Slashdot Mirror
On Decorating Your Computer Room?
jaxle asks: "I wanted to ask the Slashdot crowd what they have in their computer rooms to make it less... dreary. I love having windows, but like me, for many of us I don't think that is an option. I have most of my computer stuff in the basement, and I find that my eyes usually get sore and I can't stand being down there any longer. So far I have a fish tank that I got recently which adds a nice ambiance to the room. I am planning on buying some plants too in the near future. Any body else have ideas or tell us how you decorate your computer room. Also, what kind of lighting most represents real sunlight?"
They might take special light fixtures, and the bulbs are expensive as hell, but they are well worth it.
For one, they last a long time. I'm not sure about the cost per unit of life, but if you find the right full spectrum bulb it shouldn't be much worse than incandesent.
For two, they really are like real sunlight. You'll all probably be much happier people (since you probably don't get to see much real sunlight if your office has no windows), and you'll get more vitamin D to boot. =D
Oh yeah, and the plants will thank you for it, too.
I love having windows, but like me, for many of us I don't think that is an option.
Easy solution: Use linux!! =)
I don't have a real 'computer room' but I have a room full of electronic stuff, and I find it important to no make it too 'high-tech looking'. Therefore I have two wooden bookcases, a wooden table (2x1 m^2, the bigger the better!) and even a wooden floor. And lots of plants and pluche animals.
-- Cheers!
I use my computer in our house's living room, and you don't wanna see how (un)organized it is :)
:)!
However, it's the least of my interests to decorate my computer PC! What matters is what I can see inside the monitor
Khalid
"What you 'seek' is what you get!"
I don't know how well Eclipse Workstation Lights mimick sunlight, but they're great on the eyes.
As far as designing a room, I always liked neat computer rooms. I like having a shelf with software boxes, all the peripherals neatly aligned, and a clean desk. It's weird. The rest of my rooms look like hell, but not my computer room.
I would personally move out of the basement, and into a loft conversion room if you have one. You can then install a Velux window - great for getting lots of natural light into the room, and then you can have a cool motorised blind for when it gets too sunny that you can rig up to your PC and then control via a temp/sunlight sensor :):)
Although you have realised the benefits of natural light, no artifical light will ever be as good, so make the effort and get yourself into a nice, light room!
Arc
PS: Oblig Simpsons quote: "Ahhh! Natural Light- get it off me, get it off me!" [Barney]
You should have a look at Think Geek...they have many posters and gadgets that should fit very well in a room like yours...as it fits in mine :)
____
nico
Nico-Live
There is no substitute.
Go here to create your own Slashdot dis
I generally use old computer parts, empty beer bottles, and dust to decorate my computer room.
cp -R
Augment regular (yellowish) lighting with one or two of those relatively cheap blue 'daylight' bulbs.
Also remember that the more adjustable your lighting (both in position/angle and in intensity) the more likely you'll be able to get satisfactory results. And when work is tedious, you can try to perfect the lighting configuration for literally hours. Always consider the all-important procrastination factor.
Besides computers, my other hobbies are science fiction, progressive rock [*] and... landscape photography. What I did was making enlargements of my favorite landscape/scenery pictures, framing them, and then hanging them in the walls. I did about six months ago, and I'm pleased with the results.
[*] For a time, the only "dressing" was the sonic dressing the music provided, and that was nice, too.
"Trust me - I know what I'm doing."
- Sledge Hammer
what kind of lighting most represents real sunlight?
real sunlight. get out some.
sig sig sputnik
Cover every surface with mirrors.
Muahahahah! James Bond will never guess which one of you is the real one!
(Spudley Strikes Again!)
The time when I was most productive, was when I had my main workstation in a basement room with a fireplace.
The flickering light of the fire mixing with the glow of the screen was very relaxing, and I was able to work long hours, getting a lot done and still feel relaxed.
