Ask HN: What lesser-known accessories do you use with your computer?
E.g., any special mouse, keyboard, ring, headset, ... that has made a significant impact on your workflow.
Also, some of those magnetic USB charging cables to keep them charged without fiddling with plugging in cables. The nice thing about these is that the same magnetic cable can attach to both microUSB and USB-C dongles, so you can charge any small device with one cable. And the dongles are tiny so you just put them into all your devices and leave them there, super convenient.
It is also easy for the magnetic connector to short the power into a data line, and because it doesn't connect in the proper pin order and has no 'mid-plate' it has no mitigation against arcing. See this picture:
Notice how some pins are longer than others? They are designed that way so that they connect first and disconnect last, so that ground is always established before and after other pins connect. This prevents connecting and disconnecting a cable from frying your electronics.
"The mid-plate shall be connected to the PCB ground with at least two grounding points. The mid-plate shall be designed such that plug pins A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, A9, and B4, B5, B6, B7, B8, B9 do not short to ground during the connector mating process with an effective 6.2 mm receptacle shell implementation." [1]
[0] USB Type-C Spec R2.2 - October 2022, Figure 3-13, Page 65.
[1] USB Type-C Spec R2.2 - October 2022, Section 3.2.1 Interface Definition, Page 43.
* https://www.usb.org/document-library/usb-type-cr-cable-and-c...
I bought a cheap set off of Amazon, and then realized I also wanted non-USB-C tips as well. While the brand I bought wasn't selling them, turns out that the same factory manufacturing them also manufactures for other brands, and so on like the third page of Amazon results I found another product using the exact same tips, but this time also including other types!
I've had MacBooks for two decades. Until my recent purchase of an Apple Silicon model, they all used proprietary power connections (first barrel, then MagSafe) on one side of the computer. Since I needed a power supply in two different places, this always meant obtaining a second Apple charger.
My current MacBook is the first I've owned that also allows charging from any USB-C port. For the first time, I can
* use a small USB charger I already owned (A 27W unit in my case. Yes, the computer does charge under use, albeit slower than with the Apple charger)
* charge on the opposite side of where the Apple charger goes (which is very useful for my aforementioned multiple-location usage pattern)
* still have an auto-detachable connection by, like you, using a magnetic USB connection (<https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BCJVL7CD/> is what I use)
The Blueparrott B450-XT is an amazing headset. Did I buy it at a truck stop? Yeah. But I've been on an audio call where I literally stood in front of a box fan with my face against the fan and nobody could hear the fan in the microphone at all. The noise cancellation on the mics is downright amazing and everyone heard me loud and clear over fans, datacenter environments, the works.
- A key light (Godox ES45) to throw a bunch of bright, natural white light at my face. Attached to the desk and positioned tilted above my head so that it doesn't blind me. I don't notice it when it's on.
- A mic (Razer Seiren Mini) on a boom arm attached to the desk, positioned above my face, just out of the camera's sight. Nice, clean sound. Would sound even better if I were speaking directly into it, but I don't like having the mic visible.
- Repurposed an old mirrorless camera (Sony RX100 III) into a webcam for that sweet HD quality. Way better than any of the webcams out there. Needed to buy a cam link 4K card and connect it via a MicroHDMI <-> HDMI cable. Required a dummy battery kit to connect to AC and some setting tweaking, but it works beautifully. Connected the camera to the key light stand with a clamp mount.A well mounted setup with a dedicated microphone is a time saver and no brainer. I'm not too keen on the video and think is lesser important than audio but have been thinking on that too. I invested in an extended mount for a separate display, mic, and lights. I has paid off pretty well.
I went from terrible echoy voice to rock solid.
Then I got a 16" MBP, which is what I mostly use now for video conferences because I upgraded my Linux work laptop and switched to Wayland and can no longer do screen sharing.
https://www.seeedstudio.com/ReSpeaker-USB-Mic-Array-p-4247.h...
I found a sunlamp aimed away or behind something helped me a lot. So much so that I got one of those kitchen countertop hydroponic kits that's time to go off usually when I start work.
The sunlamp + morning coffee perk me right up. Plus herbs and stuff.
I've found that the sound is better if I keep it off to the side out of frame instead of above. Especially if you have the setting to make it directional and aim it towards your mouth. You can speak directly to the camera and it picks it up.
Cars come with heated seats, steering, armrests, mirrors, wipers - why not mats?
...but if I can pretend I use it as a second monitor for work, then it's OK! :D
In a cafe or other bright environment they seem to reflect everything around them similar to the way my MacBook screen does which makes it hard to see anything.
I'm speaking only from limited time seeing them from afar though--I've not actually sat in front of one to use or test out in person.
Got 2 monitors from there - one 15 inch and one 17 inch. Both run in 2k 120Hz. Brightness is OK, never had a problem in a brightly lit room, but I have not tried them out in the sun, like for "working on the beach" type of situation.
When not traveling, I use the smaller one on a VESA arm (the smaller one has screw holes) in vertical orientation for extra screen space next to my 4k larger monitor. And I use the larger portable monitor for sheet music on my piano (connected to Raspberry Pi).
Ordered both from "HDHIFI Store", pretty happy so far.
From the top of my head, I only know ASUS.
- global mute button (plugin Audio Mute). This is amazing and the most useful action I've setup.
- screenshot tool. I'm on a Mac and always forget the combination for opening the capture tool, so a physical button is nice to have
- iTerm button. It just opens a terminal, or make it appear if there's already one open.
