656 lines
32 KiB
Markdown
656 lines
32 KiB
Markdown
---
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# date: 2017-02-22T14:43:02-06:00
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# image: /img/space.jpg
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# imageOverlayColor: "#000"
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# imageOverlayOpacity: 0.6
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# heroBackgroundColor: "#0af"
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title: Uses
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description: "About my tools, workflow, and other things I use as a software developer."
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---
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This page lists the tools (both physical and otherwise) that I use to do my job
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as a software developer along with some thoughts on them.
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While this page is likely to be out of date when you're reading it, since I am
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usually trying a few small changes here and there at any given point to try and
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improve things, I try to update it regularly. You can follow those updates by
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looking at [the history of the source code for this page
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specifically][uses-history].
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For other pages like this from other folks, check out this repository:
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https://github.com/wesbos/awesome-uses
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I'll go through a theoretical "day in the life" of myself working. Mostly to
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help me remember all the stuff involved, but also as a means of storytelling and
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being imformative. I normally don't drop brand names, but since that's kind of
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the point here, I will be doing a _lot_ of name dropping. No links to products
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for simplicity, but everything listed here should be searchable. If not, let
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me know! I'll try to link to anything free, though, such as software.
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I'll break stuff up by topic as things come up so you can skip things that are
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not interesting to you. There is also a Table of Contents at the top to help
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you navigate.
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I also think that in general sharing this much information about yourself isn't
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the _best_ idea. However, since I'm confident the bots can't know much more
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about me that they already do and this will really only mostly be useful to my
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fellow human beings, I think it's worth sharing. I hope you discover some cool
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new stuff! Better yet, I hope you recommend me better stuff! I'm always wanting
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to try new tools and discover something new that's good at something.
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Regarding the configuration of my machines and the software referenced below,
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[please refer to my Nix repo](https://git.lyte.dev/lytedev/nix)! It may also
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be useful to look through my old [dotfiles
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repo](https://git.lyte.dev/lytedev/dotfiles).
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# Good morning!
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I wake up when my kids do out of a Purple mattress. I slip on my PineTime wrist
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watch, grab my flashlight, Android smartphone and backpack, put on my prescription glasses,
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and usually make some tea.
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## Mattress: Purple King Size
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Sleep is real important, so get a good mattress! Of course, "good" here is
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highly subjective, so you will want to do your own research. We usually have a
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kid or two join my wife and I in the mattress, so we went with a king size to
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account for this. Fantastic decision!
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## Smart Watch: PineTime
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I love my PineTime! It serves as a good flashlight in the pitch black of a
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baby's room and can tell the time. That alone is good enough. However, it can
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also vibrate when I get notifications on my phone if I want, which I do use
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on occasion. The price is also unbeatable at 25USD and the InfiniTime firmware
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keeps improving! I get about two weeks of battery with light use and bluetooth
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off. I get about 5 days if I've got notifications on full blast, but they
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recently improved the firmware and claim this may now be more than double!
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## Flashlight: Emisar DW4
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I have a phone with a flashlight. And even my watch can be enough of a
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flashlight to navigate in pitch black, but I've taken to carrying an actual
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flashlight. Specifically, an Emisar DW4. It has a magnetic tailcap so it can
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attach near or directly to many work surfaces. It can get hilariously bright or
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dim enough to be suitable for use around sleeping family members in the dark.
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And it has fun RGB LEDs that can flash, show you the battery level, and just
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look cool. It's not a game-changer, but at times it is incredibly convenient to
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have on hand.
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## Smart Phone: ASUS Zenfone 10
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I've enjoyed ASUS's phones and have previously used the ROG Phone 5S. I bought
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this since it maintained most of the important features of the ROG Phone while
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being cheaper and my old ROG Phone started having bluetooth and phone call
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issues. To be fair, I bought the international Chinese version off ebay to try
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and save a buck.
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The Zenfone 10 does everything I need. Lots of battery life, nice display for
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reading on, good speakers, blah blah blah. Phone's get less interesting all the
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time and most of them are good enough these days.
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I hope a real Linux phone comes around!
