Saturday Morning Time Usurper

[Dallas]

Last year I had this brain wave to use an old pine shelf I had lying around as a riser for my three ancient Apple monitors. I stained it with an anthracite coloured wood stain, but I never sealed it, so over time the stain had faded and what was once almost black took on this very weathered look. Didn't match my aesthetic at all.  

 

Now because of all the peripheral stuff connected to the two computers I use on this desk, getting the shelf out for a re-staining (and this time sealing too) is not a job for the feint-hearted, but Saturday morning I resolved to do it. In all it took about 5 hours, of which about 10 minutes was spent doing the actual staining and waxing of the shelf. I did move my Mac Mini off the shelf and re-positioned all the hard drives it has attached to it. The end result is a lot easier on the eyes. 

 

 

 

For the curious, the setup comprises the following hardware; 

 

- left side monitor is a 27" Apple Cinema Display, powering my 2012 13" MacBook Pro (still in service)

- middle and right side monitors are 27" Apple Thunderbolt Displays, connected to 2018 Mac Mini (the last Intel one)

- I have a Presonus Audiobox 96 interface connected to a Samson C02 mic on the right side. This is a very good setup for doing voice-overs or making talking heads videos as the mic does a decent job of rejecting ambient noise. 

- Mic closest to the camera in the top image is a Samson G-Track Pro USB job. I got this very cheap when we first moved into the new house but I haven't used it much, although they are very highly rated by mic experts. Some say it's better than the ubiquitous Blue Yeti that many YouTubers use. The problem I have with this mic is that it picks up everything in the room and because I have no sound treatment in here (as you can see it's all concrete ceiling, glass and brick walls, tiled floor) the resultant reverb is terrible. I use this now on Google Meet calls. 

- the mic connected to the laptop is a Samson Meteor USB. I used this one for video calls before I got the G-Track Pro. Now it just sits there looking pretty.  

 

I really do love my current space. Wish I had more work coming in.  

[danielm]

8 hours ago, Dallas said:

I really do love my current space... 

And I love your office outdoor view. Magnificent!

[Dallas]

19 hours ago, danielm said:

And I love your office outdoor view. Magnificent!

 

Thanks Daniel, it really is a lovely space we have found. I hope to be here for many years. 

 

Some quick cellphone snaps of the "garden" and patio. The fever trees are beautiful, but as you can see they are very messy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[crowecg]

You are well organised.  If I venture into such tasks, I have the habit of saying "I'll try that there" and it stays for years even if it was only supposed to be temporary.  My main set up at home is still on the dining table after the couple of years of lockdowns.  The rest of the household got the proper desks and are now permanently set up there.

 

Nice views too.  I do miss having a good view at my current location, although I have had some interesting views in the past.  

[Dallas]

Thanks Chris. I do love moving things around, but now I am experiencing some sort of radio interference with my Bluetooth trackpad that is causing it to skate around haphazardly since I did this job. I can't think what it might be because I put everything back in more or less the same place as before. Certainly annoying! 

[crowecg]

7 hours ago, Dallas said:

Thanks Chris. I do love moving things around, but now I am experiencing some sort of radio interference with my Bluetooth trackpad that is causing it to skate around haphazardly since I did this job. I can't think what it might be because I put everything back in more or less the same place as before. Certainly annoying! 

is it a cable not quite pushed fully into place?

[Dallas]

6 hours ago, crowecg said:

is it a cable not quite pushed fully into place?

 

I don’t think so, but I am beginning to suspect that it could be another of my ancient Apple devices entering the death throes, namely the Airport Extreme router. We have been having terrible bouts of power outages of late and I suspect that this old thing may be on its last legs. It doesn’t reconnect to the fibre immediately anymore when the power comes back and it wouldn’t surprise me if the signal it is outputting has begun clouding the bluetooth channels. 

 

Sometimes I really hate technology….

[Dallas]

It looks like the skating cursor interference was coming from the exposed magsafe connecter that these old screens use to power up MacBooks. I had rested it on top of the USB connections instead of tucking it away behind the stand. Thank goodness, that was beginning to drive me crazy. 

[GB111]

Love the war room Dallas   I wish my photo editing area was a bright and airy, gives me something to shoot for (I'd post pix of mine but I'm too embarrassed).

 

Seems we all have old computer hardware lying around, and old software too. I recently went through some old DVDs and was shocked how much old junk I have.. e.g., Windows XP install disks, etc. Maybe I'll make a tribute photo.

 

gb

[Dallas]

9 hours ago, GB111 said:

Seems we all have old computer hardware lying around, and old software too. I recently went through some old DVDs and was shocked how much old junk I have.. e.g., Windows XP install disks, etc. Maybe I'll make a tribute photo.

 

Well, I made a somewhat exciting discovery yesterday. I see that with the aid of a piece of patching software it is now possible to run the latest macOS on old Apple hardware going as back as 2008 in many cases. This means that I can load macOS Monterey on that 10 year old MacBook Pro and enjoy all the latest features, including Universal Control. 

 

That's my time usurper for this coming Saturday.  

 

Mac users can check out this excellent video showing how to do it.