If anyone's really into "setups", I'd highly recommend checking out usesthis.com. There's some great discussion on why people like certain tools, and some high-profile people on there from all walks of tech life (writers, podcasters, musicians, mechanical engineers). Here's a few of my favorites:
I avoid having a desk surface because it just gets overwhelmed with crap. This way I can't just set things down- they need to be put somewhere. Also I can move it out of the way for shooting YouTube videos, roll near the window when I want more daylight, roll near the printers when I am tweaking them etc.
It is crazy that we have some trade war and xenophobia going on at the moment, I think your channel and comments here are helpful in challenging assumptions commonly held in the West.
I have a rig like yours with a hospital style adjustable height table that has wheels and can be used in a bed (if need be) to pile the junk on. The lip around the edge of the table top stops small things rolling off, plus it has a cup holder, unlike most tables.
I will be subscribing even though your content is not my normal fayre and I commend you for making the world that bit more interesting and surprising!
The improvements section/conclusion in Aaron Schwartz article is actually very possible today.
>I wish all my hard drives were consolidated onto one big drive. I wish I had SoundSticks. I wish my G1 was much, much faster. I wish that Terminal would have built-in support for screen so that different screens would appear as tabs and it would auto-reconnect. I wish that there was decent todo management software that deeply integrated with my email. I wish that everyone had perfectionist levels of attention to detail.
Phones are much, much faster, NAS’s (synology for example) allow you to merge a whole bunch of drives on a network. And Iterm is integrated with tmux, which makes it feel supremely native.
Not sure about the todo or attention to detail though.
I think most “to do” / productivity software integrstes with email these days (ie Asana has plugins for both GMail and Outlook and I think lots do), and slightly related emails has also become more easily “actionable” when Mailbox created the whole “swipe to action” email gestures that Apple and google then learned from etc.
Derek Sivers' interview (founder of CDBaby) was the one thing that got me into Linux for the first time years ago (and Arch Linux even). Since then it's been my primary OS.
Hey, another site that was built on a Mac and not tested on anything else.
So, Avenir Next is not a system font on Windows or Linux. On Windows, this means you get the browser's default stylesheet fallback, which means Times New Roman. So your site essentially looks like a Word 97 document to all your Windows visitors, and who-knows-what on the various Linux distros.
b) get folks to mention which chair, too. Some of us invest in ergonomic chairs, and those who don't would benefit from opinions on which chairs are good
For what it's worth, I got this chair recently (a Torch Iris Gold) in Hong Kong, and found it incredible value for money, at least compared to a Herman Miller Aeron, Mirra etc; : it has a bunch of adjustments that the Aeron and Mirra do not. Obviously, this advice isn't that useful if you're not in Hong Kong.
I'm not, I completely overlooked this :/ I'm adding this to the upload form now and I guess will have to go through and manually remove everyones exif data. Thanks for raising this.
I wish cameras wouldn't default to include location data. Most people don't even know pictures can include that type of info. It really should be an opt-in feature.
Kinda surprising, as many web-applications forget to add that meta-data after e.g. resizing photos. Still, not a good idea to upload pictures with GPS data to an online service (unintentionally).
It disappoints me that there apparently isn't an option on iOS to track photo location using some scheme other than EXIF. I really like being able to organize photos by location on my phone, but I dislike relying on image hosts and social networks to strip EXIF data when I post them to the web. Couldn't iOS store locations for photos it's taken out of band, in a sqlite db or something?
You can strip your own exif, there are many apps. Do not trust anyone else to do so, or not to keep that data for themselves even when they do. Cougfhaceboockough.
So iOS does it one way, Android does it another, and your old DSLR still stores data in EXIF? Sounds like a great way to be locked into a certain vendor.
At a previous job, when I was working on a complete rewrite of a critical backend financial data system for a hedge fund, I had a massive tower of empty mountain dew cans on my desk. It nearly reached the ceiling and was probably around 30 cans at the base. I had to stand on my deal to add new cans. It stood as a monument to all of the sugar and caffeine I consumed on the project (I was planning on taking it down post release).
Sadly, CEO was bringing some investors around and was mortified, and I was ordered to take it down. I didn't receive any backlash beyond bring told to take it down. Also, sadly no photos exist as it was against company policy. It Took something around 2.5 50 gallon garbage bags to dispose of.
Today, my desk is spotless. Just a notepad and pen on it when I go home at night.
