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On Decorating Your Computer Room? 125

Posted by Cliff from the neon-lights-and-fractal-posters dept.
jaxle asks: "I wanted to ask the Slashdot crowd what they have in their computer rooms to make it less... dreary. I love having windows, but like me, for many of us I don't think that is an option. I have most of my computer stuff in the basement, and I find that my eyes usually get sore and I can't stand being down there any longer. So far I have a fish tank that I got recently which adds a nice ambiance to the room. I am planning on buying some plants too in the near future. Any body else have ideas or tell us how you decorate your computer room. Also, what kind of lighting most represents real sunlight?"
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On Decorating Your Computer Room? More

On Decorating Your Computer Room?

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  • Full Spectrum Lights (Score:5, Informative)

    by Bastian ( 66383 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @06:07AM (#5457339)
    They might take special light fixtures, and the bulbs are expensive as hell, but they are well worth it.

    For one, they last a long time. I'm not sure about the cost per unit of life, but if you find the right full spectrum bulb it shouldn't be much worse than incandesent.

    For two, they really are like real sunlight. You'll all probably be much happier people (since you probably don't get to see much real sunlight if your office has no windows), and you'll get more vitamin D to boot. =D

    Oh yeah, and the plants will thank you for it, too.
    • I agree. Full spectrum plant lights. That's what I have in mine. I use full spectrum florsecent plant lights you can buy at walmat. They have them in just about all sizes and you can use them in just about any florscent fixture.
      I also have a window, but since I live in northern Germany, we don't get much light here in the winter.
      • Fortunately, you're in Germany; in the US, buying plant lights, especially in quantity, might get you a visit from the DEA [growrooms.com].
      • The have Walmart in Germany now?! Wow... They really are taking over. (not a troll, I really didn't realize they had locations there.)
        • Sigh. Yeah, Walmart is taking over my little town here in Washington USA.. Had a regular one for a while, then they decided to upgrade it to a Macro Wally World, AKA Super Walmart. Going to be opening here in a few months.. everyone's saying that it's going to destroy local business; I'm inclined to agree.
          • Super Walmart. Going to be opening here in a few months.. everyone's saying that it's going to destroy local business;

            The only way it's going to destroy local business is if people go there instead local businesses; and if they do, then obviously they would prefer a Super Walmart to local buisnesses.
          • If local businesses were actually open during the hours I'm off from work, I might go there. Big stores bother to stay open late, so I'm much more inclined to go there than the small mom-n-pop shops that close their doors at 5PM.

            Do the small stores really think they're so special that I should take time off from work to visit them? Wal-mart's staff doesn't work a strict 8-5 day, so why should any other store's?
    • Are a great investment for any basement (or cavelike room) where you think you might be spending significant time. My friend gets seasonal affective disorder and a simple set of full spectrum florescent lights made a HUGE difference in the winter.

    • Re:Full Spectrum Lights (Score:5, Informative)

      by CharlieG ( 34950 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @01:31PM (#5460152) Homepage
      Full Spectrum lights are NOT that expensive, and fit "standard" fixtures - Verilux is one brand, and even Home Depot sells some here in the states

      My workshop at home is ALL full spectrum lights - VERY nice.

      Another option (expensive) is HID lighting - Yes, like the cars. Fixtures are EXPENSIVE and throw a LOT of light

      Whatever you do, remember to look at 2 numbers - The Color Rendering Index (aka, the CRI) - you REALLY want a CRI in the VERY high 80s or in the 90s - 100 would be perfect "sunlight". The best you can do is about 92

      The other is color temp. It is the color of the light (relative to "Black Body" color). Standard Incandescent light is around 2700. Some of the "full spectrum" lights key as blue as 5500k - These are a close match to "noon sunlight", but make things look flat unless you do 2 things - design for it, and use a LOT of light

      Believe it or not, the Light bulb Mfgs have some pretty good guides to GOOD lighting on their web sights. For NICE computer lighting, you probably want to follow some of their general ideas - I've actually spent money on this at my OFFICE (if I leave, I'll take the lights)

      You want a medium level of ambient light - in my 10x10 office, I use a dual 2x24" florescent fixture doing an upward wall wash - gives MOST of the general light. Then I have a track light with 4 bulbs - One flood pointing at the cork board being my desk, one flood at the cluster of photos on the wall to my left, 2 spots pointing at the 2 photos on the wall in front of me (behind the visitors chairs). Then I have task lighting on my desk

      Good lighting makes a difference

    • Re:Full Spectrum Lights (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The difference between full spectrum and regular
      florsecent lights are minimal. What really makes a difference is the fixture (the thing you snap the tube in - hope thats the word) The device in older lamps are just copper-reels. So they flicker with 50/60Hz.

      New ones are electronic - high frequency devices. Those things produce better output for the tube. Take a high quality Osram (or any other vendor) tube with colors 21 (Coldwhite int the office) or 31 (Warmwhite for all other rooms) and you have a state of the art lightning solution without spending a lot of money for 3%-better fullspectrum-better-chi-thingy...

