things i use

system

gnu/linux (arch)

i use arch for my desktop operating system as it has all the latest packages, plus it has pretty much everything in the aur. the minimal approach to arch is good for me as i want to only install what i need and speaking of minimalism i have been looking into alternatives to systemd, as well as any benefits these alternatives may have (im not in favour of just pointlessly hating systemd just because some people think its cool to do so)

gnu/linux (debian)

debian for my servers because its stable and is a common choice so theres lots of support for it

dwm

dwm is a tiling window manager that makes me and my system faster as it is configured with vi keybindings which i find easier to use and it is very lightweight. i dont think that the quirk of configuring the program through the editing of its source code is necessary but i do like how simple the program is overall

firefox

although firefox is a free(dom respecting) browser it comes with weird telemetry which id rather just turn of as it has no benefit to me. i do this with the arkenfox user.js configuration. firefox is still unusable in this state. i fix it with the following extensions:

vscodium and neovim

neovim is a free and modern implementation of vi. it has lots of features for basic text editing and can be extended with plugins to cater for different use cases. my reasons for using vi is that it is lightweight and i find it comfortable to use. neovim can be a pain to configure sometimes so i usually fallback on vscodium. vscode is commonly mistaken for free software however what gets distributed by microsoft is a proprietary fork of a piece of free software, similarly to how the chrome and edge browsers are proprietary forks of chromium. the proprietary fork contains some telemetry that i have nothing to gain from. i just use the free version.

blender

blender is probably one of the coolest pieces of software ever written, despite being hard to learn at first. all my 3d models are made in it. if i ever get into video editing i will probably use blender for this as well, for things too complicated for ffmpeg

krita

all of my artwork is made in krita and i also use krita for simple image editing. i have never liked gimp as i found it hard to use and well kiki is cuter than wilbur so checkmate

programming languages

java

java is my go to language as it is the one i used to learn how to program on a larger and more practical scale as opposed to just simple scripts i had previously written in python. i am pretty imprinted onto java because of this. i may change my preference later

bash

i love to use bash for simple scripts and automating tasks on gnu/linux. there are a lot of things made to solve certain problems that could be replaced with a simple shell script

c

i have taken an interest in c as a lot of the most significant programs i use are typically in c. i am learning it to gain a more fundamental understanding of how programming works as it is sometimes refered to as a mid level language, requiring more knowledge of the systems hardware

licenses

gnu general public license version 3

i like to write free software (software that respects the users freedom, this statement is not related to cost) and i use the gpl as it is copyleft, i would like to share with other people if they share with everyone else. also i think version 3 in particular is important to prevent tivoization, the locking down of specific devices, despite the programs on that device being free

things i dont use

proprietary software, closed sourced software and open source software

i dont use proprietary software as i would rather be in control over the software i use. which means i run free software, which grants users the freedom to run, modify and distribute the software. i will rarely exercise the freedoms however because i dont need to, people more or less want the same thing, to not have software do any spooking tracking, to not artificially restrict the user and to not contain any backdoors. a program simply being free makes it very difficult for these features to exist in the first place with free software, as everyone has the ability to identify and remove them, so end users will rarely have to do any work themselves

i dont call it 'open source' because most people who use the term dont represent my views. a lot of open source people will say how convenient it is for developers to have the freedom to run, modify and distribute the source code of programs, and it is true, it is convenient from a software development standpoint, but a non trivial amount of the same people will neglect the same freedom for the end users of such software, including themselves with software they are end users of, they are more concerned about the convenience it gives developers rather than the freedom it gives to people. this neglect is is typically done with permissive licenses (mit, bsd), these licenses allow for forks of free software to take away theses freedoms by giving them proprietary licenses (this problem is solved with copyleft, however software doesnt need to be copylefted to be free, it only helps it to remain free in forks). i believe that users should have the same freedom but not for the sake of convenience (although its a nice extra) but rather so they have control of their own computing instead of the developer having control over the users computing and by extension the user themselves.

i do use open source software, not because its open source, but because its free software. free software holds pretty much the same ideas as open source software, without neglecting end users

mice

i find it a lot more comfortable to use the keyboard in almost all situations i use a computer for, with the exception of a few things like 3d modelling and drawing. most of the software i use can be used to its full functionality with the keyboard, this means i use a lot of terminal programs. using a terminal isnt about being a '1337 h4x0r', terminal interfaces actually do provide some real advantages over graphic programs, namely the aforementioned ease of use with keyboards, aswell as: being lightweight in design that makes it easy to learn how to use and maintain, consistency, granular control and ability to automate tasks.

a lot of people say the the keyboard is a much faster tool in a system optimised for its use, im not sure how true this is but i use the keyboard for the sake of comfort. maybe i am faster with the keyboard over long periods due to less fatigue.

