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 main computers and both of my displays were bought this way. I’m usually a version behind on Apple operating systems.

Last updated on December 5, 2025.

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• Computers: I spend my time pretty much split 50/50 between an Apple Mac mini with M4 Pro (24GB RAM) and a MacBook Pro 14" with M1 Pro (16GB RAM), both with 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.

  I’m also recently playing a lot more with Linux on the desktop again after almost 25 years away, which obviously is a major shift. I installed Fedora Asahi Remix on an old M1 Mac mini, Linux Mint (Cinnamon desktop) on an old 11" MacBook Air, and I recently picked up a second-hand Dell Latitude 5430 (also running Linux Mint Cinnamon) and have been spending more time using those environments for certain projects.

  Yes, that’s five active computers. 🤷

• Keyboard: I finally settled in on a desktop mechanical keyboard after about a year of experimentation. I discovered that I didn’t want full-size, couldn’t do a 75% layout and needed 80%/TKL, couldn’t type at length anymore on regular-profile keycaps, and found my bliss with clicky blue switches. So now I’ve got a Keychron K1 Pro low-profile with blue switches, as well as an earlier-purchased K5 Pro full-size waiting in the wings. The process was overwhelming, tedious, and expensive, but I’m happy with the eventual result.

• 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.

• 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 on Linux, and I use 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, though I’m currently exploring Micro.blog for this.

• 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.

• Website: Hugo and rsync.

• 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, Tailscale, and Syncthing.