Plus, when I got stuck, I could poke the fire, throw another log on it, or go split some wood, taking my mind off of the problem for a while.
these things are nifty
t ml
http://www.skylights-of-hawaii.com/news/page4.h
No electricity required, about as "natural" as you can get for lighting. Obviously only useful during the daylight hours, but a good way to get that natural light that humans absolutely need for both good physical health and psychological health. And you can grow plants then as well down there without using additional electricity or artificial light. And here's a tip, once when all I had was an apartment, I wanted a garden, a veggie garden. So I just went for it, instead of "normal" house plants I grew like 6 foot tall staked tomatoes, etc inside. People always liked it when they came over, and it actually provided some nice fresh salad action. I had tomatoes and pole beans and peas and cukes, etc all growing inside in front of windows. Was really neat! The coolest one was a large rose bush, quite the nice odor inside a small room.
Googling will find you more sources for these and different lighting ideas. All of them more or less use a periscope type action with just ultra shiny pipes to move the light around, and there is a japanese company I have forgotten the name of now though that uses fiber optics to pipe sunlight around to various places inside office buildings.
The venerable macquarium
This sounds silly but I would suggest that if Slashdot users want decorating advice and ideas they should do something more productive then ask Slashdot, watch something like HGTV.
If you ask the slashdot community about ideas you'll have a basement full of neon lights and weird sci collectables, now if you're into it that's great. but if you are looking for something else it would be wiser to look elsewhere.
Leather couches, X-rays, books, hanging christmas bows, Batz Maru, and oh, a window.
The ______ Agenda
http://www.ott-lite.com/
A specially formulated blend of rare earth phosphors is used to create this unique illumination that looks and feels like natural daylight.
The have Walmart in Germany now?! Wow... They really are taking over. (not a troll, I really didn't realize they had locations there.)
Go away, or I will replace you with a very small shell script.
When you have this to look at who needs a window?
Kris
Kriston
apparently they such lots of nasty ray-like things that eminate from computer screens etc..
:D
or so says the wife
My computer room has been designated the "geek room", because all of my geek things live there: computers, CD's, and the majority of my books (computer, RPG, and novels). I like being surrounded by my collections, and it keeps other areas -- especially the living room and dining room -- less cluttered. I'm not a decorator, but my girlfriend has a calendar and a Visibone web-unsafe color chart. Also, I try to keep lots of table-space near my desk for reference books -- computer or RPG :).
In terms of lighting, Reveal bulbs are really nice. I've never had any full-spectrum bulbs, but the Reveal bulbs give a whiter light than regular incandescent bulbs. After using them in a couple of rooms, the rest of the apartment feels "dingy" in comparison.
If you can, adjust the color temperature of your CRT monitor. 9300 seems to be the default, but 6550 is closer to sunlight and much easier on the eyes (IMHO).
the only decorations you need are some blown PSUs, a few 486 motherboards, a Sun IPX, lotsa old SIMMs, ethernet cable galore, BNC hubs, and the most important part, LOTS and LOTS of [dr. pepper|jolt] cans
We have a spare bedroom upstairs that's the full "geek room" for the house. It's just decorated with white walls, curtains (provided by my wife), a pair of daylight fluorescent bulbs in a wall fixture, and a couple of framed photos of the Vineyard. For furniture, there's two desks, one with my Windows gaming box, and one with my Powerbook. I also have a nice wooden bookcase, a magazine basket, and a relatively ugly metal shelving unit that holds my server, network switch, and a couple of other computers that all share a monitor and setups via a KVM switch. The closet used to keep a lot of tech junk, but was renovated by me into a clothing closet last year.
Then down in the cellar we have my workshop and a rec room. It's a big open layout that's kinda subdivided into three rooms by painting different colors and themes. One third is just pretty much open space, with a closet and some storage items. One third is my workbench, along with my tools storage, another PC setup (a simple, but nice-looking PC workstation unit and a comfy leather chair), along with our exercise gear (a weight machine and bike). I can work out, build stuff, or geek in peace.
Then there's the third "room", which is a pseudo-living room. There's a small area rug, an old sofa and loveseat with slipcovers, our old 27" TV with an old DVD player, and we use a lobster trap as a coffee table. The walls around that portion were painted by a friend of my wife's - she painted an underwater themed mural on the two walls that enclose the area, with a blue paint and rocks, seaweed, and fish painted in. It looks really cool and separates the section. Lighting is a mix of stuff - there's lamps around for individual use but overhead shop fluorescents throughout if needed.
