uses.txt (4252B) [raw]
1 # Software and hardware that I use 2 3 I really enjoy a good "uses" post. I think the first I ever 4 stumbled across was [Wes Bos'](https://wesbos.com/uses/), back 5 when I was learning web-development. As someone fascinated by 6 developer tooling, I loved hearing what other programmers use in 7 their day-to-day lives. 8 9 I try to keep this page up to date, both for my future nostalgia as 10 well as for anyone else out there who enjoys the "genre". 11 12 ## Software 13 14 ### Editor 15 16 I got hooked on [`vim(1)`](https://vim.org) mid-college (~2017) 17 and never looked back. It's first on this list (with a dedicated 18 section!) because it was the "gateway program" that got me 19 interested in developer tooling in the first place! If not my 20 most important tool, it's definitely the most impactful. 21 22 Other editors I use: 23 24 - [`acme(1)`](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acme_%28text_editor%29) 25 for fun / in my plan 9 explorations (if you can't tell by the theme) 26 - [`vi(1)`](https://man.openbsd.org/vi.1) for system configs 27 (super snappy on OpenBSD) 28 - [`ed(1)`](https://man.openbsd.org/ed.1) for fun and for slow/serial 29 connections (yes, really!) 30 31 I try emacs every once and a while because I think Lisp is awesome 32 (and far superior to VimScript), but I don't really dig the "run 33 everything in emacs" approach. 34 35 ### Operating System 36 37 I've been passionate about running free and open source (FOSS) 38 operating systems since ~2019 when I first started using Linux 39 seriously at work. At some point in ~2020, I discovered OpenBSD 40 and slowly started putting it on all of my personal machines. I'm 41 currently running: 42 43 - [OpenBSD](https://openbsd.org) for my laptop, server 44 ([hosting this site](/blog/self-hosted.html)), and home router/firewall 45 - [Debian](https://debian.org) on my desktop 46 47 In the past I've also used Alpine Linux and Arch Linux on my laptop. 48 49 ## Other Tools 50 51 I'm a huge fan of command line tools for their composability and 52 keyboard-centric UI. Some of my favorites include: 53 54 - [`git(1)`](https://git-scm.com) for all things plaintext: notes, code, 55 config backups, etc 56 - [`tmux(1)`](https://man.openbsd.org/tmux.1) for terminal scrollback, 57 searching, copy/paste buffers, multiplexing, persistent sessions over 58 dropped [`ssh(1)`](https://man.openbsd.org/ssh.1) connections... 59 really a necessity! 60 - [`mutt(1)`](https://mutt.org) for personal email (great for mailing lists!) 61 - [`pass(1)`](https://passwordstore.org) for password/secret management 62 - [`sh(1)`](https://man.openbsd.org/sh.1) for glueing it all together, of course! 63 64 ## Hardware 65 66 ### Keyboard 67 68 After years of mushy laptop keyboards, I discovered mechanical 69 keyboards through a coworker and I've been clicking and clacking 70 happily ever since! 71 72 I started off with an [Ultimate Hacking Keyboard](https://uhk.io) 73 with Kailh browns (had to be quiet in a shared office), but I've 74 been using a [Keyboardio Atreus](https://shop.keyboard.io/pages/atreus) 75 for about a year. I switched in a (successful!) attempt to 76 reduce finger movement and strain. Plus, I'm a remote worker 77 now, and I get to clack away at Kailh white switches, which is 78 awesome. 79 80 ### Laptop 81 82 When I started really getting into Linux at work and home ~2019, I 83 installed Arch on my old macbook and suffered at the hands of 84 NVIDIA and poor hardware support until I ditched my macbook for a 85 [ThinkPad X220](https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:X220) 86 (2011, i7, 2GB RAM) that I bought used for ~$130 off Ebay. A 87 simple upgrade to a SSD and it ran great (minus a poor cpu 88 for big compilations)! 89 90 In 2022 I upgraded to a Thinkpad X13 (8 core AMD, 16gb RAM) 91 that I acquired from an old workplace. I keep the X220 around 92 for things like Plan 9 (better hardware support) :) 93 94 ### Desktop 95 96 I built my first desktop (a long standing nerd goal of mine) at the 97 start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when it became clear I'd be 98 working from home and my 2GB of laptop RAM wouldn't cut it. 99 100 I tried (and failed) to keep the parts entirely FOSS-friendly, but 101 I ended up getting a GPU that needed the AMDGPU firmware blobs 102 (hard to find a fully free graphics card these days it seems). 103 With a high-end CPU (AMD Ryzen 7 3700X) but a low-end GPU (Radeon 104 RX 560), it was a reasonable price. And with 16GB of RAM, it 105 handles my work environment well.