Share your HOME WORKING workstation environment - pics

[Watchman]

grumbledoak said:

If I have to stare at it all day, it's getting a tidy up! Electric sit/stand desk, small tower out of sight below right.



Does anyone recommend a good wireless keyboard and mouse combo? I tried the Logitech MK270 set and it was dreadful.

Keyboards are a bit of a personal choice thing. I have wanted a proper old school clicky one for ages so with the excuse of this homeworking lark, I bought one. My wife and daughter hate it but my son loves it.

My wife uses a keyboard with half the key travel of mine and quiet landings. My daughter uses a Chromebook - its keyboard hardly moves at all and feels horrible to me.

Then there are full keyboards, TKL types and 60% types. I decided to go for a full one which again my son likes but the girls find "pointless", both opting for 60% types.

[Watchman]

annodomini2 said:

That looks amazing. I've not seen one in real life. Got any other pics from different angles?

[Watchman]

964Cup said:

Wow. Now THAT'S impressive.

[Watchman]

Starjet99 said:

Some really nice workstations posted here.

With a high likelihood of my own role becoming home-based (compared to just 1-2 days per week now), I'm beginning to look closely at the kit I have and have a couple of questions, if I may:

Do you use your own kit for working from home, or is it company supplied?

If it's your own kit, how do you maintain a good work/personal split when it comes to IT (either for your benefit, or theirs)?

Company has given me a phone and a couple of screens which I'm driving with my own Raspberry Pi, keyboard and mouse. I also have my own laptop. Some people have taken terminals home. We tend to encourage people to provide their own kit but we have enough of everything for anyone who has a need.

We use Citrix so that keeps a separation between my stuff and work.

[Watchman]

DanoS4 said:

Here's my working from home

So much cool in that pic, from the Star Wars desktop to the speakers (what are they?).

[Watchman]

bodhi said:

I've worked from home a couple of days a week for 5+ years now, so adjusting was pretty easy, and thought I'd use it as an excuse to rearrange everything so video calls were a bit less messy in the background, get a new chair, new monitors etc. So I bought myself:

1 x Secret Lab Titan Office Chair
2 x Dell P2319H Monitors
1 x Dell USB-C Dock

Now it looks like this:



Random fact - my desk (MFI's finest), keyboard (the legendary IBM Model M) and Hi-Fi (and old "proper" Sony midi system) are a combined 87 years old.

Also, anyone looking at the Secret Lab chairs - just do it. So comfortable, can easily survive a full 10 hour day and still be comfortable at the end.

Have you got a model M with a PS2 connector?

Great keyboards. Amazing to think they were pennies back in the day. I had a few in the 1980s and 90s.

I have a Fnatic keyboard with Cherry MX blue keys because I miss the days I'm with my model M at work.

[Watchman]

The Cherry MX blues are not the same tech but they do give a similar feel - sort of updated. There's a sliding collar under the key which gives that "over cam" feel that the buckling springs used to. There's a ping and a click from the mech - quite noisy but very satisfying.

Edited by Watchman on Tuesday 7th April 07:52

[Watchman]

Be careful to check you are ordering a UK layout keyboard too. I was tempted by a Unicomp but couldn't be certain they would send me a UK keyboard.

Also... I wanted red back lighting

[Watchman]

plasticpig said:

There is a UK supplier of Unicomp: https://www.keyboardco.com/category.asp?sr=unicomp...

Out of stock of the one I'd want - but fabulous to know they're still being made. Linus Tech Tips did a review of them. Amazing to think this tech hasn't really been surpassed even after 3+ decdes.

[Watchman]

bodhi said:

Damn I knew I shouldn't have posted in here, now I'm trying to make my mind up between one of these "new" Model M's or a Das Keyboard 4 with Brown switches.

Or... a Model F?

https://www.modelfkeyboards.com/

[Watchman]

Our Comms kit was all stacked up on top of each other behind the playroom TV, gathering loads of dust. The router was often obscured to the point where my workstation, in the furthest end of the house, was getting intermittent signal, so I ordered the cheapest small-footprint cube-style shelf I could find and rearranged it all.

The globe has a 5W LED bulb inside connected to a LightwaveRF switch. It's our nightlight - it's very dark at night here (no streetlights).

Anyway, you can see I still have those multiway mains extenders all stacked up to the left. I'd like a low-profile 10-way extender, all in a single strip, that is under 3-ft so I could screw it to the side of the shelf and tidy-up the mains wiring but I can't find one.

Anyone got a link for one, please? Has to be a single strip because some plugs are backwards - cables coming off the earth-pin end.

Edited by Watchman on Thursday 9th April 17:31

[Watchman]

Yeah, I should have said I was trying to avoid a PDU for precisely the reason you alluded to. Mind you, they're often quite bulky too. If I could get a 10-way version of what you linked to, that'd be ideal.

I've got 3x C13 (Euro plugs) PDUs in the garage but they're no good for domestic kit.

[Watchman]

Jeez, I have so much "stuff" collected over the years. I opened up the PDU box in my garage and found a 10-way UK mains extender alongside the C13/C14 types I already knew were there.

Thanks for the help.

If anyone needs a cable, after lockdown, I'm not far from Droitwich.

[Watchman]

My son receiving on-line guitar tuition.

Built his own gaming/do-everything PC rig. I just got him the three screens at the bottom.

[Watchman]

AJB88 said:

Watchman said:

My son receiving on-line guitar tuition.

