Bonum Certa Men Certa

What It's Like to Work With Eight Monitors on the Cheap (Less Than $1,000 in Total)

Video download link | md5sum 775441e5399d60277dfdd84f18872840



Summary: At the start of November I shuffled things around as my audio system (since 2013) had died; today I show the way I keep an eye on things while researching and producing articles/videos/short posts (it's a very personal preference, which I've optimised for my needs over time)

The workstation I use is actually an aggregation of several low-cost ones; the cheapest one cost 35 pounds (brand new) and the other one, which is also ARM-based, cost 149 pounds more than 4 years ago in Argos; the screens are cheap, either second hand or low-priced as new, which brings the sum total to around 800 pounds (5 computers, 8 screens). When one device breaks down it's easier to replace or repair with no downtime, just a shuffle on the desk -- a routine I do every 1-3 months. 80% of the devices are laptops with batteries in them, so electric outages have no major impact except on the router and external screens. No need for UPS, which in its own right can be more expensive than a simple laptop.



"As it stands, KDE Plasma simply has the most features."The set-up I have is very unusual (when I was a teenager I moved to dual-head, which back then was quite unusual in its own right). I don't know anyone else with anything remotely similar to this current configuration, so I get asked questions about it. It's hard to explain without showing a bunch of stuff, so I've been wanting to record/show this for a while, even if it's done quite crudely given the practical limitations. I try to avoid proprietary things, especially anything with DRM. All the machines run only GNU/Linux, typically with KDE although the machines shown in the video also run GNOME, XFCE4, and LXDE (the machine behind me). As it stands, KDE Plasma simply has the most features.

The video shows the 7 screens before me (6 in front and one to the side of me). The largest monitor is behind me and not shown in this video, albeit in videos where the camera faces the other direction -- and we make such videos every day -- that monitor and the SBC it is connected to are clearly visible. It's the eighth monitor, which carries out a bunch of different tasks.

"The screen recording software (be it either Free or proprietary) cannot feasibly work seamlessly across multiple, separate machines..."This video was done without preparation and it was very difficult to make, partly owing to the lack of a tripod or software-defined stablisers (some devices have them; even a decade and a half ago). The screen recording software (be it either Free or proprietary) cannot feasibly work seamlessly across multiple, separate machines (assuming they're connected over Synergy/Barrier, as opposed to some other fashion), so an external camera is used instead. I don't have a mobile phone, so this is a standard Linux driver with simple external camera; the quality of the picture is poor, but it doesn't matter all that much when the key point is to show and explain things while personal information remains mostly blurred/obscured (for privacy's sake).

Upon checking the first few minutes of the recording I noticed an issue with my hand covering my mouth for a bit, or sort of standing in the way between the microphone and all the other things, which means that the sound (noise-cancelled vocal audio) has a dual sort of 'mode' (less audible when the hand holding up the portable webcam is near the face). Maybe with a little preparation it could be done more properly. Despite all these limitations, I think I did manage to cover or at least mention almost all the activities, except for the machine behind me.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Taking a Moral Stand Against Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) and the Worst Offenders/Facilitators
Any other stance would sidle with moral depravity or moral hazard
France: Apple and Microsoft Down, GNU/Linux Up to New Record Levels
How will tariffs against France impact things in the coming months?
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Privacy Fiasco in Detail: What Was Reported to the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA)
We hope to finish this whole lot within a week, then move on to election, lobbying etc.
 
Links 06/04/2025: Fake Reviews, Privatisation Heists, and "AI" as Smokescreen for Impoverishing Humans
Links for the day
Links 06/04/2025: Many New Acts of Repression and Elements of Financial Depression
Links for the day
In Qatar GNU/Linux Rose From Under 1% to Over 4% in Two Years (or Over 5% If Counting ChromeOS)
It's a big improvement compared to what we saw last year
LLM Scrapers Are a Nuisance, But They're Also a Reminder It's Time to Make Your Site Static
Perhaps the best protection is the ability to endure surges
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 05, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, April 05, 2025
Links 06/04/2025: Attacks on Education, Fake Patents, and Fake (Illegal) Patent Courts
Links for the day
Links 05/04/2025: Tariffs Backfiring, YouTuber Arrested, X/Twitter Set to be Fined
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/04/2025: Offline is For Everyone, Copyright Colonialism, and More
Links for the day
Links 05/04/2025: TikTok Unsold (Still), Royal Society is Dead
Links for the day
Techrights Will Spend the Next Few Years Writing a Lot About Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs)
It's a growing problem
The State of EPO Staff's Health in Rijswijk or The Hague
We're going to cover the EPO some more later in the month
NVIDIA Corp Lost 36% of Its "Value" Since Cheeto Inauguration, But "Gen Hey Hi" (GenAI) is Totally Not a Bubble
Selling loads of unneeded hardware based on hysterical hype; like selling shovels during a Gold Rush
GNU/Linux Growing in East Asia, Windows by Default No More?
GNU/Linux is now on the shelf
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux 'Articles' From Linux-Hostile LLMs
It is almost always negative things and nobody can be held responsible for it except the charlatans prompting the LLMs
Links 05/04/2025: Fentanylware (TikTok) "Sale Looks Highly Imminent" (US), Stock Market Drowning in Panic
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/04/2025: Moving Plants, No to Smartwatches, RAID Hygiene
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 04, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 04, 2025
Techrights Has Dealt With More Potent SLAPPs Than Violent Microsofters Begging to Hide What They Did to Women
I became accustomed to SLAPPs
Links 04/04/2025: Fury in South Korea, Flight MH370 Remains Mystery
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/04/2025: Anger and Raspberry Pi CM4
Links for the day
Links 04/04/2025: LLM Slop Bubble Bursting and Korea Music Copyright Association Bans Slop 'Music'
Links for the day
Traf-O-Data, the Company That Jeffrey Epstein's BFF (Bill Gates) (Co)Founded 53 Years and Went Out of Business Due to Heavy Losses
Who will die first, Bill or Microsoft?
Why Microsoft's Shares Sank Almost 20% in Recent Months (the Bubble is Imploding)
verified press reports from the past 24 hours
A Note on SimilarWeb
Or why SimilarWeb is meaningless for more than 99% of the sites on the Web
GNU/Linux Rises to Almost 5% in Algeria While Windows Sinks to All-Time Low
GNU/Linux grew tenfold
Where to Get More Gags
A valued reader recommended that to us
Links 04/04/2025: Tech Stock (Inc. GAFAM) Fall, Google Pretends to Do End-to-End Encrypted Emails (With Google in Control)
Links for the day
IBM Said to be Shutting Down Offices or Sites in the United States
the press can no longer avoid admitting that IBM moves many jobs to India
To Participate in Fedora Diversity You Must Use Proprietary Software
Not for the first time either
LLM Slop as Attack Vector on the Reputation of Linux
The attacks on Linux have escalated to information warfare
Yandex About to Be Three Times Bigger Than Microsoft (Bing) in Asia
That's about 60% of the world's population
Gemini Links 04/04/2025: Decoupling Updates, Elaho as Gemini Client
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 03, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 03, 2025