The purpose of this page is for providing information about hardware and technology related to cooming. This includes computers and other devices, making the most of it, and general information about such. Technology also includes stuff such as DIY, crafty ways for cleanup, toilet paper, and anything else existing in the real world (it does not have to have circuitry in it). This page is not intended to discuss toys, not even "smart/motorized" toys. That is better suited in the Toys section of the wiki.

Device Selection

What Device To use For Cooming?

What type of device should you choose for comfortable cooming? Well that quite honestly depends on multiple questions, and is extremely personal.

Where Do You Plan To Use Your Device?

Shower and Bath

If you like to do it in the shower or bath, you will want a water resistant or water proof device to avoid damaging the device. Take note of the device's IP rating. This helps you determine the level of resistance your device is capable of to water, as well as other things. Refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code (https://archive.is/ZmcRX) for more information on IP codes.

You can alternatively place your device in a water proof bag designed for such. Some say plastic sandwich bags will work if they are good quality, however it is advised to use something made for the purpose of protecting your device against liquids.

You will also need to figure out how to support the device, you can hold it with one hand if you please. But you have many ways to get crafty. For standing, this may include creating a mini ledge to place the device on, just ensure it can hold the weight without dropping. If in a bath, you may be able to get a "table" that goes across your lap, however some of these may sit low and make movement underneath it tough or impossible. Find one that sits high, and allows for clearance.

Either way, it is ideal to place your device in a comfortable spot, however a spot where it gets least wet. You can never be too safe. Accidents happen, and you never know.

Desk

If you wish to do it at your desk, you have the option of sitting or standing. For either of these, you want to ensure your seat is at a comfortable position, in relation to whichever device you are using. If you are using a laptop, you can hook it up to external monitors directly, or by using a laptop dock for an improved viewing experience.

Standing

This goes hand in hand with desk really, but you may not be at your desk, so you may lack a proper setup. You will want to find something to place your device on, appropriate for your device's size and weight and ideally at eye level. Trying to look up or down too far can be bad for your neck, especially long term.

Sitting Down

This is a very common position, and generally relates to the desk section.

Lying Down

This is a very common position. if you are lying down, this is a bit tougher. Some find it most comfortable however. When lying down, you may have to make sacrifices or get crafty depending on your setup. If you have a ledge on the sides of you, or something you can prop your device on, you can do so like such. The device in question would ideally be a laptop, or simply an external monitor. If you have a wall close to you, you can consider mounting a monitor on the wall, and using that. You can run a wire to a laptop, or to your desktop. You can then use a wireless mouse and keyboard (or a hybrid) for controlling it. You may find a trackball mouse better for this situation, so you do not need to move your arm as much. There are also thumb trackball mice that you loop your finger through and hold it, rather than it being on a flat surface.

You could also just use one hand to hold up your device. This would ideally be your phone, a laptop and tablet would both be way too big and cumbersome, and simply a balancing act to hold up for long periods while also moving your body rapidly. Holding your phone may be uncomfortable, you can try wresting your phone on your chest, however this may cause issues with your wrist long term due to the position. Shoot for not needing to hold your device if possible, as this also frees up your second hand for playing with other stuff.

Personal Computer

A computer, be it a desktop or laptop is important for accessing all material. Although this can be done with a phone or tablet, a computer or desktop is much more efficient.

Desktop

You can choose to build a desktop, or buy pre-built. Building is not difficult, and can save you a lot of money. You also can select whichever components you wish, to make the ideal build for you. Lots of pre-built machines are overpriced, not made to last, and are harder to upgrade. For building a desktop, refer to Install Gentoo Wiki's PC Building Guide page.

Laptop

For laptops, an older Thinkpad is an amazing choice. Popular options at the time of writing this include the T420, T430, x220, x230. Most of these older Thinkpads (not all, check compatibility) are cheap, easily upgrade able, and support Coreboot and ME_Cleaner (for removing Intel Management Engine "spyware"). Refer to Install Gentoo Wiki's Thinkpad page for more details on Thinkpad selection and information.

