Uses: Tools I Use

Art Equipment

Since I got the Micro palette, I’m using it 90% of the time to learn to mix interesting hues from a few core colors.

Work Desk and Computer Hardware

My workspace is made from these hardware components:

On it, I use all these gadgets:

Mobile Tools

• Boox Tab X is the workhorse: it’s an eink tablet I use for note-taking, sketching and planning, reading and annotating complicated books, and RSS feed reading. Distraction-free, no email or anything.
• Boox Nova Air2 is an excellent eink reader and handwritten note-taking device for bed and on the go.
• iPad Air (3rd Gen) for media consumption, mobile computing with internet connectivity, and tethering. Still working nicely after all these years. The LTE data plan is its killer feature.
• iPhone SE (2nd Gen) is broken, battered, but still does the occasional phone call and message well. I’m not a phone person (first by design, then by habit).

All my mobile devices sync to my home server via Nextcloud in one way or another.

Home Server

• Unraid as the operating system. Very user-friendly, and the flexible non-RAID array management is super nice: does what ZFS pools can do, but without requiring ZFS.
• Fractal Node 304 case.
• Storage: 48TB of HDD space split across Seagate IronWolf 12TB and Western Digital Red Pro 12TB drives.
• Pico PSU with 120W max output and a barrel-plug, does not require a cooler, so I have more room for disks.
• Netgear Switch
  • An Intel Mac Mini to test apps on old macOS versions is connected to the switch, too.

Self-hosting at home

• Nextcloud for file synchronization and collaboration.
  • Collectives are low-tech Notion-like collaborative Markdown documents. Used this to organize when we moved homes with my wife, using this with Sascha for zettelkasten.de still.
  • Deck is an ugly Trello clone. But it keeps the data in the same database where regular tasks and reminders are, so there’s plenty of options to access this info.

Software

Work: Programming

• Xcode for day to day work on apps. No way around it.
• Emacs: Project management, email, some shell stuff (eshell), server administration via TRAMP, web dev. Magit is my git porcelain of choice.
• iTerm with zsh. Always open in the background for SSH’ing. Also it’s easier for me to work with a white-on-black terminal that looks different from Emacs buffers, which all look the same.
• Dash for browsing local documentation. On the non-subscription version.
• WordCounter to track my output as I code.
• The Archive Zettelkasten app to take notes as I observe weird things, learn how to fix stuff, and manage code snippets.
• Timing to track my work time, esp. useful for invoicing.
• DropDMG to create .dmg files, downloadable versions of my apps.
• GitUp as a fallback git porcelain to look at repositories. I love the London metro style UI.

Work: Writing and Editing, Zettelkasten

• Emacs: Editing documents, drafts, blog posts, and books.
• WordCounter to track my writing output.
• The Archive Zettelkasten app to take notes as I observe weird things, learn how to fix stuff, and manage code snippets.
• Marked to preview Markdown documents and export Zettel/notes.
• TableFlip to edit Markdown, HTML, CSV and LaTeX tables.
• BibDesk library and reference management.

Productivity, Organization, GTD

• Itsycal is a light-weight calendar popover living in the menu bar. Great to create new calendar events and glance at the week.
• Apple Calendar for a bigger rendition of the calendar.
• Emacs org-mode to plan projects and track tasks. Also used for email.
• TextSniper to OCR stuff on screen. I am using this at least once a day to grab absolute dates from YouTube tooltips on timestamps like “2 weeks ago”. (Affiliate link)
• The Archive Zettelkasten app to keep all knowledge-related pieces together.
• WordCounter to track all writing output.
• Timing to track my time automatically, so I know where I spent it. Also used for invoicing.
• Move! work break timer to get up and do some exercise once an hour.

Video, Audio, Graphics

• Acorn for all image editing things. It’s complex enough for me needs and simple enough so I don’t get lost. Pixelmator Pro as a fallback for some tasks, but that’s being used maybe once a years.
• ImageMagick for command-line batch conversion of images, and ffmpeg for video.
  • Check out FFmpeg Explorer if you can’t figure out how to come up with the arcane parameters.
• Descript to transcribe and edit anything with video or audio. I’m just so much more comfortable with the text editing UI, there’s no comparison to DaVinci Resolve and friends!
• Mischief is a very minimal sketching app, an infinite canvas to doodle around – if you have a pen tablet or an iPad to use, because nobody likes ‘mousing’. Used this during Zoom calls before Zoom had whiteboards, and made a couple of illustrations for books and posts and presentations over the years. Sad to see it’s discontinued. Still using the app from time to time. If only my InfiniteCanvas app was ready! My Boox Tab X is now the device of choice for illustrations.

All the Rest

• Arc web browser by The Browser Co. of New York.
• KeePass password vaults, accessed via Strongbox password manager on iOS and macOS, and a Nextcloud plugin on my home server for emergency access.

Web tech stack

This website (and almost all other web projects I have) runs on a managed server hosted by Hostsharing eG in Germany, a hosting co-op. I like co-ops, and hosting works really well.

I use TelemetryDeck for very light statistics and access tracking. Another indie project I really like and want to support.

Reluctantly, I organize our local mobile meetup via Meetup.