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### Android-Specific Software & Applications
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Since I'm discussing my phone, I'll go over phone-specific apps (and some common
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with my laptops/desktops) now in no particular order. I have no idea if any of
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these have iOS equivalents, but here ya go.
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- [Firefox](https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix) as my web browser
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- Firefox supports (some) extensions even on Android! I use the following:
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- [Dark Reader](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/darkreader/) for keeping things easy on my eyes
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- [uBlock Origin](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/) for blocking ads
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- [F-Droid](https://f-droid.org) as an awesome resource for applications
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- [Termux](https://github.com/termux/termux-app) for doing Linux-y and
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terminal-y things on my phone
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- There's also [Nix-on-Droid](https://github.com/nix-community/nix-on-droid)
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which I've started using more and more
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- [OpenKeychain](https://github.com/open-keychain/open-keychain) for mobile GPG
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key management
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- [Password Store](https://github.com/android-password-store/Android-Password-Store)
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for interacting with my password manager database
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- [Bitwarden](https://github.com/bitwarden/mobile) for interacting with shared
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password databases
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- [Magisk](https://github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk) for managing Android root access
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- [NewPipe](https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe) for YouTube access without
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dealing with ads
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- [Smart AudioBook Player](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ak.alizandro.smartaudiobookplayer)
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for listening to audiobooks
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- [Gadgetbridge](https://github.com/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge) for interfacing
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with my smart watch
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- [Obsidian](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=md.obsidian) for
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reading and writing my notes (sync'd via `git`)
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- [Fedilab](https://codeberg.org/tom79/Fedilab) as my mobile fediverse client
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- [Goguma](https://git.sr.ht/~emersion/goguma) as my mobile IRC client (connected to my IRC bouncer, (Soju)[https://git.sr.ht/~emersion/soju])
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- [Tailscale](https://github.com/tailscale/tailscale-android) for my VPN
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- Google Wallet for NFC payments (tap-to-pay or contactless) because getting
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cards out of a wallet is _so_ pre-COVID
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- Google Messages for SMS, MMS, and RCS
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- Google Maps for meatspace navigation
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- Pocket Casts for listening to podcasts
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- Spotify for listening to music
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## Backpack
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The portable office! I keep my laptop, a multi-tool, extension cord, power
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strip, laptop charger, a suite of adapters and flash drives, water bottle, and
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the odd cable here or there. If I'm feelin' that I might be gamin', I throw in
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the Steam Deck. More on all this later.
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# Server Room
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Once the day has started and I've said my goodbyes to the fam, I head downstairs
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to my basement where my home office is located. I walk past a super overkill
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server rack I got on Craigslist. It holds a few things, but the most important
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things are my home router/gateway. It's connected to a Google Fiber jack where
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I get 500 Mb/sec (symmetric) speeds for about 55USD/month. It's hooked up to a
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Netgear 16-port gigabit switch which in turn is hooked up to a bunch of little
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devices, the most important of which are my home server, WiFi access point, and
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a really long cable that goes to my desk where there is another tp-link 8-port
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gigabit switch.
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The rack also has a bunch of loose cables, peripherals, and other random gear,
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like a big knife. I think I was using it to strip some wires. I should get some
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easy-mode wire strippers.
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## Router & Gateway: Any decent dual-NIC machine
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For a long time, I used a Raspberry Pi 4 with a USB3 ethernet adapter. It did
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great, too! But then I wanted it (and my ethernet adapter) for another project
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and I scored a Datto Alto 2 with 2 NICs built right in on Ebay for like $30.
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_Ebay is awesome_.
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The Datto Alto 2 is great, but not because of what it is. Any little dual-NIC
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box will do nicely. It's running Arch Linux and is configured via the contents
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of [this repo](https://git.lyte.dev/lytedev/router) (please be nice to my
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network). Having a router I'm in full control of has helped with networking
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problems immensely and makes port forwarding stuff a breeze. I'm roughly
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familiar with its workings, which makes troubleshooting network problems that
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much easier for me.
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This is the last bastion for Arch Linux in my network and I'm excited to move.
