How I do my computing

These are all the tools I use for hacking and tinkering on a daily basis, as of the date above. By keeping an explicit list, I try to critically assess my usage of any tool. The less reliant I am on software and computers, the better.

Due to numerous baseless attacks made by interlocutors, I have decided to further substantiate my philosophy about computing and technology. This may come as quite a surprise to many who know me in real life and think I am some computer-obsessed geek, but in general I am actually quite pessimistic about personal computing technology and I think it is generally harmful (see: social media, short form video apps, etc). I am much more excited about the advancements computing can bring to research/industry than people’s personal lives. See footnote¹

Overview

You can click the rows for more details where applicable.

Core:

OS	functorOS (based on NixOS unstable)
Editor	Neovim
Browser	Firefox
Kernel(s)	linux-zen, linux-asahi
Desktop	Hyprland (Wayland)
Layout	hyprscrolling
Terminal	kitty
Login shell	Nushell (w/ fish completer)

Productivity:

Typesetting	Typst
Accounting	hledger
Audio Workstation	Reaper
Photography	Darktable, digiKam

Computers

Hostname	Specs
`adrastea`	Blade 14, Ryzen 9 5900HX, RTX 3070 Max-Q, 16GB DDR4
`demeter`	Custom desktop, i7-13700KF, RTX 4080 FE, 32GB DDR5
`callisto`	Macbook Pro, Apple Silicon (M1 Pro), 16GB unified memory
`gallium`	2014 Mac Mini, used as a homelab and server

Other devices

E-reader	Boox Note 5C
Audio interface	Scarlett 4i4 (Gen 3)
Microphone	Aston Microphones Origin
Headphones	Sennheiser HD600
Camera	Sony α7Cii
Lenses	Carl Zeiss / Sony 35mm F/2.8, Sigma Art 24-70mm DG DN II

Keyboards

Keychron Q60 Max	Happy Hacking layout, Gateron Oil Kings (factory lube)
Custom tofu65	Ink Black v2 (hand lube)

Operating system

On all of my machines (including Apple), I currently run functorOS, a custom spin-off of NixOS unstable, the bleeding-edge rolling-release branch of NixOS.

On Apple Silicon, I rely on the Asahi Linux project which provides the reverse-engineered graphics stack and hardware abstractions required to run Linux.

By the way

NixOS is a highly idiosyncratic Linux distribution (“distro”) that behaves entirely differently from nearly all other distros. Your entire system is specified through expressions written in the Nix programming language—you must write code that specifies exactly how your system is deployed. For example, if I want to update the colorscheme of my system—it is not possible to open any sort of settings menu and click a button to do so—rather, I must enter my configuration and figure out the requisite Nix code to write in order to set the color.

You may say “this sounds completely insane.” You would be correct. However, somehow, it works. Just one consequential advantage of the aforementioned tedium is my entire system’s colorscheme is now generated at build-time, by running a genetic algorithm on my wallpaper that literally simulates darwinian natural selection to evolve the optimal colorscheme to pair with it. Because all programs are also configured in this manner, the colorscheme can set not only typical system themable programs, but also inject colorschemes into any program managed by NixOS (for me, that would be all of them), such as Discord, Spotify, and more.

Additionally, I keep a darwin (macOS) and Windows 11 installation around for when I need them. Windows is used for crappy video games with invasive anticheats that don’t run on Linux (and I wouldn’t install them there anyways)—not limited to Valorant, Destiny 2, LoL, etc. I rarely play these games anymore so likewise my Windows installation sees uptime every couple months at most. Linux can run nearly every other Windows game through Proton. macOS is seldom used but usually handles multimedia better—e.g. if I need to plug into a projector to play a movie or presentation.

Editor

I use Neovim. Before that—VS Code—but I was growing increasingly wary of the AI enshittification being integrated into the editor, as well as a general growing distaste for electron.

I created my configuration from scratch. I use quite a few plugins, but I try to stick to plugins that strictly extend the capabilities of existing features rather than add entirely new ones.

Browser

I use Zen, a fork of Firefox. It’s kind of janky but it’s the only browser with all the features I want—namely, not Chromium based and supports sidebar tabs. I maintain the semi-popular Nix package for it.

Kernel

I use linux-zen in general because regular linux has some weird interactions with my laptops when returning from suspend. I keep PREEMPT_DYNAMIC enabled for realtime capabilities.

On my Apple Silicon devices I of course use the linux-asahi kernel from the Asahi Linux project. But I still use NixOS, not the Asahi Fedora Remix. If you’re curious, it is a surprisingly smooth experience.