      Changing colors (blue in the morning, red in the evening) works also very well for me...
      • The diference is MINIMAL?

        Have you ever LOOKED at a spectrum graph? Yes, good ballasts make a difference, but part of what you are seeing is that most of the newer tubes (T8 pin and the like) already are somewhat better tubes (tri phosphor). The color21 and 31 tubes are getting there. Like I said in another post, the small extra cost of a high CRI tube isn't much, particlarly is you stay away from brands like Verilux (I LIKE Verilux, but) - the tubes are maybe 25% more in price for "full spectrum"

    • Re:Full Spectrum Lights Bad idea (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I had full spectrum flourescent bulbs in my house and in the lab at work. They were great for about a year until I found plastic items that were under these lights became brittle. My shelves, my carpet protector, etc, all suffered from UV damage. Not to mention the potential damage to your skin these lights should only be used for plants.
      I do not use full spectrum lights in my house any longer.
    • Full spectrum lights are NOT needed for most (very few, in fact) plants. I'm running under stock flourescents and have almost a dozen hanging baskets from the ceiling on rail hooks. The standing joke is comparing them to Audry from "Little Shop Of Horrors" because they are growing like Kuzu and threatening passers-by. They have no direct sunlight at all, but are growing like mad. I've got... Pothos, Heart Leaf Philodendron, Spider Plant (this monster is huge), Varigated Ivy, Purple Wandering Jew, Varigated Wandering Jew, String of Perls, and Boston Ferns.

      What is important is irrigation and fertilizer. I've got a 16 ltr tank with a fountain pump on a timer feeding drip irrigation tubing. The thing gets two minutes of irrigation twice a day to all the plants using variable drippers adjusted to each plant. Once a month, they get fed a solution fertilizer. Filled to the top, the tank can last about two weeks (if I'm on vacation). By the time I'm done (plans to double the number of plants) that will be down to about a week of reserve and I'll have to come up with another plan.

      Chose your plants for the lighting they will receive (filtered light and indirect light plants do best - avoid direct sunlight plants) and then water and feed them according to your preferred form of abuse. (You like to over water - don't chose a snake plant. Like to dry them out, don't do nerve plants or zebra plants. Like to fertilize, DON'T do carnivorous plants!) If you can tolerate the lighting, you can find plants that will do well and even give you foliage that will help deaden the noise level.

      If you can survive the environment, there are plants that can. Chose the plants to fit your working environment. It will reward you well without creating a lot of work. Chosing the wrong plants can create a lot of work and misery and dead plants... :-/
    • My experience with full spectrum lights is that they don't cast anything that really looks like daylight. I experience this eerie blue hue to everything.

  • Suggestion: (Score:5, Funny)

    by nekdut ( 74793 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @06:11AM (#5457345) Journal
    I love having windows, but like me, for many of us I don't think that is an option.

    Easy solution: Use linux!! =)

    • Re:Suggestion: (Score:5, Funny)

      by Tumbleweed ( 3706 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @06:17AM (#5457354)
      Clearly, he needs a SUN box. :)
    • Honestly. I read all the responses so far and the best guys (including me) can come up with is recreating a dorm room or a computer lab or the flight deck of the NCC-1701.

      I am guilty as charged, my office has a desk that takes two walls, two servers, a 17" monitor, a 15" flat screen a laptop on a docking station, a 270 watt Sony receiver with two full size speakers (weigh 33lbs each, have a 12" woofer, 5" mid and a metal tweeter in each case, about 24" tall), a printer, my cablemodem, router, and 10/100 switch each with plenty of blinkenlighten, and a book case full of tech manuals. Four completely blank walls, a window (ahhh sunlight) and a door.

      If you want it aesthetically pleasing, find a woman who has a work area or home that you find appealing. Give her carte blanche and get out of her way. Explain to her (show her) how much hardware you need to keep in the room (computer gear, etc...) and how much flat space to pile up papers, printouts, etc.. and turn her loose.

      That is what I am going to do, if I ever decide to make my office 'nice'. Well that or frame the XMP class CPU I have and hang it on the wall, then dim the overhead lights so I can better appreciate the blinkenlighten of my router and switch :)

  • Wood rules (Score:5, Insightful)

    by tsa ( 15680 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @06:26AM (#5457367) Homepage
    I don't have a real 'computer room' but I have a room full of electronic stuff, and I find it important to no make it too 'high-tech looking'. Therefore I have two wooden bookcases, a wooden table (2x1 m^2, the bigger the better!) and even a wooden floor. And lots of plants and pluche animals.
    • My solution is just to have computers of various ages in all rooms of the house.
    • Wood really does help. I live in a dorm room and rather than getting cheap plastic shelves for my computers I decided on wooden ones, not only for their strength, but for the warmth of the material. Wood definantly cuts down on the hard look of a computer room.
  • I use my computer in our house's living room, and you don't wanna see how (un)organized it is :)

    However, it's the least of my interests to decorate my computer PC! What matters is what I can see inside the monitor :)!