Basically, paint is the key, I think. You can do some really neat stuff with paint that can dress up a room or change it's mood entirely. Good quality furniture is a must, too - it should be unobtrusive and not cheap-looking. Hide as many wires as you can, also.
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
daydream on ...
...
...
OSDN TV-
Welcome to todays episode of Slashdot Trading Spaces. Our crack designers will transform drab computer rooms into works of art.
Cut to homeowners dremeling case window into furnace.
Cut to Macaquarium's big brother PDP8 Aquarium.
Electrolumescent wire everywhere. Multicolored network cable everywhere. Leds. Neon. Argh....
daydream off
Scary.
SD
âoeWho knew something as harmless as willful ignorance could end up having real consequences?â
My home computer is just in my bedroom :-p
Government IS the problem.
... and some drip trays, water pumps, co2 generators, vermiculite, and lots and lots of marjiuna plants.
they'll generate lots of o2, create a peaceful green environment, and of course there's the other benefits too...
- A room without carpeting, so our rolling chairs would roll
- A door with a lock so we could not be bothered
- Incadesent lighting with a DIMMER so that we could set the appropriate level
- An interior office so there would be no windows
- A stereo system so that we could play our favorite music
We tended to leave the lights to almost off, very very dim, the music up high, and the door locked. We could easily go to each team members station merely by kicking and scooting around in our rolling chairs. It was a fantastic environment.These days, however, I live in Hawaii. My workplace has greatly changed. Since I work out of my house I can design just about anything I wish. My lab is currently on the 2nd floor of my house and has huge windows on two sides that face North and West (I'm on the east side of the Big Island so this avoids morning sunlight problems). I look out over my landscaping which is full of fruit and flowers.
Of course, some things don't change... I still have the rolling chairs... I still have the stereo... I still prefer to get up at 4:00 AM and work awhile in the dark... but when the sun comes up, and the rainbows come out... and the exotic scents and birds arrive... it is a very nice programmiing experience.
Aloha
In my experience, the ideal light is reched bya a combination of fluorecent and incandecent lights w/ dimmer in separate switches. This way you can have a strong white light, a strong light not so white and a very dark yellow light by tunning the dials...
\m/
Personally, I find case mods help with that. I mean, I know they serve no real pourpose, but when you have a room filled with computers, it can help brighten things up. I have a window in my server cube and a cold-cathode light kit. My computer now looks kinda cool and provides a little blue light for the room. My rackmount server is in a 19" black (gloss black spray paint) rack with another hub. The rack is mostly empty so it's not really needed, but it still has a good look to it. I guess what I'm saying here is to unclutter things with a rack and at the same time try to increase the coolness factor. If you add a little style, the room won't seem quite so drab. My 2 cents anyways.
I am a viral sig. Please help me spread.
I think we're in need of the first Slashdot sponsored episode of Trading Spaces
If the natural light simply isn't available, try a brace of full-spectrum fluorescents, as earlier posters suggested (NOT plant grow-lights, as others have), a couple of halogen torchier lamps indirected off a bright-white ceiling, or, if you want a real S.A.D.-killer, a small (~150W) metal halide lamp in the 4000-5000K range. The latter is a total geek effort as you'll probably have to build it from components (Home Depot, Lowes, or any good lighting supply store). Research & experiment to determine proper wattage, positioning, etc., and bounce the light off the aforementioned white ceiling - don't illuminate directly and don't build it into a fixture - those suckers are bright, and at least as hot as a halogen lamp.
Beyond lighting, I've found what works best for me is a mix of warm colors - Monochrome Is Boring - (Home Depot / Lowes again; check out their recommended color combos; they're really very good at putting together eye-friendly stuff), the aforementioned white ceiling for light distribution, and liberal use of stained wood if you're good at finish work. And of course, liberal amounts of geek toys as accents. :) I can't say I'm there yet, but it's a lot better than the beige-and-blue-grey atrocity I work in during the day.
