gifts : Computer Hardware Buyers’ Glossary

This entry is about suggestions for inexpensive gifts for your computer-programming friends.

• Gift certificate to a bookstore that carries technical books, (possibly a university bookstore), or an online store such as amazon.com or Chapters.
• A few LightScribe CD (Compact Disk)s or DVD (Digital Video Disk)s that let you label them photographically without sticking on a label. This requires a LightScribe capable drive, but the gift can be useful even if the recipient has to borrow time on a computer with such a drive.
• If you are buying for several people, buy boxes of several types of ink-jet-printable Avery sticky labels, and make up a sampler.
• Ditto for various types of stock, business cards, tent cards, greeting card stock, colours… You an get these at Office Depot or Staples.
• Some money put in the person’s PayPal account and tell him to buy some software.
• Foam pads to stick on the keyboard to rest his wrists on. You can get foam feet pads for the job.
• A keycap puller
• A 15” clear plastic ruler with markings in cm, inches, 1/10 inches, 1/12 inches and 1/6 inches. These are very hard to find. If you ever run across some, snap them up.
• An ink cartridge for his particular kind of printer. Make sure you have the exact model number of his/her printer or a spent cartridge. There are hundreds of different kinds of printer cartridge.
• A mousepad
• New mouse feet. These make a mouse glide smoothly. You will need to know the make and model of his or her mouse.
• A pocket calculator that can do hexadecimal and octal. These are hard to find. There are plenty of virtual calculators you can run on desktops, but a hand held works anywhere and when your computer is booting or otherwise impaired. The Sharp EL-9900 Graphing Calculator is one of the few left.

  	recommend Amazon⇒Sharp EL-9900 Graphing Calculator
  	asin: B0002I8VNS
  Works in decimal, hex and octal. Draws graphs. Lets you edit equations.
  amazon.de amazon.co.uk amazon.es amazon.ca amazon.fr amazon.com amazon.it
  Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock

• Sharpie fine tip permanent marker.
• Velcro straps or deer tag plastic ties to wrap and tidy cables. You can get these very cheaply at Canadian Tire.
• Blank CDs and DVDs.
• CD/DVD case.
• Interesting condoms.
• Keyboard cleaning kit or contact cleaning kit. You can’t buy these ready made, but you can fairly easily put one together in a little plastic case, perhaps with a laminated printout of my cleaning instructions.
• Print out several sets of carol sheets including the recipient’s favourites.
• Radio Synched Clock: clock that stays accurate by tracking radio signals from an atomic clock.
• Wall chart: commonly used computer reference information in the form of a poster.
• fine art print or poster, perhaps one used as the image of the day on the Canadian Mind Products home page.
• Get the PosterJack people to inexpensively make any computer image file into a wall poster.
• A USB Flash drive aka memory stick, thumbdrive. Get one fast enough to support ReadyBoost.
• Some full spectrum desk lighting.