// Personal website of Chris Smith

Things I Use

In the vein of uses this and following on from my post about how I get things done, this is a list of things I use that I’ll try to keep up-to-date.

I’ve linked to product pages where they still exist, but few companies bother keeping pages around for historical products and just leave a load of link rot in their place instead.

Last updated: 12th December 2024

Computer hardware

Alienware AW3423DWF monitor
The oh-so beautiful Alienware AW3423DWF QD-OLED monitor

When it’s time for an upgrade I’ll probably switch back to a real desktop computer instead of a laptop. I don’t use it as a laptop — it gets a screen, keyboard and mouse attached wherever I am — so there’s not much point dealing with the drawbacks of the form factor.

Two things to call out: the Alienware monitor is gorgeous. QD OLED is an amazing display technology and just makes everything pop; secondly, the Cloud Alpha Wireless headphones have an amazing battery life (we’re talking weeks of near constant use).

Other hardware

I don’t really like Apple’s walled garden, but as I’ve written before I’d rather go with the company that makes money by producing shiny phones, than the company that makes money by shoving adverts down my throat.

I would’ve gone with an older iPad, but the 10th gen was the first with a real USB connector instead of lightning.

Tools

Makita DTD157 impact driver
DTD157 impact driver. Capable of applying many ugga duggas.

My preference for tools is basically Makita for power tools (both because they’re good and to keep a consistent battery system), Wera for anything screwdriver adjacent, Engineer for anything delicate, and Knipex for anything that falls through the gaps.

Software and services

General

The Arch Linux logo
Arch, btw.

I prefer self-hosted and open source where possible for services, but there’s a lot of cases where that’s not feasible for one reason or another.

Making things

Development and sysadmin-y things

Screenshot of IntelliJ IDEA while editing this page
This page being edited in IntelliJ IDEA, Inception-style. The font is Berkeley Mono, and theme is Darcula Darker.

This list could probably go on forever. I’ll refrain from listing programming languages, libraries, frameworks, etc.

Games

Allplay board game bag, in blue
The Allplay board game bag. Holds many board games. Then weighs a tonne.

I won’t really bother with video games on other platforms, aside from the occasional free-standing MMORPG. Steam works amazingly on Linux, is generally not user-hostile like a lot of other places, and Valve have done great things for making games actually work.

Miscellaneous