Built his own gaming/do-everything PC rig. I just got him the three screens at the bottom.

Step son had his drumming lesson today, literally missus laptop, Skype and his drum kit.

We do drums too. This is behind him:

[Watchman]

AJB88 said:

looks like a framed picture of buttons to me.

It is, isn't it? Fabulous. I'm going to get one for my morning teleconferences. Brilliant..!!

[Watchman]

snuffy said:

Luca Brazzi said:

Love this thread....just taken delivery of a 34" ultrawide monitor. Next thing on my list is a new chair - current chair are killing my back after 8 weeks of WFH. Any recommendations?

Requirements:
- online delivery - if with Amazon then even better
- less than £150
- office chair rather than gaming chair
- armrests ideally

If with wheels, will need to buy one of those plastic floor protector things to put over the carpet - any recommendations on those as well?

Cheers.

I have a kneeling chair and I think they are great. They force you to sit up straight because otherwise you will fall off ! I used to have endless neck trouble using a office type chair, then a got a kneeling one and all my neck pain went away and has never come back.

Ah, but how are your knees?

[Watchman]

Since my OP, I've expanded a bit. Can't say that it's all strictly necessary or that I *need* all those screens but I have them and can find a use for them, and I already had the drum hardware from which I made the laptop stand, so what the hell...




The laptop webcam is rubbish so I use the iPhone SE camera connected to the laptop using DroidCam, and now I have the best camera of all my colleagues - wide field of vision, better in low light, and 720p.

[Watchman]

sunbeam alpine said:

Watchman said:

Since my OP, I've expanded a bit. Can't say that it's all strictly necessary or that I *need* all those screens but I have them and can find a use for them, and I already had the drum hardware from which I made the laptop stand, so what the hell...




The laptop webcam is rubbish so I use the iPhone SE camera connected to the laptop using DroidCam, and now I have the best camera of all my colleagues - wide field of vision, better in low light, and 720p.

Sorry if it's been asked already and I missed it, but can you give details on your double screen/stand setup?

Looking for something similar.

Sure, one of these bought from this organisation:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353081028308

[Watchman]

CrouchingWayne said:

Hi Guys - few quick questions on home working set ups! You all seem to be experts in this area so hopefully have some experience to share:

Screen mounts - I have 2x monitors and a tablet device working as a third screen - are the articulating arm set ups you see on Amazon etc sturdy enough to use regularly? I was eyeing a few up that would take the 2x monitors, but they attach to the table using a basic G clamp style fixing. Is this enough, and is it likely to damage my wooden (dining room) table? In an ideal world I would have all 3 held somehow. I like the idea of being able to move them out of the way when not working. Wife not keen on a desk raiser so thought these might allow some standing working.

The G clamps tend to come with a stick-on piece of foam but there is risk that it'll damage a nice table. I am not sure I'd risk it. I work with a very cheap metal-framed workstation desk from Ebay, so I'm not worried about knocking it about. In fact, my wife has 3 monitors on a G clamp mount and it tends to lean a little towards her. I just can't make it as rigid as the type I use - which clamps through a hole in the table. It's intended to use one of the cable holes but - cheap table remember - I drilled a 10mm hole for the bolt to pass through and it's very rigid.

CrouchingWayne said:

Third screen - I use the tablet almost exclusively for the webcam with some Teams / Spotify windows, has anyone ditched this and used an external webcam instead? I’ve always assumed more screens the better. Not sure on differences in quality.

My laptop webcam is rubbish. It's not an old laptop either but generally all laptop cameras are rubbish, so I use my phone camera and DROIDCAM to port its camera to my laptop for VCs.

Apart from that I have raided my entire screen collection and mounted as many as I can drive from a Raspberry Pi and a laptop - 5 screens in all (including the laptop which can drive 2 externals) and I have something different on each of them. I quite like it although it does mean I have to switch keyboards between screens 1/2 and 3/4/5 but I simply assign the least-used objects to the least accessible keyboard (the laptop).

CrouchingWayne said:

Audio - I use a set of over the head headphones with a mic built in mainly as the audio from the tablet is pretty poor. Has anyone changed from headphones to an external speaker / microphone set up? Being on quite a few calls it can get a bit intense having headphones on all day.

I use a set of Bose headphones for VCs and teleconfs but just take them off after each call. Some days they are on for hours at a time but if I don't use them, I do use a set of earphones instead because speakers and teleconferencing is a no-no. There's just too much audio feedback and it pisses people off (me included when others do it).

CrouchingWayne said:

Mouse - I am using the cheapest fo the cheap just now - a £6 wired Logitech mouse. I’ve got a Magic Mouse in the cupboard that I don’t like using. Are there any recommendations on a fairly standard sized mouse that is wireless? Looking online it seems a lot of love for the Logitech range, but they sit around £50+ it seems from a quick Google. I will be using it all day pretty much everyday so can spend the money is it is worth it. Going wireless would be useful as I could then connect to my personal devices as well as work ones.

Logitech M185 - ten quid on Amazon. I've got 2 on the desk (one for the Pi and one for the laptop).

CrouchingWayne said:

Keyboard - I am using an old wired Mac keyboard with number pad just now Happy enough with it, but if there is a set combined with a mouse (see above) I would consider changing out. Number pad is a must.

Don't know much about Macs but most wired keyboards come with USB extenders, so you can plug your wireless mouse dongle into that.