Software I Use
My basic philosophy behind the programs I use is a mixture of minimalism and neccessary business functionality. I don't always follow my philosophical underpinnings perfectly, but no one really does.
- Operating System/Distribution
- I use Fedora Linux for regular PC activities and Windows 11 for gaming. I like Fedora for it's semi-rolling release model if you want to know more please read this blog post on it. I used CentOS back when I worked in the data center world which built up my affinity for RPM-based distros of GNU/Linux.
- Terminal
- I use Bash for all GNU/Linux distros and ksh (KornShell) on OpenBSD devices. I see no reason to change from the default shells as it works fine for my needs.
- Text editing and Shell Scripting
- I generally switch between Mg (this website is proudly edited in the Mg text editor) or Nano depending on what flavor of Linux/UNIX I'm using. I love the ease of use that Mg has and would highly recommend it to anyone who is technologically inclined.
- Hardware
- I'm a big fan of SBCs (Single Board Computers) and Mini PCs as you'll soon see when I add some more homelab content. I'm currently running the PELADN Mini PC, N100 for my Fedora PC.
- Image Manipulation
- I use Gimp for image scaling and editing in fact all of the images on this website were at least scaled using Gimp. It's a great piece of software in my opinion. I also use the magick command in the Terminal (ImageMagick) to convert image file types (example: converting from .jpg to .png). I do find that resizing images using magick to be tricky for me so Gimp works much better for that use case.
- Diagram Software
- I use Dia for any network diagrams I put together as it's what I'm used to using dating back to my days in the data center world.
- Meeting Software
- I use Zoom for virtual meetings which works pretty well on Fedora. Any other software in this category runs within the web browser such as Teams (gross), Google Meet, etc.
- File Synchronizing
- I use Syncthing for syncing files between my Fedora PC, my cellphone, and a centralized Docker container running on my Zimaboard (see Zimaboard details). Syncthing runs pretty well inside a Docker container and overall I'm pretty happy with it. It's great for moving files around my home network, but it doesn't necessarily replace a traditional backup solution. I will say that Syncthing can be finicky to work with from time to time so use it with caution.