My goal is to create a home-office environment that's visually (& every other way) comfortable for long work sessions, but not so much so that the creative juices dry up & I doze off.
Life is like surrealism: if you have to have it explained to you, you can't afford it.
Honestly. I read all the responses so far and the best guys (including me) can come up with is recreating a dorm room or a computer lab or the flight deck of the NCC-1701.
:)
I am guilty as charged, my office has a desk that takes two walls, two servers, a 17" monitor, a 15" flat screen a laptop on a docking station, a 270 watt Sony receiver with two full size speakers (weigh 33lbs each, have a 12" woofer, 5" mid and a metal tweeter in each case, about 24" tall), a printer, my cablemodem, router, and 10/100 switch each with plenty of blinkenlighten, and a book case full of tech manuals. Four completely blank walls, a window (ahhh sunlight) and a door.
If you want it aesthetically pleasing, find a woman who has a work area or home that you find appealing. Give her carte blanche and get out of her way. Explain to her (show her) how much hardware you need to keep in the room (computer gear, etc...) and how much flat space to pile up papers, printouts, etc.. and turn her loose.
That is what I am going to do, if I ever decide to make my office 'nice'. Well that or frame the XMP class CPU I have and hang it on the wall, then dim the overhead lights so I can better appreciate the blinkenlighten of my router and switch
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
....just what exactly is wrong with the bridge of the USS Enterprise to begin with?
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
I have two compuers in my bedroom and i also have tourch looking light fixtures placed just right. I put a large wall hanging from China twixt the lights and the computers under the wall hanging. Due to the tourch-esque lights, i call it my wiccan shrine to my computers
I'm surpised that Air Quality wasn't mentioned here. I have all of my computer hardware in my basement too and I find that sometimes the air can get a little to dank. With the lack of windows in the room the poor ventalation I find really affects me when I'm working on my computer. Recently we installed a central air exchange unit in the house and it makes a huge change in my opinion.
"I believe in everything in moderation. Including moderation." -Dean DeLeo, Stone Temple Pilots
Completely empty room with white walls, white ceiling and light-colored hardwood floors. Recessed full-spectrum lights, and lots of them. Glass desk in the middle of the room with a mini-PC hooked up to a good LCD monitor and all cables run straight into a whole in the floor under the desk. Ultra-nerd, Ultra-cool.
You can do what I do, build a huge Mountain Dew Pyramid when you're down in the basement coding.
Not only does it show that 'you needs da dew' but that you are to busy to do something like clean yet too organized to simply throw them on the floor(most of the time). Plus, maybe some day a women will stumble into your cave O' dew and mistake it for a sign of ethnic sensitivity towards an ancient culture. You're in (If she's Egyptian).
In conclusion: more Dew, more getting a date, less talky.
My "computer room" is actually a "bump-out" in my (finished) basement (10'x12') area that serves as my recording studio (I have tons o' recording gear) and computer room.
:)
Basically, I spent like $200 on a decent desk from Ikea, put down a area rug (asian-knock-off type) and use small halogen lamps placed here and there. I also built a floor-standing 3-pannel screen to separate the studio area with the living/home theater area.
I think the trick is to make the space light and airy and NOT cluttered (yes, this is tough for most geeks... but with just a little disciplin you can do it!). One of the best inventions I have found for keeping an uncluttered space is a waste-paper basket... and of course the WILL to throw stuff out.
I once read something that if you touch a piece of paper only once or twice... throw it away!
I have a storage room closed off to the rest of the basement where I store all the books (I like bookcases... but computer books -- which I have hundreds -- tend to create clutter). I don't mind having to get up, find my book, take it back to my desk... then get back up and put it back in its place. Its good to get up and move around
sad robot making broken music
My cousin works at a video store, and so our biggest thing is movie posters. We managed to get a whole stack of movie posters from him (some of them are for good movies and others aren't). We found that colourful ones really helped a lot.