    Khalid

  • Eclipse Lights (Score:4, Informative)

    by fobside ( 140397 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @06:33AM (#5457376) Homepage
    I don't know how well Eclipse Workstation Lights mimick sunlight, but they're great on the eyes.

    As far as designing a room, I always liked neat computer rooms. I like having a shelf with software boxes, all the peripherals neatly aligned, and a clean desk. It's weird. The rest of my rooms look like hell, but not my computer room.
    • I have taken advantage of lighting not only to mimick sunlight, but for heat. My computer room is in the basement, fully enclosed with concrete walls, so this bomb shelter is very cold all year. About 1000 watts of halogen lights keeps my feet nice and toasty and the radiant warmth makes me smile. The lighting is so warm, I have to wear shades.

      If it ever gets depressing, I just start adding more arrays of blinking lights to the boxes as a cheap substitute for "upgrade gratification." After all, blinky lights are the essense of modern technology.
    • For lights I generally use other computer monitors and I wanna try out christmas lights. I have several computers next to eachother, and I just have them all running some program, and it makes a nice pleasant backlight. And christmas lights are good too, from my experience.

  • Velux (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Arc04 ( 601196 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @06:34AM (#5457377)
    I would personally move out of the basement, and into a loft conversion room if you have one. You can then install a Velux window - great for getting lots of natural light into the room, and then you can have a cool motorised blind for when it gets too sunny that you can rig up to your PC and then control via a temp/sunlight sensor :):)

    Although you have realised the benefits of natural light, no artifical light will ever be as good, so make the effort and get yourself into a nice, light room!

    Arc

    PS: Oblig Simpsons quote: "Ahhh! Natural Light- get it off me, get it off me!" [Barney]
  • You should have a look at Think Geek [thinkgeek.com]...they have many posters and gadgets that should fit very well in a room like yours...as it fits in mine :)

    • Definitely a good idea. But don't go overboard; I like the idea of a computer room being geeky, but also look intellectual and inspiring ( but that doesn't mean the Despair pictures don't have thier place ).

      I have two large 36x24 Apple Think Different Posters on my wall (Jim Henson and Cesear Chavez). It helps counter the geekiness from the many computers and parts lying around and on shelves.

  • Computer room art (Score:5, Funny)

    by TheCovenant ( 39122 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @07:10AM (#5457446)

    I generally use old computer parts, empty beer bottles, and dust to decorate my computer room.

    • Re:Computer room art (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Please don't forget the following: a pile of socks and shirts thrown into the corner, a few stacks of books that are so high that you hate pulling one from the bottom, several tool boxes add misc power tools against the back wall, an AM radio for the local news (I have a large furnature like AM radio from the 40's and I am dreading the day that a tube burns out)
  • Augment regular (yellowish) lighting with one or two of those relatively cheap blue 'daylight' bulbs.

    Also remember that the more adjustable your lighting (both in position/angle and in intensity) the more likely you'll be able to get satisfactory results. And when work is tedious, you can try to perfect the lighting configuration for literally hours. Always consider the all-important procrastination factor.
  • Besides computers, my other hobbies are science fiction, progressive rock [*] and... landscape photography. What I did was making enlargements of my favorite landscape/scenery pictures, framing them, and then hanging them in the walls. I did about six months ago, and I'm pleased with the results.

    [*] For a time, the only "dressing" was the sonic dressing the music provided, and that was nice, too.

  • sunlight... (Score:5, Funny)

    by aldjiblah ( 312163 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @08:05AM (#5457529)
    what kind of lighting most represents real sunlight?

    real sunlight. get out some.

  • One word: MIRRORS! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Spudley ( 171066 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @08:53AM (#5457617) Homepage Journal
    Cover every surface with mirrors.

    Muahahahah! James Bond will never guess which one of you is the real one!

  • A Fireplace (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Pathwalker ( 103 ) <hotgrits@yourpants.net> on Friday March 07, 2003 @08:59AM (#5457638) Homepage Journal
    The time when I was most productive, was when I had my main workstation in a basement room with a fireplace.

    The flickering light of the fire mixing with the glow of the screen was very relaxing, and I was able to work long hours, getting a lot done and still feel relaxed.

    Plus, when I got stuck, I could poke the fire, throw another log on it, or go split some wood, taking my mind off of the problem for a while.

  • solar tubes (Score:4, Interesting)

    by zogger ( 617870 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @09:04AM (#5457664) Homepage Journal
    these things are nifty

    http://www.skylights-of-hawaii.com/news/page4.ht ml

    No electricity required, about as "natural" as you can get for lighting. Obviously only useful during the daylight hours, but a good way to get that natural light that humans absolutely need for both good physical health and psychological health. And you can grow plants then as well down there without using additional electricity or artificial light. And here's a tip, once when all I had was an apartment, I wanted a garden, a veggie garden. So I just went for it, instead of "normal" house plants I grew like 6 foot tall staked tomatoes, etc inside. People always liked it when they came over, and it actually provided some nice fresh salad action. I had tomatoes and pole beans and peas and cukes, etc all growing inside in front of windows. Was really neat! The coolest one was a large rose bush, quite the nice odor inside a small room.

