Ben Galbraith's Blog

My Ultimate Home Office

Over the past few years, I've been doing a lot of consulting out of my home office, and the trend will continue for at least the next year. Recently I decided, "Hey, if I'm going to be spending a lot of time in here, I might as well spruce up the place a bit." Over the past few weeks, I've upgraded. Let me tell you what I've got, why I like it, and in some cases, why I still haven't found nirvana yet. Please -- comment on this entry and tell me about your setup. Well, unless you're James "Dual G5! 30" Apple LCD!" Strachan. ;-)

The Chair

I spend 10-20 hours a day at a computer. Bad habits have given me the beginning symptoms of repetitive stress injuries (RSI) in my arms, hands, and back. Comfort is real important to me. Enter the Perfect Chair:

The minute I reclined about 45 degrees, it was heaven. I work most of my day reclined that way, and, when whimsy strikes, I recline back all the way for some... brainstorming. There were some other great up-right chairs out there, but I figured, hey, if I'm at home, I may as well flaunt the freedom it affords me. Try getting your boss to approve one of these for the cube, my friend!

The Computer(s)

With the perfect chair, I've got the most important element out of the way. Next question: what computer? Since I'm lucky enough to be developing in cross-platform languages, I can choose pretty much whatever. So I went with an Apple PowerBook. Which model? The 15", of course. 12" is too cramped, and the 17" is way too large.

Ahh, nice. I love working on the Mac; the aesthetics of OS X and power of Unix are just great. Everything tends to work well together. Wonderful platform. And, wicked slow. So, when I need to actually get work done for people, I use a mutt PC that I built years ago and upgrade as it breaks (last incident was an AMD chip whose heat-sink fell off, frying itself in a few seconds). I always choose middle of the road components, and it always seems to run circles around whatever Mac laptop I'm using. Right now it's got a 2.8 GHz Pentium something-or-other, Intel motherboard, 1.5 GB RAM, nVidia 6600 AGP 8x 256 MB card (cheap but sufficient), and not much else.

The Keyboard

There are millions of folks who type on keyboards all day every day. Yet, I can't find just the right keyboard. The closest thing to perfection I've found is the old Microsoft Natural Pro keyboard. It's been discontinued for years, so I buy them on eBay when I need 'em. And I have a little stockpile.

I love that keyboard. Why? It has the only True Keyboard Layout I've found in an ergonomic style (2x3 special key block between the main keys and numeric keypad, 1-on-3 arrow key layout, slashes in the right places, and so forth); it isn't wireless, so no batteries or radio interference to worry about (I'm always by my desk anyway); it's got programmable macro keys galore; it's got a built-in USB bus; and its got pretty good OS X drivers.

Apparently, I'm not the only admirer of this sucker; they don't go cheap in on-line auctions.

The Monitor

In a stupider move, I bought a 20" Apple LCD. I got it at a discount when I joined the ADC, but even still, it was overpriced. Dell makes a 24" LCD that suspiciously matches the specs of the Apple 23" LCD and sells it for $400 less than Apple's 23". Should have done that. Nevertheless, it's a great LCD, and nice-looking too.

Once you take the recliner plunge, you've got to make accomodations for your monitor. You see, the Perfect Chair can put your feet way above the bottom of any desk I've seen, so you can't just put the chair under your desk. I put my chair parallel to my desk, and I've got an Ergotron LX monitor arm that positions the monitor over me just where I like it as I recline.

The downside of the arm is that it only tilts down 5 degrees. I need to find something that tilts down 45 degrees or more so I can position it directly above me; that should be fun.

The KVM

Two computers, one monitor -- enter the KVM (Keyboard-Video-Mouse) Switch. I've had some real bad experiences with these devices in the past, but all that's changed with my recent find: the Gefen SL Switcher.

It's a DVI/USB2 KVM siwtch that comes with a remote control! This sucker works like a champ with no signal quality problems. Can't recommend it enough.

The Software

Ugh, this is a whole separate blog entry. But let me tell you about my favorite two pieces of software. QuickSilver is *the* way to get around on a Mac. Check it out. I haven't used the Dock for ages. (Hint, QS does a lot more than app switching.)

And for code grinding, IntelliJ IDEA still can't be beat. Worth every penny.

What's Missing

I need to get an air mouse to get the Minority Report effect going, and frankly, there's not a good place for a conventional mouse in the reclining chair. I have a generic sound system (cheap Logitech surround sound system; cheap Logitech headphone/mic combo); I ought to upgrade to some THX-certified goodness and get a nice surround sound USB device for the PowerBook.

What else am I missing?

(Cross-posted on my personal blog, Married... with Children)

Comments

• Super nice Ben!

  Personally, I consider this the ultimate hacking chair!
  (Especially with the keyboards lowered, and angled out at 45° from horizontal)

  Particularly when coupled with a foot mouse!