It is highly suggested to avoid Apple for various reasons.

Servers

A server comes with many uses, one of the biggest is it can store your files and allow you to access them from any device or remotely. This is an exhaustive area, which may have more added later. However for now please refer to Install Gentoo Wiki's Home Server page. Lawrence Systems has a series of YouTube videos and information to get you started on configuration and building equipment.

Data Hoarding and Archival

Data hoarding is very real, and there are reasons for it. A server could provide you an area to store, archive, protect, and redistribute such content long-term.

You may look at all the streaming services, and websites, some legal some maybe illegal, and say why would I ever waste storage space downloading stuff? Well there are a few reasons. For one, lots of these services don't serve the streams in source quality, generally meaning stuff gets compressed, to account for bandwidth to serve many viewers. Another issue is privacy concerns, most apps these services use have built-in trackers, and the services themselves collect data from you on what you watch, where you watch, when you watch, etc. to try to build profiles on you. There are many concerning things companies can do with such info despite sounding harmless, and when pieced together with other information from other services, it can become really scary. But in theory maybe these issues don't concern you, and you are okay with the poor quality and privacy concerns, however there is still one other major issue.. the fact that any content can go poof anytime.

Content constantly gets removed from the internet, various streaming services, or deleted by the up-loader. It doesn't matter if it's amateur content, professional content, studio content, this applies to not just pornography, but music, movies, shows, websites, documents, anything.

Examples of this in the porn industry include Pornhub removing millions of videos due to some legal issues, however instead of dealing with the illegal content, they simply removed millions of videos which a large majority were not illegal. This means millions of users lost their favorite videos, gone forever. This was especially an issue with amateur content, as anyone who wasn't "verified" by Pornhub (which meant sending in a picture of yourself), got their content removed. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/dec/14/pornhub-purge-removes-unverified-videos-investigation-child-abuse

There have been many cases of Pornstars and JAV Idols creating content, later becoming pregnant, or simply retire, to then try to get their content removed. Many studios have followed through and took down the content, some of which were presented as legal cases (claims of being underage), and others simply at request of removal.

Other content such as forums users or pay-site users who may post nudes daily, until one day they feel like deleting all their content and retiring. All of their stuff goes poof, unless stuff was archived.

One other overlooked thing with archivists, is redistribution. Lets just use Pornhub as an example, if Pornhub removes a video but you had it archived, in theory you should act as if you are the only one in the world with that video archived. If you lose that video, that video is lost forever. Avoid that. A start would be creating a torrent, sharing to trackers, interested users, and DHT/PEX. A second step would be to share it in as many places as you can. And an added step would be to setup, and share over a system such as IPFS. Remember to always make fully encrypted backups remotely as well. RAID/RAIDZ is not a backup.

Disclaimer: We do not condone archiving, storing, or redistributing any illegal material of any type, the above information is provided for educational purposes only.

Routers and Firewalls

Most people use the router that comes from their ISP, these usually contain backdoors or security concerns. Not all ISPs allow changing them, however most do. It is suggested to build one, and use something such as OPNsense or Pfsense. You then have many possibilities for further securing and hardening your router/firewall and will add a better layer to your network if done properly. It can also host stuff such as IP and DNS blocking for blocking ads and malicious content network wide, run software such as Unbound, and more.

This can be very exhaustive, for now please refer to Install Gentoo Wiki's Router page. Lawrence Systems has a series of YouTube videos and information to get you started on configuration and building equipment.

Operating Systems & Software

The operating systems suggested are your preferred GNU/Linux distribution(s), or any of the popular BSD variants. It is highly suggested to avoid Windows, due to the proprietary nature. Many privacy and security concerns in which you can easily find, and do your own research.