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Not because I hate Arch, but I'm _really_ loving NixOS.
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## WiFi Access Point: Unifi AP-Pro
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Fantastic access point that plays nicely with my very DIY home router. Not
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really much else to say. I set it up a long time ago and update it with some
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regularity, but it just works. At some point, I'd love to get wireless devices
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on their own VLAN for another layer of security.
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## Ethernet Switches: Anything with enough speed and ports
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Seriously I just bought the cheapest switches at Micro Center with enough ports
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for me. They're getting hilariously cheap, which is great! Having extra ports
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for ad-hoc stuff, like LAN parties, is a must-have for me, even in the age of
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WiFi.
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_Share the load_.
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## Server(s)
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I was given a Dell R720xd with dual Xeon E5-2580 CPUs (10c/20t),
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256GB RAM, and 12x4TB (48TB) of raw disk space. It runs my own, my servers, and
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hosts onsite backups for all my stuff and serves as an offsite encrypted backup
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for some friends.
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I have a few other cheap machines with larger disks at friends and family's
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houses for off-site, encrypted backups of important data. They all run NixOS and
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use [its built-in restic backup setup][backups-nix].
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Any paid client workloads are served via redundant mechanisms via cloud
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services, generally Digital Ocean, and backed up with whatever the relevant
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cloud offering is.
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I run the following main applications:
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- [Caddy](https://traefik.io/traefik/) to reverse proxy, TLS-terminate all
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the things, and serve static, public files
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- A homemade chat bot for various things
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- Various game servers (Minecraft, Factorio, Valheim, etc.)
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- [Gitea](https://about.gitea.com/) for https://git.lyte.dev 💜💛💙
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- [Jellyfin](https://jellyfin.org/) for streaming my video media to approved
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users (family, friends, etc.)
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- [PostgreSQL](https://www.postgresql.org/) as the great database for anything
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that needs one
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- [Vaultwarden](https://github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden) for sharing and
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managing passwords
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- [Atuin](https://atuin.sh) for sync'ing shell histories across my machines
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- Samba file shares
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Other details can be found in [the Nix config for the `beefcake` host][beefnix].
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I run a few services from the cloud as well:
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- [A small DDNS application](https://github.com/lytedev/deno-netlify-ddns) that
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machines report to so I have relatively up-to-date public IP information on
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most of my devices (this can't run from home for fairly obvious reasons 😉)
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- Each machine runs [the accompanying client](https://github.com/lytedev/deno-netlify-ddns-client) with unique credentials
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- Various monitoring scripts for specific things (also can't run from home - who
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would monitor the monitors?)
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# Starting Work
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I sit in a way-too-expensive computer chair at a homemade desk and wiggle my
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mouse or slap my keyboard until my workstation wakes up. I punch in my password
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and a script fires off to make sure I am ready to work. It does stuff like have
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me log in to various work services that need daily (or hourly) authentication
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and making sure I remember to review certain reminders and things of that
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nature.
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I usually spend my work mornings reviewing neat things I read about the night
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before on my various feeds -- assuming nothing urgent is happening with work,
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which there usually is not. Tinkering with things is super important for
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learning. This is usually done by pulling down my notes as sync'd from my phone,
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where I do most of my reading.
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I may also spend some time playing games or working with electronics in the
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workshop area.
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Then the standup meeting notification pops up and I spend about 10 minutes
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reviewing work stuff so I'm ready for the day. I make sure any audio/visual
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settings are reset for the workday from any tinkering I may have done the
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previous evening, usually with musical instruments or just general goofing
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around with Pipewire.
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## Chair: Steelcase Gesture with Headrest
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Like a mattress, very subjective. Get your chairs secondhand for way cheap and
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you can get some heckin' nice chairs. I spend about 8 hours a day in my chair,
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so having a good chair is well worth it, even if the price tag is $1,500 USD. 😬
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## Desk: Custom
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It's a huge slab of butcher's block I got from Home Depot for about 200USD and
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I made some _really_ crappy legs to try and hold it up. It's huge and awesome
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and by the time I can't move it around by myself anymore is probably a good
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indicator for retirement.