touch pads are obviously worse. i havnt tried trackball mice yet. i still think i would prefer using the keyboard in a keyboard optimised system however

phones

ive always found mobiles phones inconvenient to use. i have never really liked touch screen as a means of input, maybe because i also dont like mice or maybe because my first phone was a blackberry curve 9300 and its what i grew used to but this reason is trivial. one of the problems with phones is that most of them are completely locked down, the boot loader is locked so you cant change the os and they can also be locked into certain service providers, and you also dont have root access to the os. tech has regressed so far that accessing the root user of an os is seen as some weird illegal hacker thing.

even if phones didnt have all of the mentioned antifeatures, phones make themselves a burden as they are too easily accessible when in a pocket, they become a distraction. chronic phone users are the first to admit this but i dont think they realise how antisocial it is to constantly be distracted by their phone, blinding them to their immediate surroundings. its boring to be around someone whos always on their phone

as phones are not made equally to desktops and laptops, they also effect behaviour on a conscious level as well. the design of phones are good for scrolling through social media all day long, thats all what most people can use them for (i said it was conscious behaviour but i don think someone on their 2nd hour of reddit can even be considered conscious anymore). if you give one child a laptop and another a phone for them to use for fun, the one with the laptop has the potential to do so many more cool and interesting things, like: creating artwork, programming, music production, writing, video editing, animation. things that are actually real computer related hobbies, scrolling through tik tok isnt a hobby. these things are technically possible to do on phones but are at a very limited scale, mostly due to software and hardware limitations: lower performance, locked down os, smaller screen and no keyboard. computers can be used for social media too but atleast they have the potential for good.

unfortunately its hard to go without a phone. i have a fairphone 3+ with /e/os. if im not expecting a call i wont bring it with me outsite in most cases, phones are helpful in emergency situations, if i do bring it with me its off and in my bag.

"smart" things

smart things are things that dont need to be computers that are turned into computers. some of the most pointless smart things are smart tvs and speakers. if i wanted a tv or speaker to behave like i computer, i would just plug it into a computer. smart things are some of the worst cases of bloat that create a larger attack surface on a network, each with their own proprietary code and neglectful proprietors who will stop pushing security updates after a few years. there is the old running joke in computer security that you can block all possible forms of malware and malicious connections with 100% certainty by simply just disconnecting from the internet. this seriously is the best solution for smart things, as internet connectivity as a requirement is superfluous.

the voice assistant things like alexa and whatever google's one is called have spooked a lot of people. its worth noting how that this exact voice listening software have already been around in smart phones since they have contained voice assistants. even if your phone isnt smart, the snowden leaks have shown how people can be listened to anyway with the way more primitive cellular network technology, the same tech which is the inherit defining feature of what makes a phone a phone.

social media

if you want an existence online you are dependant on a lot of organisations and technologies, but one of these is completely artificial and almost always unnecessary, social media. the web provides all of the infrastructure needed for people to make themselves known throughout the internet, you can make a website and people can connect to you this way, this is how the web was designed to be but people have opted for a more centralised approach where they get permission from a social media company to exist on the web. i think independence is very important which is why i own my own website. i dont blame people for using social media as sometimes its the only way to be heard and it is especially true for things like video sharing, where the bandwidth required to distribute videos is expensive but i think most people can use their own websites for simple things like sharing text and images.

social media can be harmful and they are often deliberately designed this way because its also profitable. many instagram users develop body image issues, these issues will always exist but it is severely worsened by algorithms of social media that can be used to promote certain things at the discretion of its proprietors. going back to simple personal html/css websites without hundreds of lines of javascript will do a lot of good for people in this sense. i have always liked minimal websites, the best way to make one is just directly edit the html and css files, almost all of my favourite websites have their web pages ending in ".html". if something larger scale is needed there are cool static site generators like hugo. these methods might not be good for large scale businesses but are perfect for individuals. it doesnt require any programming knowledge to build and maintain a website, and it shouldnt. i set up my website with the following guide https://landchad.net/, html and css can be learnt quite easily whilst building a simple site

"the cloud"

i dont use "the cloud" because i want to own my files, rather than need an internet connection and permission from a company to access them. this doesn't just include data storage but also services where they sell a subscription to access files instead of just offering a one time download to store them on your computer, e.g. netflix. i think netflix does actually allow you to download videos in a weird proprietary file format that can only be opened by a proprietary netflix client. this isnt good enough for me.

im not against accessing files over the internet of course, its just a matter of ownership. there is free software like nextcloud, that you can run on your server, that can serve files to clients, which is cool but i dont personally use it.