17 ms·

Hacker Workspaces

135 points by bitsweet 14y ago

alexrothenberg 14y ago
I love the way you can drag and drop an image into a protip. Its a really nice user experience and also something I didn't know you could do technically.
- mainevent 14y ago
  Couldn't agree more. Great user experience.
Rudism 14y ago
After my initial switch from a single to dual monitors, I couldn't imagine ever going back to just one. Let alone a tiny laptop display. Shocked at how many single-laptop-and-not-much-else setups I saw in the examples given.
- jurre 14y ago
  I went from dual 24" monitors to macbook air with one 24" to just the air and it's just a matter of getting used to it. The swiping to next desktop feature is awesome for this though, not sure if I could live without. I just notice that having one or two things to focus on is better for me than having 10 things open at the same time.
  - jonstjohn 14y ago
    Agree, but I guess it depends on the work you're doing. When I'm working on something in my spare time, by 13" macbook air has plenty of real estate. At my day job, however, I have 3 main screens and one off to the side. The three usually have 1) instant messaging w/ team (constant, I'm remote) 2) code editor 3) browser - minimizes having to swap out what's on my screen and love it.
- dionidium 14y ago
  I've got two working, external monitors sitting next to the laptop on which I'm typing this, but they're rarely turned on. I don't think it affects productivity much, either way.
- ajross 14y ago
  The advantage to not relying on dual monitors is that when I need to work somewhere else (which is routine) I'm prepared for it. Some of this is software -- my experience is that OS X users make pretty poor use of virtual desktop schemes, where as the gnome 3 navigation hotkeys are in my muscle memory.
- notJim 14y ago
  I tried to make the switch from dual to single monitors earlier this year. It's really nice to only need a laptop (or one monitor + kb/mouse) on your desk. I also find the border between the two monitors really interferes with my ability to use the space, somehow. During the experiment, the only time I ever found myself wanting a second monitor was when I was testing in the browser, and needed to view a whole web page, plus an inspector. Since I have periods where I do that a lot, I now have a second monitor hooked up to my laptop. The second monitor goes unused abou 90% of the time. I think my ideal setup would be to have a very high-resolution display like an Apple Cinema display.
  - mgcross 14y ago
    You're right - I just switched to a 2560w 27" (from 1920w 24") and can now fit a browser at 1280px on the left side of the screen, and Sublime Text at 1280px on the right. The display, ST with the SFTP plugin and LiveReload have made much more of a difference than I imagined.
- Void_ 14y ago
  What do you do, if you just wanna read an article. Which monitor do you put it on? And don't you mind always keeping your neck turned at a slight angle? I had 27 inch, and I would mind the angle of just looking at the side of it. I hated, that I had to turn my neck in order to see something.
  - novalis 14y ago
    Ever tried a two monitor stacked (on top of the other) setup ? I had the same problem you had with the looking to the side, but need two monitors and that did it for me.
    - Void_ 14y ago
      I can imagine that working well! Also I wouldn't have to buy the monitors at the same time. (Should they be side by side I would want the exactly same monitor.)
      - novalis 14y ago
        Exactly, I actually have 1680x1050 on top and a higher than full 1080p on the bottom. If you try this, go to the monoprice site and look at the vertical stands they have, they are exactly the same as the costly option HP sells but sold at a fraction under their brand. Flawless really, I have had this setup for 3/4 years now and the neck weird pain never came back. Cheers.
- benjaminwootton 14y ago
  I've always been a real screen real estate whore. I currently run a dual 30" setup at home and always thought I could never go smaller. Around a month ago, I started using an 11" Macbook air as I was travelling a lot, and I must say, I'm absolutely blown away at how productive I have been for development work. With a tabbed text editor (ST2), browser, and terminal combined with Lion full screen & OSX spaces, everything is so nice and compact and you can switch around in less time than it takes to turn your head across to the other side of a monitor. I seem to be hitting flow very easily and have been doing some great work since I started using this laptop. Of course, being able to take my primary machine with me everywhere I go is also a real bonus. I'm getting some great work done on my side projects on my commute or on flights, and am quickly able to dial in to customer sites etc without being compromised in any way. I'd recommend that anyone give this a go. I'm definitely going to keep trying to minimise and simplify my tools after this experience.
- sceaj 14y ago
