Uses, 2021 Edition

As 2021 wraps up, I thought I’d do an update on the various things I’ve been using. This year has been more heavy as I continue online learning and programming more. Oh, I also moved off Windows and did a tiny amount of distro-hopping during the summer! (Happy to interact with Windows only in a VM, pretty much for audio editing only)

I also selfhost or use hosted services for a few things.

Hardware

• Asus 15 F512D (AMD, 12GB RAM, 256GB SSD) with Fedora 34 Workstation and a random Logitech mouse
  • This machine went through Windows, then Ubuntu, NixOS, Pop!_OS, then 2 installs of Fedora lol
  • 2 spare laptops that don’t work very well
• LG Monitor
• iPad Air 4th generation (Space grey, 64GB) + Apple Pencil 2
• iPhone 11 (Purple, 128GB)
• Samsung Galaxy Active Smartwatch
  • Works ok with iOS, I had an Android before, and if it weren’t for the price, I’d consider an Apple Watch next
• AudioTechnica AT-2005 microphone (mainly for podcast recording)
• 2018 Kindle (the battery is starting to go, so next year I may get the 2021 Paperwhite)
• MINISO bluetooth speaker that works fine, but don’t use that often
• Sony earphones

Software

• Firefox, for web browsing
  • Considering moving to Vivaldi
  • Chrome for work
• VSCodium for most of my coding, sometimes Neovim
• GNOME Terminal with zsh (you can find my dotfiles here)
• Email: Thunderbird
• Music: Spotify
  • I used to use Navidrome and might take a look at it again/ other solutions in the future
• Chat: Discord, Element
• Conferencing: Zoom
• Budgeting: Buckets
• Office: Google {Docs, Sheets, Slides}, although I did set up a private Cryptpad (Nextcloud + ONLYOffice is a headache)
• File syncing: Nextcloud*
• Livestreaming: OBS Studio

Mobile apps of note

• iPad apps
  • Note-taking: Goodnotes
  • Scores: Piascore
• Reddit client: Apollo
• Fediverse clients: Fedi, Metatext
• Livestreaming: Twitch or Streamlabs
• Podcast: Pocket Casts

Final Thoughts

I do need to:

• Upgrade to Fedora 35
  • The only thing I’m aware of is some GNOME extensions I use not supporting GNOME 41 yet
• Migrate two of my families laptops off Ubuntu 21.04
• I don’t feel comfortable with giving them 21.10 and the snaps situation
  • Currently, I’m thinking of Fedora Workstation
• If someone has suggestions, please let me know 🙂
• Configure Restic? for backups, probably during Winter break
• Possibly find something better than Nextcloud for main cloud storage. I occasionally use Google Drive, but there’s no client for Linux; but I feel uncomfortable with both (Nextcloud is sometimes quite unreliable, and, well, Google…)
• Again, suggestions for anything are welcome!