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You can see an old but decent picture of it here:
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https://files.lyte.dev/images/archives/battle-station-2020.jpg
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## Mouse: Logitech MX Master 3 and Mionix Avior Pro
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The MX Master 3 is my default, go-to mouse. It's great. I don't use any of
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the fancy features, really, but the mousewheel on it is _real_ special. Can't
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go back.
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The Avior Pro I got a long time ago after my last mouse bit the dust. I really
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only pull out for gaming on the more competitive side, such as _Counter Strike_.
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For pretty much everything else, the MX Master 3 is not noticeably bad -- even
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for _Doom Eternal_.
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## Keyboard: Sofle Choc RGB
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Another very subjective thing! Building and programming your own keyboard is
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something that is super fun for heavy keyboard users, which I think is most
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people these days. This one is focused on being good for my hands and wrists to
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use for long programming sessions. It's split into two wireless pieces so each
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hand can move them independently and the keys are laid out in a sensible manner
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that fits the human hand. There are other features that are nice, but that I
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rarely use.
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Here's a picture if you like: https://files.lyte.dev/keyboards/zofle.jpg
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## Monitors: Aorus FO48U and 2 Dell U2720Q
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I stumbled into having a huge 4K display when COVID had Postmates send our
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little Kansas City satellite office packing and I took the meeting hardware
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home. At some point, I plugged it in to see what _World of Warcraft_ would look
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like in 4K on a big screen and realized it was actually amazing for programming
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as well.
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Here's roughly my monitor layout, though I usually have two of the secondary
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monitors -- one on either side:
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https://files.lyte.dev/images/archives/battle-station-2022-10-13.3.jpg
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## Laptop: Lenovo T480 and MacBooks
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The T480 is a recent acquisition. It was pretty busted up when I got it, but I bought the
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high capacity external battery and some phat sticks of RAM and replaced the
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trackpad. A little bit of superglue and a good cleaning later and I've just
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fallen in love with this laptop. Sometimes I use it even though I have a really
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beefy workstation with what I consider to be a pretty high-end setup -- it just
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feels so cozy! All my machines run Arch Linux configured as specified in my
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dotfiles repo.
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Work provides MacBooks. I'm able to use them as proxies and simply SSH into them
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for work-related tasks. They otherwise run Linux virtual machines or serve as
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dumb terminals to Linux environments in _the cloud_ where I do the majority of
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my work. In general, I'm not a big of macOS and its interface, but I fully
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recognize that I'm used to a very bespoke and unique way of interacting with
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my computer.
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That said, before work really cracked down, the M1 Max MacBook Pro they got
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me was one of my favorite machines ever. Insane battery life, performance,
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speakers, display, _**and** the ability to run Linux natively on it_ is going to
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be really hard to beat. I miss being able to use that thing to its fullest!
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## Desktop: Custom Rig
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Probably easiest to list the parts. I wanted something quiet, small, and cute.
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In hindsight, I think it would have been more practical to just get a bigger and
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more expandable system. I'm somehow always out of USB ports.
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- **CPU**: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
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- I wanted as many performant cores as possible for as cheaply as possible
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and reasonable. I did some math and realized that with the time spend
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running unit tests and compiling code, this thing would pay for itself in a
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month or two. It did. Love it and looking forward to the next upgrade!
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- **GPU**: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
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- Bought this at the worst possible time, but it's been a great card. It
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can't quite keep up with 4K@120Hz for some titles like _Doom Eternal_ on the
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highest settings, but it's good enough for my current usage.
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- **RAM**: Some 64GB kit that's more than enough for me
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- **PSU**: Some small form factor 750W fully modular power supply - it's very
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cute because it's so little!
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- **CPU Cooler**: Can't remember what it is exactly, but I bought the biggest,
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baddest air cooler that would fit with my setup
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- **Case**: Cooler Master NR200P
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- **Linux SSD**: Sabrent Rocket 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe
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- I went with PCIe 4.0 since I make pretty heavy use of my disk what with
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a great internet connection and all - those Docker images ain't gonna sling
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themselves, y'know!