- clock, because when using fullscreen mode, macOS doesn't show the clock
- weather, because it's cool
- specific to iTerm: a "split vertically" button, because after years of use, I can't remember how to split iTerm
- specific to Firefox: a macro to write this text "-method:OPTIONS domain:xxx.com" because I'm tired of typing it again and again in the network devtools filters
But I really wanted it to work, I can think of tons of useful buttons I want to have on my desk. Maybe I will give it another try. Can you tell me, have you got any tips, found any good third party tools for working with it? Maybe I just went down the wrong rabbit holes.
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.
Complex operations that used to take three people can be done by a single person.
For a basic example:
Audio operator fades out background music and brings up video playback audio channels Lighting operator puts lighting into video state Video operator switches from holding slide input on screen to video playback input
Is now one button. Same equipment, same production value. One button. Boop. Go.
Admittedly it takes some additional configuration time, but for something like a roadshow where it is the same sequence of actions every day it ends up being a great time saver.
That said, if you can't make good use of the display anyway, then you can also just take a normal keyboard or numpad and remap the keys. There is some software around for this, or just write your own hacky script. Repurposing old hardware is such an overlooked solution.
I sold the Stream Deck XL for two reasons: I didn't need that many keys, and I found out that if you are to use a device like this at home and in the office, you really need two. The setup needs to be the same in all your work places, otherwise you won't bother learning to use the accessory.
As for some other less typical accessories: I use a 3DConnexion SpaceMouse and can't imagine doing any 3D CAD work without it.
Oh, also: for many years now all my monitors are on arms. The supplied stands are always too low, and arm mounting has the additional advantage of freeing up lots of space on the desk.
Does a 16-port USB-A hub count? (in addition to the CalDigit thunderbolt dock)
I also have media control buttons to control music playing on my desktop throughout the day without having to toggle the monitor. A mute button to silence things for calls is also frequently used.
Finally, extra buttons to toggle some smart lights if I need to override some pre-programmed schedule.
Other than that, It's been a bit of overkill.
I got one to play the DJ air horn sound effect in meetings but between google hangouts, my m2 xlr device, and the stream deck something doesn’t work quite right.
But once I moved from XFCE/xubuntu to KDE (on gentoo, later opensuse), I noticed I don't need it anymore. Bluetooth switching works automatically and NetworkManager has nice widget, SMB/SFTP works out of box.
Now it become a toy space rocket control panel for my kids.
When your kids get tired of it, can I buy it?
I've got a simple bike rear-view mirror, like $10 off of amazon. has a clip on thing, fits fine on my monitor stand.
Same goal -- I've got big ear covering headphones w/ noise cancelling, so you feel crazy isolated and it's hard to tell if/when people, my kids, the dog, etc. is around until basically they're on top of you.
xinput set-prop <mouse device id> "libinput Scroll Method Enabled" 0 0 1
xinput set-prop <mouse device id> "libinput Button Scrolling Button" 8
What this does is make it so that as long as that button is being held, moving the cursors scrolls instead. It's hard to describe how much better of n experience it is vs. using the scroll wheel. It's much faster, much more precise, and less finger-tiring.
Here's a gist of the Python script I use to set it up - https://gist.github.com/pedrovhb/41e9d5b7b7b5c13fe2c94aa4cee...
edit:
Putting this in ~/.xsessionrc seems to work fine for me on Ubuntu:
xinput set-prop "pointer:Logitech MX Ergo" "libinput Button Scrolling Button" 8
xinput set-prop "pointer:Logitech MX Ergo" "libinput Scroll Method Enabled" 0 0 1
I too don't feel like I've had to mess with audio settings. I have some SteelSeries Actis Pro's I bought a long time ago. They have bluetooth, but there's also a nice usb-based head-unit I use with higher quality, lower latency, and no pairing concerns. It shows present battery level quite clearly (which is highly enduring). The head unit also has a battery charger built in, and the headphones come with a secondary battery. I don't feel like I have to think about charging batteries either; if I have a slammed day of non-stop talking, it's easy to see at the end of the day I have half a battery left & I swap it (which takes <10s). People selling you Fear Uncertainty and Doubt about batteries seem misguided & silly to me. The freedom is amazing. Letting yourself get bothered & concerned enough to trap yourself into a narrow situation is dumb: be skeptical, at least.
A split ortho homebrew keyboard (helix) that I can program with qmk so that I have shift esc enter space and special keys on other layers right where I want them. Or a dedicated Ctrl-a key for tmux. It virtually eliminated my pain. The OLED screens are useless though and I retrospect I should just have skipped them. I should also have put the two arduinos in it on sockets right away because that USB port will of course break and it’s a pain to desolder it.
A “clearly superior technology” (CST) trackball in the middle of the split keyboard that I try and use most with my left hand to give my right hand a break. It’s chunky, well made, uses standard pool balls as the trackball, and can be easily taken apart for cleaning or servicing. Wasn’t cheap though.
I used to have dual monitors, but now I use a super ultrawide 32:9 monitor. It required learning to use window managers since most OS's don't support multitasking setups like that, but I can use layouts now that I couldn't before. I also use PaperWM[1] with it and it feels particularly effective on ultrawides.
[1]: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=354...
With 2 monitors, I use one monitor exclusively with the linux laptop, and the other monitor I have on a HDMI switch to switch between the other 3 computers.