  I used to strongly feel the same way. My setup used to be 24" screen in front with keyboard and mouse, with the 13" MBP to the side. Code on the monitor, browser on the laptop usually. I thought I was the king of productivity, and I couldn't imagine ditching the dual monitor setup. I'd been rocking the dual monitors for the past 4 years. I gradually drifted away from the monitor, and now just sit in front of the laptop. I think I just got sick of wasting time every morning plugging 4 cables into my mac (power, monitor, usb, headphones). I also like the mbp keyboard better (a LOT better) than Apple's quiet low-profile key usb keyboard. Yeah, I could have just gone with a different keyboard, but I _really_ like the keyboard on my macbook. Not using a mouse, I move my hands less. The gestures make me more efficient (and I use BetterTouchTool, as well). I also _really_ like the trackpad on my macbook. I think there are several benefits to using just the laptop: 1. The browser is usually hidden behind the code I'm working on, instead of staring me down. I'm distracted less, and with the keyboard I can quickly switch to the browser just as quickly as I could turn my head. 2. Whether I'm at my desk in the office, the table at home, or lounging in bed, I'm always using the same setup. I typically do most of my work ssh'd into the cloud, so I don't really care about transporting my .vimrc all over with Dropbox, but if that weren't the case, my dot files always with me. 3. I'm more comfortable since I don't have to keep turning my head back-and-forth between the two screens, and I don't have to keep swapping my hand between the keyboard and mouse. My 24" monitor mostly just sits and collects dust, but I do sometimes plug it in. The 13" mbp screen isn't really big enough to do side-by-side comparisons, so if I ever have the need for that, I'm glad I still have the monitor around. I'll also use it if I ever have to fire up the javascript debugger, which I find easier to use expanded to the full screen.
- sophacles 14y ago
  I used to have that same thought with my n>1 monitors setups. Then I realized I was using one monitor for "dashboarding" and one for development. And a lot of virtual workspaces. So when I got my macbook, I decided not to plug extra screens into it for a while. I find that it keeps the distractions out of mind while focusing on something. So my current setup goes: A virtual desktop for each of the following: browsing, comms, notetaking. And the rest of my desktops (usually 9 total) partitioned per-project. When doing web dev stuff, i tend to put a browser in one desktop for that project, and dev stuff in the desktop immediately to the right of it. When I'm in an appropriate place, (home, work, the occasional hotel room where heavy dev is going on between meetings et al), I'll arrange another computer or attached monitor/tv to do dashboarding (preferring the another computer approach). The dashboard has test pass/fail lists, tailing logs, other information as needed for the particular project. It makes it easier to ignore, but accessible when needed. One thing the reduced screen space has done for me is help me identify opportunities for good dev practice. For example, if I find myself annoyed at the number of times I'm switching between vim and the terminal, it might be time to write a script that I can call (or even hotkey) from vim. It also helped me learn to use tabs/windows in vim and eclipse better and more productively, because I couldn't just put them next to each other anymore. Now when I do have the option for mutliple screens, one is usually blank anyway, because I find myself anoyed at switching windows, even if its a simple mouse move away. Of course, this is just my experience, influenced by my preferences, but hopefully it can give you some insight into other modes of working :)
feral 14y ago
A lot of those workspaces consist of a laptop (often 13inch macbook) on a desk. Laptop screens, on desks, are at the wrong height for ergonomics - you shouldnt have to look down at the screen all day. People should be using large dedicated monitors, which are at the right height, and dedicated input peripherals (e.g. keyboard+mouse). Ergonomic, and efficient. A nice 27inch IPS display is now very cheap; I do not understand professional hackers working just off a laptop.
- ajross 14y ago
  I use a 15.6" laptop on a stand, with the top of the screen right at eye height. It works great, and has the advantage of not forcing me to recalibrate my eyes and view distance every time I go home. But yes, staring down at the thing would be awful.
- rhizome 14y ago
  Not to mention that 22-24" is perfectly fine, especially in a hackerspace that would otherwise cheap out by supplying only bad chairs and card tables.
  - jakeonthemove 14y ago
    Two 22-24" are actually more flexible than a single 27", and the price is about the same...
- gruseom 14y ago
  I do not understand professional hackers working just off a laptop. Ability to take my work wherever I want with absolutely zero context switch.
  - dredmorbius 14y ago
    Sad but true. State retention/replication is among the biggest hassles of my multiple computing environments. OTOH, it's also a pretty persuasive argument to leave work at work at the end of the day.
Samuel_Michon 14y ago
Interesting how every single one of those people uses a Mac, even the guy who works at Microsoft and another who worked on ASP.NET.
- keithpeter 14y ago
  So could some non-mac people post theirs? Is this usethis for the uninvited?
  - bitsweet 14y ago
    any member can post their own hacker desk from here (http://coderwall.com/p/t/hackerdesk http://coderwall.com/p/t/hackerdesk), these are just a few featured ones
    - keithpeter 14y ago
      Do your selection criteria for 'featured' desks include use of Apple hardware? Or can we assume that interesting work is being done mainly on Air laptops?
    - Gring 14y ago
      That page is very badly designed. Why is the workspace picture not shown directly below each name? I don't feel like clicking 20 times to look at 2 workspaces.
      - bitsweet 14y ago
        Release early, release often is why its not perfect. Its also a general purpose way to share links, pro tips, and photos. But there is a 'next' button one you get into protips
- soup10 14y ago
  Bleh, I use a mac because I have to for iOS dev. But it kind of sucks for desktops. You can choose between an under-powered mini, the far-overpriced pro, or the ugly single monitor iMac(I like my apple branding where I don't have to look at it, thank you).
Void_ 14y ago
Everybody is doing all their work on 11" MacBook Air these days. I feel like people just wanna look cool. Why? Is it the weight? Do you find Pro too heavy to carry around? Have you tried a backpack?