Lighting is also important. We worked pretty hard to put lights in all the right places so that the room would be bright. What we found is that instead of shining the light directly out into the room, bounce it off the walls (which have the posters on it). If you put the lights sufficiently close to the walls, the bounced light will gain a slight hue from the posters, and liven things up. (The Charlie's Angels poster works really good for this, because it has bright pinks and oranges in it).
I should note that incadescent light get hot. When the light is at the place which gives the best reflection characteristics, the wall gets a little hot and is thus not only a fire hazard, but also can discolour the paint. We use compact florescents. I don't like the hue of them as much (too green for me), but after bouncing them off the posters, they look pretty nice.
-Jeff
There are presently 16 computers in my 1000 square foot apartment, inculding a fullsized rack, external hotswap RAID cabinet and a Catalyst 5005. Most of that is crammed into one room, and the REALLY loud and ugly stuff is in a closet in that room, but of course the whole apartment had air conditioning running until just last month.
:(
A number of issues present themselves.
1.) Exposed cabling - I went hardcore and rewired my apartment with cat5, in-wall, replacing the ancient 4-prong block connectors for phone, and adding four ethernet ports everywhere I found a jack. That helped things a lot.
Because the electrical demands of my apartment are slightly, well, extreme, I put waist-high bookcases everywhere, and ran bundled extension cords and power cables behind them. I found a bunch of cheap but not unappealing ones at Kmart for $5 apiece.
The bookcases are incredibly imposing, if I do say so myself. They're all full, either of books or CDs.
2.) Noise. *HUGE* problem. A lot of my PCs are simply enclosed somehow, either in closets, my rack or in computer desks. The RAID array and Catalyst are the biggest offenders, but my solution to that issue was to put them and the rest of their rack in an unused closet that I lined with carpet scraps. I went from being able to hear all those Barracudas while I was in the shower to having to open closet doors to make sure everything was running.
For the rest of my apartment, I've chosen various tapestries and other cloth wall-hangings to deaden noise. This is quite effective but it DOES make speaker placement for my various home theater equipment more difficult.
The final part of my noise-deadening and asthetic strategy is fake plants. I hit Lowe's, Sam's Club and Michael's for a selection of fake trees, branches and shrubs. I went out and hunted up some interesting-looking rocks to put around their bases. Fake plants do a great job absorbing noise. It's not that hard to wind cords through all those rocks, either, which helps with speaker and power cables.
My apartment is fucking gorgeous, if I do say so myself. Mission-style oak furniture (O'Sullivan even makes decent oak-finish mission-style computer furniture, and it's inexpensive), the trees and bookcases... it's a wonderful asthetic arrangement, and I was able to hide my computers well enough that those who visit, only able to see a couple of computer monitors and a pair of speakers, ask where the rest of my stuff is.
The only down side? I have to do quite a bit of dusting.
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
Do you have many boxen?
"I love having windows"
BLASPHEMER
- Sometimes you're the pidgeon, sometimes you're the statue.
You could set up a rock garden waterfall that doubles as a water cooling solution. The water falling over the rocks can be used as a radiator for your PC. The water falling over the rocks will create a soothing sound and look very nice while at the same time cooling the water and getting rid of that horrible PC hum.
...And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me." - Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984)
I have a window, I bought some thick black cloth and stapled it over the window to keep out ALL that pesky natural light!
Other than that, two Gorilla racks full of boxen, three folding tables, monitors, bookcases, a whiteboard, plastic drawer units, papers/paperweights, two printers and a printer stand etc.
I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
I find that my eyes usually get sore and I can't stand being down there any longer.
Buy a high quality, bigger monitor if you've got a 15" or bargain 17"
Better yet, buy an LCD, SOO much easier on the eyes.
Take breaks every so often, get a away from the computer for a few minutes, focus on objects far away, move your arms, wrists, and neck around.
Also, get a very comfortable chair.
It's just "plush". No complicated rules here.
Unless that's some kind of brand name...
Buy laptop. Move to window. Problem solved.
My room is relatively small (12' x 12'). I have a window behind me, but the blinds are drawn most of the time. My "desk" is a folding table, with a custom DC power distribution system mounted to the underside to deal with wall-wart issues (that is, I replaced my wall-warts with this system).
