About Technology

+ This article is about the technology that I use, both in software and in hardware. +

+ +

Computer Hardware

+ I personally use a thinkpad X200 which is librebooted and a thinkpad X230, which has + the default vendor BIOS. I use old thinkpads because: +

They are reliable and well built.
They were made to be repaired, unlike other modern hardware.
They are affordable.
They have a nice keyboard (at least the X200 does) and they have the red dot (which is better than a mouse in many cases).
They are upgradable to a large extent.

+ Also, the feeling of using a thinkpad is just quite nice. There is no real other way to + describe it, you just have to try it yourself. +

+ +

Antiphone

+ I don't have a phone. Actually, that is a lie. I do have one, but almost never use it. + They are not useful to me and I don't use conventional social media so I have no need + for them. Computers are much better at making software and articles, and also computers + can more easily run open source software (not that it matters inherently but to me + most open source software is just better because I can basically do what I want with + my computer). It doesn't feel like you own a phone when you buy one; someone else owns + the phone, and you buy the rights to use it. With most computers, the general feeling + is that you own it. +

+ +

Software

+ I try to use minimal software where I can. The general philosophy is one of the UNIX + philosophy; you have simple components and you make them do complex things via piping + and whatnot. +

+ +

Operating systems

+ I would consider using and have used these operating systems: +

Void gnu/linux -- it's quite minimal and has a good package manager.
Arch gnu/linux -- the same as void, except a little less minimal.
Trisquel gnu/linux -- an operating system that is actually 100% free software. I run this currently on my X200.
OpenBSD -- The operating system I run on my X230 currently. Does things correct for the most part and more UNIX.
9front -- Yes, I've actually run this before for a little bit. Really liked it, but no modern web browser. Would run again though.

+ I would recommend all of these to try out. They all have their unique upsides and downsides, though you could probably + get all linux distros to work in almost the same way if you wanted to. If you're looking for something new (and better + designed than linux in my opinion) you could try OpenBSD and 9front. +

+ +

Systemd

+ It doesn't actually matter if your distro uses it or not. +

+ +

Userland

+ I tend to use suckless userland programs because they tend to follow the UNIX + philosophy and their software is just better than the competition. For example, dwm can do swallowing, and I + have not encountered any other window manager that will do that natively (you might need a program to do it for + you). The st terminal supports everything as long as you add patches, but even if you don't, it's still better + than most other terminal emulators that want to do too much. The dmenu program is just good because you can + make custom scripts and that increases the usability of your computer like five-fold. +

+ Also see their rocks/ page for most of the software that I use. You can also see + my dotfiles for the software that I use. +

+ For OpenBSD, I mostly use cwm with the defaults and most of the same programs I use for gnu/linux. For 9front, + I use the base system mostly (obviously). +

+ +

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