I’ve been an avid reader of usesthis.com for several years now. I love seeing how people from all over the world get their work done or what their personal setups are. I’m not important enough to be interviewed for the site, and it’s a bit self-indulgent to start listing stuff, but I figure there’s a good chance someone somewhere may find it interesting!

Hardware

I’m either at one or the other of the following:

• Desktop I built myself
• Employer’s Laptop
• Personal Laptop

My desktop is a full tower I built a little over 7 or 8 years ago now. It’s an Intel Core i7, 32GB of RAM, with an Nvidia 1080 I bought prior to graphics card prices going through the roof. I’ve only upgraded a single component in it, the SSD I had my OS installed on to replace it with an m.2 SSD once prices on those came down. I use this desktop as my main workstation and where I handle larger processing loads like virtual machines. I tend to over-spec my desktop builds so they last longer, and this desktop’s been fantastic. I’m still able to play the occasional game, and recent games like Doom Eternal I was able to play on max settings full screen with little issue. Likely will have issues with the next generation of games, especially if they’re not optimized, but I can wait for when I eventually upgrade the graphics card on that. Next big hardware upgrade will likely just be downsizing from a full tower to a mid-sized tower, and I’d like to change to AMD components both to not give Intel and Nvidia more money, and because they generally have better Linux support.

Anything not requiring X.org or Wayland, like my email client, password manager, or other CLI tools, lives on a Raspberry Pi 3 that I have on my desk. This is my “main” ssh device and what I connect to when I’m away from home. I use this to remotely connect in to my desktop as well when I’m at work or away from home. I have a bad habit of buying a lot of single board ARM computers like the Pine64, Raspberry Pi, Beagleboard, and even specialized devices like the PocketCHIP (I backed the kickstarter and got one, then they disappeared!) and the Pinephone and Pinebook Pro devices. I really like small energy efficient computers like many of the ARM boards, and like that it’s more “open” than x86, although effectively for what I do day to day processor architecture doesn’t matter. I’m eyeing the Pine64 RISC V boards and want to pick one of those up when they eventually come out. “RISC is good” as Hackers said.

I’ve been using used Thinkpads for the last decade as my portable computer. My workflow with everything being on either my desktop or my home server, meant I have been able to get away with refurbishing older hardware and using them just as browsers and ssh clients. Last year though, I decided to change that and buy my first new laptop in over a decade: the Framework. Like my Thinkpads, I intentionally got the lowest end hardware for this device, as it’s just a web browser and ssh client. I love the build quality on it, and the repairability was a huge reason for me wanting to get this. I miss the Trackpoint but overall, I love using this computer. I’m eyeing what comes out from the MNT Reform effort because an open hardware laptop also sounds right up my alley.

My employer’s laptop is currently a Dell Latitude 14″ something or other. I don’t like this computer, I find it heavy and the edges on it are sharp, making it annoying to use when typing directly on it. I also detest the new trend thanks to Apple of releasing computers solely with USB-C ports, something highly irritating when everything is still mostly USB-A in my life. I don’t like having to carry around a USB-C dock with me the rare time I need to make a bootable Linux USB, or the frequent time I need to read TOTP codes from my Yubikey. But I need to use it for Windows as my choices there are Windows or Mac. We’re a heavy Windows environment, with Office365, so I took the path of least resistance.

I have two cell phones, one for personal and one for work. My personal is a Samsung Galaxy S10+, that I am using stock software on. The battery’s starting to go on it, so when I get around to replacing that, I’m going to flash LineageOS to clean up the phone a bit. My work phone is an iPhone 11 that I only use for email, Slack, and Zoom Phone for my landline number.

I have a Nexus 7 that I’m running LineageOS on, specifically the microG built LineageOS, and have replaced the battery on it. I mostly use this just for a larger device to check emails or browse the web on and don’t use it for anything more than that. I like that it fits in the back pocket of my notebook, so it’s easy to carry around without needing to carry yet another thing.

I have a Kobo Libra eReader that I got from Walmart on sale, and really like it. I threw the koreader software on it for better support for FLOSS services like Calibre and Wallabag I’m torn with eReaders because I love the portability of it, and love being able to just pull up any book, I tend to focus better with physical books, especially those with a lot of references or footnotes. eReader interfaces especially with the eInk screens feel clunky still. For history or theory books I find it more helpful to have a physical copy. Technical books or fiction books are what I primarily put on the eReader unless I’m travelling.