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- What is it with "enterprise" Docker images being absolutely gargantuan?!
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Why must things suck?! Not that I put anything proprietary to work on my
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personal machine(s) of course!
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- **Windows SSD**: TeamGroup MP34 2TB PCIe 3.0 NVMe
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- Occasionally, I boot to Windows for some games that run better or at all,
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like Valorant or Destiny 2
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## Other Neat Computing Devices
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I also have a PinePhone and a Steam Deck.
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The PinePhone was unfortunately a dud for me personally since MMS is still
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pretty prevalent in my life in a way that I can't overlook in addition to the
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notification setup not quite being up to snuff. I am _very_ excited for the
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time when a Linux (you know what I mean) phone is feasible, though! I got the
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keyboard addon, though, and since my phone has some radio issues in the US, I
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sometimes use it when I need better radio performance, like when camping.
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The Steam Deck is absolutely wonderful. Anything I would play with a controller,
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I usually just play it on the Steam deck. I haven't touched my Switch since!
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Plus, it's Linux, so the tinker factor is there too. Highly recommend one if
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you're considering it.
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## Headphones: Sony WH-1000XM4
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Bought the XM3s on a Black Friday special and fell in love. _Nice_ noise
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cancelling headphones are absolutely wonderful. They made my mom cry.
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Work got almost all their engineers the XM4s not long after so I kind of have
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2 pair. The XM4s are _much_ nicer with multiple device pairing and the firmware
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voice feedback fading out your audio instead of cutting it completely when it
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says anything. The XM4s also automatically shut down if they can detect they
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aren't on your head for a little bit, which makes the main issue I had with the
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XM3s of setting them on my desk without turning them off a non-issue.
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## Microphone: Blue Yeti USB
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Sounds good enough, but I've got a fancy audio interface now, so I'm wanting to
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upgrade at some point. Super low priority, though.
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## Audio Interface: MOTU M4
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A recent gift. I'm hoping to do more with music and mixing in the future,
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though, so it will be welcome at that point! I play drums and would love to
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put together a decent electric guitar setup. I also have an Arturia MicroFreak
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digital synthesizer which is a lot of fun to play with. I'd love to put some
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cool tracks together!
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## Keys: Some twist-lock cable keyring
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It's nicer than those metal rings you have to snap your thumbnail to get keys
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off of. I had one fail after about 10 years and my keys went everywhere, so if
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you're gonna use these, I guess you should replace them occasionally or check
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them in rather rough ways with some regularity after a certain amount of time.
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These are usually karabiner'd to my backpack or a belt loop.
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When I'm driving with the family, we take the van, which has one of those
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wireless keys, so I can just throw my whole bag in and we can drive. If I'm
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driving solo, it's still a good, old insert-and-turn key, so the keys un-
|
|
karabiner from the bag or loop and go back on when disembarking.
|
|
|
|
My keyring is also attached to my wallet. Speaking of which...
|
|
|
|
## Wallet: Chums Surfshorts Wallet
|
|
|
|
Cheap, has a zipper to hold keyfobs and cards, and easily attaches to my
|
|
keys. Having them all together means I just gotta grab two things, one for each
|
|
pocket: phone and wallet-keys.
|
|
|
|
I haven't tried tap-to-paying through the wallet, which is probably a big
|
|
security hazard. 🤷
|
|
|
|
# Software
|
|
|
|
When my machine boots up, I'm greeted by the standard Linux login at the
|
|
console. No display manager or graphical login or anything. Once I'm logged in,
|
|
I usually run `wm` which fires up my window manager, Sway.
|
|
|
|
When Sway starts, it runs Kitty, my terminal emulator of choice, and Firefox, my
|
|
web browser of choice.
|
|
|
|
Anywhere I can, I really like to use the
|
|
[Catppuccin color scheme](https://github.com/catppuccin/catppuccin).
|
|
Otherewise, I used a modified Monokai with a darkened
|
|
background color for the longest time.
|
|
|
|
## Web Applications
|
|
|
|
Firefox is awesome. I'm a big fan. I make heavy use of their "Sync" offering,
|
|
which syncs just about everything. It's very convenient and I'm sure it will
|
|
somehow bite me later.
