Things I Use

This is a “uses page”. It’s designed to give an overview of my setups, configs, and equipment, since people in tech are always curious about that sort of thing.

• List of websites with a /uses page

An important caveat is that I will be trying to emphasise the haecceity of things rather than promote specific brands or solutions. I will list brands where I know them, but they aren’t intended as endorsements. I care more about communicating how I work than I care about specific brands.

Table of Contents

Computing

This section just contains bland lists of things. If you’re interested in how I work, please check out my Computing page:

• How I Do My Computing

Hardware and devices

Desk setup:

• Small 1L workstation (Lenovo Thinkstation P330 Tiny)
  • Intel i7-8700T (12 core) @ 4.00GHz
  • 16GiB Memory
  • 2TB nvme SSD
  • GPU (Unused) (Nvidia Quadro P620)
• 27 inch 1920x1080 resolution monitor @ 60Hz (HP 27ea)
• 40% mechanical keyboard with an ortholinear key layout (Drop + OLKB Planck Mechanical Keyboard kit)
  • Qwerty layout with additional custom layers, no caps lock key (QMK Firmware)
  • Tactile switches (Cherry MX Ergo Clear)
  • Blank XDA profile PBT material keycaps, mostly black with some colours for layer keys and modifiers (generic)
• 4-port USB 3.0 Hub, unpowered (generic)
• USB DAC/Headphone Amplifier (Fosi Audio K5 Pro)
  • Over-ear wired headphones (Audio Technica ATH-M40x)
  • Active Bookshelf speakers (Auna Line 500)
  • Headphone stand (generic)
• USB HD Webcam with built-in mic (Logitech C920)
• Assorted USB hard drives, varying capacity (various brands)
• Ethernet-over-power (TP Link)
• USB game pad (for emulators) (Turtle Beach Recon Controller for Xbox)
• Wired vertical mouse (for when the mouse layer on my keyboard doesn’t cut it) (Anker A7851)
• Assorted USB cables and converters (various, generic)
• Mains-powered Desk lamp with “warm white” LED bulb (generic/Wilko)

Portable setup:

• 13 inch laptop (Dell XPS 13 9360)
  • Intel i5-7200U (4 core) @ 3.100GHz
  • 8GiB Memory
  • 250GB nvme SSD
• USB Headset with integrated mic (Sennheiser PC 8.2)

Other devices:

• Mobile Phone (Nokia 8110 4G)
• Smartphone (OnePlus 5T)
• E-Reader (Amazon Kindle 4)
• Games consoles
  • Steam Deck (family-owned)
  • Nintendo Switch (family-owned)
  • PlayStation 2 slim with associated peripherals (in storage)
  • PlayStation 3 slim with associated peripherals (in storage)
  • PlayStation 4 slim with associated peripherals (in storage)

Software and services

Desktop/Laptop:

• Operating System: GNU/Linux (Devuan Stable)
• Desktop: Tiling Window manager atop X.org (i3 with gaps, no fancy bars or anything just default i3 with bindings)
• Colour scheme: Dracula via GTK for GUI apps and XResources for terminal
• Core utilities:
  • GNU coreutils where possible
  • dmenu everywhere
  • git
  • Dotfiles: GNU Stow + git
  • Terminal: urxvt
  • System monitor: htop
  • File browser: nnn
  • Image viewer: sxiv
  • Wallpaper setter: xwallpaper
  • Encryption: gpg
  • Password manager: pass + dmenu, with the pass-otp extension to generate 2FA codes
  • Screenshots: scrot
  • Lock screen: i3lock
  • Archive management: dtrx
  • Disk Usage visualiser: ncdu
  • Back-ups: rsync + dmenu via a bash script
• Text editor: Neovim or Vim
  • Plugins: preservim/vim-markdown, Townk/vim-autoclose, folke/zen-mode.nvim (that’s it, really!)
• Email client: Individual programs
  • Filtering/Sorting: imapfilter
  • Local sync: isync/mbsync
  • Sending mail: msmtp
  • Viewing/writing mail: neomutt + text editor, which interacts with much of the above automatically
  • GUI client: Thunderbird, for work email hosted by Gmail
• Chat client: weechat with IRC and Mattermost plugins
• Browsers:
  • Web:
    • links2
    • Firefox-ESR
      • Plugins: Decentraleyes, DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials, Ghostery, No-Script Suite Lite, One Tab Per Window, Tridactyl, uBlock Origin
  • Gemini:
    • Amfora
• Audio/Video:
  • Music Player: mpd with a TUI client (ncmpcpp)
  • Music tag management: id3, id3v2, or easytag if it’s necessary
  • Video Player: mpv
• Document Reader: zathura
• Feed Reader: newsboat
• E-book management: Calibre, begrudgingly
• Image/photo management: jhead
• Torrent Client: transmission-daemon
  • transmission-remote client to add torrents
  • tremc to view progress, seed ratios, and pause torrents
• Productive work or creation (where not covered already):
  • GNU coreutils where possible
    • split, cat, grep, awk, etc.
  • Spellchecker: aspell
  • Document conversion: pandoc
  • Static Site Generator: Hugo
  • Epub Editor: epub-edit, via Calibre
  • Image editor: imagemagick for small jobs, GIMP for big
  • Vector editor: inkscape
  • SFTP Client: Filezilla
  • Misc data analysis utilities:
    • flattentool
    • csvkit
    • jq
    • check-jsonschema
• Misc Quality of life tools:
  • xbanish, to banish the cursor when typing
  • dir2ogg, to convert a directory of .mp3s to .ogg files
  • detox, to bulk-change offensive file names
  • adb, to transfer files between my smartphone and desktop/laptop
  • udiskie, to automate mounting USB drives
• Emulators:
  • visualboyadvance-m for GBC and GBA emulation
  • pcsxr for PSX emulation
  • pcsx2 for PS2 emulation

