My home office is nearing its completion. My books are stacked, the desks are stationed, got a white board as well. Tomorrow I am hoping to set up the equipment in there. So I think it is a good time for a post on technology/equipment and their rationale to be used in my home office.
Computers:
I am currently working off of a Laptop. I recently bought a 23” LCS display to use along with that. I have now also got a wireless keyboard and a mouse as well. So I will be working on a Full KB, mouse and a large LCD screen. But I want to migrate to a desktop computer pretty soon. One of the reasons that I decided to not to spent on office furniture was to spend that money on an ultimate developer rig. I am fed up of working on cramped real estate and input devices of laptops.
Once I make the move to the desktop, I am going to primarily use the laptop as my mobile computer. Even for that, both my current laptops are pretty heavy and big. So I will consider trading in my old laptop for a netbook. But that will have to wait till I get to building the developer rig.
Apart from my main development machine I am hoping to setup two different computers. One is a Hackintosh, until I get my hands on a Mac Mini or a MacBook. I seriously need to do some development for the iPhone. And also I am planning on running another computer as a media center/ backup computer with a RAID array to act as my Home Server.
Connectivity:
I currently have a Lanka Bell 2Mbps connection to my homeoffice. This will be sufficient for me for some time. So far, I have not had any major issues with the connection and touch wood, I hope it stays that way.
As a backup I have a data plan on my iPhone and it is also configured to tether. So in case of a failure I have a backup connection that will be fast enough or somewhat better than my main connection. Only issue is it will be a bit cumbersome to share it and also the issue of disconnection when a call comes in.
Phone:
My primary phone is my mobile. I do not want to have a land line as there is no one to answer the calls in my absence. Nothing annoys me more than an unanswered fixed business line. But in the case of a mobile, people will understand that there are instances that the phone cannot be answered.
Backup Power:
This is one of my main concerns. In my previous home I used full days worth of work due to day long power cuts, and they were frequent too. But in my new home office, the power cuts are very rare. Therefore backup power is not a major concern. But in any case, as I am planning to switch to a desktop, I think it will be wise to invest in a UPS. This will be one of my major investments that I will make in the very near future, maybe soon after the developer rig.
Storage/Backup:
One of the other main pieces of technology that I want to invest in is on a external HDD. I am still debating between a couple of low capacity drives vs one high capacity drive. I am for the low capacity drives to use them as backup drives for my main computer as well as the laptops.
I would really like to use a cloud based backup solution, but I am not comfortable with the payments to be made on a monthly basis. But in case I start using one, it will probably be Mozy.
Network:
I am setting up a wireless network at home to allow me to work from anywhere. I am very keen on working off the designated office, but I would also like to spend sometime in front of the water fountain in out garden. We have setup a pretty nice garden with a deck and that would be ideal to spend sometime there, at least when you want to do some reading on the net. I am currently going to setup a wireless G network mainly due to the fact that I am using my existing routers. But I would life to upgrade to a Wireless N network sometime in the future. But it is not a priority at this point of time.
At the same time I am setting up a wired network between my desktop computers so the data transfers are not limited by wireless speeds between them.
Low tech:
A white board is a must. That has already been sourced. I haven’t had a white board in my home office ever and I miss having one each time I go to a meeting where there is a whiteboard.
Notepads – I have a thing for yellow legal pads. I actually scribble on paper when I design logic for the programs I write. It helps me to focus and clarify my thoughts.
Pens – I am a sucker for fountain pens. Hence I always have a couple at least inked and ready to hit the paper!
Other Office Stationary – As a person who is trying to put GTD into practice, I am going to have enough office supplies and stationary to do the filing without procrastinating.
Filling – My current desks have enough drawers for files, supplies and stationary. But one thing that I want to purchase is a good enough filing cupboard. I think every home office needs one!
Racks – I am a sucker for books and I have a pretty decent collection. So it is a must for me to have enough rack space for my books. I recently discarded a lot of obsolete books and kept only those that I felt were needed and were not outdated. But I purchase a couple of books every month so the collection will grow. I currently have enough space for my library, but as it grows I will need to add more space to store them.
0 comments:
Post a Comment