For mobile, it is highly suggested to avoid Apple for various anti-consumerism, lack of customization, and privacy reasons (such as iCloud photo scanning). It is also highly suggested to avoid Googled Android for privacy concerns, and opt for a De-Googled ROM. The Android most people know, is actually free and open source (AOSP), however Google's variant is the most common one installed on phones from stores, and contains the introduction of Google services which are known to be very privacy invasive.

It is highly suggested to use a De-Googled rom of Android. GrapheneOS is a rom for Google Pixel devices that de-Googles, and focuses on extreme security hardening and privacy. Other options with less focus on security can be LineageOS (without microg/Google services), and AOSP (Android Open Source Project). It is then suggested to only use Free, Libre, and Open Source apps.

You could also consider Linux based phones, however at the time of writing, these are still newer, may lack many apps and support, and may be poorer performing phones all around. No comment on privacy and security for these phones.

For cooming related software, games, utilities, and more-check out all of our wiki's other sections - Main Page. Remember to always prefer Free, Libre, and Open Source (FLOSS) software where possible.

Video

This section is intended to go into detail on TV/monitor calibration for optimal picture quality, as well as choosing displays.

As a general rule of thumb:

If you are buying a TV or monitor, do your research on color accuracy of different ones. Some TV's are simply terrible no matter how much calibration you do.
Every display is different, even the same model due to manufacturing differences. Simply copying someone else's settings isn't "calibrating". It could help provide a broad baseline though.
Every TV is different, different brands call different settings different names, etc. Do your research.
A calibration device is highly suggested for a proper calibration. You could also hire someone to do this for you (make sure you write down all the settings afterwards in case of a reset).
Avoid presets such as "dynamic" at all costs. Start with presets "movie", "custom", or "calibrated/expert" as a base then tweak from there.
Set the sharpness as low as possible, most TV's should be on zero. If it gets extremely blury, turn it up slowly right to the point you can read it clearly again.
Turn off all post processing settings such as motion interpolation, dynamic contrast, local dimming, noise reduction, etc.
Don't touch tint/hue unless you know what you're doing.
Color temperature generally should be on warm. It may look yellow at first, however this is closest to the 6500k standard color temperature and provides a proper white. Your eyes will adjust to accept the warmer look, and is the intended viewing experience.
Adjust contrast and brightness using a reference image. There's many of these available with a quick search. Find one that is of clear quality, and matches your resolution.
Generally in the device you are using, you have the option of Limited or Full color range, for TV's this should generally be at limited. Monitors set to full.
Finally try some different pictures and films, it may take time to get used to the new picture if you come from the terrible "dynamic" presets. If you still feel things need slight tweaking, adjust as you go. Remember different films may use color grading, so one film may look darker than the other, or be more colorful. This is simply due to how the film itself was edited. Try to adjust your settings to be good all around. Or again, use the calibration device as your eyes and brain is not "perfect".
For backlight, when viewing set to a backlight appropiate to your room. There's a reason movie theaters aren't blasting bright. Eye fatigue is very real, in dark rooms the backlight would ideally, generally be very low if not at 0. In bright rooms with lots of light on the tv, you will most likely need to adjust it to max otherwise it may be hard to see different details. Different TV's have different nit ratings, which is where this helps.

Audio

This section is intended to provide information on, for optimal audio quality, as well as guidelines for choosing equipment. Audio quality is a very overlooked area, and most people do not even consider it. For now, refer to Install Gentoo Wiki's Headphones page.

As a general rule of thumb:

For porn, shoot for equipment that doesn't have piercing highs, as the female moans may get fatiguing on your ears. Or shoot for something that is good for male vocals if you're into that.
Avoid store bought speakers and headphones, most of the stuff in store is poor quality.
Avoid all-in-one speaker systems, as well as soundbars.
Try to understand what kind of sound signature you want, before looking for recommendations. If unsure, consider what type of audio you plan to use them for.