The Home Setup

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  • My wife and I are fortunate to have two spare rooms in the house to accommodate separate offices.  She does physical therapy practice management consulting while I'm a software developer.  We both work primarily from home, although at times we will both work with clients onsite for some months at a time.  However, our home offices are always our base.  As a bonus, in a previous career I ran my own woodworking shop, so in addition to coding, I also enjoy building furniture for myself and friends as a hobby.

    This happy circumstance has resulted in my wife and I having well-furnished offices with custom desks and storage that is suited to both our needs and wants.  That, and high-speed internet access is all we need.

    In the past, I had a custom computer rack stuffed with servers and spare laptops all linked together with an 8-port KVM switch.  I hosted my own SQL Servers and virtual servers there.  Thanks to the cloud, the rack is gone to a good home and I'm happy now with just a laptop.

    Here are several photos of my desk and credenza, as well as my wife's office setup.  We both prefer L-shaped desks...

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  • jeff-657319 wrote:

    In the past, I had a custom computer rack stuffed with servers and spare laptops all linked together with an 8-port KVM switch.  I hosted my own SQL Servers and virtual servers there.  Thanks to the cloud, the rack is gone to a good home and I'm happy now with just a laptop.

    ..

     

    Have you posted about the comparative costs of the 2 setups anywhere? I'm almost certain that the silence is a major benefit.

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  • Before my wife took early retirement from an office furniture manufacturer and started her graphic design and web development business we furnished our home office at dealer cost with her company benefits.  Our goal was to get the most work surface so we used the modular furniture approach.  We have now utilized the same modular furniture in three different homes.  In this latest setting we had windows installed in the entire rear wall and part of the side wall and can enjoy wild bird feeding all year around (when the sun is not in our eyes from the east-facing windows).  We  also included a great Boze digital sound system.  Also, with no family at home now, she has her complete sewing room which is twice the size of the office, also with the modular setup.   Office extensions include a large rear deck and front patio for 'meetings'.

    Thanks to a couple large NAS storage devices we are gradually replacing tower and desktop 'servers' and file cabinets with laptops that can be moved around at will.

     

    • This reply was modified 2 years, 5 months ago by  skeleton567.
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    Rick
    Disaster Recovery = Backup ( Backup ( Your Backup ) )

  • The computer rack was installed in the closet behind louvered doors, so the noise never got to be an issue.  Cooling during the summer was sometimes a concern so I had a box fan to increase air flow.  The rack was built to accommodate laptops in sliding trays, with only two towers in the lower level.  The tower was 2'x2'x4' high, made of oak with an open framework for air flow.  Each tray had it's own power supply, Cat5 and KVM cables, with a large UPS on the bottom tray.  4" industrial casters on the bottom allowed me to roll it out for maintenance.  I was sad to see it go.

    Now, besides the cloud, I have twin NAS boxes on a shelf.  One is a file history backup and disk image store, which backs up periodically to the other box.  I also use Duplicati to back up everything to OneDrive folders every night.  Never lost a file.

    The cloud storage and Azure access comes free with my Visual Studio subscription.  I've maintained this for the last 20+ years (used to be MSDN) to get access to OS and dev tools, so cost is really not in the equation, although I'd guess just the savings in electricity would add up.

    All in all, I'm very happy with the setup.

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  • jeff-657319 wrote:

    My wife and I are fortunate to have two spare rooms in the house to accommodate separate offices.  She does physical therapy practice management consulting while I'm a software developer.  We both work primarily from home, although at times we will both work with clients onsite for some months at a time.  However, our home offices are always our base.  As a bonus, in a previous career I ran my own woodworking shop, so in addition to coding, I also enjoy building furniture for myself and friends as a hobby.

    Very cool and nice looking desks.

  • skeleton567 wrote:

    Before my wife took early retirement from an office furniture manufacturer and started her graphic design and web development business we furnished our home office at dealer cost with her company benefits.  Our goal was to get the most work surface so we used the modular furniture approach.

    Looks good and spacious. Nice job

  • Thanks!  Her office set is made of bloodwood and maple, while mine is jatoba, ebony and cherry.  All solid wood - no veneers.  Each office set took me a couple of months to make.  The desks have built-in cable trays behind the aprons to keep things tidy.

    The computer rack is solid oak.

