The programs and equipment I use on a daily basis.

Programs and Equipment I Use

I’m about getting things done quickly and having as little space between my thoughts and actions on the computer.

I like having vim-like bindings and prefer running programs in the terminal for simplicity’s sake. That said, I’m very much against the cringe meme that things in the terminal are “cooler” or “nerdier” XD. Terminals are good for most tasks, but useless for others, for example, browsing the web (I admit this unfortunate fact with much consternation) or looking at maps.

Software I Use

OS Distribution

Manjaro (stable) though this is a bit of a moot point since there’s been a lot of convergence among the popular distros recently especially since they all offer some dedicated channel for getting up-to-date software. The real day-to-day difference to workflow comes from the choice of desktop environment. I do like Debian, and Fedora as well.

Desktop Environment

I’ve settled on KDE Plasma w/ Wayland after many years of hopping. Plasma comes with all the tools you’d expect to see in a modern desktop, and for the most part these tools are perfectly capable of doing the task they are meant to do. Prior to KDE, I’ve used Dwm/Bsmpw + Sxhkd, i3 etc. I’m glad these exist and people get use out of it, but for now I do not miss it - I’m sure that will eventually change too.

Text Editor

(neo)vim. Less of a text editor and more of a lifestyle. Check out my dotfiles for this. No, I’m not going to ever switch to emacs.

Web Browser

Firefox / Brave / Vivaldi. I have tried, Chromium, Qutebrowser in the past.

File Manager

nnn. Yes, I have used ranger.

Where can I find good software options?

The program of your dreams is probably listed below:

• The suckless website’s list of programs that “rock”. Generally minimalist programs.
• A more comprehensive list of minimalist software.
• FSF’s Free Software Directory. Emphasis on libre software (although most software in the links above will have free licenses as well).
• Gentoo Wiki Recommendations A good mix of programs for novices and advanced users.

Hardware I Use

Laptop

The main laptop I use is the Framework laptop. I’m a huge fan of the whole upgradability concept coming from a few generations of ThinkPads.

What I don’t use

Proprietary software.

I’m not going to endorse proprietary services that have gone out of their way to spy on or politically suppress their users, just as Facebook, Discord etc. One of the many take-aways you should get from me is that the use of libre/free software, by its nature, is more constructive and extensible; and that’s the point.

There are philosophical reasons for this I’ll talk about in time, but for now, suffice it to say I will not endorse the usage of proprietary software.