u/Stewtheking

Where do you guys have your macropad on the desk? I used to have mine a little bit out of the way in the corner of my desk pad, when it wasn’t getting used as often, and was more of a fun toy than anything (position A). Now I am using some more complex macros as part of my work (excel shortcuts mainly) it has just moved to between my keyboard and trackball (position B) (I have also just made a little riser to bring the height up to sensibly use it *almost* as an extra thumb cluster for the trackball). I am wondering whether having it set up to use left handed (position C) would be better, though, as I would keep my hand on the trackball.

I know there are clever "out of the way" positions, mounting under the monitor and under the desk, but those are a bit out of the way for workflow stuff. Is there anything else I am missing? What positions have people experimented with (successfully or otherwise)?

Yes, I do have a lot of macropads.

Edit: okay, you have all convinced me. Evidently C is the only sensible way to go. I have shuffled some cables, re-mapped so that the layers make sense with the other hand, and will aim to refresh my muscle memory!!!

I have a pair of speakers set up in the near field on my desk, in approximately the above configuration. When I was placing them, logic seemed to be that I should have them as wide as possible, but doing some further reading that doesn't seem to be true. Recieved wisdom seems to be that an equilateral triangle would be more optimal, but I can't seem to find any detailed discussion of precisely why.

I have some latitude to be able to move the speakers on their stands. I can probably move each speaker in by approximately 10/12 cm without too much juggling of cables, however any further would necessitate some fairly significant reorganisation on the desk.

I am guessing the advice will be "give it a try and see", but can anybody give me some idea of what the changes are likely to be, so I can make a determination as to whether it is likely to be worth the hassle?

This is my setup in my teaching lab. I am pretty happy with it at present, but definitely room for tweaks.

• Flexispot standing desk legs, on old corner desk top.
• Iiyama 34 inch monitor, with a 24 inch either side. Right monitor hardware-mirrored to the classroom display screen.
• Usage: left monitor for music and whatsapp, main monitor for emails, what I'm working on and a file folder, right monitor for reference, presenting to class, and when I have just too many spreadsheets I need open at once...
• iPad as a digital photo frame, (all pics of my kids). Phone on charging stand (need handy for 2FA).
• DIY full-range speakers, from IKEA salad bowls, on ear-height speaker stands. Powered by Loxjie A30, and low range boosted by a subwoofer (Yamaha YST-FSW050).
• Loxjie amp mounted by cable-tying to vesa mount on otherwise surplus side of dual monitor arm.
• Speaker switch (hidden) to swap between desk speakers and big floorstanders to feed sound to the room (class watching videos etc.)
• Keyboard - own design; Helvellyn. Numpad - RoMac Macropad. Macropad - pcb based on Joe Scotto's Scotto9.
• Trackball - Ploopy adept.
• Deskpad - busy town!
• Fan - mounted (homebrew, with lab cork) on monitor stand.
• Lighting - Quntis ScreenLinear, and 2 desk lamps.
• Pen rack - borrowed test-tube-rack.
• Cable management - desk-dinosaurs, a Univivi cable-management tray, and many velcro cable ties.
• Mug - Daddy Pig (Fathers' Day Gift)