get a whopping 900mA@5V = 4.5W * https://i.imgur.com/n3IjcQE.png I encourage everyone to actually read the USB 3.2/C/PD spec sheets.

15W (and even 4.5W) sound like enough for charging stuff like controllers, headphones and whatever other small battery-powered devices one has. (Also, do devices like that actually respect that 900mA thing, assuming they're capable of pulling that much power?)

Aside from that: It's obviously not enough for a laptop, but what other devices do you really need that much more for in your day-to-day life? I think I haven't used a USB charger capable of outputting more than 10W in a while (aside from my Nintendo Switch and its charging brick, but because of the dock it wouldn't make much sense to use a magnet adapter anyway). At home, there's always a charger nearby, and when I leave the house my phone usually has enough power anyways, or the trip is long enough for me to throw a powerbank in my backpack no matter how full the phone battery is.

And if you end up in a situation where you really need to quick-charge something, there's nothing stopping you from just taking the plug out for a short while.

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

#762

Post by SoftTalker »

causality0 wrote: post #195
SoftTalker wrote: post #58

I use a Thinkpad keyboard with a track point mouse. So nice to not have to move my hands off the keyboard to move the mouse.

Except for their damnable placement of Fn where Ctrl should be.

I'm one of those weirdos who remaps Caps Lock to Ctrl. Really cuts down on the hand contortions when using emacs.

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

#765

Post by felurx »

KenArrari wrote: post #678
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…

My ideal device would be one where the pen is in absolute mode, but you can also use it as a touchpad in relative mode with your fingers.

Not sure about other OSes, but I occasionally use a Wacom Bamboo Pen&Touch (CTH-470) on Linux, and I have it set up to do exactly that. It's really easy to configure it with the KDE settings plugin thingy, but I think that just talks to the Linux Wacom drivers, so it should be possible to do something like this with other DEs too (if it isn't even the default). It's also trivial to set one the hardware buttons to do sruff like send Ctrl+Z or toggle the touch input on and off, which is nice. Plus, they're really cheap to buy used, I bought two for like 15€.

It's not without problems, I personally don't like the pointer speed / acceleration, scrolling and zooming are way too sensitive, and palm rejection isn't too great (it pretty much just disables touch whenever the pen is near the surface). However, I have put exactly zero effort into customising the first two things, so these might be fixable, and for me the latter isn't a huge problem because I don't use the pen and the touchpad together a lot, so having a toggle button as mentioned before works just fine for me.

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

#766

Post by ianburrell »

esafak wrote: post #200
kimburgess wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ll add moderately high quality mic to this. If you’re spending a lot of working hours on calls, putting the resources into providing clear, intelligible voice for the people you’re working with will definitely be appreciated.

Like what?

I like V-Mode BoomPro which is boom mic that connects to any headphones.

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

#767

Post by Eisenstein »

felurx wrote: post #761
Eisenstein wrote: post #664

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, it will be safe because it won't be able to go above 5V 3.0A (15W) at absolute max since it won't be negotiating PD. Most likely it won't have the proper termination resistors on the CC line and will get a whopping 900mA@5V = 4.5W * https://i.imgur.com/n3IjcQE.png I encourage everyone to actually read the USB 3.2/C/PD spec sheets.

15W (and even 4.5W) sound like enough for charging stuff like controllers, headphones and whatever other small battery-powered devices one has. (Also, do devices like that actually respect that 900mA thing, assuming they're capable of pulling that much power?) Aside from that: It's obviously not enough for a laptop, but what other devices do you really need that much more for in your day-to-day life? I think I haven'…

The thing is that USB-C was designed to be the universal connector, for both high and low power devices, for charging and data. Should there be a qualification: 'use the specification and standards violating magnetic adapters IF your device is X and not Y or else your macbook might get toasted and btw your warranty is now void for using it.'

Or, just 'don't use shady spec violating components that don't exist in spec for good reasons'?

> Also, do devices like that actually respect that 900mA thing, assuming they're capable of pulling that much power?

USB-C will not 'give it' power unless it conforms to certain parameters like having a resistor on the CC line. This is the reason that crappy devices which merely changed the physical ports from micro-USB to USB-C and come with a USB-C (device end) to USB-A (charge end) will not charge with a USB-C to USB-C cable. The device never got updated to request the power and the USB-C port on the charger just ignores it.

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

#768

Post by dhg72 »

I spend all day on meetings and love my Mütesync button: https://mutesync.com/

Pretty basic but it's cheap and easy, works with Hangouts and Zoom, etc. The ability to know if I'm muted and rapidly mute/unmute without needing to focus the Zoom window is clutch.

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

#769

Post by mannyv »

Instead of a desk chair I use one of the pottery barn wells leather swivel chairs. Perfect for sitting cross legged, with a blanket, straight upright, and good for napping.

One ridiculous thing I have is an old griffin usb volume knob that glows/throbs. It’s really amusing for some reason.

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

#770

Post by gorgoiler »

I work at my great great grandparents kitchen table, an heirloom that has a gatefold tabletop concealing a large pocket space just underneath the surface.

It has in it a power distribution board, access point, switch, various wall warts for things on the desk, and a mini pc. All housed in a beech veneer dining table.

I had to raise it off the floor a couple of inches to get my legs under it — folks back then really must have been smaller — and I would 100% convert a vintage dining table into a computer desk if I needed to, in the future. It’s so much more meaningful to have a dedicated place to work in the house with all the techno crap hidden out of of sight. I eschew my laptop and really enjoy having this one special place for computer stuff.

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