Came to the thread to post this in case it wasn’t posted. Quite a ton of actual utility from a small noname box from Amazon for my same-displays-but-different-sources setup (Mac mini for work, PC for gaming).
When switching from personal to work mode, I just swap the USB-C between computers.
Dunno if any USB-C switchers exist though.
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 will hear all the noise around you. Dynamic microphones, usually cardioids, are definitely the best as they, are less affected by outside noise. You can even use speakers and not get annoying feedback. There is one inevitable drawback: you need to have it close to your mouth. It wasn't a problem for me, but it is something to consider if you are doing video, because it will most likely be in frame. It also makes aesthetics a valid consideration.
Now, why the SM-58. Well, it is possibly the most famous microphone in existence, for good reasons. At around $100, it is relatively affordable, it is indestructible, it is an industry standard and it sounds good enough for famous singers to use it. There are cheaper alternatives, some of them excellent for less than half the price, like the Lanen TT1, and higher output level too, but I just like the way the SM-58 sounds, and it was within my budget. There are also podcasting mics like the Shure MV7. A bit expensive, sound quality wasn't worth the extra for me, but it has convenient features, and arguably looks more in place in a video call.
And generally, you should get a XLR microphone, they tend to be much better value for money than the USB or Jack type. That's what the pros use, and getting a XLR input is not expensive. I bought a Behringer U-Phoria UMC204HD for a bit less than $100, but there are cheaper options that work fine (and also better, more expensive ones). Note that for dynamic microphones, you don't need phantom power.
Note that these are wired microphones. The wireless kind tend to be prohibitively expensive. You can get wireless kits for XLR though, they start at around $100.
You also fail to mention that, presumably, if you ever need to assert yourself in a meeting you can use proximity effect to sound like a movie trailer ;-)
I'm only using it for calls, delivering training and co-working though. If I was recording an audiobook or doing music production I would switch back to my previous setup I think.
But I was afraid the U-Phonia was USB.
These type dynamic mics actually can be used with a carefully wired XLR-to-1/8 inch cable, and plug straight into the regular analog PC mic input.
Even though the PC supplies 5VDC intended for a cheap condenser mic, if the voltage runs through the SM58 it will not hurt it.
Your carefully shielded (well-grounded shield) sensitive unbalanced precious signal goes somewhat unprotected on the motherboard down a copper trace for a few cm until it goes in a single analog input pin of the A/D converter section of the audio IC. From that point on it's as digital as your specs will support, so ideally in this configuration there are actually no "active" electron devices like transistors or vacuum tubes (even the best have some hiss and distortion) in between your mic capsule and your A/D.
Well when you enable the PC's software-controlled analog mic boost, that's when you engage an active transistor gain stage for your mic signal before it goes A/D, it makes the mic volume a lot more comfortable, but then you depend on the audio quality and noise level of an on-chip analog silicon feature which may not be so good, depending on the exact audio IC.
But at least the mic boost is only one little gain stage, not a number of components that your analog mic input, however balanced, can often encounter before reaching the A/D process of a USB audio adapter.
Now there is not zero latency with the mic plugged into the 1/8 inch jack, but people sometimes think so when they're accustomed to USB.
Have a look at this review https://www.anandtech.com/show/7125/kinesis-advantage-review...
Also, it has Cherry MX brown switches, which are not my favorite to say the least, with their middle-of-the-ground sort-of bumpiness. I much prefer either fully clicky or fully linear ones.
I don’t like the lag, connectivity, and battery issues of wireless mice, this fixes all of that! It feels _better_ than a wireless mouse, because it has no wires in the way also with zero lag.
Yes connectivity issues can be a problem in certain environments but luckily this has usually not been a problem with receivers not in close proximity to interference, including USB3. Battery wise I have had cheapie mouses that last months on a pair of batteries and expensive mice like the Mx master that are pretty no fuss recharging.
But you do you with the mouse bungee cord :).
At least for me, using a stylus has proven to be much more comfortable, much faster and more precise than using any kind of mouse or any other pointing device.
Now I regret that I did not have the idea of replacing the mouse with a small graphic tablet many years earlier.
Have you tried a vertical mouse? That is the best for me: comfortable, yet mouse-y :)
Right now I’m using a Huion tablet, which does not appear to allow customizing the drag-to-disable-click distance. Is there any Mac utility that would work for this?
Obviously highly dependant on what you do. After being heavily screen only for most of my professional life, having the ability to print off a table sized drawing of an engineering diagram, review it, mark it up, and work with others in that process is really nice. It’s definitely more efficient in pure IO terms to work solely in the digital realm, but the forced interaction barriers help provide a little more room for rough thought before returning there for fine tuning.
After doing that for a while, I found Inkscape and Free mind/Freeplane to be pretty reasonable alternatives that are still digital.
Even in plain text mode I learned later that there are some practices that also help the big picture emerge faster, so the spacial effects aren't as necessary in many cases.
Still, it's fun sometimes to get out the supplies and work in that way...
My favorite unusual accessory is a little 9 key mechanical auxiliary keyboard. I programmed it to be my debug keyboard with all of key combos for my IDEs debugger - run, stop, pause, next, step over/into, set breakpoints, etc. it saves a lot of time (or seems like it does).
I moved down from a Logitech G19 to the current configuration. The ergonomics are much better with a smaller keyboard if your desk space is limited.
I also have a Autohotkey script to replicate this when I use my laptop on the go. But I haven't managed to make it work when I need to hold other modifier keys at the same time, like shift or ctrl.
