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My Current Setup

My Current Setup

August 30, 2021

As a marketer, I use a combination of the usual “office” and creative tools. Since I maintain an interest in tech and self-hosting, my list of apps is long.

Hardware

  • Mac Pro (Late 2013) :: Running Big Sur, used when I need horsepower.
  • Mac Mini (Late 2014) x2 :: Used for self-hosting applications with Docker. Ubuntu 20.04.
  • MacBook Pro (Late 2013) :: Main workhorse.
  • iPad Pro 12.9" (Original) :: 50% consuming media, 50% writing. Never felt the need to upgrade since I don’t max it out at all.
  • iPhone X :: iOS 14.7.1, daily driver, loaded with apps I use everyday only.
  • iPhone 6s Plus :: iOS 14.7.1, filled with social and game junk.

Browsers

  • Firefox :: Default.
  • Safari :: If FF and don’t care about anonymity.
  • Chromium :: If FF and Safari don’t work for some reason.

Firefox Plugins

  • uBlock Origin :: Replacement for uMatrix.
  • Bitwarden :: Uses self-hosted Bitwarden instance.
  • CanvasBlocker :: Prevent browser fingerprinting.
  • Chameleon :: Changing user-agent.
  • Cookie AutoDelete :: Delete cookies every few minutes.
  • Privacy Redirect :: Alternative front-ends for Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit and Google.
  • Vimium :: Vim-like keyboard navigation.
  • Multi-Account Containers :: Separate containers by use.

Safair Plugins

  • 1Blocker :: Only decent ad and tracker blocker that works on Mac and iOS.

Command Line

  • iTerm2 :: Have tried Hyper, kitty, Alacritty, default Mac terminal, but always come back to iTerm2.
  • Homebrew :: Mainly used to install and update CLI tools.
  • fzf :: fuzzy finder
  • bat :: cat command with syntax highlighting.
  • Meslo :: Font with ligature support.

Shell

  • zsh :: Just cuz it’s the default on MacOS.
  • Powerlevel10K :: Liked the out-of-the-box defaults, so I stuck with it.
  • Antigen :: Plugin manager for zsh.

Editor

  • Neovim :: Used for making quick text changes.
  • Emacs :: Used for anything text related.

Productivity

  • Org Mode :: To-do lists.
  • Org-roam :: For notes and documents that don’t have/need fancy layouts.
  • iWork :: When org-roam isn’t enough.
  • Office 365 :: When iWork isn’t enough.

Files

  • Cryptomator :: Encrypting files on local or remote.
  • Cyberduck :: Tranferring files, supports Cryptomator.
  • Mountain Duck :: Mounting remote files, supports Cryptomator.
  • Rclone :: Backing up files to the cloud.

Development Tools

  • LSP :: Used with Emacs to provide code completion and navigation.
  • Insomnia :: REST client.

Selfhosted Home

Tools that don’t need to be public.

  • Wallabag :: Read later.
  • Gitea :: Lightweight git version control.
  • Etherpad :: For throwaway notes.
  • Pi-hole :: Blocking ads and trackers on my home network.
  • Seafile :: Dropbox alternative.
  • bitwarden_rs :: Password manager.
  • Firefox Sync Server :: Instead of syncing to Mozilla’s cloud servers.
  • Wireguard (inbound) :: VPN in to access services listed above.
  • Wireguard (outbound) :: Traffic flows through an external VPN provider.
  • Postfix & Dovecot :: Mail management.
  • ZNC :: IRC network bouncer.
  • SingleFile :: Archive interesting websites.

Selfhosted External

Tools hosted at VPSs.

  • Mailcow :: Suite of mail-related applications used for personal mail accounts.

Website

  • Hugo :: Used WordPress for years, but never used any WordPress-specific funtionality, so I decided to migrate.
  • Vercel :: Hosting; free, developer-friendly, supports Hugo and needs no maintance once set up.

Communications

While I do have accounts for Telegram and WhatsApp, I don’t actually use them.

  • Messages :: Apple has me locked in here.
  • Signal :: Interacting with privacy-conscious friends.
  • Sessions :: For the paranoid.
  • Weechat :: IRC & Slack
    • wee-slack :: easier to navigate with keyboard than Slack apps

Mobile

  • beorg (iOS) :: Manage org mode to-do lists.
  • Halide :: Best camera app for RAW images.
  • BlackSight :: Night-mode camera
  • Overcast :: Podcast player with great speed functionality
  • Brain.fm :: Audio to get into the flow.
  • Tweetbot :: Still the best Twitter app for iOS.
  • NetNewsWire :: Open source RSS reader.
  • Slide :: Open source reddit browser.
  • Wireguard :: Connecting to home network.
  • Solitaire+ :: When I need to shut down my brain.
  • SpellTower+ :: When I want my brain to use up some energy.
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