Kevin Standlee (kevin_standlee) wrote,
Kevin Standlee
kevin_standlee

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Computer Assembly

After getting the new Dell G7 working, on Sunday I disassembled my desk, cleaned, dusted, and vacuumed, and started putting things back together again. Challenges I face with the new machine is that there is no docking station and no remote-power-on, so the only way to turn it on is to open the case. Lisa watched me trying to figure it out and came up with an idea that is so far proving useful.

New Workstation Arrangement

Lisa went out and, using leftover pieces of the various bits of lumber we have around the house, built the small stand in the middle, on which I've placed the G7. This raises the screen of the laptop to a more comfortable working height. At left is a monitor connected via the VGA port on the mini-dock (about which more in a minute), which sits on another stand that Lisa built some time ago. She says that she'll stain these two stands next spring when the weather is better.

USB Mini-Dock

Here's the mini dock. It connects to the G7 over a single USB 3 port in the back of the computer, and provides two USB 3 ports (the keyboard, with the mouse chained to it is connected to one of these ports), an Ethernet connection, and an HDMI and VGA port. I do not have an HDMI-to-VGA or -DVI cable (yet). The current configuration is thus to use the laptop itself as one screen and to connect the monitor at the left via the VGA port. Connections for an external speaker, the 4TB backup drive, and a USB extension cord for miscellaneous USB connections complete the setup for now. It's not as convenient as a real docking station, but it should work.

Underneath the monitor at left is a Dell D600 laptop, which is ancient, but it's the only machine I have that has Microsoft Access on it. Until my employer gets around to replacing the dead work laptop, I'm making do (not that well) using that machine for some of my Day Jobbe stuff.

This configuration will do for now until I get the proper monitor cables and when a new XPO computer turns up, at which point I'll have to rearrange things again. I'm glad to have a full-size, full-travel keyboard again.
Tags: computers
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