    Googling will find you more sources for these and different lighting ideas. All of them more or less use a periscope type action with just ultra shiny pipes to move the light around, and there is a japanese company I have forgotten the name of now though that uses fiber optics to pipe sunlight around to various places inside office buildings.
  • The venerable macquarium [lowendmac.com]

  • TV (Score:2)

    by Vodak ( 119225 )
    This sounds silly but I would suggest that if Slashdot users want decorating advice and ideas they should do something more productive then ask Slashdot, watch something like HGTV.

    If you ask the slashdot community about ideas you'll have a basement full of neon lights and weird sci collectables, now if you're into it that's great. but if you are looking for something else it would be wiser to look elsewhere.

    • Re:TV (Score:2)

      by tsa ( 15680 )
      That's what I thought. But then I read the comments on this question and, well, it seems like everyone likes plants and sunlight and windows! Scary.
  • Leather couches, X-rays, books, hanging christmas bows, Batz Maru, and oh, a window.

  • Ott Lights (Score:3, Informative)

    by Danny Rathjens ( 8471 ) <slashdot2NO@SPAMrathjens.org> on Friday March 07, 2003 @10:29AM (#5458234)

    http://www.ott-lite.com/ [ott-lite.com]

    A specially formulated blend of rare earth phosphors is used to create this unique illumination that looks and feels like natural daylight.

    • Ott is like the Bose of lighting. Its good, but you can get the same technical quality for less money with another brand. Styling is important too though.
  • When you have this to look at [theregister.co.uk] who needs a window?

    Kris
  • apparently they such lots of nasty ray-like things that eminate from computer screens etc..

    or so says the wife :D

  • The "Geek Room" (Score:3, Insightful)

    by travail_jgd ( 80602 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @10:48AM (#5458435)
    My computer room has been designated the "geek room", because all of my geek things live there: computers, CD's, and the majority of my books (computer, RPG, and novels). I like being surrounded by my collections, and it keeps other areas -- especially the living room and dining room -- less cluttered. I'm not a decorator, but my girlfriend has a calendar and a Visibone web-unsafe color chart. Also, I try to keep lots of table-space near my desk for reference books -- computer or RPG :).

    In terms of lighting, Reveal bulbs are really nice. I've never had any full-spectrum bulbs, but the Reveal bulbs give a whiter light than regular incandescent bulbs. After using them in a couple of rooms, the rest of the apartment feels "dingy" in comparison.

    If you can, adjust the color temperature of your CRT monitor. 9300 seems to be the default, but 6550 is closer to sunlight and much easier on the eyes (IMHO).
    • I'll have to second you on the reveal bulbs. After putting them in my bedroom, the rest of the apartment looked horrible in comparison; I ended up replacing every bulb in my place with reveals. I just hope they last as long as the standard incandescents, as I only bought the reveals two weeks ago.

  • Two different rooms in my house (Score:4, Interesting)

    by jht ( 5006 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @10:55AM (#5458506) Homepage Journal
    We have a spare bedroom upstairs that's the full "geek room" for the house. It's just decorated with white walls, curtains (provided by my wife), a pair of daylight fluorescent bulbs in a wall fixture, and a couple of framed photos of the Vineyard [petersimon.com]. For furniture, there's two desks, one with my Windows gaming box, and one with my Powerbook. I also have a nice wooden bookcase, a magazine basket, and a relatively ugly metal shelving unit that holds my server, network switch, and a couple of other computers that all share a monitor and setups via a KVM switch. The closet used to keep a lot of tech junk, but was renovated by me into a clothing closet last year.

    Then down in the cellar we have my workshop and a rec room. It's a big open layout that's kinda subdivided into three rooms by painting different colors and themes. One third is just pretty much open space, with a closet and some storage items. One third is my workbench, along with my tools storage, another PC setup (a simple, but nice-looking PC workstation unit and a comfy leather chair), along with our exercise gear (a weight machine and bike). I can work out, build stuff, or geek in peace.

    Then there's the third "room", which is a pseudo-living room. There's a small area rug, an old sofa and loveseat with slipcovers, our old 27" TV with an old DVD player, and we use a lobster trap as a coffee table. The walls around that portion were painted by a friend of my wife's - she painted an underwater themed mural on the two walls that enclose the area, with a blue paint and rocks, seaweed, and fish painted in. It looks really cool and separates the section. Lighting is a mix of stuff - there's lamps around for individual use but overhead shop fluorescents throughout if needed.

    Basically, paint is the key, I think. You can do some really neat stuff with paint that can dress up a room or change it's mood entirely. Good quality furniture is a must, too - it should be unobtrusive and not cheap-looking. Hide as many wires as you can, also.

  • Trading Spaces ?!? (Score:4, Funny)

    by stinkydog ( 191778 ) <sd@s t r angedog.net> on Friday March 07, 2003 @10:57AM (#5458541) Homepage
    daydream on
    OSDN TV-
    Welcome to todays episode of Slashdot Trading Spaces. Our crack designers will transform drab computer rooms into works of art. ...

