Work from home tech thread
Mar 16, 2020, 8:07 pm
#76
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Mar 16, 2020, 10:30 pm
#78
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Mar 16, 2020, 10:53 pm
#79
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allset2travel Zoom does seem to work for China. I have team mates in Shanghai who also have access to corporate VPN, but sometimes I'll hear them dialed in from mass transit. I set my zoom app on mac defaults to camera off and mute on entry.
Mar 17, 2020, 3:09 am
#80
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Mar 17, 2020, 6:44 am
#81
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Mar 17, 2020, 8:43 am
#82
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Mar 17, 2020, 10:28 am
#83
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Mar 17, 2020, 11:13 am
#84
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I use:
- Microsoft lifeCam Cinema HD (think I bought it around 10 years ago)
- ViewSonic 24" monitor I got for free several years ago
- Aukey 7-in-i USB-C hub with a Ravpower 65W power supply, which lets me connect all USB peripherals and the monitor via one USB-C cord that also charges my laptop
- Plantronics Savi W740 headset - the best headset ever!
Mar 17, 2020, 1:52 pm
#85
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Mar 17, 2020, 3:00 pm
#86
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Mar 18, 2020, 12:08 pm
#87
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Im 100% telecommute and we use blue jeans for large meetings and for smaller ones Google Meet works great for everyone outside of China.
I recently moved to a mesh using Orbi and it’s been great. Internally I get great WiFi speeds on both 5GHz and 2.4GHz using the Orbi gear inside and for a good distance outside my house.
I also like Unifi gear and my company’s IT team uses that for WiFi in our offices and event kit to set up mesh networks wherever we have events of any size.
additionally:
A good keyboard. Using a laptop is great, but if I have to use one for more than a week I prefer a full sized keyboard for more comfortable typing.
a large LCD monitor. My work laptop is a 13” MacBook Pro and it’s great for travel and working from events and meetings, but when I’m in my home office I use a 34” curved gaming monitor. It makes things so much easier on my eyes.
also, I work, as I said, telecommute full time and have for the last ten years. So outside of tech, I also suggest this:
do your work in a room away from the rest of your home if you can. It’s hard “turning off” if you’re not used to having work right there.
get up and walk away every so often. It’s all too easy to get wrapped up in work, even at home. Step away every so often and just take five or ten minutes to take a break and recharge a bit.
I recently moved to a mesh using Orbi and it’s been great. Internally I get great WiFi speeds on both 5GHz and 2.4GHz using the Orbi gear inside and for a good distance outside my house.
I also like Unifi gear and my company’s IT team uses that for WiFi in our offices and event kit to set up mesh networks wherever we have events of any size.
additionally:
A good keyboard. Using a laptop is great, but if I have to use one for more than a week I prefer a full sized keyboard for more comfortable typing.
a large LCD monitor. My work laptop is a 13” MacBook Pro and it’s great for travel and working from events and meetings, but when I’m in my home office I use a 34” curved gaming monitor. It makes things so much easier on my eyes.
also, I work, as I said, telecommute full time and have for the last ten years. So outside of tech, I also suggest this:
do your work in a room away from the rest of your home if you can. It’s hard “turning off” if you’re not used to having work right there.
get up and walk away every so often. It’s all too easy to get wrapped up in work, even at home. Step away every so often and just take five or ten minutes to take a break and recharge a bit.
Very good suggestions. We set up my wife's workspace with a docking station yesterday so she would have a good keyboard and monitor, We will get mine set up by this weekend, The work habits suggestion are also very good.
I should note that I am really liking Zoom the more I use it,
Mar 18, 2020, 2:51 pm
#88
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More topical, and now that I'm not using my phone to type that message out (yeesh I just noticed how it munged things like " ...
My desktop machine is a home-built machine, but I use a vintage IBM Model M with a custom USB cable. I am a touch typist (not so much when I'm writing code, but when I'm writing docs and emails I can comfortably sit at around 70-80 WPM) and find that a good mechanical keyboard is far easier than those little cheapo keyboards. I burned through two Unisys Model Ms, those are built using the old IBM plans, but using cheaper materials and don't last. My first real Model M lasted nearly 15 years and that was AFTER it was already over 20 years old. This one I bought was New Old Stock and still in it's original box and should last longer than I do. I've not tried one of the other new mechanical keyboards (using the Cherry MX and similar switches) but they would probably work ok as well. But there's something satisfying about the heft and tactile response of the old IBM Model M.
For a webcam, I agree with the Logitech 9xx cameras... they're fantastic and work with pretty much anything.
Mar 18, 2020, 5:24 pm
#89
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We got our second office space set up earlier than I thought. It’s ready to go now. Have a large external monitor ready and a wireless keyboard and trackpad coming Saturday. I have some another external keyboard and mouse I can use until the weekend.
Mar 19, 2020, 8:57 am
#90
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Hah, thanks. I stole it from the Pricess Bride, long before Ulbricht created the Silk Road.
More topical, and now that I'm not using my phone to type that message out (yeesh I just noticed how it munged things like " ...
My desktop machine is a home-built machine, but I use a vintage IBM Model M with a custom USB cable. I am a touch typist (not so much when I'm writing code, but when I'm writing docs and emails I can comfortably sit at around 70-80 WPM) and find that a good mechanical keyboard is far easier than those little cheapo keyboards. I burned through two Unisys Model Ms, those are built using the old IBM plans, but using cheaper materials and don't last. My first real Model M lasted nearly 15 years and that was AFTER it was already over 20 years old. This one I bought was New Old Stock and still in it's original box and should last longer than I do. I've not tried one of the other new mechanical keyboards (using the Cherry MX and similar switches) but they would probably work ok as well. But there's something satisfying about the heft and tactile response of the old IBM Model M.
For a webcam, I agree with the Logitech 9xx cameras... they're fantastic and work with pretty much anything.
More topical, and now that I'm not using my phone to type that message out (yeesh I just noticed how it munged things like " ...
My desktop machine is a home-built machine, but I use a vintage IBM Model M with a custom USB cable. I am a touch typist (not so much when I'm writing code, but when I'm writing docs and emails I can comfortably sit at around 70-80 WPM) and find that a good mechanical keyboard is far easier than those little cheapo keyboards. I burned through two Unisys Model Ms, those are built using the old IBM plans, but using cheaper materials and don't last. My first real Model M lasted nearly 15 years and that was AFTER it was already over 20 years old. This one I bought was New Old Stock and still in it's original box and should last longer than I do. I've not tried one of the other new mechanical keyboards (using the Cherry MX and similar switches) but they would probably work ok as well. But there's something satisfying about the heft and tactile response of the old IBM Model M.
For a webcam, I agree with the Logitech 9xx cameras... they're fantastic and work with pretty much anything.
My current keyboard infatuation is with the Logitech MX Keys wireless keyboard. It has a very similar feel to the best of the IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad keyboards, and I can type like a demon on it. Minimal travel but solid feedback, and no horizontal slop. I love the proximity-sensor enabled backlight. I currently only have one primary computer, but in instances where I would need a client-supplied laptop I can pair the keyboard (and mouse) to both and switch between them with the press of a button.
The MX Master 3 mouse is an awesome option, too. Very comfortable, configurable, and the scroll wheel has to be experienced to be believed.
My webcam is built into my primary display (ThinkVision X1 4K). It's HD/1080p (which doesn't do my looks any favors). The monitor and webcam work great, but the built-in microphone doesn't get along with Windows 10's USB mic implementation. I had to download and install Equalizer APO to boost it by 30db, then install a VST plugin to clean up the background noise. Definitely not studio quality, but quite acceptable for VoIP.