Desktop environment

I use Hyprland. It has all the features I expect out of a window manager. I use a plugin that enables a scrolling layout like PaperWM. However, the codebase is pretty messy and I frequently experience minor regressions and the community is somewhat suspect.

Therefore, I’m looking to jump ship to the dedicated scrolling compositor Niri once a few features are added.

Terminal

kitty is good and Kovid is a cool guy. The terminal does everything I want and more, it’s fast, and I’ve never experienced any bug. No complaints.

Login shell

I used to use fish, but now I’m on nushell, an experimental shell that takes the concept of UNIX pipes and makes them pass typed structured data that is much easier to manipulate.

Computers

adrastea is a laptop-turned-workstation, on account of poor Razer quality control forcing me to toss the battery out. callisto is my daily driver laptop—the Apple Silicon processor gives it great battery life. demeter is my home PC, which I don’t keep with me in college.

Photography

I recently got into taking pictures. I like shooting street, mostly. When I have time I’m planning to integrate a gallery and zines into this website.

I originally shot out of a Nikon D7200 (spoils of war from an MIT hackathon), but I since upgraded to a Sony α7 series camera. I edit my RAWs in Darktable. It’s free software and wonderful to use. I have this massive Sigma zoom lens right now but I just ordered the Zeiss 35mm f/2.8, a really compact Sony e-mount prime lens that supposedly has the “Zeiss effect.”

¹In general, I feel that technology should be used overwhelmingly to eliminate meaningless toil, and to act as tools to augment or support thinking, only when necessary and in no more than the necessary amount.

I don’t support the prevalent notion amongst Silicon Valley technologists that everything which can be automated, should be automated. This is a vacuously true sentiment for the creation of art, of course, but I think it can also be applied to other areas as well.

For example, when you plan your days out meticulously in a calendar program, it becomes easy to let the calendar fix your days and your activities instead. I don’t mean of course that anyone who uses a calendar has lost control of their lives to the machine, and if I had a much busier schedule I think I would probably use a calendar. The takeaway is that I try to consciously weigh ceding a certain computing tool some control over an aspect of my life against the actual amount of time and toil saved.

I find views like the following leveled against me quite incoherent:

I find the majority of pages like this tend to engage in self-righteousness in avoiding fancy software and computing systems.
…
I take the opposite view: that computation is a fundamental aspect of human existence, and serves to trivialize that which was previously nontrivial.

With regards to the first point, I don’t, per se, see any issue with self-righteousness, and I don’t see how the second has any bearing on my philosophy around computing at all.

I certainly don’t avoid “fancy software” or “computing systems.” I maintain my own flavor of Linux (which happens to be used by the author of the above quote), and I’ve probably automated a greater portion of my life via computing than the vast majority of people on Earth.

My primary concern is best captured by the notion of “tool-shaped objects.” These are programs that feel like great tools, and feel like they’re multiplying your productivity, but in reality don’t really do much of anything. These include things like Vim, Notion, and many LLM-based learning applications. (Disclaimer: I use Neovim myself, so trust that I don’t mean these programs are uniformly useless, but rather that they are often used in wasteful ways. My philosophy about LLMs actually leads me to conclude that they are bad in a fundamental sense, i.e. independent of their actual capability or “usefulness,” but I will not discuss that controversial view here.)

Of course, all such programs can be great tools, but you know the guy/gal I’m talking about. Whether it’s ricing out Vim until it resembles an ersatz VS Code, or meticulously documenting every aspect of their life in Notion/Obsidian, the common result is not much more work gets done. Obsessively using Notion as a second brain or optimizing massive LLM workflows (see: OpenClaw) feels like it’s computing being a “fundamental aspect of human existence” or “trivializing that which was previously nontrivial,” but it’s just LARPing productivity.

This famous quote by Socrates about the invention of writing has been brought up even by prominent thinkers like Terence Tao.

For this invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding…

It is sometimes used by the pro-AI camp to rebuke detractors of LLM technologies who claim that reliance will atrophy the critical thinking skills of the user.

But I think, if we look past the initial ridicule, there is some element of truth here. Of course, writing is one of the most important inventions in the history of civilization, but it is also true that those who obsessively record everything will likely degrade their memory. It’s quite obvious, however, that the benefits of writing far outweigh the detriment. I only ask that we stop and think about whether the benefits of all this computing technology we seek to integrate into our lives actually outweigh the downsides.