|
|
|
|
I use the following must-have browser extensions:
|
|
|
|
- [hide-scrollbars](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/hide-scrollbars/) to hide scroll bars
|
|
- [FoxyProxy](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/foxyproxy-standard/) for proxying through to various resources
|
|
- [PassFF](https://github.com/passff/passff) for interfacing with my `password-store`
|
|
- [Firefox Multi-Account Containers](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account-containers/) for being logged into all my accounts simulataneously
|
|
- This is probably good enough reason _alone_ to use Firefox over anything else
|
|
- [Tree Style Tab](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/) for a much nicer way of managing four billion tabs
|
|
- [Dark Reader](https://darkreader.org/) to keep things easy on my eyes
|
|
- [uBlock Origin](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/) for blocking ads
|
|
- [Vimium](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/vimium-ff/) for moar keyboard shortcuts
|
|
- [open-url-in-container](https://github.com/honsiorovskyi/open-url-in-container) for programmatically opening URLs in certain Multi-Account Containers, for opening certain tabs in certain containers from my terminal
|
|
|
|
Firefox usually has the following web applications opened:
|
|
|
|
- [Shortwave](https://shortwave.com) as my email client for my Google Mail
|
|
accounts to which my other emails forward to
|
|
- [Linear](https://linear.app) for personal task management (a better Jira/
|
|
Trello IMHO)
|
|
- Google Calendar for scheduling, planning, event management, etc. for both work
|
|
and personal life
|
|
- [Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com) for mostly-relevant and
|
|
interesting links to me and for high-quality discussions
|
|
- [Lobsters](https://lobste.rs) for reasons similar to Hacker News
|
|
- [Lemmy.world](https://lemmy.world) for federated link aggregation and
|
|
discussions since Reddit
|
|
killed API access for my clients of choice
|
|
- [GitHub](https://github.com) for open-source and similar work
|
|
- [Band](https://band.us) for communicating with friends, family, and church
|
|
folks
|
|
- [Discord](https://discord.com) for communicating with friends, family, "more-
|
|
hip" church folks, various communities, and other acquaintences
|
|
- [Element](https://element.io) for communicating with friends, coworkers,
|
|
various communities, and other acquaintencas
|
|
- [Slack](https://slack.com) for communicating with friends, coworkers, and
|
|
various communities
|
|
- [Spotify](https://spotify.com) for music
|
|
- Various applications specific to work, such as Okta, Jira, GitLab, etc.
|
|
|
|
Ugh, modern messaging is a mess, isn't it?
|
|
|
|
[Tailscale](https://tailscale.com) connects all my machines to the same
|
|
VPN. It's great! And I think once I get it fully setup, I will put it in the
|
|
"gamechanger" bucket.
|
|
|
|
I also frequent these:
|
|
|
|
- https://git.lyte.dev for personal code management
|
|
- https://a.lyte.dev for personal online analytics
|
|
- https://bw.lyte.dev for shared password database management
|
|
|
|
And do my online shopping here:
|
|
|
|
- ebay.com
|
|
- facebook.com/marketplace
|
|
- craigslist.com
|
|
- amazon.com
|
|
- aliexpress.us
|
|
|
|
I'm sure I'm forgetting a ton here.
|
|
|
|
## Terminal
|
|
|
|
Beyond the web stuff, I pretty much live in the terminal. Interacting with my
|
|
machine is mostly done via hotkeys as configured for Sway. Otherwise, everything
|
|
happens in the terminal. Here are my most popular commands in no particular
|
|
order:
|
|
|
|
- [`fish`](https://github.com/fish-shell/fish-shell) as my interactive shell
|
|
(and sometimes for scripts, too!)