- mgcross 14y ago
  I got one for iOS development, and sometimes it's nice to either tinker, or do small updates in bed or on the couch. I connect it to KVM if I"m doing anything that takes more than a half hour. I use it now more than my Windows desktop, but more so because I don't want to boot my son off Garry's Mod! I also use Win7 on the air, but just to test or for gaming (Steam and GOG).
- zheng 14y ago
  I have a 13" MBA, and the reason I chose it over the pro is that it has an SSD. I've killed hard drives before thanks to them not sleeping when I shut my lid. But I can't do real work on it for long periods of time, I need my dual monitors.
  - wtetzner 14y ago
    You can get an MBP with an SSD. I have a 13" MBP with a 128 GB SSD.
    - Void_ 14y ago
      I have MBP with SSD and HDD. :)
      - dekz 14y ago
        As do I, but it's really really heavy! It's almost consistent weight training carrying the thing around.
        Void_ 14y ago
        Yeah I solved that issue by doing real weight training, then it doesn't feel so heavy!
SimHacker 14y ago
Slavoj Zizek Says Your Office Ping-Pong Table Is Oppressing You! http://www.businessinsider.com/slavoj-zizek-says-your-office-ping-pong-table-is-oppressing-you-2012-5 http://www.businessinsider.com/slavoj-zizek-says-your-office...
- xtractinator 14y ago
  Employers disarm their employees right to complain by providing them services for free? What an awful situation.
  - dsirijus 14y ago
    It could be an awful situation. But, from my experience, mostly it isn't.
jperras 14y ago
I've been curating a collection of hacker workspaces on and off for a year now in a Gimme Bar collection: http://gim.ie/ccN http://gim.ie/ccN . These aren't generally workstations of "famous" hackers, but rather just people that would send me pictures of their setup when I asked nicely. Edit: Ah yes, there are a few in there that I pulled from a .net Magazine article.
courtewing 14y ago
As a programmer that suffers from RSI-related wrist issues at only 26, all I can think of when I see all of these workspaces is "how on earth are all of these people still able to move their hands?" Most, if not all of them look like they're trying to stick it to ergonomics. I'm secretly just jealous, of course.
- Zombieball 14y ago
  26 y/o here with RSI-related issues as well. I constantly wonder how my +30 y/o co-workers with less ergonomically set-up workstations than I have are able to survive. I am also jealous! :(
  - jcrites 14y ago
    I approach all computer usage as if it's inherently harmful to my body, and I must minimize that harm if I expect to work with them the rest of my life. I have had excellent results avoiding repetitive strain from the following two products: 3M Ergo Mouse: http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/ergonomics/home/products/ergonomicmouse/ http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/ergonomics/home/... Kinesis Keyboard: http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/ http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/ I have no relationship, commercial or otherwise, with either vendor. Just worked well for me, as a professional software engineer. I highly recommend them. Both are designed to shift common movements away from smaller muscles toward larger muscles. Where a regular mouse relies on the small muscles of your wrist, the 3M mouse shifts that movement to the larger muscles of your arm. Kinesis moves the most common keys (space, enter, delete, modifiers) to one's (stronger) thumbs, and places keys to avoid the "stretch" of one's hand common with key combinations like ctrl+shift+T. I should also mention that I use a standing desk. I think that's an important benefit to non-harmful mouse & keyboard posture. My experience from working while sitting in chairs is that your body tends to lean from side to side, extend one's arms to a degree that will cause repetitive strain, or put weight on the wrong places (like armrests). I have had an easier time adopting correct (least harmful, according to modern ergonomics research) posture while standing. That posture is: let your arms fall limp to your sides. Now, bending at the elbow (and without moving your elbow), raise your arms in front of you to be parallel with the ground. That's where your keyboard should be. Your mouse should be in reach by rotating your arm, again without moving the elbow. This is the best posture for both chairs and standing (according to the ergonomics expert paid by my company to examine my working space -- I find this to be true in practice). As you can see, it is difficult to achieve this posture in a chair. The height of your desk is probably wrong, and you probably need a keyboard tray. It's more easily achieved with a standing setup. I have had virtually no RSI issues since switching to these two products and a standing desk about 1.5 years ago. Both devices are fairly different from a normal input, and took a long time to learn to use effectively. The 3M mouse trades away accuracy, but with experience you can get almost as good as a normal mouse for regular desktop applications. I still use a regular mouse and keyboard for PC gaming, however. Hope this is helpful to other intensive computer-users out there! Give standing a try -- your health will probably benefit.
pkamb 14y ago
Shameless plug for my new Mac App: EdgeCase: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/edgecase/id513826860?mt=12 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/edgecase/id513826860?mt=12 The app inserts cursor-bounding hard edges between your shared screen edges. Cross only when you want to via several shortcuts. I made it because multiple monitors make OS X hotcorners impossible for me to hit. (Fitts' Law, infinite width, etc.) Workspace / multiple-monitor junkies in this topic: sound useful? Have any other multiple-monitor nits I could fix?
