Tools

List of tools and software I enjoy

I have a strong preference for tools that are open, secure and respect privacy. I don’t like being the product when “consuming” software. Naturally I use a lot more services, tools and software but here are some I would like to recommend.

In general I would advise everyone to have: Password manager, end-to-end encrypted (by default) chat app, (a paid plan) privacy focused email provider for an email-domain you own (or self-hosted is ideal, but a high bar), a VPN (your own, like tailscale with exit node, or a trusted third-party provider), a good at home and off-site encrypted backup solution (3-2-1), full disk encryption on all devices, a privacy respecting browser with the appropriate plugins for blocking trackers (e.g. LibreWolf or Brave). Lastly: your own personal website! Hosting services at home, on your own off-site servers or even on a VPS is easy and rewarding. If you are able: donate money or time to software products you use, make it worthwhile to fight for the users.

Local-first and own your cloud.

Communication

Available on Email, Signal, XMPP, Matrix, Nostr and Urbit.

Sovereignty

• Immich - self-hosted photo and video management, replaces iCloud and Google Photos.
• Audiobookshelf - self-hosted audiobook and podcast library, replaces Audible.
• Urbit - self-hosted personal server.
• Borg - encrypted backup software, together with Syncthing replaces eg. OneDrive, Dropbox and iCloud.
• Baïkal - CalDAV calendar server, replaces Google Calendar and iCloud.
• Newsboat - terminal RSS reader, replaces algorithmic feeds made by people selling ads.
• LibreWolf - privacy/security focused browser, replaces Chrome.

Productivity

I split my time between working on MacOS and various Linux environments so this will be a mixed bag.

For Linux: Niri, Hyprland, archlinux.

For MacOS: Yabai/Aerospace (tiling window managers, been using Yabai for a time but trying out Aerospace right now), skhd, brew.

For both: tmux, neovim, ghostty, vimium-c.

Programming languages

For work I have primarily been using Go the past few years and I am very happy with the small and simple language.

I spent many years writing in Scala before that and have also used Python quite a bit. I enjoy both of these languages as well.

Besides this I have tinkered and worked in a lot of languages in years past (JavaScript, Java, C, Haskell, PHP etc.)

Writing role-playing games

Affinity Publisher, Procreate, pen and paper.

Hardware

• Framework 13 - repairable laptop shipped without an OS (“This isn’t our computer. It’s yours.”), pure joy. Running arch/niri.
• Framework Desktop - also running arch/niri.
• Daylight Computer - an e-ink tablet with very quick rendering speeds, calm and with option to have no blue light.
• ZSA Voyager keyboard - a split, mechanical, keyboard with programmable firmware. I use it with Kailh Choc Pro Red switches (had the normal Choc Pro at first but found I liked the lighter ones for the low profile keyboard). I recently switched from my beloved ZSA Moonlander because I wanted less finger travel and something more portable and kinder on my wrist. I miss the tenting that the Moonlander provided but fingers feel better.
• Rack mounted home lab - a setup I will describe in more detail in the future.

Low-tech

Pilot Vanishing Point (Fountain Pen), Midori Traveler’s Notebook.

Home