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’t need my reading glasses, can demo easily, can look at my screen while walking around the room and thinking.
It keeps my desk clear of clutter, cables etc. Wireless keyboard, track pad, mouse & headphones.
Furniture is minimized with a small desk and no screen stands.
Clutter and crowding silently sap my productivity.
I use the two side screens to constantly show my todo’s & reminders, and messages that need responses, respectively. Otherwise for me, out of sight is out of mind.
The TVs are mounted low, only 18 inches from the floor, for a comfortable seated viewing angle. also this leaves room for motivational, decorative art over the screens.
Most keyboards have a spacebar which is the size of 5 or more keys. It's more convenient if this very wide key gets replaced with Esc, Tab, Space, Backspace, Enter. (Which saves the pinky from having to reach for those keys).
For better or worse, keyboards which do follow this "no large spacebar" approach then tend to have other design improvements: e.g. the columns will be aligned, & not have the asymmetric row-stagger that normal keyboards have; or they'll be split keyboards (like ZSA's moonlander). -- Many will also opt to have fewer keys, so that layers can be leveraged to allow for a smaller keyboard.
Portable screen is light, size of the laptop and charges/sends data through one cable. Perfect!
It's next to my computer, and I use it for notifications and smaller dashboards: https://github.com/tidbyt/community
On both I have layers for a built-in Numpad, mouse keys (for controlling the mouse cursor without taking my hand off the keyboard), shortcuts for working with text (selecting an entire line, copying and pasting, etc) and various other finger- and wrist-saving shortcuts that help me ward off the likelihood of RSI.
I had a wrist injury in the past and it had a big impact on my productivity as a tech worker so using these small compact keyboards is a real godsend.
Everything I need is literally just one key away from another--no more stretching or contorting my hands and fingers to do CTRL+ALT+DELETE or CTRL+SHIFT+F5 for example.
The 40% keyboard can be used as a daily driver but the ortholinear keyboard is my go-to since it's perfect for both work and play.
I also have a cheap X-Pen graphics tablet that I use for ‘white boarding’ on zoom calls.
Almost forgot I also have a usb wireless numpad that I pair with a usb hid remapped on a pi zero to make hot keys for frequent actions.
Particularly useful for twitch based FPS shooters such as Counter Strike, but overall ensures never to get the cable in your way.
PS: You don't use wireless for competitive shooters. LAN Cable, cable mouse, etc.
See: https://www.amazon.com/Glorious-PC-Gaming-Race-Bungee/dp/B07...
I also have an UPS under the desk, keeping up the wifi hub in all circumstances; it has a couple of USB charging ports on the front, so I use those with most random things that need charging. For some things I recently started using elbow USB-C connectors, or ones that can bend either way, to tidy up some corners and reduce strain on connectors.
The rest is about ergonomics - screen at the right level, good chair (Aeron, although tbh I miss my previous Mirrah) to avoid back pain, good split keyboard (Kinesis, although I wish i could afford an ergodox) to take away wrist pain (massive difference), that sort of thing.
https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2022/01/review-usb-foot-pedals-fs3_...
I joke that I have them programmed for select all, copy, and paste. But, really, it is for microphone mute, camera toggle, and boss key.
Takes up a small amount of under desk space, but worth it.
It perches up on top of my monitor (taking up no desk real estate which was my original goal), runs on USB, and puts off a pleasant light.
My inputs:
- laptop with external Behringer audio interface with optical output,
- bluetooth receiver/transmitter with optical output
- PS4 (through toslink output)
My outputs:
- DAC (with optical input) into headphone amplifier into headphones
- "large" amplifier (with optical input) for my bookshelf speakers,
- bluetooth receiver/transmitter with optical input
The bluetooth receiver/transmitter is a funny device that can perform one of two roles and has separate remote to toggle. It is connected to the switch twice, once for output, once for input. I use this to send signal to up to two pairs of bluetooth headphones (for example for watching movies on external monitor). I also use this to capture output from my phone or laptop when the laptop is not connected to the docking stotion.
What all this does is it allows me to send any listed input to any listed output, except bluetooth into bluetooth -- that device can only operate in one selected mode. For example I may play PS4 on my speakers and with one button press send it to my bluetooth headphones or my wired headphones. Or I can use my bookshelf speakers with my laptop on my lap. Everything without connecting any cables at all -- just up to three presses on two remotes.
I had non-optical solution before but this caused a lot of interference. Rather than try to debug and fix this I decided to just not have any copper between devices. Optical cables fixed it all for me.
I'm naturally right-handed, but learnt to use a mouse/trackball with my left hand ages ago when I figured out the twisting/ergonomic issues with a right-handed mouse and a keyboard with a numeric keypad. I was previously prone to hurting my right-shoulder blade (pulled muscle?) as there's a constant twist compared to the mid-line of the keyboard.
* Standing desk. I work and play on my computer, so I try to spend at least half the working day in a standing position. It's an electric one, ime switching being effortless is very important for actual usage.
* Wired headset. If I'm on a call (work or TTRPG), I plug it in. Otherwise it's lying on the side. I hate charging so much, I even have my wireless mouse permanently connected via USB.
* Sound card. A Creative Soundblaster ZX. Probably not needed anymore, but my last laptop (2006ish) had a soundcard in that pci slot thing, and I bought one for my first Desktop afterwards and stinky kept it. I do like the Soundblaster software and it's not as if I need the pcie X1 slot it takes up for anything else.
