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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?

#831
post #828

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

A rite of passage!

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

#832

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah If I buy a second 360pro for the office i'm going to buy it from upgrade keyboards so i can get silent reds or some other switch. I also replaced the keycaps with the pbt ones, but i also moved a homerow from an adv1 onto my 360pro.

Yeah, I also replaced the caps and would like to get some PBT spherical caps from signature plastics. It's a bit sad that they switched from Cherry to budget Gateron switches (on a 600 Euro keyboard). The Cherry Browns and Silent Reds may have been a bit scratchy, but at least they are always close to spec and not that bad after some break-in. Either that or one of the literally tens of tactile switches that are bett…

I think replacing the non homerow caps is a bit unwise. They have weird profiles that are not simply row profiles. However I really like the spherical DSA deepdishes they used to put on the homerow. So I use the ones from one of my spare classic advantages.

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

#833

This little SD Card fits flush in the M1 and M2 MacBook Pro slot, provides the user with additional storage (shrug) or constant Time Machine backups (hellll yes). Almost worth giving up that fourth Thunderbolt port for. https://9to5mac.com/2022/04/21/flush-sd-card-macbook-pro-tra...

Please keep in mind that as many Raspberry Pi owners discover SD Cards are not built to be written to constantly, they can fail in unexpected ways.

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

#836

I bought an Elgato Cam Link 4K to use my Sony A7II for video calls. I didn't have a webcam before the pandemic so I would have spent at least 100$ for a passable one. Sound was already solved with an Antlion ModMic 5 on a good pair of open headphones (Drop x Sennheiser HD6XX). I like to have a modular setup to reuse/upgrade independently each component. I use the Logitech MX Ergo as my go-to mouse. Once adapted to th…

Late question, but how do you deal with the audio lag when using the Elgato? Got the same dongle, and an old Nikon, but never got a handle on the lag.

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

#837
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 an older laptop and user Docker for Mac daily. My fingers never get cold!

Another thing to try is podman. I run it on my mac and my mac is no longer trying to fly away on the strength of the cooling fans alone.

Podman used to be a bit rough on mac but it's gotten significantly better, especially with podman-desktop. docker-compose even works with it as it does something on the backend to swap out the docker socket. I wouldn't recommend doing podman-compose as it looks to be mostly unmaintained? Or at least no new releases have been cut in a couple of years.

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

#838
I use a ReSound Multi Mic (see https://www.resound.com/en-us/hearing-aids/accessories/multi...) with my MBP. It plugs into the headphone port and transmits the sound to my ReSound hearing aids.

As you can see at the referenced URL, the Multi Mic has other capabilities as well. I’ve used it to hear speakers at conferences, college classes, and other talks given by speakers who were at a distance from me. And, I’ve used it to pick up the signal sent by venues’ audio loops at other speaking events.

The only feature it has that I haven’t used is its “conference table mic” - ReSound says I should be able to lay it flat on a table I’m sitting at with others and it’ll automatically zero in on one speaker or another when they talk and send that person’s voice to my hearing aids. I gotta’ test that feature out one of these days soon because that sounds amazing.

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

#839
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 use two 13" 2k monitors underneath a 34" ultrawide. I absolutely love them

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

#840

(I have worked at home my whole career, so if this seems extravagant consider it is nearly my only business expense. :) I have a 98” TV on the wall, with two 55 inch TVs in portrait orientation on each side, tilted 45 degrees toward me. It turns out, the long dimension of the 55” screens equals the short dimension of a 98” screen. So all three screens have the same height. Having huge screens on the wall means I don’…

This sounds like a great 'artificial window' setup

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bv88wM6AN6Y

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