Hey, author here. Yes the treadmill deck desk is rather maximalist!
I also enjoy very portable setups, particularly for forests / mountains, but I also sometimes computer in or outside cafes. My portable setup for being out in nature is really weird looking though, so I'm slowly ramping up the weirdness levels of my posts about these topics rather than diving right in. While the location and hardware isn't exactly mundane, the deck desk idea is fairly close to our daily experience and so approachable. The next increment away from the mundane is hammock computing - https://mgsloan.com/posts/supine-computing/ . I have two more posts that are work-in-progress that are more in the unconventional and minimalist direction. So yeah, I think those might appeal to you more!
Temperature hasn't been a problem for me. My computer works fine in 35C.
There's a section in my post about dealing with rain. I used tarps. Power was provided via a weather proof extension cable.
Insects can be troublesome, I had a lot of wasps die in my coffee. Only two stings in the whole summer of working out side! As long as you don't swat them they are pretty benign. I think this is really a regional thing, there are not many bugs where I am in Colorado, nor in Eastern Washington.
I haven't had a problem with environmental noise, but I also often listen to music while I work.
The first few days I experimented with outdoor computing I was a bit distracted by the novelty of it. Takes a while to ease into it, but that starting overhead is well worth it imho
Hey, author here. Sorry that happened to you, glad you're on the mend. What kind of keyboard did you use? A normal keyboard is indeed going to be really hard on the wrists in this posture, since the hands need to come together. Normal form factor keyboards are just ergonomically awful imho. With a Kinesis advantage keyboard it seems quite comfortable to me, as the key wells are spaced quite wide.
That is very good to know, though, I've updated the post to emphasize that standard keyboards won't work well with this posture.
I respectfully disagree with leaving ergonomics up to the people who "know what they are doing". That said, I just realized my footnote clarifying that I am an ergonomics hobbyist wasn't properly referenced - fixed inhttps://github.com/mgsloan/mgsloan-site/commit/4a3cb2442eaed...
Cool, sounds like we're very likeminded about this stuff! (I'm the author)
By E&M shield, is that for electromagnetic stuff? Interesting, hadn't considered that. While I suspect that the effect of EMF is negligible, it also makes sense to me to limit it where possible - who knows what might be discovered in the future.
I also live in walkable distance of a trailhead and have hiked to spots to spots to work. More on this in some upcoming posts, I have some unconventional approaches to this that have been highly effective so far. The hiking time isn't wasted at all, I think! Very mentally clearing.
Great idea about the walking time and encouraging walking meetings, will consider how to encourage that at work.
Jonathan Edward's research has explored novel ways of programming, so naturally this selection is going to be more focused on atypical interfaces. Those environments that you used are very similar to current programming systems, and so they probably don't make the cut of being thought provoking and informative to look at in 2018. Beyond the historical curiosity and nostalgia, that is.
I don't think that this is prioritizing degree of influence, particularly for popular programming systems. Jonathan Edward's research has explored novel ways of programming, so naturally this selection is going to be more focused on atypical interfaces.
One problem is that these users do not necessarily understand the semantics. I helped a friend of mine, a reasonably competent programmer, debug his javascript once. He had no idea that you needed to use "var" in order to make a variable local! He'd written quite a lot of javascript without triggering any funny behavior until this bug.
So, instead, imho, the argument gets stronger. Why is the first programming language encountered by beginners these days full of traps? How cruel! What a poor impression of programming they must get.
What's wrong with being passionate about something you believe in?
It seems to me that this "chauvinism" is in the eye of the beholder, offended that others are suggesting that the tools they have invested time in may not be the best way to do things.
Personally, I am quite excited by the prospect of learning and investigating better tools. I think we're only just beginning down the road to finding better ways of programming.
I also enjoy very portable setups, particularly for forests / mountains, but I also sometimes computer in or outside cafes. My portable setup for being out in nature is really weird looking though, so I'm slowly ramping up the weirdness levels of my posts about these topics rather than diving right in. While the location and hardware isn't exactly mundane, the deck desk idea is fairly close to our daily experience and so approachable. The next increment away from the mundane is hammock computing - https://mgsloan.com/posts/supine-computing/ . I have two more posts that are work-in-progress that are more in the unconventional and minimalist direction. So yeah, I think those might appeal to you more!