* Document scanner. Scan all paper documents I might need again and store them in paperless ngx (the scanner software scans to a smb share on my home server that paperless consumes)
- GV-USB2/Elgato HD60S to capture C64/Amiga1200/Raspberry 4 on Windows my desktop and/or display them on monitors.
- Many screens in a compact area (all 4:3/5:4, matte and low res): http://move.rupy.se/file/station.jpg
- 40% keyboard for that Raspberry 4 so it fits in front of my HHKB JP: http://move.rupy.se/file/last_computer.png
- Recently started using my old "Tab A" tablet with bluetooth Thinkpad keyboard and mouse, much lighter than a laptop, just wish I could install vanilla linux on it.
- UrbanEars Plattan 2 bluetooth (about 10+ of them) because it has wired and bluetooth. (sold out now unfortunately)
- Røde USB mic.
The display in my setup: https://www.flickr.com/photos/blakespot/52345176302/in/album...
If you ever have multiple hour long builds and/or test suites running, this is is a big help.
Wireless noise cancelling headphones helped with concentration.
UPS saved me a couple times from losing work during power outages.
I haven't used a second monitor since, and don't need to wear glasses at the computer anymore since the setup is a few inches closer to the face.
* 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 - ordered kind of accidentally, stayed as solid replacement of previously used Apple Trackpad.
* cutting board as mouse mat: https://www.olfa.net.pl/products/Mata-do-ciecia-CM-A4-RC.htm... If I need to cut something, it's there. As a downside - it might be wearing off my mouse quicker.
* wifi/assistant controlled light bulb behind the monitor. Easily to regulate light around my screen - bright when needed, switched to blue in the evening.
* Varier Variable Balans (bought 2nd hand for 20% of original price) - works nicely with electric-standing desk from Ikea.
ReMarkable2 e-ink tablet -- okay, it's a standalone device, but interfaces to the computer in cool ways (like screen sharing), and it's changed my life as far as note-taking goes
I use both a Quest 2 (running Immersed on Linux) and a Valve Index (running Virtual Desktop on Windows).
An upside-down metal drink tumbler, with an anti-static wrist strap around it, and clamped to the chassis of the computer. In the colder months, I touch it before touching parts of the computer, or my metal keyboard (which is not great for static). Before that, I hung up my system several times from static shocks on USB stuff.
A pile of random stuff with the right dimensions to put my webcam on in front of my monitor, so it looks like I'm actually looking at the person talking. This one doesn't work so well.
https://www.ulanzi.com/collections/desk-set-up/products/viji...
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.
I never got the Griffin PowerMate or the Leap motion or the new LED button boards aimed at streamers.
Just AutoHotkey survives. And it’s sad, computers could be so much more but I guess I don’t have much use for anything else.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DataHand
I can't stand the size of normal mouse pads and I can't go without one because the years wear on my desk. Plus it also serves as coaster, art, and "clean zone" that my cats know to avoid. You can get them custom printed with anything you want.
https://9to5mac.com/2022/04/21/flush-sd-card-macbook-pro-tra...
For this reason I bought a 4k HDMI splitter that extracts from a HDMI signal the different video and audio channels if needed. So I connect my MacBook pro to this splitter through hdmi and run another hdmi between this and the monitor. The spdif goes to the receiver that drives my speakers.
What's cool is that the video still is at 4k@60hz and I could still get audio through my monitor if I turned on its internal speakers. It has been working flawlessly for me for years and I've only spent about 30 bucks to buy it.
Here is a link to the product if anyone wants to take a look https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07BHYXVTY?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_...
I've also tried this weird mouse replacement: https://www.marzhauser.com/en/products/operating-devices/erg...
It's basically the controls of microscope with a USB cable. So that people who are used to working with a microscope can continue to work the same way.
These are the only 2 lesser-known accessories, I used. Not sure why everyone needs to talk about mice and usb hubs here
The Bluetooth transmitter is used with sony WH-1000XM3 using the aptx standard and latency this way is good enough for gaming (I know what bad Bluetooth latency is like, and this setup does not have it)
The fact that pc and laptop output to audio jack and don't know I use wireless headphones (or which input or output I use at all) is a feature, not a bug, since I actually don't want the headphones to be able to change state of music players or volume on the pc as it's buggy and annoying if it does that.
The only thing the big knob passive lacks imho is an ability to mix both input sources together passively.
That combined with a USB-C dock and another monitor on an arm. I can quickly dock laptop and keep all my desk space.
Apple magic trackpad.
Savant Elite2 Triple Foot pedal. Left Click, Right Click, ESC.. currently. Still playing with them.
IPEVO DO-CAM USB document camera, doubles as my face camera, but I do a lot of 'whiteboard' sketches on paper which I later translate to lucid if it needs to be kept.
[1]: https://github.com/davidphilipbarr/Sweep
[2]: https://www.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/wiki/resources
- Three 2K screens - 23 to 25" (2560x1440). 3 of these have more usable pixels than a 4K. I have used 3 monitors so long that breaking work into screen 1/2/3 becomes a quick and helpful thing. I don't always use the third but have told people if I'm having a 3 monitor day, to keep on sliding by.
- MIC: I am heard better by sounding the clearest. I recently bought the best wired mic headset I could find. Steelseries Tusq for $50. Voice quality has been through the roof and close to the best, to the point that almost every call someone is asking me what I'm using. Won't cancel noise, but good otherwise.
