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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?

#821
post #814

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey mp36 can I ask you about offline Wikipedia kobo? How do you split the zim files to fit?

https://web.archive.org/web/20170809101047/http://wiki.kiwix...

Hey thanks for replying! I've ended up with an even more fundamental issue:kobo cant read my zim file, it's there on the device but it's all blank pages..

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

#822
post #814

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey mp36 can I ask you about offline Wikipedia kobo? How do you split the zim files to fit?

https://web.archive.org/web/20170809101047/http://wiki.kiwix...

Can I ask what firmware version you're on? It seems I'm not the only one with trouble with zim files on newer models maybe.

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

#823
post #517

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.

If you don't care about lcd icons (you can use self-printed ones anyway on transparent caps), there are loads of cheap programmable keypads on AliExpress, some with knobs, some with bluetooth, most with color lcd. The configuration software is not great, but in most cases you'll only have to suffer through that only once or twice. All for a very small fraction of ElGatos.

You are talking about the Macropads right? I wish they could send custom printed keycaps together with it. Would be a good compromise for no LCD ;)

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

#824

I use a Japanese keyboard because it comes with additional thumb keys. I use software to remap the thumb keys to additional layers. For example, if I hold thumb+a, the alpha keys under my right hand turn into a numpad. If I tap the thumb key by itself, it turns the keyboard into a mouse.

How interesting! Any more details on the brand, or model? Any photos?

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

#825
post #814

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://web.archive.org/web/20170809101047/http://wiki.kiwix...

Can I ask what firmware version you're on? It seems I'm not the only one with trouble with zim files on newer models maybe.

AFAIK Kobo dropped ZIM support with firmware v4.x, so you gotta downgrade if you can.

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

#826

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or save yourself the cost and latency of the HDMI grabber and use it via gphoto2/v4l2 if you don't mind a little command line action. https://girishjoshi.io/post/using-dslr-camera-as-webcam-on-l...

I tried this approach and the latency was through the roof, easily a second or so off, making it effectively useless for video conferencing. Switched to an HDMI grabber so I could get something that was actually realtime.

You need to dial in the fps. It's a little bit of work to try different parameters and might not work for every camera. But with most cameras I was able to get the latency below 300ms which should work for most use cases.

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

#827

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or save yourself the cost and latency of the HDMI grabber and use it via gphoto2/v4l2 if you don't mind a little command line action. https://girishjoshi.io/post/using-dslr-camera-as-webcam-on-l...

Not sure this would work with every camera. My particular model does not support remote shooting over USB. Newer models of the same camera do and Sony even provides software to go the USB route.

The native Sony software will only support 720p resolution. So gphoto2 still offers better resolution.

"Shooting over USB" is not a requirement to use this. The camera only needs to be able to output the preview stream via USB, which works with most cameras.

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

#828
post #691

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'll want to be very confident that it actually mutes in hardware. I thought my old headset (Logitech G930) did, until I found out the hard way that it was in fact just sending a software command to mute the mic at the system level, and that if the headset was turned on while plugged in to external power it would not properly communicate any inputs to the host system. Audio still worked perfectly, but volume contro…

I live by the principle where I just won't say anything incriminating or extremely embarrassing if there is a mic or phone that could possibly be active. Little embarrassing stuff is fine, but for everything else, I assume the mic is hot even if I just muted it and I can see the mute indicator. In addition to protecting against technical failures like you describe, I also don't get in the habit of saying stuff that o…

I didn't say anything problematic, but I certainly might have used the restroom thinking I was muted.

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

#829
post #737

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a giant knife switch bolted to what looks like a thick slate base, which (reportedly, according to ebay seller) used to operate a lift in a goldmine in Colorado. Long term plan is to mount it to the wall, so when I leave the office at night I can throw this big old switch and turn everything off.

Many (many!) years ago I worked with a PDP-8 that had ferrite core memory. Because the magnetic state was persistent, come 5pm we'd just throw the switch and turn the machine off. 9am the next day we'd turn it back on, and it would continue with whatever calculation it had been doing the night before. It would have been cool to have a real mad-scientist switch like that, though.

I started on PDP-11s and big old boards stuffed with 64x1kb RAM so I had it relatively easy. Not quite the same, but every morning the boss would boot the system with 5 sweeps across the toggle switches to key in the bootloader. After that, all we have to do was occasionally move the teletype back into its corner on the room when it went walkies.

Have a look for "Vintage knife switch" on ebay; here's a current offering (only double pole): https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/295179145552

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

#830

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use wired. No hassle with charging or dongles. It's not as if I am going anywhere in these since the mic arm is quite awkward looking (but provides unbeatable sound quality).

I find it nice to not be tethered to my desk for hours when I'm at home. But I guess it depends how long you spend on calls during your day.

I just use my wired headphones with my smartphone when I want to walk around the house / yard and still attend a meeting.
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