Uses

This is an informational page that details the hardware, software, and tools that I use in my daily work or hobbies. Inspired by nicknisi.com/uses/.

Development Environment

Editor

• Visual Studio Code
• Dark (Visual Studio) colour theme
• Cascadia Code font
• Other editors include IDLE, PyCharm and IntelliJ for school work or random side projects

Terminal

• Windows Terminal for shell
• PowerShell 7 for a shell with power
• gh to interact with git and github
• Package Managers:
  • pip python package manager
  • npm node package manager
  • homebrew for packages on WSL
  • winget down with the Windows Store

Browser

Microsoft Edge - has all the features of Chrome, while syncing to the Office apps

Extensions

• uBlock Origin content blocker
• Bitwarden password manger, working on self hosting
• WhatRuns see the tech behind a website
• Group tabs & share shares links to open tabs, I think this feature is now built into Edge
• Print Friendly & PDF remove unnecessary parts from a webpage when printing
• SteamDB plug in for SteamDB

Desktop Apps

Productivity

• Microsoft Office still love those old school, offline docs
• Blender for the times I need to deal with 3D
• GitHub Desktop I really hate using the git cli
• Obsidian take notes

Utilities

• DevToys
• PowerToys
• Meld compare code on the fly
• Tor when I need to explore the corners of the web

Audio/Video

• Apple Music better for combining with my family plan
• Adobe CC the best, and most expensive, photo/video/audio production software
• Davinci Resolve the best video production software on the go
• OBS Studio the only serious way to screen record
• ShareX the only serious way to take a screenshot
• SpeedFan see computer temps and control fans speeds
• WinDirStat recover space from every corner of your device

Games

Some of the games in my backlog I am currently working through. If you want to see them all, connect with me through Steam in the footer!

• Need for Speed Rivals
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider
• Forza Horizon 4
• Forza Horizon 5
• Dave the Diver
• Doom Eternal
• Valheim
• Star Wars Battlefront II

Computer Setup

See it on PCPartPicker

• Intel Core i7 6700K CPU
• Asus Z170-A Motherboard
• 32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4-2133 RAM
• 1TB Samsung 860 EVO SSD
• 500GB WD Blue SSD
• 1.5TB WD Caviar Green 7200RPM
• 2TB WD Blue 7200RPM
• 4TB WD Black 7200RPM
• EVGA SC GeForce GTX 1080Ti GPU
• Corsair Carbide 270R Case
• EVGA 500W 80+ PSU

Peripherals

• ASUS 27’ VP279Q-P Monitor
• Logitech G513 Keyboard
• Logitech G502 Mouse
• 2TB LaCie Rugged Mini External HDD

Mobile Setup

• Dell XPS 13 9360

  • Intel i5-7200U
  • 8GB DDR4 RAM
  • 1TB WD Blue NVMe SSD

• iPhone 13 Pro Max

  • in dbrand Grip case
  • with dbrand Teardown skin

• Steam Deck LCD

  • upgraded to 1TB storage
  • in dbrand Killswitch case
  • with dbrand X-Ray skin

Server Setup

Still under construction…

Homelab

Currently not running anything on the homelab, plans are as follows:

• Self hosted Bitwarden
• Plex Media Server
• Tor node

Photography/Videography

• GoPro Hero 10
• DJI Neo
• iPhone 13 Pro Max in RAW/ProRES
• Canon EOS R10
• Looking to get a Blackmagic Pocket 6K if anyone has one for sale…