- SOUND DAC: Soundblaster G3 - Makes good sound even better. Optionally adds the ability to output to both headphones and speakers. Handier than I thought it would be. Also allows cleaning up your voice with a pre-set and outputting it through a "Creative Microphone". Works great. I had my eyes on a nicer one but don't see myself getting rid of this.
- WEBCAM: Logitech Brio 4K - Clearest low maintenance 4k image wins. Lots of other options emerging, but this one whether I'm sitting in the dark, monitor bias lights or have my overhead light on adjusts quickly enough. I like that it has it's own onboard electronics to do image smoothing or it's other features so zoom doesn't clog.. It's mic isn't bad as well in a pinch.
- AC Infinity Cabinet Fans - Quiet fans placed underneath any Apple or other laptops that are unable to manage their thermal selves. One is up at an angle and draws air away, and the other blows across. I like it enough that I would cut a hole out in my desk with the fans inserted and let the air blow down. Can be dremeled and put into ikea lapdesk laptop holders. Especially helpful for i9 laptops. Quiet.
- Heated desk mat. Use on floor as well if the floor is cold, or get a dedicated one for that.
Edit: added a few more.
I use the Logitech MX Ergo as my go-to mouse. Once adapted to the thumb trackball, it's really comfortable. As an added benefit, you need very little space on your desk and no mouse pad because it's stationary.
The other thing are the lights that light up the walls behind my screens. I don't have a window there so it's easier on the eyes when the lights are on while I'm at my PC. They are controlled by a wi-fi power socket running Tasmota. On my NAS I got Node-RED running which pings my PC. I have an "automatic" setting for my lights so they are on if the PC is on, or when it's dark and before midnight. The "dark" part is currently determined by the time when the sun starts to set, but I'm planning on using a light sensor I already have somewhere else in my apartment instead. And I still need a better trigger that turns it off for the night - I think the humidity data from my bathroom might be the one, since the last thing I do before going to bed is showering.
My one nit to pick is that they don’t have multiple connections, so for convenience, I just have two at my desk, one that stays connected to my personal system, and one that connects to the work laptop.
- The noname HDMI cables I had was not the right version, bought 3 new ones.
- The old Apple dongle doesn't support 60hz, luckily I had a newer one which did, worked well on my newer Macbook Pro, but..
- ..Macbook Pro 2016 doesn't support 60hz through the dongles with HDMI, so I've got to move to DisplayPort.
- Now my NEW Macbook Pro doesn't work at all with DP. Macbook issue, as my other 3 Macbooks (on the same macOS) works fine.
So now I am using the KVM switcher for everything except the screen, which I have to manually change the input for, until I can reinstall macOS to see if that solves it (I have spent hours with Apple support).
Overall if you use multiple laptops the KVM is awesome, and the foot pedal is doubly so!
I can type on calls without my mic picking it up, it has a custom layout saved on device so I don't need to do any configuration for any device I connect it to and it works fine on Windows, MacOS and iOS devices.
I use a JP version but with US keys on it and a US key layout which gives me a bunch of extra keys to configure. If anyone is wondering, there is a spare key on the home row to the right of the ' key which I use as backspace/del.
It wasn't cheap, but if it broke I would replace it with the same model in a heartbeat. I do have a spare but it's the standard US layout with the big spacebar.
For me, I hope it would also help me quiet my legs a little bit and keep me in an upright posture, avoiding me crossing my legs for instance.
I don't have to remember obscure keyboard shortcuts, the functions switch automatically as I change apps and the scroll wheel (the main reason I bought it) is so nice. I can't use a mouse at all without pain so I use a pen tablet for the most part, this has brought back the smooth scrolling, zooming and other things you'd use a mouse wheel for back into my life.
- Behringer XR18 digital mixer, mounted under my desk
- DIY wooden stand for a small MIDI controller keyboard & an integrated XLR socket for a conference microphone (used for meetings)
- the MIDI controller is connected directly to the XR18 so I have convenient faders and knobs for mic volume, mute, master volume and other stuff connected to the mixer (piano, edrums etc)
- DIY shelf to have my displays & speakers at a comfortable height and distance
- dishpan under the desk for the occasional footbath
Not at all uncommon but still highly recommended: vertical mouse (cheap one), split keyboard (r-go), docking station (old thinkpad ultra dock)
Things I still want but never got around to:
- my desk lamp (cheap wifi bulb) is cold/warm white fadeable but I want that to happen automatically throughout the day based on sunset
- a better drawing tablet so I can ditch my whiteboard (current one sucks)
I have a much cheaper version of those costly wired earphone studio monitor that musicians used on stage/studio -- the one where the wire goes around the ear and hidden behind. I sometimes combine that with a wired Lavalier Mic. Both of which are tucked and hidden under my table for quick and easy access. I have very clear audio and people on the other end have told me that I'm very clear too. Very discrete while audio being clear on both ends. I want to set up something similar but less messy for travels.
However, in most common day-to-day meetings (teams, quick calls), I default to an XLR pointed from above the display.
* Significant QoL gain: take a trip to the dollar store to buy three short CD racks; if you lay them on their sides next to each other, you can mount your laptops and mobile devices vertically!
Much nicer than stacking your devices screen to screen, and you can keep them charged and connect them as-needed.
* Ergo Anti-pattern: I built a 35 inch deep desktop out of 2x4's, perched it on top of ikea motorized risers, all above a "LifeSpan" brand desk treadmill scrounged from Craigslist because I thought Torvalds's setup was cool (circa mid-quarantine).