    Cut to homeowners dremeling case window into furnace. ...

    Cut to Macaquarium's big brother PDP8 Aquarium. ...

    Electrolumescent wire everywhere. Multicolored network cable everywhere. Leds. Neon. Argh....

    daydream off

    Scary.

    SD
  • My home computer is just in my bedroom :-p

  • Yesterday and Today... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MrIcee ( 550834 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @11:40AM (#5458972) Homepage
    In the late 80's I was hired by Truevision (makers of graphics cards and paint software) and allowed to hire a team to create a new paint system for one of their latest graphic cards. At the time, Truevision was moving to a new building and we were asked how we wanted our room designed. The entire office environment was florescent lighting, which I personally can't stand... so we asked for the following:

    1. A room without carpeting, so our rolling chairs would roll
    2. A door with a lock so we could not be bothered
    3. Incadesent lighting with a DIMMER so that we could set the appropriate level
    4. An interior office so there would be no windows
    5. A stereo system so that we could play our favorite music
    We tended to leave the lights to almost off, very very dim, the music up high, and the door locked. We could easily go to each team members station merely by kicking and scooting around in our rolling chairs. It was a fantastic environment.

    These days, however, I live in Hawaii. My workplace has greatly changed. Since I work out of my house I can design just about anything I wish. My lab is currently on the 2nd floor of my house and has huge windows on two sides that face North and West (I'm on the east side of the Big Island so this avoids morning sunlight problems). I look out over my landscaping which is full of fruit and flowers.

    Of course, some things don't change... I still have the rolling chairs... I still have the stereo... I still prefer to get up at 4:00 AM and work awhile in the dark... but when the sun comes up, and the rainbows come out... and the exotic scents and birds arrive... it is a very nice programmiing experience.

    Aloha

  • In my experience, the ideal light is reched bya a combination of fluorecent and incandecent lights w/ dimmer in separate switches. This way you can have a strong white light, a strong light not so white and a very dark yellow light by tunning the dials...
  • Personally, I find case mods help with that. I mean, I know they serve no real pourpose, but when you have a room filled with computers, it can help brighten things up. I have a window in my server cube and a cold-cathode light kit. My computer now looks kinda cool and provides a little blue light for the room. My rackmount server is in a 19" black (gloss black spray paint) rack with another hub. The rack is mostly empty so it's not really needed, but it still has a good look to it. I guess what I'm saying here is to unclutter things with a rack and at the same time try to increase the coolness factor. If you add a little style, the room won't seem quite so drab. My 2 cents anyways.

  • Redecoration (Score:3, Funny)

    by mechugena ( 311767 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @12:36PM (#5459497) Homepage
    I think we're in need of the first Slashdot sponsored episode of Trading Spaces
  • As in this [jonespg.com], or perhaps this one [sun-dome.com]. Basically a crude light pipe with hemispherical collector on the outdoor end. They work splendidly at bringing natural light into, e.g., a windowless bathroom where regular skylights won't work. If there's direct sun available outside the basement windows that can't get in because of size, wells, orientation, etc., maybe a couple of these could be retrofit & oriented off-wall to bring in gobs of that full daylight.
    If the natural light simply isn't available, try a brace of full-spectrum fluorescents, as earlier posters suggested (NOT plant grow-lights, as others have), a couple of halogen torchier lamps indirected off a bright-white ceiling, or, if you want a real S.A.D.-killer, a small (~150W) metal halide lamp in the 4000-5000K range. The latter is a total geek effort as you'll probably have to build it from components (Home Depot, Lowes, or any good lighting supply store). Research & experiment to determine proper wattage, positioning, etc., and bounce the light off the aforementioned white ceiling - don't illuminate directly and don't build it into a fixture - those suckers are bright, and at least as hot as a halogen lamp.

    Beyond lighting, I've found what works best for me is a mix of warm colors - Monochrome Is Boring - (Home Depot / Lowes again; check out their recommended color combos; they're really very good at putting together eye-friendly stuff), the aforementioned white ceiling for light distribution, and liberal use of stained wood if you're good at finish work. And of course, liberal amounts of geek toys as accents.
    My goal is to create a home-office environment that's visually (& every other way) comfortable for long work sessions, but not so much so that the creative juices dry up & I doze off. :) I can't say I'm there yet, but it's a lot better than the beige-and-blue-grey atrocity I work in during the day.

  • Air Quality (Score:4, Informative)

    by Bush_man10 ( 461952 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @01:07PM (#5459874) Homepage
    I'm surpised that Air Quality wasn't mentioned here. I have all of my computer hardware in my basement too and I find that sometimes the air can get a little to dank. With the lack of windows in the room the poor ventalation I find really affects me when I'm working on my computer. Recently we installed a central air exchange unit in the house and it makes a huge change in my opinion.

