by ProllyInfamous | 2025-09-16 17:33:32+00:00
>How long have you had this multi desk setup for, and how has it evolved?

Since 2018, the first time I ever had my own multibedroom rental. After I had established my second desk, I was hooked.

I have since moved, and the new location was a smaller half-renovated location... so I spent Summer 2024 building an "office" / shed (120sqft no-permit legal; after reading Michale Pollan's A Place of My Own), which has its own two desks, on opposite walls (12ft apart). No internet available in my shed (by design). In the main house, I split the larger bedroom in half, which created three separate work areas (plus hundreds sqft of storage / shelves). The smallest desk is dedicated entirely to laminating (internet memes, mostly) =P

Both my typewriters are on custom-built stand-up desks (barstools work, but normal chair-height is too low). My tax and music-streaming computers are also stand-ups. Main browser (this computer) is a seated 48" AORUS, which admittedly has four work-stations on a single display (counter-intuitive to multistation, but never use any connected machine simultaneously).

>falling into disuse and accumulating crap that gets set on them

The secret here is to create even more horizontal spaces, without any technology atop, for the simple purpose of setting all your crap. Having a box / closet labelled "Box(es) for unique one-off items that I cannot seem to throw away because I know I'll eventually need it" — is also helpful. So is throwing anything away after its sits within, unused, for over (e.g.) a year.

>typewriters / machines?

My oldest desked computers:

two 2006 Core2Duo (x86): a 20" iMac running MacOS Snow Leopard (taxes only, USB printer, offline); the other is an online Win7 Pro machine that is solid, used for anything with a login (e.g. government paperwork, e-file, direct stock purchases)

My favorite computers are all modern Apple Silicon (M2/M3/M4) — I held-out with a MacPro5,1 for over a decade of daily-driving... until the M2Pro Mini came out early 2023.

But my favorite composing machine is a Smith Corona Super12 Coronet (it's a bulletproof typewriter). Aside from using a proprietary ink cartridge (readily available online, even Amazon), and not traditional ribbons, you just can't go wrong with an electric-strike typebar.

The G.O.A.Typewriter is generally considered to be IBM's Selectric II — and I'll agree, but only if you own two and can service them both full-time (i.e. don't depend on them to always work). This is the only typewriter that can "keep up" with 100+ wpm [theoretically 220+ wpm is possible] because there are no individual typebars to clash/interfere/sieze [just a typeball]. Mine sits unrepaired, after its commonest deathknell: broken drive belt, requiring full dissassembly.

My daily correspondence typewriter is a thick&wide-platen Smith Corona Secretariat, which can handle paperweights up to 65 lb (without creasing; typical platen can handle up to 45 lb), up to 12" wide. This machine requires no power, and minimal maintenance — you can take it out of the attic, after years of dust/rust/siezing... "force" each typebar a few times, and then be typing in no time [obviously you need an undried ribbon].

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One of my favorite gifts is helping intellectuals get offline (if you can't tell, typewriters can play a big part in reconnecting with your world). A recent convert is a judge that has always commented about my typewritten communications (for years, a casual relationship)... now uses a Selectric II professionally (just a brilliant machine, if you can maintain it; interchangable fonts, 10/12 spacing, re-write™). It's a distinguishing correspondence composer, if you can work without red-squigglies/AI (and afford maintenance).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Selectric

https://typewriterdatabase.com/1973-smith-corona-coronet-sup...

https://typewriterdatabase.com/1958-smith-corona-secretarial...

Also, if you haven't (and are type-curious): watch California Typewriter (2016) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWfgpL1X_oE ...RIP California Typewriter =(