Peripherals

My desk’s made up of the following: * Acer 34″ Ultrawide * Asus 24″ 1400p display * IBM Model M * Ploopy Classic * DEC VT220 * AudioEngine A5 speakers * Jabra Evolve2 65 Flex

I upgraded to an Ultrawide display last year, after insistence from a friend that it changed his life, and I hate to admit it, it changed mine. Finally I have enough workspace to have two documents open at once, without needing to mess with monitor configs. I demoted my old 24″ primary monitor to the side, which I put in vertical mode just to save on desk space. Recommend a second monitor in vertical just for long documents or placing two small windows like Slack and Outlook, on top of each other.

I’ve used an IBM Model M (white label) for 15 years now. I love this keyboard, I love the weight and sound it makes, and it’s just a good device. My desktop still has a PS/2 slot on the motherboard so I don’t need to rely on the special USB adapter other Model Ms need, but I’m thinking of converting this to a USB C controller to run QMK and just future proof myself a bit more as PS/2 slots start to go away.

I started experiencing some moderate carpal tunnel in my wrists this year and finally retired my trusty Logitech G400 for a trackball. I originally was going to get a Logitech trackball to replace it but I stumbled upon Chris Person’s article in The Verge about DIY Trackballs and decided to get a Ploopy Classic, which I love. Open source hardware and software rocks.

The VT220 was a fun purchase, I got it just to play with as a serial terminal on my workstation. I usually just have an IRC window open on it or something else that I can leave on in the background. Recommend Drew DeVault’s blog post on setting one up if you want to add one to your desk too.

My audio setup is my bookshelf speakers for when I’m not on calls, and my headset for when I am on calls. My employer bought the Jabra headset for myself, and I’ve come to really like it much more than the old Sony headphones and webcam mic setup I was using before.

Software

I’ve been a Linux user for almost two decades now, and a primary OS Linux user for over a decade. My distro of choice is Debian, which I use on my servers and on my workstation and laptop. I use Debian stable (bullseye) on my servers and Debian unstable (sid) on my workstation and laptop. I like the rolling release you get from sid but I don’t want this on my servers.

On my workstation and laptop, I run GNOME. I resented it for a long time after the GNOME 3 upgrade, but have grown to really like it, especially compared to KDE and the dozens of settings and toggles it has. I used to do a really minimal setup with a tiling window manager, but I now just use popOS Shell to handle that in GNOME. It’s really needed on the small Framework laptop screen and the larger ultrawide I use on my desktop just to keep things organized.

As mentioned on my work laptop, I use Windows 10. I hate macOS, I hate the lack of proper nix utilities like a package manager, and using a Mac in a primary Windows environment is just an exercise in frustration. I use Windows Subsystem for Linux with the Debian container, so that I have full access to the utilities I need, without needing to futz with Homebrew or some other hack solution. I also make good use of Amazon Workspaces at my employer for access to work systems without needed to connect to their VPN, and often use this on my personal workstation just to spare having to plug in my work laptop.

I’ve used Firefox ever since I switched to using it from Internet Explorer as a kid, and I’ve continued to use it even as Chrome has taken over as the main browser of choice. I have a basic set of addons for it:

• uBlock Origin
• FoxyProxy
• Dark Reader
• Vimperator
• Containers

I use Thunderbird for email on my laptop and workstation. I previously have tried multiple rounds of neomutt or aerc for a CLI email client, but with the majority of email I send day to day being work email and meetings in Microsoft Exchange, Thunderbird lets me easily integrate into that ecosystem and keep calendar notifications.

I live in a terminal, and am always using vim to edit config files or edit text documents. I tried using nvim but I don’t really customize my .vimrc or use a lot of plugins so a lot of the advantages of that editor aren’t enough for me to start migrating to it fully. vim‘s advantage of being everywhere I ssh to is the primary reason I learned the tool and it’s the same reason I rely on bash as my primary shell, hard to beat the solution that you know’s going to be everywhere (aside from my OpenWRT router). I started using screen when maintaining servers at an old summer job and migrated to using tmux which I’ve been using for at least 10 years now. Generally I my IRC clients in dedicated tmux windows, and dedicated windows for each server I connect to on a daily basis. Being able to put tmux in a tmux as well has helped considerably with being able to stay organized when setting up new servers, or running one task and checking output. Can’t recommend it enough.

ssh is a must, I heavily rely on pass as my password manager, and my various networking utilities are my next most used programs. In my day job, your regular networking toolset is what I rely on: dig, host, ping, traceroute, mtr, nmap, curl, and a bunch of other small utilities, are used constantly so I’m never too far from my terminal. My past role as the lead Incident Response analyst for my employer had me processing data more often, so I had a number of Threat Intel feeds I relied on and would often use sed, awk, q, jq, for processing whatever data sources I had to make them more able to be quickly ingested into our SIEM or other security tools. I’m not a programmer by trade, I’ve dabbled with perl and python, but I’d say I’m fairly proficient with shell scripting, and rely on bash as my main avenue for scripting.

