Ask HN: Who programs outdoors and how do you do? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Who programs outdoors and how do you do?

12 pointsperihelions25 comments

Anticipating the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere, I'm curious who in software (or ergonomically similar work) does work outdoors, and how you've adapted to that environment.

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Ah for the days in the 1990s, when you could buy a laptop computer like the PowerBook DUO 280 with an active matrix grayscale LCD screen. It was a super legible screen in all situations but it was the best in direct sunlight without backlighting

I would create a minimal RAM Disk containing Mac OS with WriteNow or BBEdit. The hard drive would only spin up to save a file. I could run off battery for maybe 5 to 6 hours.

- "active matrix grayscale LCD... best in direct sunlight"

Then maybe I should buy one of these antiques and try it out. Does it run emacs?

I'd love to free myself from the tyranny of shade trees, if that is an option! I've got some awesome wide-open grassy fields nearby. Modern Thinkpads are totally unusable in full sun.

What about this? https://shop.boox.com/products/tabultracpro

I do it all the time. The most important things are:

1. Be prepared for weather - appropriate clothing, a good hat, an outdoor umbrella. Mostly to help manage temperature and glare

2. Shift stand / sit / movement positions frequently - I have a bistro table, a couch, a place to stand and work (really a ledge that's the right height for standing)

3. Distractions / noise pollution - I'm out in my backyard near woods, which is nice natural sounds, but not distracting from a social / noise pollution standpoint. When there's construction I go indoors.

I usually find the glare and/or relative dimness of laptop monitor to be too distracting. But an occasional walk outdoors to think through a problem is great!

I walk, and solve the problem in my head.

I have also programmed in a hammock, but I had to let it close me in like a cocoon, otherwise I would be too distracted.

i like this.

i solve a lot of problems from doing cardio.

I love thinking things through on a walk. Something about just being outside and free from the screen almost feels like your brain has more space to generate ideas.

In addition to what others have mentioned, I find it really helpful to temporarily switch my IDE to high-contrast light mode, when working outside in bright conditions. Otherwise I prefer dark mode.

A larger and/or high-contrast mouse cursor can be helpful too.

I don't do actual work outdoors, but I'll do meetings outdoors on a nice day. Turn the screen brightness up, use really good noise cancelling headphones to try to stop the wind from becoming a problem on the call, and enjoy the fresh air.

I take my laptop outside for a 1-2 hour stint quite regularly. Helps if I want to disconnect and focus on a particular thing. If you're comfortable working from a laptop, I recommend just giving it a go.

I'll occasionally work outside at a coffee shop or park. I just my phone hotspot. Sometimes I take a portable picnic table to the park.

I've also worked outside while on trips in my camper van. For that I use a Starlink dish.

How’s the starlink experience? Lag? Speed? Transfer limits?

A good friend was asking me in the context of an off the grid cabin and I couldn’t answer.

Depends on the location and plan.

The residential plans have allocated bandwidth and the traveling plans do not. So the traveling plans can get slow when other people in your area are using Starlink and you're just getting the leftover bandwidth.

I've gotten speeds as low as 5Mbps and as high as 300Mbit. Depends where you are. Usually it's pretty good. Upload has been good too but I have occasionally had trouble sustaining really large uploads (eg 10 GB).

In general it's great for working. It handles zooms and has enough bandwidth. It would be great for an off grid cabin.

Thank you.

What do you mean specifically as "outdoor"? Occasionally I am working home and love to go with the notebook in the garden. Mostly I work on my garden table, but some times live to be on the hammock. I didn't need any adaptation whatsoever. When not listening to music the song of the birds is actually a very nice distraction. Comfort: I find it also therapeutic to have short breaks walking around the garden.

I go outside in the mornings for my coffee, standup meeting, and perhaps some PR review or other little tasks that I naturally flow into.

Once I’ve got my fill of sunlight or want to get into some heavier duty work with the comfort of my keyboard and external monitors, I head back inside.

Sometimes with a laptop (requires shade, either naturally by time of day or artificially by a garden umbrella); usually with pen and paper.

> Anticipating the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere

Well, that's kind of an issue that's about to start: heat from the Sun will melt your laptops, your thermal firmware won't like it. Also the screen glare.

I, specifically, have to close the blinds in my office otherwise I can't see shit. And when I do benchmarks I put the laptop on top of the AC vent pipe.

What laptop do you have? I've worked outside in peak 105F heat and my MacBook has done just fine.

A foldable riser and external keyboard & mouse are essential for good ergonomics. I like a ferris since it's a split keyboard so folds up nice and small but can still be quite wide on the table.

I sit on the deck with my macbook. I have to sit in the shady part of the deck to see well enough.

devaslife on YouTube does, in the Japan outdoors, fairly often[1].

1. https://www.youtube.com/@devaslife/videos

I'd love to d othat - many parks have tables for eating and I could lunch and code there for a couple hours. Maybe I should try one of these "laptop sun shades" ...

No. Batteries too short, chairs too hard, screen too dim, keyboard too keyless.

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