|
|
- [`helix`](https://github.com/helix-editor/helix) for text editing
|
|
- [`git`](https://git-scm.com) for code version management (source control)
|
|
- I use [`git-delta`](https://github.com/dandavison/delta) for viewing diffs
|
|
- [`pass`](https://www.passwordstore.org) for passwords and secrets management
|
|
- [`ssh`](https://www.openssh.com) and [`mosh`](https://mosh.org) for
|
|
accessing other machines
|
|
- [`tmux`](https://github.com/tmux/tmux) and [`zellij`](https://zellij.dev) for
|
|
multiplexing terminals
|
|
- [`htop`](https://htop.dev) and
|
|
[`btm` (or `bottom`)](https://github.com/ClementTsang/bottom) for process
|
|
management and resource monitoring
|
|
- [`rtx`](https://github.com/jdxcode/rtx) for managing various runtimes' and
|
|
applications' versions
|
|
- [`sk` (or `skim`)](https://github.com/lotabout/skim) for fuzzy searching for
|
|
stuff
|
|
- [`rg` (or `ripgrep`)](https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep) for specific
|
|
searching for stuff
|
|
- [`sd`](https://github.com/chmln/sd) for most things I used to use `sed` for
|
|
- [`nnn`](https://github.com/jarun/nnn) and
|
|
[`broot`](https://github.com/Canop/broot) for filesystem browsing and
|
|
navigation
|
|
- [`bat`](https://github.com/sharkdp/bat) for viewing files as a `cat`
|
|
replacement
|
|
- [`exa`](https://github.com/ogham/exa) as an `ls` replacement
|
|
- [`man`](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/man_page) for reading documentation
|
|
- [`xh`](https://github.com/ducaale/xh) and [`curl`](https://curl.se) for
|
|
interacting with HTTP endpoints (I want to check out
|
|
[`hurl`](https://github.com/Orange-OpenSource/hurl), too!)
|
|
- [`jq`](https://github.com/jqlang/jq),
|
|
[`gron`](https://github.com/tomnomnom/gron), and
|
|
[`jql`](https://github.com/cube2222/jql) for interacting with JSON data
|
|
- [`rsync`](https://rsync.samba.org) for moving files amongst machines
|
|
- [`restic`](https://restic.net) for local and remote deduplicated, encrypted,
|
|
and automated backups
|
|
- [`watchexec`](https://github.com/watchexec/watchexec) for doing stuff as I
|
|
edit files (like running unit tests anytime code is changed)
|
|
- [`age`](https://github.com/FiloSottile/age) and
|
|
[`sops`](https://github.com/mozilla/sops) for secrets management
|
|
- [`dua`](https://github.com/Byron/dua-cli/) for disk usage analysis
|
|
- [`sc-im`](https://github.com/andmarti1424/sc-im) for managing two-dimensional,
|
|
relational data (spreadsheets)
|
|
- [`pulsemixer`](https://github.com/GeorgeFilipkin/pulsemixer) for adjusting
|
|
audio levels and volumes
|
|
- [`bluetoothctl`](http://www.bluez.org) for managing bluetooth devices (also
|
|
[`bluetuith`](https://github.com/darkhz/bluetuith) for a TUI!)
|
|
- [`weechat`](https://weechat.org/) as my IRC client
|
|
- This is usually running in a persistent `tmux` or `zellij` session on a
|
|
server that I remote into
|
|
- I occasionally use the relay functionality that `weechat` offers as well
|
|
- [`docker`](https://docker.com) and [`podman`](https://podman.io) for container
|
|
management
|
|
- [`hexyl`](https://github.com/sharkdp/hexyl) when I need to look at binary data
|
|
- [`make`](https://www.gnu.org/software/make/) for doing things describe in
|
|
`Makefile`s
|
|
|
|
## GUI
|
|
|
|
From Sway, the only utilities I use are the following:
|
|
|
|
- [`waybar`](https://github.com/Alexays/Waybar) shows the time, a HUD for my
|
|
virtual desktops, various volume information, and a high level overview of
|
|
system resource usage.
|
|
- [`mako`](https://github.com/emersion/mako) shows me notifications and let's me
|
|
interact with them.
|
|
- [`gammastep`](https://gitlab.com/chinstrap/gammastep) makes my displays
|
|
orange-y at night time.
|
|
|
|
Beyond these, I have a bunch of scripts and configuration in my
|
|
[dotfiles repo](https://git.lyte.dev/lytedev/dotfiles).