  • studio (Score:2, Interesting)

    by blinder ( 153117 )
    My "computer room" is actually a "bump-out" in my (finished) basement (10'x12') area that serves as my recording studio (I have tons o' recording gear) and computer room.

    Basically, I spent like $200 on a decent desk from Ikea, put down a area rug (asian-knock-off type) and use small halogen lamps placed here and there. I also built a floor-standing 3-pannel screen to separate the studio area with the living/home theater area.

    I think the trick is to make the space light and airy and NOT cluttered (yes, this is tough for most geeks... but with just a little disciplin you can do it!). One of the best inventions I have found for keeping an uncluttered space is a waste-paper basket... and of course the WILL to throw stuff out.

    I once read something that if you touch a piece of paper only once or twice... throw it away!

    I have a storage room closed off to the rest of the basement where I store all the books (I like bookcases... but computer books -- which I have hundreds -- tend to create clutter). I don't mind having to get up, find my book, take it back to my desk... then get back up and put it back in its place. Its good to get up and move around :)

  • My cousin works at a video store, and so our biggest thing is movie posters. We managed to get a whole stack of movie posters from him (some of them are for good movies and others aren't). We found that colourful ones really helped a lot.

    Lighting is also important. We worked pretty hard to put lights in all the right places so that the room would be bright. What we found is that instead of shining the light directly out into the room, bounce it off the walls (which have the posters on it). If you put the lights sufficiently close to the walls, the bounced light will gain a slight hue from the posters, and liven things up. (The Charlie's Angels poster works really good for this, because it has bright pinks and oranges in it).

    I should note that incadescent light get hot. When the light is at the place which gives the best reflection characteristics, the wall gets a little hot and is thus not only a fire hazard, but also can discolour the paint. We use compact florescents. I don't like the hue of them as much (too green for me), but after bouncing them off the posters, they look pretty nice.

    -Jeff

  • My strategy (Score:5, Interesting)

    by slaker ( 53818 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @01:42PM (#5460289)
    There are presently 16 computers in my 1000 square foot apartment, inculding a fullsized rack, external hotswap RAID cabinet and a Catalyst 5005. Most of that is crammed into one room, and the REALLY loud and ugly stuff is in a closet in that room, but of course the whole apartment had air conditioning running until just last month.

    A number of issues present themselves.
    1.) Exposed cabling - I went hardcore and rewired my apartment with cat5, in-wall, replacing the ancient 4-prong block connectors for phone, and adding four ethernet ports everywhere I found a jack. That helped things a lot.
    Because the electrical demands of my apartment are slightly, well, extreme, I put waist-high bookcases everywhere, and ran bundled extension cords and power cables behind them. I found a bunch of cheap but not unappealing ones at Kmart for $5 apiece.
    The bookcases are incredibly imposing, if I do say so myself. They're all full, either of books or CDs.
    2.) Noise. *HUGE* problem. A lot of my PCs are simply enclosed somehow, either in closets, my rack or in computer desks. The RAID array and Catalyst are the biggest offenders, but my solution to that issue was to put them and the rest of their rack in an unused closet that I lined with carpet scraps. I went from being able to hear all those Barracudas while I was in the shower to having to open closet doors to make sure everything was running.
    For the rest of my apartment, I've chosen various tapestries and other cloth wall-hangings to deaden noise. This is quite effective but it DOES make speaker placement for my various home theater equipment more difficult.
    The final part of my noise-deadening and asthetic strategy is fake plants. I hit Lowe's, Sam's Club and Michael's for a selection of fake trees, branches and shrubs. I went out and hunted up some interesting-looking rocks to put around their bases. Fake plants do a great job absorbing noise. It's not that hard to wind cords through all those rocks, either, which helps with speaker and power cables.

    My apartment is fucking gorgeous, if I do say so myself. Mission-style oak furniture (O'Sullivan even makes decent oak-finish mission-style computer furniture, and it's inexpensive), the trees and bookcases... it's a wonderful asthetic arrangement, and I was able to hide my computers well enough that those who visit, only able to see a couple of computer monitors and a pair of speakers, ask where the rest of my stuff is.

    The only down side? I have to do quite a bit of dusting. :(
    • You might try some real plants. Find a knowledgeable plant person and ask him or her to direct you to some plants that can take low light.


      The plants will provide extra oxygen(good for the brain cells) and some even help cut down on the dust because they act like filters for the air


      There was a NASA experiment once where they looked for hardy houseplants that could live without needing too much sunlight. You might try googling for that.

  • "I love having windows"

    BLASPHEMER

  • Rocks garden (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Zelet ( 515452 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @01:55PM (#5460437) Journal
    You could set up a rock garden waterfall that doubles as a water cooling solution. The water falling over the rocks can be used as a radiator for your PC. The water falling over the rocks will create a soothing sound and look very nice while at the same time cooling the water and getting rid of that horrible PC hum.
    • I usually don't respond to trolls, but this one was marked "Interesting".

      As a test for this, I suggest you run your shower with the bathroom door open and no fans for a couple of hours. See if you enjoy things, maybe do this for a couple weeks to see how much mold grows on the ceiling.