- sneak 14y ago
  Great name. :)
xtractinator 14y ago
Nice advert for Apple computers.
bitsweet 14y ago
It might not be initially obvious that these are just some featured desks as part of our launch. Coderwall members have been adding their desks here => http://coderwall.com/p/t/hackerdesk http://coderwall.com/p/t/hackerdesk
Cyranix 14y ago
I'm usually not among the grammar police, but leading right off the bat with "Us developers" instead of "We developers" stuck out quite a bit. Also, the fuzzy timestamp has a duplicated "about". Nothing against the actual content of the page, though. Nice to see both minimalist and elaborate styles represented.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
Zaheer 14y ago
Beautiful site!!
unfocused 14y ago
Very nice site. I'm always intrigued by other people's setup, but I need a desk and proper heigh adjustments. My wrists would die if I worked on a bed or in a coffee shop! If people are also interested at more in depth setups of people from various fields, this site http://usesthis.com http://usesthis.com (which has been linked to from Hacker News I'm sure) is along the same lines, minus the photo of their actual setup. It's more descriptive.
abcd_f 14y ago
Nice idea, but too much clicking involved. It should really be a name, a photo, a name of most notable/public piece of work and a link to a personal site/about page.
jurre 14y ago
I see some people use the MBA with a 27" thunderbolt display that are still using the MBA as a secondary display and I'm wondering what you find this useful for. I would think having the 2560*1440 would be more than enough and not having to turn your head would be great. Especially since full screen isn't supported in multimonitor mode in Lion (yet, i hope).
- gurkendoktor 14y ago
  Ohmygod, this is so frustrating. I hate to work like this - I feel like the extra monitor actually distracts me more than it frees me from a lack of space. I've still worked like this because: - A magic trackpad is expensive. And when you have it, it's kind of awkward to place it. And then you have to deal with occasional Bluetooth hiccups and batteries and all that crap, when you basically have that same thing build into your laptop. - Same for the keyboard, but cheaper. - In 10.6, you could just close the laptop, wait for the screen to appear, and open it again. You would be able to use keyboard and trackpad but the screen would stay dark. Not so anymore. - If you close the laptop because you have a mouse and keyboard, it will run insanely hot. I know it's officially supported, but I plan to use my laptop more than the "supported" three years. If you open it just a little, the screen turns back on in Lion, see previous item. And if the screen is already there, then why not use it? It seems like the rational thing to do.
aristidesfl 14y ago
My Workspace: http://coderwall.com/p/ggrp8w http://coderwall.com/p/ggrp8w
bedris 14y ago
Theory of relativity hacker workspace: http://tobifairley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/albert-einstein-desk-web.jpg http://tobifairley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/alber...
thechut 14y ago
I can't believe every single one of these people is using a Mac...
pkrumins 14y ago
How I hack: http://i.imgur.com/uh7PV.jpg http://i.imgur.com/uh7PV.jpg
jboggan 14y ago
I have a standing desk cobbled together from non-office supplies. My "lectern" is a Manhasset music stand (http://www.manhasset-specialty.com/index.cfm?pageID=3 http://www.manhasset-specialty.com/index.cfm?pageID=3) adjusted to the perfect height and pitch for my wrists while typing. The wireless mouse used to slip off until I pulled a cotton pillowcase over the black metal, now it grips and is very comfortable. My monitor is just a 37" 1080p LCD stacked on a table and empty crates to reach head height. I've got an ottoman to sit or lean on when I need a break from standing, and the music stand desk makes it really easy to quickly and firmly adjust the perfect typing attitude.
boop 14y ago
I use my MBP in clamshell mode: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3131 http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3131 With a Macessity LapTuk stand: http://www.amazon.com/Macessity-LAPTUKPRO-LapTuk-with-USB2-0/dp/B0047MFXL8/ http://www.amazon.com/Macessity-LAPTUKPRO-LapTuk-with-USB2-0... And 3 external monitors usings two Kensington's USB to VGA adaptors: http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-Universal-Multi-Display-Adapter-Black/dp/B002F9NSMQ http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-Universal-Multi-Display-Ada... I can do a coderwall profile with photos if there is interest.
jebblue 14y ago
I liked Ilya's and Rachel's workspaces the best.
dysoco 14y ago
Can you call this guys "Hackers" ? Come on, Macbooks, Ikea tables, and the most weird... cleanliness. Where are the cups of coffee ? Where are all the cables ? The Model M keyboard ? I can't see any Donald Knuth books there. Not to mention no one is using Linux there. I'm not "ragehating" because of Macs or so, I'm just saying that it's weird to see a Hacker with a workspace like that :P
- oemera 14y ago
  I don't mean to be that guy but this kind of comments are getting on my nerves lately. If you don't have something to contribute just don't write an comment. I mean think about your comment and ask yourself if it helped someone. I would be surprised if you think yes. A hacker is not a hacker because of the hardware he/she uses. It's not the books he/she reads. It's about being unconventional, using things you are productive with, finding out what would make things better and you name it. It's not about being not clean and reading Donald Knuth's books. Please either stop writing such things or simply go away.
  - aiscott 14y ago
    You're own comment fits the criteria. "Please either stop writing such things or simply go away."