In a u-shape around me are black steel shelving racks I bought cheap at k-mart. They are actually composed of 1.5 units, so that they reach to the ceiling. They are bolted together and mounted to the wall to keep them from falling over. Underneath the window is a homemade wooden bookcase made from 1x12 pine, and stained in some brown-oak color. I have books and other things in all of these shelves.
On the top of the bookcase are various "knick-knacks" which evoke a "Renaissance-alchemist" feeling - a fake skull, an old-world style globe, a pewter mug, a glass goblet, and a wooden mortar/pestle. I have on one wall a large old-world style map (5' x 3' or so) in a wooden frame. On another wall I have a "spray-paint" artwork of space. I have another wooden shelf over my closet with other funky knick-knacks.
On my desk sits my monitor, kvm switch, keyboard, and scanner. Below sits my Linux box, and to my right sits my FreeSCO router/nat box for my network. All the wires for everything flow off the table and behind it down to the floor, and along the floor. Computer speakers are mounted to the wall, wires dangling to the floor and around my door to the computer.
I also have a desk lamp attached to the table, which is a magnifying lamp that I replaced the regular incandescent lamp with a compact flourescent type on. The magnifying lens allows me to inspect and work on various electronic projects where I need an "up close" look (I also can use the lamp to magnify small objects to take "up close" macro photos with my fixed-focus digital camera, which is handy). Adequate lighting is my only real issue - the lamp doesn't cut it sometimes (I can't really read by it well, unless I position it over the book). I have some regular flourescent lamps that I plan to attach to the metal shelves which should help, though.
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Get some gro-tubes (fluoresents for indoor cultivation of plants)!
;-)
Don't be surprised if The Man comes-a-knocking, however
-psy
I had full spectrum flourescent bulbs in my house and in the lab at work. They were great for about a year until I found plastic items that were under these lights became brittle. My shelves, my carpet protector, etc, all suffered from UV damage. Not to mention the potential damage to your skin these lights should only be used for plants.
I do not use full spectrum lights in my house any longer.
We have a hangman's noose made from CAT-5 inside the door.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Washington, DC: It's like Hollywood for ugly people.
Why restrict yourself? Isn't the saying "the world is your oystyer?"
Every where and anywhere is your computer room, including outside! shun the fact that a geek would want to go outside.
-- ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space!
Just grab a laptop and work anywhere. You can either connect via wireless, or you can synchronize your laptop and computers. I often sit down outside with my laptop to work.
peter simmons? and people say geeks have no taste........... Why the posters there rival even those of that guy who took that photo of that kitty with the caption 'hang in there'.
I must be a total geek with what I put in my computer room. For one, it's the same as my bedroom. I bought two sheets of plywood and built a sturdy computer desk and a table for my TV to set beside it, as the conventional desks weren't tall enough for my queen sized bed. That wasn't enough. I built a headboard from plywood with bookshelves and now it's stuffed with computer books. For decorations, I have maps and things from various Dungeons & Dragons supplement (Forgotten Realms and Planescape mostly) and a few maps from national geographic. I have the usual litter of CD's, soda bottles (I drink straight from 2-liter soda bottles - more soda, less trips away from the computer), and various other things that seem to accumulate. But of course the most interesting feature is the cats that wander in every once in a while. They're annoyances but they're nice t have around.
...full of methamphatmines
A few months ago, there was an Ask Slashdot about house plants or somesuch. Bored beyond belief, I read it, acted on it, and discovered the joy of owning a philodendron. Anyone who likes taking care of a network will find the same sort of satisfaction in taking care of philodendrons.
They're hardy canopy plants that deal well with low light but freaking explode when you given them some sun. I keep an washed Dr. Pepper bottle with a mild Miricle Grow solution under my desk, and water my philo before I leave the office each day. I think it's probably doubled in size since I bought it, but most of the new leaves are quite a bit smaller than the original ones, probably because of the low light. It's spidering all over my cubicle now and it really makes the area feel warm and welcoming.
The builder for my company's new site tells me that the server room will have a nice east-facing window, and I fully intend to have a Philo in there.