This year I built a wooden frame with hatch doors above the treadmill and keep my goofy gaming chair forever parked on top of them.
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.
The desk surface is a single sheet of 4'x2' plywood, with solid wood edging strips glued to it. The pocket was cut with a hand router, positioned using wooden fences clamped to the plywood. The surface finish of the inside of the pocket is kind of rough, but it's not visible through the mousepad. The whole thing is varnished, and screwed to a steel desk frame I got for free from a local school that was disposing of old furniture.
Kdeconnect, scrcpy (software): notifications, reply to messages, automute on calls... what MS and apple copied.
Keyboard with QMK or kmonad(software) or other software: e.g. caps works as both ctrl and caps. Easier umlauts. Multimedia keys, shortcuts etc on compact keyboards.
Screenbar: convenient lighting.
Droidcam, camo (software) or hdmi capture cards: again sherlocked, but the original software gives you much more control.
Wacom tablet or sidecar-like: since apple and samsung sherlocked the idea, the original apps dried out a bit. Use a tablet as a wacom contiq. Preferably wired.
Audio interface: use professional mic, headphones with your pc. Also eguitar.
But mainly I use it to play an audio waveform of any music that's playing. And highlight caps lock whenever it's on.
A metal padded mouse with a “speed” mouse pad. It is so sensitive and easy to move that I can’t go back to a regular one anymore. Also it has rests for a thumb an a pinky. Shaped like this:
_/—\_
I clipped the cord to the edge of the table, so it lies like S on the mouse pad and doesn’t scratch itself nor makes a sound.
Display:
Also I have a monitor arm - it frees so much space on the table and allows for easy monitor movement when I need to clear the table and draw on paper.
{PC; Work laptop; …} → HDMI switcher → HDMI digital sound extractor → {S/PDIF DAC → Speakers; Monitor}
Though now that I think of it, I wonder if I could cobble something together with CEC to pass keyboard and mouse inputs through HDMI. In theory, that should be possible by attaching a ESP32 or something like that to the CEC pin on the monitor side…?
HDMI switch. Switch monitor between machines.
USB switch. Switch peripherals between machines.
Used to use an arduino with a rangefinder and led matrix to notify when coworkers would be behind me. Always had headphones on and usually would get hit with a jump scare from them tapping me or waving hands in front of my face. Also, had a coworker who routinely interrupted throughout the day just to gab and at times I wouldn't take my headphones off. A bit of a cold shoulder but they were excessive with the interruptions
https://www.microsoft.com/buxtoncollection/detail.aspx?id=19
From what I remember, it didn't work too well. Or it wasn't worth the gorilla arm. I was only using it for clerical work and maybe some gaming.
I also use a homebrew macro keyboard. It's a 16 key keyboard with nice, clicky keys and two analog knobs. It's very convenient.
Also a Hemmi slide rule. It mostly just sits there to make me think about what accuracy is actually relevant in calculations -- e.g. with what I know about the system, is the answer really 0.6012, or is it really about 0.6 and that's all I know?
It also gave me back a hardware mute button, which I missed from prior USB headsets.
I have a preference for just USB wired hardware. A number of laptops and sound card addons have some whack spatial audio stuff they do in their chipsets that you have to go trawling through forums to find out how to disable. Since the USB devices bring their own hardware, they get past this a bit.
Petmoj is Swedish slang for a rotary dial.
Output is to the CD inputs on a Sony mini audio system I bought on my way through Singapore in 1989.
[1] https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2022/01/review-usb-foot-pedals-fs3_...
- Using an Onyx Boox Max Lumi 13.3 eInk display as external laptop monitor to work outside.
Too much ghosting.
If you work in a dedicated room and don't need the isolation that headphones provide.
More comfortable than any headphones, excelent voice in and out, buttons with lights for volume and mute control, wired for good quality and latency, can also work wireless for phone. Works with Linux, no drivers needed for any functionality.
https://ergo.human.cornell.edu/DEA6510/dea6512k/ergo12tips.h...
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.
Had the software for a few years now and it’s used very frequently. I don’t know if using the app hardwired requires a subscription though as mine was a one-off purchase via App Store.
I also have an m.2 SSD on a USB3 dongle which I've used as a Raspberry Pi boot drive.
One ridiculous thing I have is an old griffin usb volume knob that glows/throbs. It’s really amusing for some reason.
Game changer for posture. I'm looking directly ahead!
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.
Row 1: Delete, Archive, Mark Unread and Advance
Row 2: Undo, Next, Previous
I used to have a job which involved a ton of calls - both telephone and virtual meetings. This device let me easily switch my one headset between the two.
Plus, I get enough distance to wander around the room. I'll eventually upgrade to bluetooth.
integrated laptop/phone DACs driving headphones sound like garbage now
They're just input - do whatever you want with them.
Supports both a desktop USB-B and a USB-C laptop with PD, with auto switch
Has built-in camera
Cheap gaming microphones, like my HyperX Solocast, is massive change from those. It's probably the best bang for the buck of all other accessories that I bought so far.
::: NOISE-CANCELLING USB MIC DONGLE ::: sometimes my work environment can be very noisy and nothing I can do about it. In those cases I plug my mic into Asus Noise Canceling adapter - and instantly all the noises are gone: https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Noise-Canceling-Artificial-Intel...
At $35, it's an absolute steal.
Unfortunately it only accepts 3.5 mm jack as input - so no joy for the USB mics.
