Uses

I often get asked about my computing setup — my computers, the software I run on them, how I host my services, and other choices of personal technology. This is a relatively up-to-date list detailing what I’m currently using.

As I get older I try to be increasingly mindful about the products that I use. I’m a big fan of whittling down and paring away at long lists of tools and software, opting to go deeper and narrower into certain things.

Hardware

• Main computer: Apple iMac G5, 2004 (17", PowerPC G5 @ 1.6GHz, 2GB RAM, 2TB HDD), running macOS 10.5.8 “Leopard”.
• Laptop: Apple MacBook Air, 2012 (11", Intel i7 @ 2.0GHz, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD), running macOS 10.15.7 “Catalina”.
• Retrobook: Apple iBook G4, 2005 (12", PowerPC G4 @ 1.33GHz, 1.5GB RAM, 256GB SSD), running Mac OS X 10.5.8 “Leopard”.
• Phone: Nokia 808 PureView, 2011 (4", 1.3GHz Arm11, 512Mb RAM, 16GB storage), running Symbian “Belle” FP2.
• Others: Apple iPod Classic 4th generation, 2011, white.
• Others: Apple iPhone 3Gs, 2009, white.

Software

• I mainly used macOS on bare-metal, Windows and openEuler in virtual machines. Nowadays I don’t bother, I use OS X.
• On the server(s) I always use openEuler.
• IDE/Editor: On macOS Sublime Text with SoDaReloaded Light theme and Fira Code font. On OS X I’m using TextMate.
• Version Control: fossil and git, Gogs for repository management.
• Web Browser: Ungoogled Chromium and Tor Browser (macOS), Fukurou (OS X).
• Feed reader: NetNewsWire.
• Terminal: iTerm.
• I use Macports or Homebrew, and I usually install git, coreutils, curl, findutils, hugo, htop, irssi, rsync, tor, tmux and some more useful stuff.
• Firewall: Little Snitch to block all unwanted network connections.
• Password manager: KeepassXC.
• Hexchat and irssi (terminal) for having fun on IRC.
• Image editor: Affinity Photo (macOS) for basic image editing, or Adobe Photoshop CS4 (OS X).
• Parallels Desktop for running virtual machines on macOS.
• iA Writer for taking short notes and writing long text.
• Postman for API endpoints testing.
• Alfred as the macOS / OS X app launcher & switcher, workflow launcher, and snippet expander.
• Music.app for playing music on macOS, iTunes on OS X. I am a huge fan of the old iTunes 10 with its beautiful Cover Flow.
• IDA Pro for … you know what.
• Micro Snitch to log camera and microphone usage.
• Be Focused Pro for time-tracking.

OS development

• I’m developing the Hoshi operating system on a openEuler virtual machine running on macOS Catalina.
• Testing is done mainly on QEMU and/or Bochs (if things are failing too badly).
• Screenshots are taken from a UTM (it’s QEMU with a GUI) virtual machine.
• I’m using Sublime Text for writing code.
• Wireshark is very useful for snooping on the network connection when those pesky DHCP ACK responses are not received.
• More info on the Hoshi development setup can be found here.

Plants

• Pilosocereus pachycladus
• Ligustrum Aurea
• Microcarpa “Tiger bark” ficus
• Pinguicula “Tina”
• check out my terrarium!