|
|
|
|
I use [`wofi`](https://hg.sr.ht/~scoopta/wofi) for launching applications
|
|
occasionally. It lists the following often-used applications:
|
|
|
|
- [Steam](https://steampowered.com) for installing and running games
|
|
- [Slippi](https://slippi.gg) for playing Super Smash Brother Melee online!
|
|
- [Lutris](https://lutris.net) for running World of Warcraft
|
|
- [`qpwgraph`](https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/rncbc/qpwgraph) for routing audio
|
|
via [`wireplumber`](https://pipewire.pages.freedesktop.org/wireplumber/)
|
|
- [Inkscape](https://inkscape.org) for editing vector graphics (like SVGs) and
|
|
image files
|
|
- [Audacity](https://www.audacityteam.org) for recording audio
|
|
- [Krita](https://krita.org) and [GIMP](https://www.gimp.org) for editing
|
|
non-vector (bitmap?) graphics and image files
|
|
- [KDE Connect](https://kdeconnect.kde.org) for when I want phone notifications
|
|
to be mirrored to my desktop
|
|
- Usually only when expecting a specific call or message
|
|
- [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com) for pairing with other VS
|
|
Code folks or troubleshooting a VS Code user's setup
|
|
- [Thunar](https://docs.xfce.org/xfce/thunar/start) for managing files in a GUI
|
|
- [PulseAudio Volume Control (or `pavucontrol`)](https://freedesktop.org/software/pulseaudio/pavucontrol/)
|
|
|
|
## Music
|
|
|
|
I dabble in music sometimes, depending on my workload or how much I need an
|
|
outlet, mostly as a poser metal drummer, so I'll list that stuff here, too!
|
|
|
|
- Roland TD-11 electric drum kit
|
|
- Electric is convenient for adding music and not bothering people in a
|
|
quarter-mile radius
|
|
- [Here's a video of me playing it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucpYCSxxvy0)
|
|
- Arturia MicroFreak digital synthesizer
|
|
- Very new to me; super fun to play with
|
|
- Novation LaunchKey 61 MIDI controller
|
|
- Haven't taken the time yet to really setup a DAW to work with this
|
|
- Some piece of crap first act electric guitar that I keep trying to fix and make work
|
|
- I just need to bite the bullet and save up for a nice Ibanez (used of course)
|
|
|
|
## Electronics
|
|
|
|
I also tinker a lot with electronics and "maker"-y things! The only name-able
|
|
thing is my 3D printer, which is an Ender CR-10S. Micro Center was having an
|
|
incredible sale one upon a day. The thing is really awesome. I still want a real
|
|
nice one that I can reliably send prints over the network to.
|
|
|
|
Other unnamed tools I have and use on roughly a weekly basis:
|
|
|
|
- Soldering iron
|
|
- Solder sucker
|
|
- Air purifier (solder _and_ 3D printer fumes ain't all that good for you)
|
|
|
|
And I'm sure there are other unsung heroes I just don't think about. Like butter
|
|
knives.
|
|
|
|
# Finishing The Day
|
|
|
|
That about does it! I usually head upstairs when work is done, make food in
|
|
unidentifiable cookware, tinker and play with my kids for a bit, head out to
|
|
whatever evening activity we've got going on if applicable, come home, and bedtime!
|
|
|
|
Ah, we have a couple tablets for Khan Academy Kids, white noise (and other
|
|
sleep-inducing ambience), and podcasts (like Base Camp Adventures!) and a
|
|
Google Home Mini or two, mostly for playing loud and obnoxious music or setting
|
|
timers.
|
|
|
|
[uses-history]: https://git.lyte.dev/lytedev/site.lyte.dev/commits/branch/master/content/uses.md
|
|
[backups-nix]: https://git.lyte.dev/lytedev/nix/src/commit/fafd242e461620aaa48a669b3623614cc6829700/nixos/beefcake.nix#L528-L573
|
|
[beefnix]: https://git.lyte.dev/lytedev/nix/src/branch/main/nixos/beefcake.nix
|