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Ask Slashdot: Monitor Setup For Programmers
First time accepted submitter oxidus60659 writes "I currently work as a programmer for a small business. They have provided me with a laptop and a 27" BenQ monitor on a Neo-Flex stand. The problem is that my main screen is the tiny laptop right in front of me. The 27" monitor is on the left at a very different height position. I want to put the 27" monitor directly above my laptop so I'm looking up rather than to the left for all my coding on the bigger monitor. The stand does not have a high enough setting to accommodate this. What would be a good stand that can mount to a desk high enough to be above a laptop? What kind of monitor setup do you use when programming?"
Use a real keyboard, mouse and monitor - why do you need to look at the laptop?
Watch this Heartland Institute video
I'm not usually one to complain about the broadness of these ask slashdot questions, but this one essentially boils down to furniture advice.
There is no memory shortage. yes I have heard of XFCE. Go away.
Just sort it out man.
(if they are lying on the ground you will probably need something new to put your feed on, but that's another story,..)
Your food comes in sacks?
No sig today...
Well, all have answerd how you can do it, I have karma to burn so here is the not so obvious answer:
You are an idiot and should not be programming. If you can not think outside the box (Get it? Box?) then you are obvious not able to do so when programming demands it.
So the obvious answer would be to get a new job.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
(Long version)
I've been working from home for 15+ years, big laptop on a big lapdesk, in a recliner. Decadent, yes, but productive.
About 6 months ago, I built myself a standup workstation to force me off my big arse, and added a 27" monitor above my 18.5" laptop. Loved it: more screen, felt more awake, back felt much better (highly recommend the standup to anyone having weight/back/etc issues from sitting all day)
Then I started jogging on the treadmill 30-45min a day. For all its great benefits, working at the standup tired my legs before my jog, so I went back to the recliner, but missed the 2nd screen. So I took another spin around HomeDepot and grabbed some parts and built what I needed...though it took several iterations.
Hints: don't use cheap aluminum braces, the weight of the monitor torques it too much. I'm picking up a beefy steel brace today. Unless your stand will be attached to some other furniture, and be fairly short, use metal (1.5" conduit or similar), rather than wood for the poles. I used a wooden closet rod, and it definitely bends a bit. I've been able to compensate, but will probably upgrade to metal in future.
And as a base for the whole. thing, look for a hefty patio umbrella stand. I happened to have an old one lying around that does the trick, but it may need more weight.
This probably sounds like a lot more effort than you had in mind, but sometimes the best solution is homebrewed.
007: "Who are you?"
Pussy: "My name is Pussy Galore."
007: "I must be dreaming..."
I know your pain. I've been through many problematic KVMs. :(
However, I've recently bought one of these:
http://www.aten.co.uk/products/productItem.php?model_no=CS682
Works wonderfully, between my docked Dell Laptop (work machine) and my no-brand tower desktop (personal machine). Monitor is a Dell 24" ultrasharp, keyboard is a dell branded one, and mouse is a Logitech MX518.
This KVM just 'works' - I really am impressed with it. Hotkey is scroll-lock twice plus enter, which is an extra keypress compared to other KVMs I've used, but never fails to switch. It even comes with a proper button on a cable should you wish to use that instead of the hot-key combo.
Hope this helps.
-Jar
Together, We Can Make Slashdot Better. I Do NOT Mod ACs. - Check Me Out
...Also, if I use an external kbd, the screen of the laptop (which is a beautiful 13" FHD screen) ends up further away, and why not use good screen real estate when it's available?
In the original question you say "The problem is that my main screen is the tiny laptop right in front of me... I want to put the 27" monitor directly above my laptop..."
Decide which one it is: A "tiny" laptop screen, which you don't want right in front of you, or a "beautiful 13 FHD" screen that you do want right in front of you.
I have no problem switching from external keyboard to laptop keyboard, but perhaps I'm not as good a typist, and hence my limiting factor isn't the keyboard.
"The stand does not have a high enough setting to accommodate this. What would be a good stand that can mount to a desk high enough to be above a laptop?"
Oh, that one's easy. Use a pile of old textbooks. I recommend geology, because they tend to be a large format.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
if you want the big screen above the laptop, put it on a stack of telephone books. if that confuses you, ask an old person ;)
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Not all people are alike, no matter how much specialists struggle to classify them and put them in little boxes.
:)
The fact that your bad posture hasn't hurt you - yet - Doesn't mean the same basic laws of physics don't apply to you as apply to the rest of us.
Your skull should normally "balance" atop your spine. Any deviation from that requires the active use of muscles to offset the imbalance; and if you maintain such a position for long periods of time, eventually those muscles get tired. At that point, you start risking damage as secondary muscles try to do the same job much less efficiently.
Perhaps you have exceptionally strong/enduring neck muscles. Perhaps you've just gotten lucky so far. Perhaps you just haven't hit 30 yet and still consider your body indestructible. Doesn't matter - It doesn't hurt you to have an ergonomically-friendly work area, so why the hell would you deliberately make it otherwise?
Seriously, be a man. Drill a hole in the floor with a jackhammer. Stick in a 2x4. Pour concrete. Nail monitor to the 2x4. Grab a beer. Done.
That is a good way to get an aching neck. When working with a screen, the top of the screen should be slightly below your eyes.
This is a myth. People get long-term injury due to this practice.
In the early days of CAD, we had constant complaints of "digitizer neck". CAD systems used a command line on the screen, and a digitizer tablet sitting on the desk for drawing. The digitizer tablet often had a plastic overlay with grids of icons. Clicking the icon on the tablet launched a command. The user were constantly looking up and down, causing pretty bad neck pain.
The solution was to raise the monitor so the mid-to-top-third was at eye level. Pain vanished same day.
Why did this work? The pain was not caused by moving the head up and down, it was a result of certain neck muscles never having a chance to rest. If the monitor was set too low, the back neck muscles were always in tension, and never got a chance to recover. If you set the monitor at a level that allows your head to balance, your neck muscles relax, and can recover.
A proper workstation setup: Raise/lower the chair so your knees are at-or-below the hips. Adjust the worksurface (keyboard/digitizer) level with your elbows, to allow your forearms to sit level. Adjust the middle of the monitor (or top 1/3) level with the eyes. Give it a day and tweak as needed. This won't work for everyone, but it is a great place to start. This method has worked for my clients for 30 years. Many have expressed that years of pain have vanish in a one or two days. Your mileage may vary.
Disclaimer: I should point out that this post conflicts with most of what I read, including OSHA documents. Since I have no expertise in this area, you should ignore my advice. Do what OSHA suggests, as government knows best. But if nothing else works for you, consider trying the above as an experiment.
Place nail here >+
Programmers need to be resourceful and good at solving problems. If you can't see that this simply requires a stack of books in the first instance (TODO: optimise this later), then you've failed at an extremely low hurdle my friend. Perhaps you'd be more suited to burger flipping?