Computers
- Personal computer: Dell XPS from 2018. It has an i7 Intel processor and 16 Gb of RAM. I’ve since replaced the battery and SSD (around 2024). The keyboard is a bit banged up and some of the keys don’t always register when pressed (which is annoying for typing passwords) and I couldn’t find a replacement. The rest is working fine so I’ll keep it until it breaks beyond repair.
- Work computer: Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 6 with an AMD Ryzen 7 processor and 16 Gb of RAM. I got this in 2026, and I’m really liking everything about it. The keyboard is great, the screen is a lower resolution than my XPS, but I don’t really notice. My favorite part is how well Linux distros work out of the box on it when compared to the XPS.
- Phone: iPhone SE from 2020. I’d never had an iPhone before and this was the cheapest one. It works fine (but I’m not updating to iOS 26 any time soon). I’d prefer to get another phone that I can either install a free OS, but I’ll wait until this one is unusable.
- Tablet: iPad 10th generation from 2024. I was never really into tablets, but I had a work iPad back in Liverpool that I liked for reading papers and annotating PDFs. I bought this one for work but also personal use and it’s working fine. To be honest, I kinda regret this purchase and should have gotten an Android tablet instead so that I could jailbreak it.
- E-reader: Kindle from 2017. This is my second kindle (I had the original one, but I’m not sure what happened to it). I no longer buy books from Amazon and have jailbroken my device in 2025. This is still my main reading device and will continue until it dies.
Software
- Operating system: Both of my computers have Linux Mint Debian Edition installed. I went through a lot of distros over the years. I’m now at a time when stability matters more to me, which is why I went with the Debian Edition. My desktop manager is Cinnamon.
- Terminal: I’ve been using Terminator for many years and I really like it’s handling of tabs.
- Editor: My editor of choice is Helix. I love how most things work out-of-the-box and the few things to configure are pretty easily done in simple TOML files. I used Vim and Neovim for a long time, but I got tired of always having broken plugins and having to learn a new language just to configure them.
- Image editing: Inkscape for vector graphics. GIMP for raster graphics.
- Browser: I have been using Firefox for a long time and continue to do so despite all the questionable decisions made by Mozilla in recent years. If I can find something that is free software and not Chrome-based then I may switch.
- Email: I use Thunderbird to read emails on my computers and the standard mail app on my tablet and phone (but I don’t have work email on my phone). My personal email provider is Fastmail, and I’m very happy with the service.
- Chat: I use Mattermost for the Software Underground community chat. For Matrix, I use the FluffyChat client on my laptop and mobile.
- Password manager: I have been using 1Password for a long time and really enjoy the service and their apps. It’s easy to have shared passwords on my family vault.
- Reference manager: I keep all of my PDFs and bibliographic information on Zotero. I tried syncing PDFs through Dropbox in the past, but I usually ended up with broken file links when moving computers. I now pay for their online sync. It’s very good and convenient, particularly for syncing with their iPad app.
Configuration: I keep all of my configuration files, as well as useful bash scripts, on the leouieda/dotfiles Codeberg repository.
Kitchen
- Knifes: Shun classic 8" chef’s knife for most chopping, a Shun heavy meat cleaver, a Wûsthof classic Ikon 9" precision double-serrated bread knife, and a generic pairing knife.
- Pots and pans: Lodge cast iron skillet is my most used pan, a Le Creuset Dutch oven I use to bake bread and simmer things that a while, plus some other generic heavy bottom stainless steel pots for everyday cooking. I got rid of all non-stick a while back and don’t miss it.
- Cutting boards: I have a heavy wood cutting board for most things and a lighter bamboo one for fruits (so they don’t end up tasting like onions and garlic). I treat the wood with a with mix of bees wax and mineral oil every once in a while.