135 points by bitsweet 14y ago

I love the way you can drag and drop an image into a protip. Its a really nice user experience and also something I didn't know you could do technically.

mainevent 14y ago
Couldn't agree more. Great user experience.

Rudism 14y ago

After my initial switch from a single to dual monitors, I couldn't imagine ever going back to just one. Let alone a tiny laptop display. Shocked at how many single-laptop-and-not-much-else setups I saw in the examples given.

jurre 14y ago
I went from dual 24" monitors to macbook air with one 24" to just the air and it's just a matter of getting used to it. The swiping to next desktop feature is awesome for this though, not sure if I could live without. I just notice that having one or two things to focus on is better for me than having 10 things open at the same time.
- jonstjohn 14y ago
  Agree, but I guess it depends on the work you're doing. When I'm working on something in my spare time, by 13" macbook air has plenty of real estate. At my day job, however, I have 3 main screens and one off to the side. The three usually have 1) instant messaging w/ team (constant, I'm remote) 2) code editor 3) browser - minimizes having to swap out what's on my screen and love it.
dionidium 14y ago
I've got two working, external monitors sitting next to the laptop on which I'm typing this, but they're rarely turned on. I don't think it affects productivity much, either way.
ajross 14y ago
The advantage to not relying on dual monitors is that when I need to work somewhere else (which is routine) I'm prepared for it. Some of this is software -- my experience is that OS X users make pretty poor use of virtual desktop schemes, where as the gnome 3 navigation hotkeys are in my muscle memory.
notJim 14y ago
I tried to make the switch from dual to single monitors earlier this year. It's really nice to only need a laptop (or one monitor + kb/mouse) on your desk. I also find the border between the two monitors really interferes with my ability to use the space, somehow. During the experiment, the only time I ever found myself wanting a second monitor was when I was testing in the browser, and needed to view a whole web page, plus an inspector. Since I have periods where I do that a lot, I now have a second monitor hooked up to my laptop. The second monitor goes unused abou 90% of the time. I think my ideal setup would be to have a very high-resolution display like an Apple Cinema display.
- mgcross 14y ago
  You're right - I just switched to a 2560w 27" (from 1920w 24") and can now fit a browser at 1280px on the left side of the screen, and Sublime Text at 1280px on the right. The display, ST with the SFTP plugin and LiveReload have made much more of a difference than I imagined.
Void_ 14y ago
What do you do, if you just wanna read an article. Which monitor do you put it on? And don't you mind always keeping your neck turned at a slight angle? I had 27 inch, and I would mind the angle of just looking at the side of it. I hated, that I had to turn my neck in order to see something.
- novalis 14y ago
  Ever tried a two monitor stacked (on top of the other) setup ? I had the same problem you had with the looking to the side, but need two monitors and that did it for me.
  - Void_ 14y ago
    I can imagine that working well! Also I wouldn't have to buy the monitors at the same time. (Should they be side by side I would want the exactly same monitor.)
    - novalis 14y ago
      Exactly, I actually have 1680x1050 on top and a higher than full 1080p on the bottom. If you try this, go to the monoprice site and look at the vertical stands they have, they are exactly the same as the costly option HP sells but sold at a fraction under their brand. Flawless really, I have had this setup for 3/4 years now and the neck weird pain never came back. Cheers.
benjaminwootton 14y ago
I've always been a real screen real estate whore. I currently run a dual 30" setup at home and always thought I could never go smaller. Around a month ago, I started using an 11" Macbook air as I was travelling a lot, and I must say, I'm absolutely blown away at how productive I have been for development work. With a tabbed text editor (ST2), browser, and terminal combined with Lion full screen & OSX spaces, everything is so nice and compact and you can switch around in less time than it takes to turn your head across to the other side of a monitor. I seem to be hitting flow very easily and have been doing some great work since I started using this laptop. Of course, being able to take my primary machine with me everywhere I go is also a real bonus. I'm getting some great work done on my side projects on my commute or on flights, and am quickly able to dial in to customer sites etc without being compromised in any way. I'd recommend that anyone give this a go. I'm definitely going to keep trying to minimise and simplify my tools after this experience.
sceaj 14y ago
I used to strongly feel the same way. My setup used to be 24" screen in front with keyboard and mouse, with the 13" MBP to the side. Code on the monitor, browser on the laptop usually. I thought I was the king of productivity, and I couldn't imagine ditching the dual monitor setup. I'd been rocking the dual monitors for the past 4 years. I gradually drifted away from the monitor, and now just sit in front of the laptop. I think I just got sick of wasting time every morning plugging 4 cables into my mac (power, monitor, usb, headphones). I also like the mbp keyboard better (a LOT better) than Apple's quiet low-profile key usb keyboard. Yeah, I could have just gone with a different keyboard, but I _really_ like the keyboard on my macbook. Not using a mouse, I move my hands less. The gestures make me more efficient (and I use BetterTouchTool, as well). I also _really_ like the trackpad on my macbook. I think there are several benefits to using just the laptop: 1. The browser is usually hidden behind the code I'm working on, instead of staring me down. I'm distracted less, and with the keyboard I can quickly switch to the browser just as quickly as I could turn my head. 2. Whether I'm at my desk in the office, the table at home, or lounging in bed, I'm always using the same setup. I typically do most of my work ssh'd into the cloud, so I don't really care about transporting my .vimrc all over with Dropbox, but if that weren't the case, my dot files always with me. 3. I'm more comfortable since I don't have to keep turning my head back-and-forth between the two screens, and I don't have to keep swapping my hand between the keyboard and mouse. My 24" monitor mostly just sits and collects dust, but I do sometimes plug it in. The 13" mbp screen isn't really big enough to do side-by-side comparisons, so if I ever have the need for that, I'm glad I still have the monitor around. I'll also use it if I ever have to fire up the javascript debugger, which I find easier to use expanded to the full screen.
sophacles 14y ago
I used to have that same thought with my n>1 monitors setups. Then I realized I was using one monitor for "dashboarding" and one for development. And a lot of virtual workspaces. So when I got my macbook, I decided not to plug extra screens into it for a while. I find that it keeps the distractions out of mind while focusing on something. So my current setup goes: A virtual desktop for each of the following: browsing, comms, notetaking. And the rest of my desktops (usually 9 total) partitioned per-project. When doing web dev stuff, i tend to put a browser in one desktop for that project, and dev stuff in the desktop immediately to the right of it. When I'm in an appropriate place, (home, work, the occasional hotel room where heavy dev is going on between meetings et al), I'll arrange another computer or attached monitor/tv to do dashboarding (preferring the another computer approach). The dashboard has test pass/fail lists, tailing logs, other information as needed for the particular project. It makes it easier to ignore, but accessible when needed. One thing the reduced screen space has done for me is help me identify opportunities for good dev practice. For example, if I find myself annoyed at the number of times I'm switching between vim and the terminal, it might be time to write a script that I can call (or even hotkey) from vim. It also helped me learn to use tabs/windows in vim and eclipse better and more productively, because I couldn't just put them next to each other anymore. Now when I do have the option for mutliple screens, one is usually blank anyway, because I find myself anoyed at switching windows, even if its a simple mouse move away. Of course, this is just my experience, influenced by my preferences, but hopefully it can give you some insight into other modes of working :)

