[FRIAM] Desktop & Laptop Coordination

[Raymond Parks]

Robert Holmes wrote:
> Here's a usability point I forgot about. I much prefer writing code on 
> the desktop than on the laptop because I can rotate the screen from 
> landscape to portrait. My code tends to be long rather than wide, so I 
> get to see more of it at once this way.

   That made me think about how different uses require different user 
interfaces (and I don't mean GUI).  I use a wide screen because I 
frequently have more than one app I'm using at a time (I can usually 
multi-track on three tasks at once).  A co-worker uses three 20" LCDs 
instead of two 24" not because of cost but because when he looks at the 
center of his virtual screen he doesn't want to look at the bezels of 
two monitors.  One application where it is nice to have multiple screens 
going is reverse engineering - you can have one that shows the state of 
the virtual network and servers, one that shows the software under RE, 
and another that shows the IDA Pro view and such stuff.

   Which brings me to one of the pieces of wisdom I have picked up in 23 
years of buying and using personal computers - Put your money and 
interest into the parts that change the form of information.  Keyboard, 
mouse, graphics card/monitor, disks, and, nowadays, USB drives and 
CD/DVD drives will be the most important to you.  Get the best you can 
in those components and then use up the rest of your budget on the 
motherboard, processor, and memory.  Sometimes I even put the memory in 
the list of primary importance.

-- 
Ray Parks                   rcparks at sandia.gov
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