Desk setup

24/07/2019


I've always been fairly blinkered in my pursuit of simplicity regarding my work setup. The goal being the ability to easily work at any desk, with minimal dependencies.

Perkins and Charlie introduced me to the magic of mechanical keyboards a while ago and, whilst I loved them as objects; masterpieces of over-engineering, and a bizarre way to communicate your personality, they were incompatible with my pursuit of minimalism.

We've had a few new starters at work recently, and it's meant that I've been relegated to a desk downstairs, and I've been exploring new setups. I don't like Apple's Magic Mouse. I don't really like their keyboard either. It was the perfect opportunity to try my new keyboard! I was recommended a trackball, so I grabbed one of those and I haven't really looked back. Getting used to an ANSI enter key has probably been the most difficult part of all this. And the fact that my backtick/tilde key is on the other side of my board. Other than that, it's been a rousing success. To the point that I don't want to work from home, as I don't have this setup there and it's kinda annoying. In a way, this is confirmation of my prior commitment to minimalism, but my productivity at my desk has definitely increased. Even if it's only because these Cherry MX Browns are lovely to type on; if it works, it works, right?

It's so nice to have an escape key back! Remapping Caps to Escape is fine, but nothing beats Esc!


For the nerds:

  • 13" Apple MacBook Pro 2017
  • LG Ultrafine 4k (it's been great so far. It has a couple of quirks, but nothing insurmountable. Certainly not as bad as the reviews make it out to be!)
  • Magicforce MF68v2 (not a superfan of this board. I think I would benefit from something programmable) with Cherry MX Brown, WinMX Retro SA and a Jelly Key Seasonal Terraced Field
  • Logitech MX Ergo
  • iPad Pro 2018
  • iPhone XS
  • Assorted Switch controllers (for Office Bomberman)
  • Monster Ultra Violet (I don't drink coffee; leave me alone)