feral 14y ago

A lot of those workspaces consist of a laptop (often 13inch macbook) on a desk. Laptop screens, on desks, are at the wrong height for ergonomics - you shouldnt have to look down at the screen all day. People should be using large dedicated monitors, which are at the right height, and dedicated input peripherals (e.g. keyboard+mouse). Ergonomic, and efficient. A nice 27inch IPS display is now very cheap; I do not understand professional hackers working just off a laptop.

ajross 14y ago
I use a 15.6" laptop on a stand, with the top of the screen right at eye height. It works great, and has the advantage of not forcing me to recalibrate my eyes and view distance every time I go home. But yes, staring down at the thing would be awful.
rhizome 14y ago
Not to mention that 22-24" is perfectly fine, especially in a hackerspace that would otherwise cheap out by supplying only bad chairs and card tables.
- jakeonthemove 14y ago
  Two 22-24" are actually more flexible than a single 27", and the price is about the same...
gruseom 14y ago
I do not understand professional hackers working just off a laptop. Ability to take my work wherever I want with absolutely zero context switch.
- dredmorbius 14y ago
  Sad but true. State retention/replication is among the biggest hassles of my multiple computing environments. OTOH, it's also a pretty persuasive argument to leave work at work at the end of the day.

Samuel_Michon 14y ago

Interesting how every single one of those people uses a Mac, even the guy who works at Microsoft and another who worked on ASP.NET.

keithpeter 14y ago
So could some non-mac people post theirs? Is this usethis for the uninvited?
- bitsweet 14y ago
  any member can post their own hacker desk from here (http://coderwall.com/p/t/hackerdesk http://coderwall.com/p/t/hackerdesk), these are just a few featured ones
  - keithpeter 14y ago
    Do your selection criteria for 'featured' desks include use of Apple hardware? Or can we assume that interesting work is being done mainly on Air laptops?
  - Gring 14y ago
    That page is very badly designed. Why is the workspace picture not shown directly below each name? I don't feel like clicking 20 times to look at 2 workspaces.
    - bitsweet 14y ago
      Release early, release often is why its not perfect. Its also a general purpose way to share links, pro tips, and photos. But there is a 'next' button one you get into protips
soup10 14y ago
Bleh, I use a mac because I have to for iOS dev. But it kind of sucks for desktops. You can choose between an under-powered mini, the far-overpriced pro, or the ugly single monitor iMac(I like my apple branding where I don't have to look at it, thank you).