  Naturally, to each his own; I am certain you will be very happy! :-)

  Posted by: cajo on September 07, 2005 at 07:37 PM

• The AlphaGrip keyboard is the one to use with your chair ! First ones are about to be shipped.
  The boss seems to use that kind of chair too.

  Posted by: dbaeli on September 08, 2005 at 12:41 AM

• aquarium, herbs and a lazy dog :)) - despite of course an awsome girlfriend :)))

  Posted by: felipegaucho on September 08, 2005 at 04:56 AM

• Keyboard:
  Ben,
  You might like the Kinesis Maxim keyboard. I bought one a few years ago, and I really prefer it to the Microsoft Natural Keyboard.
  Unlike the Microsoft keyboard, the Kinesis Maxim does not have an attached numeric keyboard. This allows you to position your mouse (if you are right handed) much closer in, and this can really help reduce repetetive strain/poor posture related injuries.

  --JohnR

  P.S. I am really jealous of your home office ;-)

  Posted by: johnreynolds on September 08, 2005 at 05:25 AM

• You might also want to try the Touchstream Mini keyboard in conjunction with your regualr keyboard (I use the mini for macros and mouse movements.) I also recommend getting rid of the chair. I work standing up at a drafting table. It offers more freedom and ergonomically it's better for you(says my cousin who is a physical therapist.) I can quick grab a book of the self, move to my whiteboard, stretch if I'm stiff, pace if I need to think, etc. It basically puts everything within arm's reach (after a step or two.) I also recommend a dorm fridge for drinks/food and a good stereo system.

  Posted by: hammer on September 08, 2005 at 10:06 AM

• I guess the chair you picked makes it less of an issue, but for me the desk is the most important piece. I usually have papers, peripherals, and other stuff I need room for in order to 'spread out' a bit. If I were reclining all day long I'd be comfortable while doing so, but it would be annoying to have to sit up and reach all the time. Unless I built a robot to grab stuff at my voice command or developed my latent telekinesis powers, that is.

  Computer desks you can buy in the store are typically either too expensive or built by people that have hardly ever touched a computer , much less had to sit in front of one for hours and hours. For example, the hutch only has enough room for a 15" monitor on the desk, it's maybe only 2 & 1/2' deep so there's no leg room much less desktop space, it forces you to use a special cabinet for your PC box that isn't good for anything else if you can't use it, and probably the sitting space isn't wide enoug to accomodate a decent-sized (read:comfortable) chair).

  I kind of like my Anthrocart at work, but my wife ain't havin' none of that in her house, so I'm planning to build my own out of a nice wood and have enough space for 2 21" LCDs or CRTs, printer, and myriad of small peripherals on the desk top and STILL have room for papers, magazines, or small projects off to one side of the keyboard. Two important considerations for me are also mounting of indirect lighting and taking into account heat produced by various items. Does anyone know of any plans, either on the web or in a magazine that they could recommend? I could always modify one to suit my needs. If I do it on my own, I'll probably post the plans.

  BTW, I can't stand any of the Natural keyboards or anything similar. I guess I'm old-school but the old standard 101-key layout with a decent-clicking midlevel key-travel keyboard is still my favorite. I'm not into any of the new funky keyboards that try to add a bajillion 'function' keys, especially when they crowd the other keys and the arrow and insert/delete/home/end/pageup/pagedown keys are re-arranged, made smaller, or shrunk.

  Posted by: gerryg on September 08, 2005 at 10:30 AM

• Trackballs are the way to go when not working on a desktop. They can be put in one place and don't need nearly as much room as a mouse and don't slide around when you recline. Heck, you can even take your hand off of the device and the pointer stays right where you left it, which mice don't do even on a desktop.

  I'm partial to the 'Logitech TrackMan Marble+'. Unfortunately you can't buy them any more and Logitech has some hideous replacement with a similar name to confuse things. The one I like is is a half moon shape that fits the natural curvature of your hand and has a small (ping-pong ball size) track ball under the thumb. For fun you can whip your thumb across it really fast so the the optical sensor can't keep up and the pointer glides backward for a second or two, then flies off in the correct direction.

  Posted by: mcrocker on September 08, 2005 at 01:03 PM

• Thank god the IDE ain't Netbeans for once!

  Hmmm no wireless keyboard in that pimp-lean chair?
  

  Posted by: phlogistic on September 10, 2005 at 09:17 AM

• All: thanks for the feedback!

  mcrocker: I just ordered a Logitech trackball, gonna check it out.

  phlogistic: Thinking about wireless for the first time too. Annoying to constantly move the keyboard/mouse back and forth off the chair and my cables get all tangled up.

  hammer, johnreynolds, dbaeli: thanks for the tips on th keyboards! Am gonna check some new ones out.

  Posted by: javaben on September 14, 2005 at 06:42 PM

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.