Also look out for spider plants. Just as hardy, but they grow in a neat way. And if you work for a search engine or whatever, you could make puns. Not that you should, but you could.
Here in New Zealand, you can buy these pipe things which attach one end to the roof and the other to the ceeling. They reflect light into the pipe, the light is reflected along inside the pipe, and shined into the room through a spherical bulb-like outlet.
If you can set something like this up, you'll be able to have real sunlight in your basemen, which is far healthier and nicer than any electric lights. And your fish will thank you for it.
Sigh. Yeah, Walmart is taking over my little town here in Washington USA.. Had a regular one for a while, then they decided to upgrade it to a Macro Wally World, AKA Super Walmart. Going to be opening here in a few months.. everyone's saying that it's going to destroy local business; I'm inclined to agree.
- This isn't the sig you're looking for. Move along, move along..
My computer room is actually in the living room (because my wife and I are in a small one-bedroom apartment). I generally don't like to have the room really bright, but periodically we keep the patio door curtains open to let some sunlight in. You can see my setup here.
For ambience, try hooking up a nice lava lamp next to your monitor. It's soothing, and definitely a break for the eyes. That, and be sure to take at least 5 minute breaks so your eyes don't bug out.
Good Luck!
Bob
The PC Weenies: 11 Years of Online Tech 'Too
Super Walmart. Going to be opening here in a few months.. everyone's saying that it's going to destroy local business;
The only way it's going to destroy local business is if people go there instead local businesses; and if they do, then obviously they would prefer a Super Walmart to local buisnesses.
I'll have to second you on the reveal bulbs. After putting them in my bedroom, the rest of the apartment looked horrible in comparison; I ended up replacing every bulb in my place with reveals. I just hope they last as long as the standard incandescents, as I only bought the reveals two weeks ago.
I'd suggest you don't use Slashdot as your only news source, or you will suffer permanent brain damage.
... that the poster and the editors can't understand?
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I keep about 3 100 watt bulbs in the fixture above my computer, and i decorate the room with lots of CAT5 (on the ceiling, etc.. all functional, of course - running to other machines). Makes for a great look if you ask me :)
I also have the Coruscant Skyline up.. :)
And i have a huge sliding glass door behind my desk, that makes for quite a bit of natural sunlight during the day :)
Oh, and i have a tomato plant in a pot. (you just cna't beat that home-grown tomato taste. :)
Dude!!! Have you EVAH tried to USE a PDP-11? The damn thing is like, the death of comps! My friend had one in his closet, and MAN was that thing deadly! I'd sleep in front of it, and I would be sick the next day.
So on behalf of you, your pets, your pests, your spouse/kids, etc.
DO NOT, ftlog, get a PDP-11!!!
This message brought to you by the Concerned Geeks Against PDP-11s
-For every PDP-11 "rescued from a dumpster" there is one "wrested from its natural home"
Not always the best solution in the winter (esp. if you need performance beyond that of a laptop), but my laptop with a WLAN card was probably one of the few reasons I managed to survive my senior year without totally burning out. (I came close...)
:)
Near the end of the semester, while most people were stuck inside tooling on some gorgeous days, I would take a folding outdoor chair from K-Mart (Don't skimp - I bought one with a footrest, armrests, and headrests. It folds up into a nice long bag with a shoulder strap.) and set it up on the front walkway and plop down in it with my laptop.
There was no better way to work than outdoors.
I'm still looking into solutions for my current bedroom, which is also my computer room. Because the rest of the house is usually freezing cold, I usually have a small heater in the bedroom. (Used to be unnecessary until I switched from CRT to LCD). If I open the door, the room freezes. If I close it, it gets kind of dank after a few hours. I need to figure out a way to keep the air fresh without giving up too much heat.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Cables, PC bits, paper, junk food wrappers left over from LAN's.. aaght.
Most rooms have the same color scheme. Some shade of dove gray, off white, cream, eggshell, tope, tan, ad nauseum. Use real colors. A dark red, An electric blue, just something that isn't based on white. It'll give you a break from a day of being surrounded by the same flat color. Also, try incandescent lighting. Flourescent lights make me (figurativly) sick after a while.
