Gear
What is on my desk and in my rack.
This is the list. Everything here I bought with my own money and still use. Each row says when I bought it, what I think of it in a sentence or two, and every place I found it for sale. Some rows link to a full review.
Prices are what they were on the date shown. Check before you buy. Links marked with a star pay me a commission at no extra cost to you; the unstarred link beside it works exactly as well.
Desk
| Item | Since | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|
| Logitech Z120 stereo speakers Two sets. They do the job, but they sound thin next to the Z207, and the Z207 is the one I buy now. If you only need sound from a laptop and the desk is small, these are fine. | September 2024 |
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| Blue Yeti USB microphone Three of them. They work well and they have some weight, so they stay where you put them. Since I started using them nobody on the other end of a call has complained about my audio, and that is the whole job of a microphone. | June 2024 |
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| JARLINK vertical laptop stand Six of these, one per desk. The width adjusts, so the same stand holds different laptops, and it holds them well. I have also used the double version. Standing the laptop on edge takes far less desk space than laying it flat, and that is the whole reason to own one. | April 2024 |
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| OWC 11-port Thunderbolt dock Four of the 11-port and one of the 14-port. One cable from the dock to the laptop carries power, the monitor, the webcam, the microphone, the speakers, and wired Ethernet, which is what makes a plug-in desk work. Both models have run without a problem. I prefer the 11-port because I was not using all fourteen ports on the larger one. | March 2024 |
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| Logitech Z207 stereo speakers Four sets, one at most of my desks. They are priced well and they sound good to me. Small computer speakers sound thin, and these do not. The volume knob is on the speaker itself, so I reach over and turn it rather than hunting for a control on the screen. | March 2024 |
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| Logitech C922x Pro Stream webcam I have six desks, three in Washington and three in Minnesota, and each one has a C922x on the monitor. I carry one laptop between them, plug in, and the camera is there working the way I left it. It has never given me a reason to think about it, and it works with Microsoft Teams without any setup. The one thing I would add is a shutter to cover the lens when it is not in use. | June 2023 |
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| Keychron C1 tenkeyless keyboard My daily keyboards are all Das Keyboards. The Keychron boards live in the lab and move from bench to bench. The C1 tenkeyless is my favorite there for quick work because it is small and it is wired. It is a good keyboard at a much lower price than a Das, and some people prefer it. | January 2023 |
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Networking
| Item | Since | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|
| Intel X520-DA2 dual-port 10G SFP+ card Three of them, in the Proxmox nodes and other machines. I chose this card for three reasons: it has two 10G SFP+ ports, it uses an Intel chipset, which gives the widest Linux support, and the price was right for what it does. It is an older card, and that is fine. The driver has been in the kernel for years. | November 2025 |
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| uni USB-C to Ethernet adapter For my Mac laptops when I need a wired port and there is no dock. Nothing to install; plug it in and the port appears. | November 2025 |
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Small computers
| Item | Since | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|
| GL.iNet Comet remote KVM Two of them. They work, but they are not my favorite and I would look for something else before buying more. The problem is finding the address: the Comet does not tell you its IP, so I look at the DHCP server leases or the ARP table on a router and match the OUI to find it. | November 2025 |
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| NanoPi R5C mini router Two of them, and they are excellent. I use them with VPNnet.net as small tunnel endpoints for VPN work. There is more to say about that in its own place. | December 2023 |
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Tools
| Item | Since | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|
| Wago 221 lever nuts, 90-piece assortment These replaced wire nuts for me. Open the lever, put the wire in, close the lever, and you can see the connection. They are my first choice for any electrical splice. | January 2024 |
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No used listings appear here. Factory refurbished is included where it carries a warranty, and is labeled. The rules in full are on the reviews page.