My home setup is a bit of a beast. Being a software developer an all I have quite the Frankenstein’s monster going on. I have a desktop that is my main computer and it is connected to 3 27″ monitors. When developing software, 3 can be useful. 1 monitor for the development environment, 1 monitor for the program that you are trying to develop, and 1 monitor for web browser, research, development status windows, or documentation. I have an older intel Mac Mini on the desk, the last one that had a DVD drive inside, but really useless as a Mac now, and it is connected to a DVI port on one monitor. A System 76 Meerkat linux machine, also connected to a DVI port on another monitor. A Raspberry Pi connected to the DVI port of the last monitor. And finally my work laptop with dock which allows it to connect to two monitors over HDMI. Monitors are a bit dated, they were good when I bought them, they are still pretty good being 1440p but not really gaming displays. They have 1 display port, 1 hdmi port, 1 dvi port, and 1 vga port. The vga port should tell you a bit on how old they are.
At any rate, for the longest time I just used the stands that came with the monitors. The problem was that the stands take up a lot of desk real estate and with 3 keyboards, and mice on the desk; I keep the desktop always connected to the same keyboard and mouse, the mac because it is a mac, needs it’s own keyboard, and the other computers share the third keyboard and mouse. So a bit cluttered. And the monitor stands don’t help in keeping things tidy.
So I felt I really need to get this sorted because it finally started to really annoy me. What was worse is the cabling nightmare. 3 keyboard, 3 mice, three monitors (power cable, 3 display port cables to connect to the desktop, 1 dvi cable with hdmi dongle to the Mac, 1 dvi cable with hdmi dongle to the System 76 machine, 1 dvi dongle to messed up hdmi cable to the RPi machine, 2 hdmi cables with display port dongles to the docking station for the work computer), power to the work docking station, power to a network switch on the desk, network cables to everything, two cables speakers, a usb cable to a USB hub, a usb cable to an external stereo DAC, a remote volume control for the speakers that connects to a subwoofer control unit on the floor, a usb cable to a small wacom tablet, a headphone connected to the stereo DAC, a stereo cable from the DAC to the subwoofer speaker control unit, a usb cable to a headphones with mic for the work computer, power cables to all the other computers… Oh as a power cable to a 2 drive NAS. My desk is BUSsss-saaay! (I’ll ignore the racing wheel and pedals, the flight stick, throttle unit, and pedals, and VR goggles from the setup, I don’t think this desk can handle much more. 🙂 I’ll also ignore the even older Mac mini that I have or the 4 other older laptops I have… I don’t have a hoarding problem, honest!)
So after watching some youtubes about other peoples setups, I thought I’d give the office space a small make over.
The main idea was to just get rid of the monitor stands. So I picked up 3 Amazon Basics monitor arms. They work well with my DELL 27″ monitors. Or well enough. They require some assembly but that’s pretty simple to do. Not much instructions on how best to place it on the desk though. I don’t think my placement is idea but it works. The monitor tilt is friction based and it takes some faffing about to get it to the right tilt. So I’m not exactly happy about that part of the arms. The reach is not as far as I would hope. The monitors are a bit further away from me than compared to when I was using the monitor stands. I guess this is where monitor stands are a bit more convenient. If I just had a 1 or 2 monitor setup then the arms would be just fine but in the 3 monitor set up, the arms are at their reach limits for the two side monitors, the center needs to be further back. If your monitors are the right weight then the arms can be adjusted to stay put. So far they are working.
With the old setup I didn’t like that the video cables didn’t quite reach easily enough, nor did the power cables down to my UPSes. So as well as buying the arms I bought 10′ display port and power cables so that I can guide them in the arms and guide them in a much nicer fashion to the desktop and where ever. The monitor cables from the other systems are shorter in runs since the machines are closer to the monitors. This is where I’m not completely satisfied yet. I need to clean that up a bit. DVI cables are not the most flexible though and they won’t fit in the arm’s cable runs due to their girth. Velcro strips will be used here for the most part. But so many cables… It really is hard to keep it all straight.
So having do this, the absence of the monitor stands has made a huge difference in the amount of unobstructed flat desktop space. I can place all the machines using more of the desktop than before. So I have actual usable space for a notebook and stuff. So this was a definite improvement to the work environment.
Next idea I’m thinking of is to do something with the network switch. I have a simple 8 port switch on the desk. However 8 ports is becoming not enough. I have the Mac and System 76, sharing a cable. 1 port is connected to the ISP modem (or firewall machine when it’s sorted out), 1 port to a local wifi device (although because the firewall machine as a bit of issue, this is not used at the moment.) 1 port to the work machine, 1 port to the desktop, 1 port to the printer, 1 port to the NAS, 2 ports for the Mac, System 76, and RPi. I’m a port short! In the future I was thinking of the RPi being a web server but headless so that it can live without a monitor connection. I was also toying with the thought of getting 3 JetKVM devices or similar to connect the Mac, System 76, and RPi to but that would mean 3 more network ports are needed. Either I get another 8 port switch or get a 16 port switch. At any rate the network switch should end up being mounted on the underside of the desk instead of taking up top side realestate. Or mounted on the wall. Unfortunately the switch I have is ‘pretty’ in that it has very few flat surfaces. Doing either is going to be an interesting ideal. Maybe I should think about crimping my own network cables.
At least one reorganization task done… Too many left to go.