::: EARPHONE ::: when I'm mobile or need to use my Asus Noise Canceling dongle above - I use Apple Earpods.
It's light, it's very comfortable inside my ear for prolonged periods, it sounds amazing, even better than some of my expensive wireless headphones, and it include mic as well, a good quality one too.
At $16, it's a steal: https://www.amazon.com/Apple-EarPods-3-5mm-Headphone-Plug/dp...
::: WEBCAM ::: at first I was like the others, and use Logitech's webcam.
Soon I found out that even its most expensive one suffer from stupid AF (autofocus) problem - it kept making my face out of focus at random times, it's so embarrassing.
So after checking many reviews; I bought Nexigo N60 - and I still can't believe a webcam this cheap actually produces better picture than my previous more expensive webcam, wow. And no more stupid AF. And it works straight away in Linux.
It also claim to have noise-canceling mic, but I haven't tested it yet.
https://www.amazon.com/Microphone-NexiGo-Computer-110-degree...
::: PORTRAIT MONITOR ::: I bought a cheap HP E190i monitor - which can be turned into a portrait monitor.
Suddenly editing documents, Terminal/SSH, etc become much, much more comfortable.
::: Ultrawide Screen Monitor ::: it's a game changer - bought LG ultrawide monitor, and it's so comfortable.
I can put 2 portrait document side-by-side, and quickly compare them, or reference from each other, etc.
Not to mention editing those wide spreadsheets is becoming so much more bearable now.
It's also so much nicer watching movie and playing games using it.
::: GAS-SPRING MONITOR MOUNT::: use it to mount the ultrawide monitor above ; and it's even more comfortably positioned + frees up so much desk space.
::: VACUUM-COOLER ::: my brand-new laptop used to suddenly slowed down to a crawl at times, not only puzzling but of course also, very, frustrating.
Turned out it's unable to expel heat efficiently. Damn this thin laptops.
So I plugged a vacuum cooler on its exhaust port - and instantly it no longer throttled the CPU at random times, yay.
It's now able to consistently run at its peak frequency.
When gaming though it still overheats. I've bought a Carbonaut pad, from Thermal Grizzly. It's supposed to conduct heat about 5 times better than a thermal paste, so hopefully it'll help.
- i'm a stickler for input devices. I have a split keyboard and a Wacom tablet in the middle with a little pen stand that's always close by. I keep daypages in beta.tldraw.com, which has excellent pen and touch support. It's super handy.
- a good field mic for video conference calls. I use a Zoom H1 with a fuzzy pop shield and a little stand to minimize microphonics. I'm perceived as quite feminine and it's sometimes hard to speak up, so it's amazing how much more respect I get on conference calls when I have the confidence of excellent sound quality to back me up.
If I could add something to my setup, I'd like to hook up a small trackball that somehow only emits mouse scroll events. That would really help move around PDFs and webpages.
Gas-spring monitor mounts are well known by now. I semi-recently hacked together a wall mount gas spring arm & am surprised how much more flexibility & space going from desk mount (first clamp then through-hole) arm to wall-mount gave me; better range of motion, zero desk-space is amazing.
I used to dearly love my Griffin PowerMate jog-wheel for volume control. I really wanted to create a morse-code system for it & got quite far but stopped 50% of the way through. But still, jog-wheels are lovely devices. I'm on split keyboards now but I love so much the old Logitech MX keyboards that I had that also had big job-wheels & media-buttons; having on-tap control over devices was so nice.
AtomCube RX1 (now RX7) has a pretty nice battery-powered videography light that also works great as my key light. I hope one day to figure out how to reverse engineer the bluetooth control protocol for it, but haven't started digging in to how to intercept/reverse engineer the Android app. I also really dig the very cheap the Aputure AL-M9 deck-of-card sized light that works great with my camera; just so versatile a light & imminently affordable.
Fiber optic displayport/hdmi cable. I used to use a 50ft 1080p hdmi cable & some active USB extension cables to put my computer in the hallway or bathroom, connected to a separate terminal, so I could have a no-noise environment. Now, my AIO coolermaster watercooled computer is quite quiet. But there are some very cheap fiber optic cables of up-to literally hundreds-of-feet of length for incredibly cheap prices. The no-name brands seem to work fine. Now I can play games on my roof just fine, thanks to these absurd cheap luxury devices. I've tested up to my gaming monitor's 1440p170 and they work great.
A $20 HDMI<->USB "MS2130" converter for plugging in my cameras as webcams. Present as standard usb-video devices. Alas the frelling monsters making Android phones still don't include the kernel module to support these; how very badly I want to be able to use my phone to control & connect to my cameras, but nooo. Tick the kernel module box on for usb-video, you jerks!
ElecJet Ultra is the most interesting battery pack I have. It's only 10k mAh- <40WHr- which is low capacity. But it charges at 100W across a huge part of the charging curve. This makes it an idea travel unit: wherever I am, I can accept wall power at 100W. That's 3x the rate my laptop accepts. I have some ZMI 20k (mAh) Pro packs that I adore as my mainstay everyday travel units, lots of juice, very compact, nice usb-hub features, but they only charge at 45W, or a ~2hr+ charge time. Being able to get a fully charged pack in ~30 minutes is incredibly useful if I'm on the go & trying to keep a couple devices charged. That said, I often have two ZMI Pro packs, and my multi-output charger will do 90W into both packs, and thus the ElecJet often stays at home. It's still a rare noteable gem of a device to me.