/uses
-This page is inspired by <%= link_to "/uses", "https://uses.tech" %>.
+This page is inspired by <%= link_to "/uses", "https://uses.tech" %>. I won’t present every + boring detail of my setup, but anything I feel is interesting, unusual or I particularly love.
For a more or less complete config, check out my <%= link_to "dotfiles", "https://git.tsvallender.co.uk/tsv/dotfiles" %>.
Hardware
-Incoming… about to build a new PC.
+ <%= image_tag "office.jpg", alt: "Photo of my office. A PC tower is on a desk next to a portrait monitor.", class: 'fullwidth' %> + +-
+
- PC +
- I use a custom-built machine. Building it myself allowed me to maximise what I care about + (CPU, RAM, fast storage) while leaving out what I don’t (integrated graphics are good enough + for me). It’s cased inside the beautiful <%= link_to "Fractal North", "https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/north/" %> case. +
- Monitor: <%= link_to "LG DualUp", "https://www.lg.com/uk/monitors/ergo-monitors/28mq780-b/" %> +
- I find the unusual aspect ratio of this screen almost perfect for software development; it + feels much more natural than a super-wide screen, but provides the added screen real estate + over a smaller or laptop screen. You can also display two inputs side by side, which is + occasionally useful. +
- Keyboard: <%= link_to "X-Bows Lite", "https://x-bows.com/products/x-bows-lite-ergonomic-mechanical-keyboard" %> +
- This keyboard is the best compromise I’ve found between a traditional layout and the more + radical ergonomic designs available. There are probably better keyboards out there, in terms + of ergonomics and efficiency, but they come with the downside of making it harder to use + other keyboards. The changes here are subtle enough they don’t make other keyboards + unusable, but effective enough to vastly improve the experience—particularly being able + to hit Control and Shift with a thumb (a particularly useful feature when I used to use Emacs). +
Development environment
-
-
- Neovim -
- The centrepiece -
- tmux - +
- Editor: <%= link_to "Neovim", "https://neovim.io/" %> +
- One of the best investments of time in my career so far has been making myself familiar + with vi keybindings. Once they’re ingrained in your head, they make moving around in your + code feel natural and fast. Neovim adds to that foundation by providing a modern extension + language (Lua) to replace the… esoteric… Vimscript which has fostered a powerful plugin + system. Modern LSPs alongside innovations such as Treesitter give Neovim IDE-like power + while retaining all the benefits of a lightweight text editor. +
- Multiplexer: <%= link_to "tmux", "https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki" %> +
- I use only the small subset of tmux functionality that serves my needs, but it does so + exceedingly well. It allows me to run multiple applications in a single terminal emulator + and switch between them easily, run a persistent session over SSH, and + <%= link_to "pair remotely", blog_post_path("pairing-with-tmux") %>. +
- OS: <%= link_to "openSUSE", "https://www.opensuse.org/" %> +
- I’ve jumped around a lot in the past between different Linux distributions, and the BSDs. + Currently, I’m running openSUSE Tumbleweed, which is a rolling release that seems to do + a good job of balancing stability with bleeding edge software. +
- Window manager: <%= link_to "Hyprland", "https://hyprland.org/" %> +
- I’m a big fan of tiling window managers, which tend to just get out of your way and let + you work. Now that the Linux world is moving from X11 to Wayland, I’m using Hyprland. It + lets me move around windows with vi keybindings and adds just enough animation + to make things feel smooth and stylish.
Self-hosted
-
-
- Wallabag - +
- <%= link_to "Wallabag", "https://wallabag.org/" %> +
- In a similar vein to Pocket, or Instapaper: save articles to read later. +
- <%= link_to "Immich", "https://immich.app/" %> +
- Heavily inspired by Google Photos, Immich is by far the best open source photo + management system I’ve seen, with a matching mobile app. +
- <%= link_to "Forgejo", "https://forgejo.org/" %> +
- I run an instance for my personal projects, as well as one for work. +
- <%= link_to "Calibre-Web", "https://github.com/janeczku/calibre-web" %> +
- Takes a Calibre library of ebooks and provides a nice web UI for them, making them + easily accessible from anywhere. +
- <%= link_to "Radicale", "https://radicale.org/" %> +
- CalDAV and CardDAV server for calendars and contacts. Pairs well with + <%= link_to "DAVx⁵", "https://www.davx5.com/" %> for syncing on Android.