  • jeff-657319 wrote:

    My wife and I are fortunate to have two spare rooms in the house to accommodate separate offices.  She does physical therapy practice management consulting while I'm a software developer.  We both work primarily from home, although at times we will both work with clients onsite for some months at a time.  However, our home offices are always our base.  As a bonus, in a previous career I ran my own woodworking shop, so in addition to coding, I also enjoy building furniture for myself and friends as a hobby.

    This happy circumstance has resulted in my wife and I having well-furnished offices with custom desks and storage that is suited to both our needs and wants.  That, and high-speed internet access is all we need.

    In the past, I had a custom computer rack stuffed with servers and spare laptops all linked together with an 8-port KVM switch.  I hosted my own SQL Servers and virtual servers there.  Thanks to the cloud, the rack is gone to a good home and I'm happy now with just a laptop.

    Here are several photos of my desk and credenza, as well as my wife's office setup.  We both prefer L-shaped desks...

     

    Jeff, your office has a very warm, cozy, comfortable appearance and looks like a nice job.

    Rick
    Disaster Recovery = Backup ( Backup ( Your Backup ) )

  • My wife now has the best workstation in the house for her 3-day per week job as Church Administrator. She has a 1yo 16GbB laptop/tablet combo feeding two 4k monitors all set up on our breakfast bar.  I 'make do' with a 32GB 2017 vintage desktop feeding a 2k and a 4k monitor in my man-cave (but I am now retired).  We both share a new colour laser printer.

    At the start of the first lockdown in the UK (23 March 2020) we started with my wife suddenly working from home using a 2014 vintage laptop with a 2k tv/monitor. I already mixed home and office working, with home having two 2k monitors and we shared an inkjet, but soon got a 4k monitor for each of us. The surplus 2k was given to a friend. When my wife changed job last year we upgraded to the setup above, and purchased the laser this year.

    The 4k monitors were a great investment and improve productivity, now costing about GBP £160. Get one (or more) if you can afford them.  The laser is a slight luxury but very useful for what my wife needs to print. My wife's job paid 70% of her laptop but we paid for the rest.

    Original author: https://github.com/SQL-FineBuild/Common/wiki/ 1-click install and best practice configuration of SQL Server 2019, 2017 2016, 2014, 2012, 2008 R2, 2008 and 2005.

    When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor they call me a communist - Archbishop Hélder Câmara

  • I have a dedicated workspace at home. We've got an old metal, military desk from a bygone era. We got it several years ago at a military surplus sale. It worked out well. During the winter I do have to wear gloves because the metal on the desk gets cold.

    Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.

  • Rod at work wrote:

    I have a dedicated workspace at home. We've got an old metal, military desk from a bygone era. We got it several years ago at a military surplus sale. It worked out well. During the winter I do have to wear gloves because the metal on the desk gets cold.

    Rod, gloves are something I don't think I ever tried.  I would make lots of typos with gloves, as I do without gloves.  Reminds me of the old saying from my IBM days ( 50 years ago) that we 'fat-fingered' things.  The only keyboard was the mainframe console, an IBM Selectric typewriter.  For everything else there were coding sheets, keypunch machines, and card readers.  I had to remake LOTS of punch cards, too.  There was no spell-check then...

    My first good home desk was an AllSteel 30x60 metal desk that I  bought from the office supply store where I worked in my college days, early 1960's.    My boss even let me buy it on credit.   As I recall it was $125 retail, but I got it at cost.

    Rick
    Disaster Recovery = Backup ( Backup ( Your Backup ) )

  • Hey Rick,

    What I meant by wearing gloves in the winter is half finger gloves. I bought a packet of 50 from Amazon for a good price. Unfortunately, I can't find that right now. Here's a different example, more expensive and tighter than I'd care to wear, but you'll get the idea from this.

    Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.

  • Ah, yes - metal desks.  My first "real" desk was also a government surplus great monster with and indestructible rubbery top.  I mounted a radiant heat panel  underneath against the modesty panel, which kept me nice and toasty in the cold months.

    I used to joke that the desk was so massive and solid that it must have been designed as shelter against nuclear attacks!

  • HAHAHA! I completely relate to what you're saying, Jeff. Yeah, those old military surplus desks are great monsters. And heavy! But really solid.

    Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.

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