Hello, haters. A NSFW warning is a detail of etiquette on the internet. It has nothing to do with being judgy about the content. It is solely about protecting someone's job while they surf the internet.
Actually I don’t think that’s the case! I find keeping my workspace relatively beautiful and clean (in my eyes - I’m sure it’s still a little bit messy by some standards) makes me feel better and more productive - and I think there’s science somewhere as well that says that messy work places adds to stress (I think the last place I saw it mentioned was in the book Deep Work, but it’s been known for ages).
I have a directory full of photos of every desk "setup" I've had since 2002. They all look very tidy, like in these photos. Nothing like the project-strewn desk I'm sitting in front of now. I realized this is because the only time I ever take a picture of my desk is right after I have set it up.
Honestly having a collection of photos on this site that backlogs this far back would be incredible. Not just saying that because I built it (but I also because I built it)
I love the single-screen setup. I have tried dual-monitors, laptop + monitor, etc., but found that everything else on the screen is just a distraction. Most of the time I'll just work on my laptop or plug in a monitor & close my laptop!
It really does! It's massively inspired by that subreddit and /r/macsetups too. I wanted to create this to hopefully fill the gaps a little when talking about your setup in detail. It's a very early Alpha so it isn't very feature rich but planning to build on this more in the future.
I am a bit surprised there is no vertical multi-monitor setup there yet. I have my 2nd monitor above my first since a few years now and I don't want to go back to the traditional horizontal layout.
The only thing I might change is adding more monitors or increasing sizes, but that isn't really a priority as I tend to have enough space most of the time.
However, I love the idea, of this site as the photos offer a better impression of the work experience in those places (e.g. compared to usesthis.com).
Could you explain why you like this better than a traditional multi monitor layout? And how wouldit compare to vertical monitors horizontally next to each other?
> Could you explain why you like this better than a traditional multi monitor layout?
With the (traditional) horizontal layout you have to turn your head or your complete body towards a monitor. With a vertical setup, you can always sit/stay in a symmetrical way towards your monitors and instead of turning your head you have to tilt it.
In the end, it all comes down to how your body fits into that setup, but I feel a lot more comfortable if I don't have to turn my head. Tilting just feels better (less asymmetrical stress on my shoulders when you keep your head in a fixed position).
> And how wouldit compare to vertical monitors horizontally next to each other?
I never worked with vertical monitors for a long time so far, but I guess three would be a better choice for me than two, as I could have one centered monitor. A pro for vertical monitors would be that at least they would reduce the angle I have to turn my head.
For reading longer articles/text or even just code, I prefer it vastly. My current (work) setup is one landscape monitor in the middle and two portrait mode monitors on the sides. The only change I would personally make is add another landscape monitor right above my current one.
Try using a monitor arm and angle that monitor in such a way at such a height, that you would not have to adjust your head along the vertical axis. It only works with monitors up to a certain size, though, which is the biggest limitation.
Actually, my lower monitor is my primary monitor for my desktop PC. But for a while, I used a similar setup with a Thinkpad as my lower monitor and that worked just fine for me too even though I used the large upper monitor as the primary monitor then.
Heh, I feel very tempted to go all in with pictures.
After 15 years of using nothing but the latest and greatest, I'm now stuck with a refurbished HP desktop that smells like burned plastic and an arbitrary collection of questionable-quality accessories on top of a retired kitchen table with a garden chair to sit on.
And the only thing that really bothers me is that the computer might stop working any second and I can't afford a new one.
I don't use an ergonomic mouse. I am using my keyboard probably ~20x more than my mouse, so it just doesn't seem that important. Mostly I am using my mouse to scroll around and navigate webpages, but when coding it's mostly Vim, tabbing between windows, typing commands in the terminal, etc...
I'm pretty much switching between stuff using keyboard, and mouse is mostly for "fine" scrolling, selection of bookmarks, and links, in most cases just page up/page down
Something's up with the retrieval of images. Getting errors (402 status code) from Firebase storage / Google. — EDIT: seems to be fixed!
Fun project though! What are your plans with it? Like to hear about your ideas.
Some – unsolicited – suggestions (feel free to ignore):
- describing (primary) usage(s) – e.g. workstation, gaming, web dev, music, audio, etc.
- describing setup components by selecting items from a parts list
- adding benchmark results
- filtering / searching setups by varying properties
- breaking down components even further.. there's a huge community around mechanical keyboards for example, these come in all kinds of shapes.. users may have desires along the lines of: "I'd like to see setups with wireless 60% keyboards"
- listing similar setups ("if you like this, you might like..")
