Uses

Here are most of the computing tools that I use for work, play, and everything in between. Thanks to Tom MacWright for a model to follow.

I tend to buy refurbished instead of new and to wait a bit after release to let the dust settle on new products. Both of my computers and both of my displays were bought this way.

Last updated on November 30, 2024.

Computers: I spend my time pretty much split 50/50 between an Apple Mac mini with M1 and a MacBook Pro 14" with M1 Pro, both with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. The MacBook Pro in particular is just about the most perfect computer, maybe even object, that I’ve ever owned. On the hardware side, at least.
Mouse: Logitech M550 L wireless mouse. Recently switched from a basic wired M100. It’s pretty pedestrian but it gets the job done. More importantly, it’s large enough for my hand. I bind a click of the mouse wheel to switch between my two desktop monitors instantly.
Keyboard: Keychron K5 Pro low profile mechanical with ~~red~~ brown switches in wireless mode. I’m new this year to mechanical keyboards and I’ve been trying to find what works best for me. I’m still not 100% sold. The best I’ve used lately is a NuPhy Air75 v1 with red switches, but I want a 100%, or at least 80%, layout for day-to-day use. I’m still experimenting here.
Headphones: Apple AirPods 3. Just perfect. Amazing product.
Monitors: Philips PHL 329P1 (32") and Dell U2720Q (27"). I’m a pretty recent convert to the two monitor club and… I don’t know why I didn’t do this earlier. I use AeroSpace to manage virtual desktops and monitors and it makes it a breeze to work with both of these without my hands leaving the keyboard.
Editor: Visual Studio Code with Vim bindings. I’ve made it very lightweight and the plugin ecosystem is fantastic for embedded development tooling like hardware flashing and debugging.
Browser: Apple Safari. Going strong since 2003. Used of late with Vimari. I use Firefox occasionally for troublesome sites and Chrome for all Google properties (logged out).
Reading: Lots of browser tabs, mostly driven by NetNewsWire since 2002, but I put PDFs on my iPad with the excellent PDF Viewer for longer-form reading. I save stuff for posterity (including fetched copies) and for my public links with Pinboard.
Organizing: I love OmniFocus for getting things done, Muse for thinking, and I’m starting to get into Obsidian for fleshing things out and for remembering. At the very least, I’ve been using Markdown formatting for a very long time and this part will stick around.
3D Printing: Lulzbot Mini 2 bought in 2018. My first and only (to date) 3D printer. It’s solid and does a huge variety of filaments.
2D Printing: Lexmark E240 B&W laser. Bought overstock new in box for $50 in 2006 and still works great. I go to a print shop for the occasional project that needs color.
Hosting: Pair Networks since 2001.
Email: Also on Pair since 2001 and read with Apple Mail.
Glue tools: Software that I like that gives me superpowers or ties workflows together. Some of my favorites are AeroSpace, SketchyBar, Hammerspoon, LaunchBar, SwiftBar, Moom, MenuWhere, and Syncthing.