Last Updated on September 6, 2020
In this series, we look at a range of home activities where Linux can make the most of our time at home, keeping active and engaged. The change of lifestyle enforced by Covid-19 is an opportunity to expand our horizons, and spend more time on activities we have neglected in the past.
Given that we are told its our “civic duty” to avoid public transport, working at home is going to remain commonplace for a long time. Employers have a duty to assess the health and safety risks faced by their workers. An employer must systematically check for possible physical, mental, chemical and biological hazards. This inevitability entails a risk assessment. Part of this risk assessment involves ensuring that workers are protected from repetitive strain injuries (RSI).
It’s much harder for an employer to conduct a proper risk assessment in an employee’s home. They can issue guidelines, best practice, and advice. But ultimately the employee needs to ensure they don’t injure themselves when working from home. Home workers face a lot of challenges. Prolonged user of computer equipment can result in upper limb disorders, notably in the wrist or the back. RSIs are a subset of musculoskeletal disorders. It’s easy for home workers to forget to take breaks.
Fortunately, there’s excellent open source software that help to combat RSI. Here’s our recommendations.
Workrave
This is a really useful piece of open source software. It works well with my desktop environment, it’s mature software with an initial release way back in 2002, but it’s still under active development.
When it comes to software that’s designed to prevent occupational diseases, it’s really important that they are highly configurable. After all, if they become annoying, the user will just stop using it. Fortunately, Workrave has a good range of configuration options.
Featured in the image is “Miss Workrave”. She takes you through various stretching exercises. We also like that the program lets you write scripts to communicate with Workrave through D-Bus, a system for interprocess communication.
This is cross-platform software running on both Linux and Windows.
Safe Eyes
When you work at a computer, it is easy to forget about time. This leads to eye strain and other physical problems. Safe Eyes protect your eyes from eye strain using a simple and extensible break reminder.
Safe Eyes is another really impressive health and fitness program that ensures you don’t forget to take breaks. One of its strengths of Safe Eyes is its useful plugins.
Having used the software for a few years, we can strongly recommend this program. It genuinely has had a positive impact on our well-being.
RSIBreak
RSIBreak is another option. It displays a random picture from a collection at specified intervals for defined durations.
You can configure the pictures to show and lengths of time to show them.
You might use the breaks reminders to do some stretching exercises, for example, or as a reminder to walk away from the computer for a while.
All articles in this series:
| Linux at Home | |
|---|---|
| Astronomy | Explore the universe from your garden |
| Brew Beer | Weave malt and hops and yeast together in unique combinations |
| Circuit Design | Learn to design electronic circuits |
| Collaborating | Edit documents collaboratively in real-time |
| Cooking | Home cooking is an activity that’s great for individuals and families |
| Creative Writing | Pen a classic novel or screenplay |
| Cross-stitching | A form of sewing and a popular form of counted-thread embroidery |
| Digital Art | Paint and draw directly onto a computer |
| Digital Music Production | Digital Audio Workstations |
| DOOM Gaming | Take a break and play classic DOOM |
| Embroidery | Craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle |
| Exercising | Keeping fit can be a challenge with lockdown |
| Gardening | Plan your perfect garden with these great tools |
| Genealogy | Research your family tree |
| Home Security | CCTV solutions to protect your home |
| Musical Instrument | Learn to play an instrument |
| RSI | Reduce and prevent repetitive strain injury |