Mobile Phone:

• Operating System: GerdaOS

Smartphone:

I mostly use the built-in AOSP applications unless I do not find them suitable

• Operating System: Android (LineageOS, no Google Services)
• Software Repo/App Store: F-Droid
  • Aurora Store for installing/updating my banking app
• Launcher: NoLauncher
• Web Browser: Fennec F-Droid (Firefox Fork)
  • Adblocker: uBlock Origin
• Gemini Browser: Buran
• Messaging:
  • Molly, a hardened Signal Fork
  • Telegram FOSS
• Email client: K-9 Mail
• Navigation: OSMand+ and Organic Maps (I prefer OSMand+ but Organic Maps does offline routing way faster)
• Media consumption
  • VLC, for music and video files
  • AntennaPod, for Podcasts
  • Voice, for audiobooks
  • Book Reader, for e-books
  • Newpipe, for YouTube access when I need it (rarely these days)
• Notetaking and writing: Markor
• Misc utility:
  • DAVx5 for CalDAV and CardDAV sync
  • FreeOTP+ two-factor authentication
  • OpenKeychain to manage access to my GPG keys
  • OpenTracks to track my running and hiking
  • Password Store to access my pass passwords, works with OpenKeychain
  • Red Moon to make the screen red when the sun goes down
  • Senreta Vortaro to provide an offline Esperanto dictionary
  • Termux to give me a terminal with neovim and git access if I need it

Everyday Carry

Everyday Carry (EDC) is the trendy/edgy¹ term for what someone carries around every day in their pockets or bag to accomplish everday tasks at work or out-and-about.

Most of my everyday carry is made up of tools which appear elsewhere in this list that I simply grab and put in my pockets or backpack.

• Mobile Phone (Nokia 8110 4G)
• Wristwatch (Timex M921, replacement canvas strap/band)
• Heavy-duty Canvas backpack (army surplus, looks to be a large bergen-style French Army F-2)
  • Lightweight Canvas tote bag (in case my backpack fills up or something is awkwardly shaped) (generic, got one from a conference in 2016)
• USB Memory Stick (128GiB, Kingston. Unsure of the exact model)
• Pocket Notebook (generic)
• Mechanical Pencil (Faber-Castell Grip Plus 0.7)
• Slimline Fabric Wallet (generic)
• Pocket handkerchief (generic)
• 1 litre Stainless Steel Water Bottle (generic)
• Keys + lanyard (homemade, paracord attached to belt loop with a carabiner)
  • Tiny multitool (Victorinox Classic SD)
• Smartphone (usually turned off, SIMless) (One Plus 5T)
• Wireless Earbuds (only if I want to avoid overstimulation) (generic, as in literally unbranded. I think they’re surplus from a manufacturer designed to sell to people who would brand them)
• N95 Mask (generic)

Stationary

I use stationary for taking notes and journalling. My approach is a minimalist one as I don’t like disposable stationary and I don’t have very diverse or specialist needs.

• Fountain Pen (Lamy Safari)
  • Converter for bottled ink
  • Extra Fine nib
  • Blue-black ink (Lamy)
• Mechanical Pencil (Faber-Castell Grip Plus 0.7)
• 10cm ruler (generic, from a conference in 2016)
• Rubber/Eraser (Banner, inherited from my late father)
• Writing pad, for jotting down temporary/disposable notes thoughts or diagrams (A5, generic WHSmith branded)
• Softback Pocket notebooks (various, generic)
• Journals/diaries (A5 hardback lined, they’re currently all Lemome branded but I think they’ve gone bust so we’ll see where I go with this)
• Project notebook (A5 hardback unlined, generic from Lidl)
• Notebooks (“A5+” 9 x 7 inch/229 x 178mm exercise books, Silvine branded.)