      Or a simpler test would be to just fill up your bathtub with warm water and wait.

      Interesting stuff will happen, especially in winter. You won't be able to see out of the windows - they'll be covered with ice and or water. ;)
      • I'm not talking a baby pool. I am talking one of those little ones that you can buy at Younkers for $30.
        Mainly not for looks - mostly for soothing white noise.
        Don't call me a troll if you don't know what you are talking about.
        • Ok, I'll bite.

          My rough calculations for ~1 gallon waterfall say that a 50 watt cpu like a P4 should boil the water away in just over 5 hours.

          Not that it wouldn't be aesthetically pleasing... ;)
          • You are wrong. VERY wrong.

            First of all the water that runs over the processor is in a tube so it wont be able to evaporate until it has moved further along the system. Secondly, I have a 1 gallon humidifier. You know - one of those systems whos sole purpose is to humidify a room... well, it goes through a gallon of water in about 8 hours and it has visible steam coming out of the top and an active heating unit. The water that would be evaporating off of this system would be passive evaporation from the water flowing down the rocks.

            Please look here [indianatreasures.com].
            • Too funny. ;)

              Sorry, you're right. I calculated wrong. I didn't use the correct formula and didn't add in the latent heat of vaporization.

              I just calculated the energy required to raise 1 gallon of water to boiling point, but not actually boil the water. To raise it from room temperature to boiling point takes about 70 cal/gm. To change it from boiling water to boiling vapor takes 540 cal/gm.

              If you have a 1-gallon fountain, that's 3.8 liters, or 3800 gm of water. If you have a late-model p4, you're probably dissipating
              over 50 watts of power (the top-of-the-line p4 is 82 watts)
              1 watt = 1 Joule/sec
              1 calorie = 4.18 joules
              so 50 watts ~ 12 cal/sec
              you could boil 1 gm of water in 50 seconds
              you could boil 3800 gm of water in 53.6 hours = 2.2 days

              As for cooling from the fountain, you'd get it one of two ways: radiation and evaporation. I don't know how much you'd lose from radiation, but I don't think it would be as much as evaporation. Each gm of water you evaporate would provide 540 cal of cooling, which is basically the same as boiling it off.

              So keep the fountain full of water, otherwise all the water will be gone in 2.2 days.

  • I find that my eyes usually get sore and I can't stand being down there any longer.

    Buy a high quality, bigger monitor if you've got a 15" or bargain 17"

    Better yet, buy an LCD, SOO much easier on the eyes.

    Take breaks every so often, get a away from the computer for a few minutes, focus on objects far away, move your arms, wrists, and neck around.

    Also, get a very comfortable chair.

  • Buy laptop. Move to window. Problem solved.

  • My room is decorated... (Score:3, Informative)

    by cr0sh ( 43134 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @03:45PM (#5461566) Homepage
    ...in a "funky" manner. I am not sure what to call it, perhaps "Techno-Renaissance" fits.

    My room is relatively small (12' x 12'). I have a window behind me, but the blinds are drawn most of the time. My "desk" is a folding table, with a custom DC power distribution system mounted to the underside to deal with wall-wart issues (that is, I replaced my wall-warts with this system).

    In a u-shape around me are black steel shelving racks I bought cheap at k-mart. They are actually composed of 1.5 units, so that they reach to the ceiling. They are bolted together and mounted to the wall to keep them from falling over. Underneath the window is a homemade wooden bookcase made from 1x12 pine, and stained in some brown-oak color. I have books and other things in all of these shelves.

    On the top of the bookcase are various "knick-knacks" which evoke a "Renaissance-alchemist" feeling - a fake skull, an old-world style globe, a pewter mug, a glass goblet, and a wooden mortar/pestle. I have on one wall a large old-world style map (5' x 3' or so) in a wooden frame. On another wall I have a "spray-paint" artwork of space. I have another wooden shelf over my closet with other funky knick-knacks.

    On my desk sits my monitor, kvm switch, keyboard, and scanner. Below sits my Linux box, and to my right sits my FreeSCO router/nat box for my network. All the wires for everything flow off the table and behind it down to the floor, and along the floor. Computer speakers are mounted to the wall, wires dangling to the floor and around my door to the computer.

    I also have a desk lamp attached to the table, which is a magnifying lamp that I replaced the regular incandescent lamp with a compact flourescent type on. The magnifying lens allows me to inspect and work on various electronic projects where I need an "up close" look (I also can use the lamp to magnify small objects to take "up close" macro photos with my fixed-focus digital camera, which is handy). Adequate lighting is my only real issue - the lamp doesn't cut it sometimes (I can't really read by it well, unless I position it over the book). I have some regular flourescent lamps that I plan to attach to the metal shelves which should help, though.

  • Get some gro-tubes (fluoresents for indoor cultivation of plants)!

    Don't be surprised if The Man comes-a-knocking, however ;-)

    -psy
  • We have a hangman's noose made from CAT-5 inside the door.

