Bet Angel trader's desks & setup's

[PeterLe]

hi
This is my new setup.
in my day to day job I need to have many applications/windows open and the ability to cut/paste between them. i love the multiple desktops that you can have on a mac and other functions and wanted to get the best from them.
It wasn't cheap to put together but I recon I can save a good 25% in terms of productivity and the hours I 'save' from my day job can be spent on trading ...so it's self funded (well thats how I sold it to the Mrs!). I had a good year on Betfair last year, so why not spend a bit!

regards
Peter

PS Although I will eventually get around to listing it on Ebay; i still have have my original set up (Ergotron stand/Samsung Monitors)if anyone is interested in buying them!

Edit: Before you ask "Did you tidy it before the picture was taken"..hell yes!

[CaerMyrddin]

It's really a beautiful setup. I'm not into Apple, but they do know how to make things look pretty.

Curiously I immediately recognized that table, I have one on the countryside

[PeterLe]

It's really a beautiful setup. I'm not into Apple, but they do know how to make things look pretty.

Curiously I immediately recognized that table, I have one on the countryside

Cheers - I think the table was from Ikea!

[CaerMyrddin]

Spot on!

[Euler]

This is my current desk

IMG_2738 - Copy.JPG

[LeTiss]

Wow, that's impressive Peter!

What sort of computer do you have in order to service demands like that?

[Euler]

I can't actually remember its a few years old now but supports up to six screens. I'm pretty sure it's a quad core machines with win 64 and 4Gb of Ram. The screen on the bottom right is a touchscreen. I can use a mouse with my left or right hand so in a busy market(s) I can use the mouse and touchscreen almost together to do all I need without having to whizz the mouse across the screen.

[3virgul14]

How many are trading from that room?

Two or three, depending on the occasion..

[andyfuller]

I am about to change my setup so will pop up a post on my current setup, perhaps if I can dig out the old pictures I will do one on its evolution.

But in the mean time I was wondering if anyone can offer some advice. I want to run 2 PC's on the same 4 screens. As such I want to be able to switch between which screens are displaying which PCs. I am not too fussed about using the same mouse and keyboards between PC's

So for example I would want PC1 to display on all 4 screens, then have the ability to switch so PC2 now displayed on all 4 screens. Also I would like to have the ability to display PC1 on 2 of the screens and PC2 at the same time display on the other 2 screens.

I have researched this a bit and it looks like I need 4 KVM switches. Is this correct, is there another option? Or is it possible to get just two or perhaps even just one KVM switch to do the job, I guess that would would need 8 inputs (4 feeds from each PC) and 4 outputs (a feed to each of the 4 screens)?

Does anyone have any experience of this?

[superfrank]

you need a switch-box. i used to use them when i had a proper job.

plug all your machines/monitors and mouse/keyboard into it and then just press the switch-box button to change between machines.

[andyfuller]

Cheers for the replies, the screens only have one input each so can't use the later idea. I looked at a switch that had 8 inputs and 4 outputs which could be used in any combination but the cost was around £500 which isn't worth it for what I want.

So I think I will go down the route of using 4 of these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Konig-4-Port-VG ... =pd_ybh_11

That way I can use 2 of the 4 inputs on each unit, one coming from each PC, then I can have the one output going to a screen. Do that 4 times and you can use any screen with any PC, only downside is that you are fixed on which PC output uses which screen. But this option will cost £28 v the £500 option which allows any PC output to use any screen.

As for sharing the mouse and keyboard I am not fussed about that via the KVM as I understand you can get free software called Synergy that allows you to do this and also allows you to copy and paste text from one PC to the other which will be handy.

If anyone has a better idea please let me know. TIA.

[gutuami]

may be you could use some software for your needs like maxivista for example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYxQ300rW7Q

http://www.maxivista.com/multi-monitor-software.htm

[andyfuller]

Just started to take my old setup down and remembered I hadn't posted any pictures of it. So here are three, excuse the wires, I had already undone the under the table top routing for them all. Also missing from the picture is my back up iPad and mobile I always have at the table but was using them to take the photos.

[PeterLe]

Looks Good Andy.
Do you use the left system for Betfair and the right set of screens for the financials?

Regards
Peter
Edit:
PS re the iPad. I spent hours and hours writing a new auto strategy on Wednesday and after testing as much as I could in Practice Mode. I switched it to live mode yesterday.
This new system throws in large stakes so I had my finger hovering over the "Disconnect" button in the Excel tab just incase anything strange happened....half way through the race the whole avenue had a power cut! I was quickly able to switch to my Ipad to disconnect..Think that has only ever happened to me twice since I started five years ago, but worth it's weight in gold!

[foxwood]

Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS's) are cheap and worth their weight in gold - and they are heavy !

A good sized one will keep everything going for 15 - 30 minutes in the event of a power cut. Just make sure to plug the modem, monitor and any other essentials into it.

That solution then moves the focus to another critical link in the chain - the telephone line and BT - so maybe a mobile dongle as well.

Edit: Oh, and of course the computer needs plugging in to the UPS !