Void_ 14y ago

Everybody is doing all their work on 11" MacBook Air these days. I feel like people just wanna look cool. Why? Is it the weight? Do you find Pro too heavy to carry around? Have you tried a backpack?

mgcross 14y ago
I got one for iOS development, and sometimes it's nice to either tinker, or do small updates in bed or on the couch. I connect it to KVM if I"m doing anything that takes more than a half hour. I use it now more than my Windows desktop, but more so because I don't want to boot my son off Garry's Mod! I also use Win7 on the air, but just to test or for gaming (Steam and GOG).
zheng 14y ago
I have a 13" MBA, and the reason I chose it over the pro is that it has an SSD. I've killed hard drives before thanks to them not sleeping when I shut my lid. But I can't do real work on it for long periods of time, I need my dual monitors.
- wtetzner 14y ago
  You can get an MBP with an SSD. I have a 13" MBP with a 128 GB SSD.
  - Void_ 14y ago
    I have MBP with SSD and HDD. :)
    - dekz 14y ago
      As do I, but it's really really heavy! It's almost consistent weight training carrying the thing around.
      - Void_ 14y ago
        Yeah I solved that issue by doing real weight training, then it doesn't feel so heavy!

SimHacker 14y ago

Slavoj Zizek Says Your Office Ping-Pong Table Is Oppressing You! http://www.businessinsider.com/slavoj-zizek-says-your-office-ping-pong-table-is-oppressing-you-2012-5 http://www.businessinsider.com/slavoj-zizek-says-your-office...

xtractinator 14y ago
Employers disarm their employees right to complain by providing them services for free? What an awful situation.
- dsirijus 14y ago
  It could be an awful situation. But, from my experience, mostly it isn't.

jperras 14y ago

I've been curating a collection of hacker workspaces on and off for a year now in a Gimme Bar collection: http://gim.ie/ccN http://gim.ie/ccN . These aren't generally workstations of "famous" hackers, but rather just people that would send me pictures of their setup when I asked nicely. Edit: Ah yes, there are a few in there that I pulled from a .net Magazine article.

courtewing 14y ago

As a programmer that suffers from RSI-related wrist issues at only 26, all I can think of when I see all of these workspaces is "how on earth are all of these people still able to move their hands?" Most, if not all of them look like they're trying to stick it to ergonomics. I'm secretly just jealous, of course.

Zombieball 14y ago
26 y/o here with RSI-related issues as well. I constantly wonder how my +30 y/o co-workers with less ergonomically set-up workstations than I have are able to survive. I am also jealous! :(
- jcrites 14y ago
  I approach all computer usage as if it's inherently harmful to my body, and I must minimize that harm if I expect to work with them the rest of my life. I have had excellent results avoiding repetitive strain from the following two products: 3M Ergo Mouse: http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/ergonomics/home/products/ergonomicmouse/ http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/ergonomics/home/... Kinesis Keyboard: http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/ http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/ I have no relationship, commercial or otherwise, with either vendor. Just worked well for me, as a professional software engineer. I highly recommend them. Both are designed to shift common movements away from smaller muscles toward larger muscles. Where a regular mouse relies on the small muscles of your wrist, the 3M mouse shifts that movement to the larger muscles of your arm. Kinesis moves the most common keys (space, enter, delete, modifiers) to one's (stronger) thumbs, and places keys to avoid the "stretch" of one's hand common with key combinations like ctrl+shift+T. I should also mention that I use a standing desk. I think that's an important benefit to non-harmful mouse & keyboard posture. My experience from working while sitting in chairs is that your body tends to lean from side to side, extend one's arms to a degree that will cause repetitive strain, or put weight on the wrong places (like armrests). I have had an easier time adopting correct (least harmful, according to modern ergonomics research) posture while standing. That posture is: let your arms fall limp to your sides. Now, bending at the elbow (and without moving your elbow), raise your arms in front of you to be parallel with the ground. That's where your keyboard should be. Your mouse should be in reach by rotating your arm, again without moving the elbow. This is the best posture for both chairs and standing (according to the ergonomics expert paid by my company to examine my working space -- I find this to be true in practice). As you can see, it is difficult to achieve this posture in a chair. The height of your desk is probably wrong, and you probably need a keyboard tray. It's more easily achieved with a standing setup. I have had virtually no RSI issues since switching to these two products and a standing desk about 1.5 years ago. Both devices are fairly different from a normal input, and took a long time to learn to use effectively. The 3M mouse trades away accuracy, but with experience you can get almost as good as a normal mouse for regular desktop applications. I still use a regular mouse and keyboard for PC gaming, however. Hope this is helpful to other intensive computer-users out there! Give standing a try -- your health will probably benefit.

pkamb 14y ago

Shameless plug for my new Mac App: EdgeCase: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/edgecase/id513826860?mt=12 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/edgecase/id513826860?mt=12 The app inserts cursor-bounding hard edges between your shared screen edges. Cross only when you want to via several shortcuts. I made it because multiple monitors make OS X hotcorners impossible for me to hit. (Fitts' Law, infinite width, etc.) Workspace / multiple-monitor junkies in this topic: sound useful? Have any other multiple-monitor nits I could fix?

sneak 14y ago
Great name. :)

xtractinator 14y ago

Nice advert for Apple computers.