  • ACHTUNG! Alles Lookenspeepers! (Score:3, Funny)

    by SecretAsianMan ( 45389 ) on Friday March 07, 2003 @05:17PM (#5462389) Homepage
    Ahem.
    ACHTUNG! Alles Lookenspeepers! Das computermachinen ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mittengraben...
    The above should be enough to get you started. Remember, Google [google.com] is your friend. Then, when you are ready for some real blinkenlights (hint: your hub/switch is not enough), get yourself a PDP-11 [telnet.hu].
  • Why restrict yourself? Isn't the saying "the world is your oystyer?"

    Every where and anywhere is your computer room, including outside! shun the fact that a geek would want to go outside.

  • Just grab a laptop and work anywhere. You can either connect via wireless, or you can synchronize your laptop and computers. I often sit down outside with my laptop to work.
    • Not always the best solution in the winter (esp. if you need performance beyond that of a laptop), but my laptop with a WLAN card was probably one of the few reasons I managed to survive my senior year without totally burning out. (I came close...)

      Near the end of the semester, while most people were stuck inside tooling on some gorgeous days, I would take a folding outdoor chair from K-Mart (Don't skimp - I bought one with a footrest, armrests, and headrests. It folds up into a nice long bag with a shoulder strap.) and set it up on the front walkway and plop down in it with my laptop.

      There was no better way to work than outdoors. :)

      I'm still looking into solutions for my current bedroom, which is also my computer room. Because the rest of the house is usually freezing cold, I usually have a small heater in the bedroom. (Used to be unnecessary until I switched from CRT to LCD). If I open the door, the room freezes. If I close it, it gets kind of dank after a few hours. I need to figure out a way to keep the air fresh without giving up too much heat.
  • I must be a total geek with what I put in my computer room. For one, it's the same as my bedroom. I bought two sheets of plywood and built a sturdy computer desk and a table for my TV to set beside it, as the conventional desks weren't tall enough for my queen sized bed. That wasn't enough. I built a headboard from plywood with bookshelves and now it's stuffed with computer books. For decorations, I have maps and things from various Dungeons & Dragons supplement (Forgotten Realms and Planescape mostly) and a few maps from national geographic. I have the usual litter of CD's, soda bottles (I drink straight from 2-liter soda bottles - more soda, less trips away from the computer), and various other things that seem to accumulate. But of course the most interesting feature is the cats that wander in every once in a while. They're annoyances but they're nice t have around.
  • A few months ago, there was an Ask Slashdot about house plants or somesuch. Bored beyond belief, I read it, acted on it, and discovered the joy of owning a philodendron. Anyone who likes taking care of a network will find the same sort of satisfaction in taking care of philodendrons.

    They're hardy canopy plants that deal well with low light but freaking explode when you given them some sun. I keep an washed Dr. Pepper bottle with a mild Miricle Grow solution under my desk, and water my philo before I leave the office each day. I think it's probably doubled in size since I bought it, but most of the new leaves are quite a bit smaller than the original ones, probably because of the low light. It's spidering all over my cubicle now and it really makes the area feel warm and welcoming.

    The builder for my company's new site tells me that the server room will have a nice east-facing window, and I fully intend to have a Philo in there.

    Also look out for spider plants. Just as hardy, but they grow in a neat way. And if you work for a search engine or whatever, you could make puns. Not that you should, but you could.
  • My computer room is actually in the living room (because my wife and I are in a small one-bedroom apartment). I generally don't like to have the room really bright, but periodically we keep the patio door curtains open to let some sunlight in. You can see my setup here [pcweenies.com].

    For ambience, try hooking up a nice lava lamp next to your monitor. It's soothing, and definitely a break for the eyes. That, and be sure to take at least 5 minute breaks so your eyes don't bug out.

    Good Luck!

    Bob
  • ... that the poster and the editors can't understand?
  • I keep about 3 100 watt bulbs in the fixture above my computer, and i decorate the room with lots of CAT5 (on the ceiling, etc.. all functional, of course - running to other machines). Makes for a great look if you ask me :) I also have the Coruscant Skyline up.. :) And i have a huge sliding glass door behind my desk, that makes for quite a bit of natural sunlight during the day :) Oh, and i have a tomato plant in a pot. (you just cna't beat that home-grown tomato taste. :)
  • Cables, PC bits, paper, junk food wrappers left over from LAN's.. aaght.
  • Most rooms have the same color scheme. Some shade of dove gray, off white, cream, eggshell, tope, tan, ad nauseum. Use real colors. A dark red, An electric blue, just something that isn't based on white. It'll give you a break from a day of being surrounded by the same flat color. Also, try incandescent lighting. Flourescent lights make me (figurativly) sick after a while.

    A trip to the local Goodwill / Salvation Army / Value Village / College property disposition warehouse could yeild you a few cool decorative lamps, tables, perhaps a nice retro desk? (As I am typing this I can hear tyler durden saying "you are not your stuff")

    Oh, and some Obey/Giant [obeygiant.com] Propaganda would look nice on the walls. Might I suggest the Chuck D / Flava Flav combo?

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