I used weechat for a number of years. Mostly for Slack nowadays with the slack.py for work and organizing Slacks. For tech, I used to not bother with an IRC bouncer due to having a stable internet connection but I started using Sourcehut’s IRC bouncer just due to having much worse internet. I use weechat’s relay function to connect using my phone with the weechat-android app. I’ve tried Rambox and Fritz, but they’re far too heavy and bloated for what I want which is a single chat app in one screen, and nothing more.

On mobile, I use K-9 mail for reading (not responding) to emails, Signal for phonecalls and texts, Firefox, and the regular Phone app. I have termux installed for the rare time I need to ssh or use linux utilities. I try to use Firefox PWAs for sites like Twitter and Mastodon to keep the installed apps on my phone down. I rarely play games on my phone, but the rare time I do, I really enjoy Slay the Spire.

I used to use Gitlab for managing private projects and for version cn control of my config and dotfiles, but I’ve migrated over to sourcehut. The cost per year is reasonable, it’s much less heavy than Gitlab, and it directly supports some FLOSS development and devs. Really like it! I generally detest web services so anything I can use on the command line and not have to worry about modifying crap in a web interface, is much better for me. Web browsers are my main source of distraction, so I need to minimize using them as much as possible.

Misc

I started using a bullet journal this year because I was having a hard time focusing on work and personal items, especially after a sudden loss took me out of commission for the beginning of the year. I’m finding it’s incredibly helpful to focus on what I need to do, and cut out the crap. I played with various setups for it and found the Roterfaden V_19 in the A5 size to be the best fit for me. I like that I can clip in additional notebooks and papers when the need arises and leave some small trinkets that mean a lot to me inside the pockets for when I’m having a rough day. It’s a beautiful notebook, can’t praise it and the design enough.

I’m generally a fan of repairable things, especially things that save you money long term so after I started using the bullet journal, I picked up a fountain pen, initially a cheap Kaweco Sport, and now a nice Lamy 2000 I got used from eBay so I’d enjoy writing more. I’ve been using Rohrer & Klingner Salix ink in them. I always used black ink for writing, but the blue-black color in it is dark enough that I don’t feel like I’m putting down a huge rainbow every time I write. I use an Extra Fine nib for both of these pens, as I write small.

When my Jansport backpack I had since middle school finally wore out, I upgraded to a Mission Workshop Arkiv backpack which I used every single day until COVID took away my commute. I do a mix of bus and biking to work, and needed something durable and waterproof to ensure my lunch box, change of clothes, work laptop, water bottle, and morning coffee, could arrive in one piece, in any condition. I no longer bike to work due to my employer moving my office to an area closer to where my bus drops me off, I’ve downsized to Mission Workshop’s Spar bag which is big enough for my laptop, notebook, a small amount of peripherals I need, and something small to reheat in the microwave when I get to work rather than the breakfast/lunch I was bringing in my lunchbox.

Because of where I live and work, I have to take NJ Transit bus to commute to Manhattan to go to work. For the longest time my office was all the way on the west side of Manhattan, far from the subway, with door to door commutes being anywhere between an hour to an hour and a half depending on how bad traffic in the Lincoln Tunnel is. Moving my commute time to being just after rush hour in the morning helped get more consistent commutes heading to work, but it was still a huge schlep and unreliable, often making me late to work. I started riding CitiBike in 2016 to get a more reliable and quicker commute from Port Authority to my office, and wrote a script to let me know how many bikes were outside Port Authority and my office when I would get to New York and when it was time to leave, respectively. Citibike’s a great deal at under $200 a year, but sadly as more people started using it, it became much less reliable of an option in the mornings to get to work. So I bit the bullet and bought a Brompton so that part of my commute would be reliable, and would let me take a few minutes off on the commute on the NJ side as I could ride to the last bus stop in Jersey before getting on the bus. It’s unfortunately very illegal (but also dangerous) to ride a bike in the Lincoln Tunnel, so you have to get on the bus for that small stretch to get to the city.