A trip to the local Goodwill / Salvation Army / Value Village / College property disposition warehouse could yeild you a few cool decorative lamps, tables, perhaps a nice retro desk? (As I am typing this I can hear tyler durden saying "you are not your stuff")
Oh, and some Obey/Giant Propaganda would look nice on the walls. Might I suggest the Chuck D / Flava Flav combo?
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
My student room has these huge windows on the south side, so i get sunlight alright, and in summer the room gets boiling hot if i don't leave one window open. Anyway, this is ofcourse too much light for me so I have blinds and curtains, which stops most of the light. At least I don't have the window in the back, that would be bad. On the drawers I have my TV, and the VCR balancing on top of it. On top of the VCR are some papers and CDs and video cassettes. On the table (where I'm supposed to eat, I guess) I have a microwave with two more or less neat piles on top of it with books, papers and computer game boxes. On the rest of the table even more piles of books and papers and CDs. Same thing, pretty much, on the two book shelves. In one corner of the room there is two large boxes surrounded with stuff, and then some stuff on the boxes. I also have all sorts of things under the table and under the bed. Decorations? Well, I have some posters with... girls that I like. Who needs more than that ;)
Fish tank would be nice in my computer room. You know, one like the psycho had in "Duece Bigilo: The Male Gigilo" (damn funny movie)!
... I took over what would typically be the formal living room (although, these days, these mini family rooms towards the front of a traditional home are being more often used as kiddie play rooms, offices, or if you have the money, formal libraries).
My computer room is actually "Wes' room," according to my wife. And according to me, it's "my only room." So without having to resort to what the husband on "Yes, Dear" resorted to this past season (his character rents a storage unit to store "his" stuff in, but he also hangs out there with the other "closet" husbands, including a vinyl collector and a Star Wars fanatic/freak)
So, my office/computer room is painted dark orange (yes, crazy and retro, but works) with two bookcases (loaded mostly with Star Wars books and music boxed-sets) painted the same color; a black metal, Can-Am CD/DVD file-drawer cabinet; a black-painted, wood file-cabinet (for paper files); a fake pine computer desk on wheels (from Best Buy, holds printer/monitor/books also); a two-setting (bright during the day, dim at night) hallugen floor lamp (you know, the kind that stands 6-7 feet tall and projects light off the ceiling); a stereo cabinet (got to have the tunes blasting at 100 watts per corner!); and the walls covered with SW, Trek, X-Files, and other posters (dry-mounted and framed in black-metal frames).
Luckily, I have two windows looking out to the street with indoor shutters installed on the bottom half. But I have these ugly, cheap navy-blue curtains up to keep out the blinding, hot sun in the afternoon and insulate the room in the winter. If I had the money, I'd replace those Wal-Mart curtains. And if I had the money, I'd add French doors to the entrance to the room (white framed with fogged glass).
I think I'm pretty lucky to have such a room that has all my favorite guy/geek things in it (currently working on displaying my die-cast car collection). And my wife spent her time and sweat decorating the room despite her disdain for sci-fi and being a slave to the computer, so I appreciate it.
As for what everybody else's computer area should be like, I'd simply suggest making it comfortable to the user(s). Put things on the walls and shelves that represent you. If your eyes need a break from the computer monitor, a flat colored wall could actually be more painful to your already sore eyes, IMO. Put some pictures/posters up. Add a chair for a "visitor" to sit down. Think about playing music on a regular stereo instead of thru the computer. But most importantly, make the room look clean and nice, not dull and dusty like a storage unit filled with boxes and no color (you know, kinda like the cubicles we're forced to endure at work!). I find that a clean work area promotes self-esteem, and therefore, happiness, efficiency and a better attitude.
If local businesses were actually open during the hours I'm off from work, I might go there. Big stores bother to stay open late, so I'm much more inclined to go there than the small mom-n-pop shops that close their doors at 5PM.
Do the small stores really think they're so special that I should take time off from work to visit them? Wal-mart's staff doesn't work a strict 8-5 day, so why should any other store's?