Hardware I use:

Macbook Pro

Sporting the M2 Max processor, an obscene amount of memory and storage, and a price tag higher than I'd like to admit, the Mac has been a reliable computer to fall back on for when I blow up a Gentoo install, which happens about as often as they update Python. Is it good for my immortal soul? No. Has it been a trusty daily driver? Unfortunately. Worse: it's exceeded all expectations in terms of performance for the package it comes in, and gets perilously close to my long-sought goal of One Laptop to Rule Them All. (Where by "them," I mean all computers, not just laptops.)

Some people use macOS for specific software they couldn't get elsewhere. I use it to get away from GNOME. There isn't no software that isn't Apple-exclusive, but there's too much crossover to dignify the Mac with its own software list. Whoops! iToddlers btfo!

See also: A Bite of the Apple. (Not yet, but soon!)

My "Forever Desktop"

Something I've wanted for a while is a long freeze on upgrading my desktop. "Other people get to buy one and then leave it alone for a decade or more, so why can't I?" I asked myself, knowing damn well the answer was being a hobbyist. Through a mix of hardware shortages, a desire to drive my power bill down, leftover parts, and circumstance, I arrived at this build, which I intend on buttoning up and leaving alone for as long as fate allows. I'll consider it a win if I only have to open it back up for changes to the GPU or SATA storage devices. Those things attached right to the motherboard which are pains in the ass to replace I'd like to leave alone for a while.

Between the oversized cooler, low TDP CPU, foam-insulated case, and the GPU being used through PRIME rather than rendering directly (and all the time), the system is wicked quiet, runs cool all the time, and stays out of mind. Hopefully those things help translate to a long service life too.

Thinkpad A485

I got this as a backup computer for those things that first, require a real GPU with non-ES OpenGL and Vulkan, and second, require an amd64 processor. Then I got the desktop put back together. Now this is the backup of the backup computer. Transplanting the drives from the dead T480 below into this was easy, but it's not nearly as good of a solution as the laptop it's replacing. The Radeon iGPU is better than Intel's iGPU, but pales compared to the outgoing Nvidia dGPU.

Thinkpad X230

It's literally for shitposting because I keep it in the bathroom. Ivy Bridge is showing its age, and despite what people may tell you, it's performance is getting noticably poor.

iPhone 15 Pro

It's very sad that we've come to this.

The titanium body sure is nice. Even with a case on, you don't notice how nice it is to have a super-light phone tucked within until you pick up someone else's aluminum brick. They abandoned this idea swiftly after making it, so I don't know what the replacement will be when this phone needs replacing...

Apple Watch Ultra 2

Comically oversized, comically overspecced, but that comes with the benefit of actually having measurable battery life. Frankly? I like it more than the phone. I almost wish this was my phone. Almost.

Old Hardware:

Accessories I use:

Elecom Deft Pro

I've been using Elecom trackballs for nearly a decade. I've taken a liking to the size and shape of the Deft Pro recently, in the goldilocks zone between the HUGE and normal Deft, which is important when you physically have to turn the ball to move your cursor. In theory, ball weight and diameter matters, but in practice, I'm not good enough at any game for that to matter. It also has the coveted 120Hz Bluetooth Polling Rate, if you get that version.

The downside? They're really prone to double-clicking. Like, need to get a new one every year prone.

Software I use:

i3wm: When I'm using GNU/Linux, I'm using i3. I've had the same config for over a decade, it works, I know exactly how it works, I don't want it to change. Lots of engineers around the world are working tirelessly to make this setup change, too bad (for them) they haven't succeeded.

Firefox: The only web browser. I don't like Mozilla much, but that's okay, they don't like me much either. Lots of people have lots of scripts and copes on how to use it. I just turn off everything I don't want, install uBlock Origin and Violentmonkey, and call it a day. I've been dabbling with Dark Reader too, with light-dark switching following system theme changes. That's not as easy to do on GNU/Linux, but can be done.

Safari: It's a normal people browser for when you need one. I use it with Wipr. Because it's not literally Google Chrome, it's not a very good backup browser for normal people, but you have to use it on iOS, so it's marinally more well supported than Firefox is.

🤮 Discord 🤮: My friends use it, and your friends probably do too.

Element: This deserves vomit emojis too, and only skates by on the thinnest, most marginal exception. Upsides: functions as a chat client. Downsides: yes.

iMessage/Messages: I can't possibly describe to you how nice it is to be able to text people as if you were using any other chat client on a computer. You don't have to like it for it to be a game changer.

Apple Mail: For iCloud-connected email. I see why everyone talks it up so much, it's good for what it is.

Thunderbird: For everything else. I don't have quite so glowing praise for it as I had in the past, but that's the price of putting an email client in your web browser. The Proton Mail Bridge is required to use this with that, but it's very, extremly flaky. Makes you wonder if the juice is worth the squeeze.

mpd/ncmpcpp: More dignified music player software for a more civilized age. I basically only use these because I've memorized a lot of the keybinds over the last decade+ of using them.

Apple Music: I sync! I rip! I only accept ALAC and MP3 files for some God-forsaken reason!

mpv: The catch-all media player. Usually plays my videos. Plays my music when I'm lazy. I like the webm plugin for making shitposts & clips.

Freetube: The only way to use Youtube.

Runelite: The only Oldschool Runescape client.

Bolt Launcher: The time for non-Jagex accounts is over, pour one out. On macOS, there's an official Jagex Launcher binary, but on GNU/Linux, you need to use Bolt. Compiling it is a bitch, configuring it is a bitch, but if you twist its arm behind its back hard enough, it does eventually do what it's made to do.

XIVLauncher/XIV on Mac: The only FFXIV launcher. I turn Dalamud off, fully.

Vim/GVim: I never found a reason to move to neovim. I try to keep my config as vanilla as possible. No plugins, unless ftplugin counts, barebones .vimrc. Sometimes I use GVim when I intentionally want to have a space for a project, but that comes with the caveat of not using tmux, so I do that only situationally. It does mean that I get to have separate .vimrc and .gvimrc configuration files, I just haven't found the right usecase to make it stick. On macOS, this instead is MacVim, with the same irregularity and situationality.

VSCodium: It's shit, but sometimes you just want a bloated text editor in a web browser. Use it with the vim plugin.

Apple Passwords: When in Rome. I never was big on password managers, but I got suckered into it when you have to put your passwords in before you put your totp codes in. If it's ever not fine, I'll have bigger problems to worry about. It has a Firefox plugin too, I appreciate that. If I wasn't using this, I'd probably be using KeyPassXC, for all its faults.

Steam: It's not GOG, but it's also better than a roundhouse kick to the teeth. Despite years of effort put into making GNU/Linux a first class platform, it has a weird bug where the whole client window stops rendering when it loses focus, and needs closing and reopening. (But not quitting and relaunching.) But only on Linux. It's bizarre.

GOG Galaxy: I'm sick of downloading thirty installer part files. I use the official client on macOS, and on GNU/Linux I use Heroic Games Launcher, which does the same thing but unofficially.

st: The only terminal emulator worth using on GNU/Linux. It's cute to humor replacing it, but that's easier said than done. Everyone has a bespoke patchset, and I do too, but I think when I started using it I stole Luke's config and made adjustments from there.

iTerm2: The only terminal emulator for macOS.