bitsweet 14y ago

It might not be initially obvious that these are just some featured desks as part of our launch. Coderwall members have been adding their desks here => http://coderwall.com/p/t/hackerdesk http://coderwall.com/p/t/hackerdesk

Cyranix 14y ago

I'm usually not among the grammar police, but leading right off the bat with "Us developers" instead of "We developers" stuck out quite a bit. Also, the fuzzy timestamp has a duplicated "about". Nothing against the actual content of the page, though. Nice to see both minimalist and elaborate styles represented.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

Zaheer 14y ago

Beautiful site!!

unfocused 14y ago

Very nice site. I'm always intrigued by other people's setup, but I need a desk and proper heigh adjustments. My wrists would die if I worked on a bed or in a coffee shop! If people are also interested at more in depth setups of people from various fields, this site http://usesthis.com http://usesthis.com (which has been linked to from Hacker News I'm sure) is along the same lines, minus the photo of their actual setup. It's more descriptive.

abcd_f 14y ago

Nice idea, but too much clicking involved. It should really be a name, a photo, a name of most notable/public piece of work and a link to a personal site/about page.

jurre 14y ago

I see some people use the MBA with a 27" thunderbolt display that are still using the MBA as a secondary display and I'm wondering what you find this useful for. I would think having the 2560*1440 would be more than enough and not having to turn your head would be great. Especially since full screen isn't supported in multimonitor mode in Lion (yet, i hope).

gurkendoktor 14y ago
Ohmygod, this is so frustrating. I hate to work like this - I feel like the extra monitor actually distracts me more than it frees me from a lack of space. I've still worked like this because: - A magic trackpad is expensive. And when you have it, it's kind of awkward to place it. And then you have to deal with occasional Bluetooth hiccups and batteries and all that crap, when you basically have that same thing build into your laptop. - Same for the keyboard, but cheaper. - In 10.6, you could just close the laptop, wait for the screen to appear, and open it again. You would be able to use keyboard and trackpad but the screen would stay dark. Not so anymore. - If you close the laptop because you have a mouse and keyboard, it will run insanely hot. I know it's officially supported, but I plan to use my laptop more than the "supported" three years. If you open it just a little, the screen turns back on in Lion, see previous item. And if the screen is already there, then why not use it? It seems like the rational thing to do.

aristidesfl 14y ago

My Workspace: http://coderwall.com/p/ggrp8w http://coderwall.com/p/ggrp8w

bedris 14y ago

Theory of relativity hacker workspace: http://tobifairley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/albert-einstein-desk-web.jpg http://tobifairley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/alber...

thechut 14y ago

I can't believe every single one of these people is using a Mac...

pkrumins 14y ago

How I hack: http://i.imgur.com/uh7PV.jpg http://i.imgur.com/uh7PV.jpg

jboggan 14y ago

I have a standing desk cobbled together from non-office supplies. My "lectern" is a Manhasset music stand (http://www.manhasset-specialty.com/index.cfm?pageID=3 http://www.manhasset-specialty.com/index.cfm?pageID=3) adjusted to the perfect height and pitch for my wrists while typing. The wireless mouse used to slip off until I pulled a cotton pillowcase over the black metal, now it grips and is very comfortable. My monitor is just a 37" 1080p LCD stacked on a table and empty crates to reach head height. I've got an ottoman to sit or lean on when I need a break from standing, and the music stand desk makes it really easy to quickly and firmly adjust the perfect typing attitude.

boop 14y ago

I use my MBP in clamshell mode: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3131 http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3131 With a Macessity LapTuk stand: http://www.amazon.com/Macessity-LAPTUKPRO-LapTuk-with-USB2-0/dp/B0047MFXL8/ http://www.amazon.com/Macessity-LAPTUKPRO-LapTuk-with-USB2-0... And 3 external monitors usings two Kensington's USB to VGA adaptors: http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-Universal-Multi-Display-Adapter-Black/dp/B002F9NSMQ http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-Universal-Multi-Display-Ada... I can do a coderwall profile with photos if there is interest.

jebblue 14y ago

I liked Ilya's and Rachel's workspaces the best.

dysoco 14y ago

Can you call this guys "Hackers" ? Come on, Macbooks, Ikea tables, and the most weird... cleanliness. Where are the cups of coffee ? Where are all the cables ? The Model M keyboard ? I can't see any Donald Knuth books there. Not to mention no one is using Linux there. I'm not "ragehating" because of Macs or so, I'm just saying that it's weird to see a Hacker with a workspace like that :P

oemera 14y ago
I don't mean to be that guy but this kind of comments are getting on my nerves lately. If you don't have something to contribute just don't write an comment. I mean think about your comment and ask yourself if it helped someone. I would be surprised if you think yes. A hacker is not a hacker because of the hardware he/she uses. It's not the books he/she reads. It's about being unconventional, using things you are productive with, finding out what would make things better and you name it. It's not about being not clean and reading Donald Knuth's books. Please either stop writing such things or simply go away.
- aiscott 14y ago
  You're own comment fits the criteria. "Please either stop writing such things or simply go away."