These are great suggestions, thank you and it's exactly what I've posted it for tbh - It feels like this project could have endless possibilities but I also want to know what others care about too.
My next steps (I posted below but happy to post here too)
- Multiple image upload support
- Like setups
- Build collections out of setups
- Search (tags, product names, setup titles etc)
- Tagging products on setups (like how Facebook does but you know, respect peoples data etc)
I think after that or even during, I'll need to definitely come up with a more structured roadmap.
Everyone willing to post their photo, at least. My hardware setup isn't that different than images, but I have 2 laptops KVMed to one monitor and the resulting pile of cables. I have no desire for the world to see my chaos, or my messy office, or my pile of diet mountain dew cans, because somehow admitting to such vices on HN is OK, but documenting them via a photo feels wrong.
You see the same principle behind people's Instagrams. People shoot, re-shoot and meticulously edit their uploads so they're as flawless as possible. I think Reddit has something called 'r/shittybattlestations' as a joke sub to counter the deluge of samey "minimal IKEA desk w/ hyper-expensive equipment" content on the main subs.
I was expecting this to be about software customization, but I guess not.
BTW, what is that on the wall below the desk on the 2nd picture? I'm not even sure how to describe it. It looks like a cat door with 4 mini laundry baskets stacked on one another and like a plastic bag in a hole on the top. What is that?
It looks like an old fashioned natural gas heater? My grandmas house had something very similar, it was like a little decorated alcove with an open natural gas flame in it. The bag at the top probably covers what used to be an old vent or something?
Awesome. A feature suggestion. Add option for users to enter details of their laptop, keyboard, mouse model etc when they submit the photo. You can probably create a rank list of popular gear from this. Also can link the gear to Amazon and make some money via referral links ;)
While I think this is cool (workstation porn :), it seems an overkill, you could achieve most (if not all) with a simple tumblr blog/account. Even NSFW upload protection and affiliate marketing. Aren't you folks tired of so many accounts?
I was greeted with an extremely NSFW picture but it seems to be gone for now. Not sure how to guard against that except to be vigilant in deleting such images. Love the website though! Reminds me of /r/battlestations on reddit
I think it's currently technically feasible on top-of-the-line phones to implement real time nudity detection and hiding by default. I can see it being a solved problem in 5 years. Maybe it will display at first but be blacked out after a few milliseconds.
I wish the cabling could be made a little neater with desktop setups. Power cables, video cables, USB cables. I use a KVM so even more cables. Hopefully Thunderbolt/USB4 will simplify things a bit in the future.
Thanks! It started as a conversation between a friend mostly off the back off /r/battlestations and how I'd love to be able to see more of peoples setups.
Initial steps where just to throw something together to allow people to upload multiple setups and view others.
Next steps on the roadmap
- Multiple image upload support
- Like setups
- Build collections out of setups
- Search (tags, product names, setup titles etc)
- Tagging products on setups (like how Facebook does but you know, respect peoples data etc)
Later later steps would probably be allowing the user to build collections out of popular products that get uploaded.
I had some trouble earlier with people uploading dumb images, so in order to upload images now, you need to verify your email address. There should be messaging at the bottom of the screen and I probably need to make that design clearer.
Or to use some web service to detect nudity in images.
I was getting my college degree during peak goatse and have gotten good at tuning out goatse, so it hasn't hurt my impression of the site. It's a great idea to bring usesthis to the masses, and I wish success for OP. I'd consider excluding things that are primarily gaming because there are already places for people to show off their gaming rigs (such as battlestations on reddit).
IIRC Google Cloud, Azure, and (least certain of this one) AWS have machine learning driven adult image detection (among other things, like recognizing famous people's faces) as a service.
This has been around for years and you'll spend just as long trying to find something worth looking at and, perhaps, replicating. Most of them are just as drab and dreary as you'll find making the site, to some extent, pointless without doing any vetting for something unique.
You might want to consider adding some form of moderation. Viewed this at work and some very classic nsfw images were uploaded instead of workstations.
Aaron Schwartz: https://usesthis.com/interviews/aaron.swartz/
Mike Hoye (Mozilla): https://usesthis.com/interviews/mhoye/
Drew DeVault: https://usesthis.com/interviews/drew.devault/
Naomi Wu: https://usesthis.com/interviews/naomi.wu/