[Post] Gadgets/Apps to Help You Work From Home

Since we are all stuck at home, I thought that I'd share some gadgets and applications that I have been making use of to help me get through this time.

Writing this post will take some time and I have decided to separate each devices, software, and mobile apps into their own pages so I can talk about my experiences with them more effectively.

Hopefully I am able to post one new post daily and update this post with links to the other posts.

Disclaimer: based on my personal experiences and ownership. I will not consider these as "reviews" as I am not, and will not test them extensively to say that I recommend a certain product.

The List
Monitor: Lenovo ThinkVision M14 14-inch Portable Monitor
Keyboard: Logitech K375s Multi-device Keyboard

Comments

[Guide] Installing Microsoft Office 2016 on Ubuntu Using WINE

WINE is a compatibility layer that lets Linux users install and run Windows applications. It is not a virtual machine or an emulator. In simple words the compatibility layer translates Windows calls to Linux calls and thus something that can be understood by the underlying Linux system. For GUI folks (like me), PlayOnLinux is a graphical frontend to manage WINE applications. It also helps to automate some processes during the execution of the EXE files through the use of POL Scripts. All along POL has a script that installs Microsoft Office 2010 to a point where it runs quite smoothly and mostly bug-free. However, future versions of Office have failed to be installed or run properly. As I was playing around with a copy of Microsoft Office 2016, I was able to get Microsoft Office 2016 running "well enough TM " such that it can be used on a day-to-day basis. Here I will outline the steps I have done to accomplish My laptop is running Kubuntu 18.04.3 LTS and has POL 4.2

[Project] Pi-based Laptop (Part 2 - The SBC)

In Part 1 of the Pi-based Laptop, I have mentioned that I needed to look for an SBC that is more powerful than the Raspberry Pi 3B+ to power the laptop. Do refer back to that particular post to check out what I am looking for. Since there are so many SBCs in the market now, I have decided to be very strict in my elimination process. As long as the SBC does not hit one of the core criterias that will affect performance, it will be dropped. I will, however, make some leeway for criterias that should not affect the performance too much such as the WiFi not supporting 802.11ac. After searching around (admittedly it got boring very quickly), I have narrowed down my search a little by including major boards that run on the RockChip RK3399 (hexa-core, 4-cores @ 1.5GHz, 2- cores @ 2.0GHz). I have also included boards that seem powerful enough on paper. The budget I'm looking at? SG$180 for the SBC and its components (~US$140). So here are the final contenders: Rock64 RockPro64

[Post] Logitech K375s Multi-device Keyboard

Image from logitech.com If you are like me and have a tendency to work across multiple computers, then you will appreciate the functionalities that the Logitech K375s can provide you. The keyboard comes with a Logitech Unifying receiver, which can pair up to 6 devices per dongle, and is pretty much plug-and-play on any PCs. It also comes with a handy smartphone stand, which has also served me pretty well. The magic in this keyboard is the ability to pair with up to 3 different devices, either through Bluetooth or Unifying. "But Tim, there are those other Logitech keyboards that also support multiple devices and are cheaper" I hear. Well, I personally prefer full-sized keyboards, as well as the better-feeling keys. When I was looking for a new keyboard, some of the options I looked at were the K480 and K780. While they offer similar functionalities, I turned down the K480 because it is not a full-sized keyboard; while I turned down the K780 due to the short key press

Boredom-bred Tech Ideas

Search This Blog