In the spirit of the legendary usesthis.com This is where I state the stuff that I use.

The current page is updated on 2024-12-19 10:07 AM

At Work

Hardware

I am working ~8 hours a day, so having a great setup is important to me.

  • Laptop
  • Docking Station
  • Screen(s)
  • Headset
    • Jabra Evolve 40 MS Stereo: I always prefer noise-cancelling wired headsets for work. For this headset I am on my second controller, as the first one broke. The second one isn’t too great either, so this might be my last Jabra headset.
  • Smartphone
    • iPhone 15 Pro Max: In the past I always requested an Android phone, usually the newest version of Samsung Galaxy. But in recent years it has been a lot harder to be an Android user at my place of work because IT support for it is way worse than iPhone support. So this time I went with an iPhone.

Software

Desktop Software

  • Office 365 Suite: Mostly Excel though.
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader: Free Edition, For PDF and PDF forms. Not using cloud features.
  • Microsoft Teams: I love online collaboration. But I don’t particularly like Microsoft Teams as a tool. As I have to use it I’ll make the best of it.
  • SumatraPDF: Also for PDF. Has auto-refresh and easy keyboard naviation for the times where I have to live for longer periods within pdfs.
  • Windows Terminal: Windows Terminal. Where I run the newest version of Powershell. I did use Windows Subsystem for Linux, but the new version of PowerShell give me most of the command-line options that I need in work, and WSL became a bit of a hassle to use and keep updated.
  • Logseq Privacy First, Open Source Knowledge Base
  • Python: Python is an important tool in my work. Having it installed locally is a must. I’m always a few months behind on the newest version because I have to wait for my modules to be updated.
  • PyCharm: for Python code. I’ve tried switching to vscode many times, but I always return to PyCharm for python coding.
  • Github Desktop/Git: I am trying to version control as much of my work as humanly possible.
  • VSCode: Mostly for writing Typst documents. Using the extensions Tinymist Typst, Typst Companion and vscode-pdf.
  • Microsoft PowerToys includes a number of great tweaks for Windows 11, but the two I use the most are:
    • PowerToys Run: A quicklauncher as seen in other great operating systems. Much quicker than the default Windows start menu
    • PowerRename: A Windows explorer extention for advanced bulk renaming.
  • Winget: Command-line package manager that already comes with Windows 11. I use it mostly to upgrade the tools I’ve installed that are not maintained by Corporate IT.
  • LibreOffice: Open Source Office suite. LibreOffice Calc is far superior when it comes to CSV files than Microsoft Excel. This makes this an indispensable tool in my line of work.
  • MikTex/LaTeX and TexStudio: LaTeX is a markup language for typesetting documents. Before discovering Typst, I used it for anythign from documents to presentations. Today I mostly use it for creating and maintaining a large in-house Data Dictionary.
  • Notepad++: Free text and source code editor. For many uses, Notepad++ is a better choice than VSCode. One of the great features is it’s ability to monitor/tail a file. Also, it’s ability to open very large files.
  • Mozilla Firefox: Mozilla is not getting better these days as an organization, but Firefox is still a great browser.
  • 7Zip: The 7-zip integration in explorer still makes so much sense (even though Win11 hides it behind an extra click). The support for AES-256 encrypted archives are also very useful.
  • Affinity Photo 2: Once in a while I need to edit a picture. This is what I use.
  • VLC Media Player: My goto player for videos.
  • FileZilla: For countless years, FileZilla has been a joy to use. It does what I need.
  • PureRef: “Tool to organize the creative process”. I know, this explanation makes very little sense, and me using it for work is also hard to understand. But having a board where I can put op any number of pictures as inspiration helps me a lot when I work on planning our new Dashboards. Go search for it on youtube to see if you can find a use for it.

Online Software/Services

This is what we also call our stack at work.

  • Microsoft Sharepoint: This is our main intranet. With more than a million documents and pages, this is central to the whole organization.
  • SAP SuccessFactors: Human Capital Management. We use this to manage our employee data and processes. And as HRIS Data is my main area this is my most important tool.
  • Azure Databricks: Automated data engineering and delivery.
  • ServiceNow: Service Delivery and Workflow manager. One of the better tools. As I don’t work in support I mostly use the knowledge management part.

At Home

Hardware

  • Gaming PC
    • Custom Built
    • CPU: Ryzen 7800X3D
    • RAM: 64 GB, Kingston Fury Beast RGB DDR5-5200
    • GPU: XPX Radeon RX 6950 XT Speedster MERC 319 16GB
  • TrueNAS Server
    • Custom Built
    • CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3200G (4 Core)
    • Motherboard: ASRock B550M PRO4
    • PSU: FSP Dagger PRO 650W
    • Chassis: Jonsbo N4 White
    • System Drive: 256GB NVMe
    • Data Drives: Seagate IronWolf Pro 18TB x 6
  • Laptop
    • Model: Lenovo ThinkPad T490s
    • CPU: Intel i5-8265U (8) @ 3.900GH
    • RAM: 8 GB
    • System Drive: Lexar SSD NM790 4TB
  • Printer
    • Model: Lexmark B223dw Laser

Software

  • Gaming PC
    • Windows 11
    • Games!
  • TrueNAS Server
    • OS: TrueNAS Scale
    • Tailscale
    • Syncthing
    • piHole
    • immich
    • Home Assistant
    • FreshRSS
    • Arr Stack
    • Handbrake
    • Navidrone