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setup

2 min read

This document outlines the hardware, software, and workflows I use daily.

Devices

  • Main Machine: Mac Mini (2020)
    • Processor: Apple M1
    • Memory: 16 GB RAM
    • Storage: 512 GB SSD
  • Laptop: MacBook Air (2017)
    • Processor: 1.6GHz Intel Core i5
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Storage: 128 GB SSD
  • Phone: iPhone 13 Mini

Peripherals

  • Mouse: Razer DeathAdder Essential

Software

Core Tools

  • Browser: Brave Browser (main), Safari (secondary), Dia (tertiary, with cool LLM integration and memory features)
  • IDE: Zed (main), Visual Studio Code (secondary)
  • Terminal: iTerm2 with Zsh (main), Warp (secondary)
  • Launcher: Cling (main), Raycast (secondary). My AI shortcut is always remapped to Cmd+E.
  • Window Manager: AeroSpace for tiling window management.

Note-taking & Writing

  • Primary: Obsidian and Craft for structured notes and writing.
  • Secondary: Bear, Notion, and Drafts for quick capture and ideation.

AI & Productivity

  • AI Assistants: I frequently use GPT-4, Gemini 1.5, and Claude 3 for various tasks.
  • AI Search: Perplexity AI for research.

Content Creation

  • Video Editing: Adobe Premiere Pro, Descript
  • Design: Penpot, Framer

Development & Automation

  • Containerization: Docker
  • Automation: n8n for workflow automation.
  • Scripting: I rely on a personal collection of shell and Python scripts to automate repetitive tasks.
  • Hosting: Netlify and Vercel for deploying web projects.
  • AI Development: Dria for knowledge-centric AI.

Utilities

  • Firewall: LuLu for monitoring network connections.
  • File Transfer: Folx for managing downloads.
  • Torrents: Flux for torrent management.
  • Music Decoy: Plays fake music when your boss is nearby.

Workflow & Philosophy

Cross-Device Sync

To maintain a consistent environment across my Macs, I use symbolic links. Key configuration files for my tools (like my AI assistantā€™s memory) are stored in iCloud Drive. I then link to them from their expected local directories on each machine. This ensures my settings are always in sync, no matter where I am working.

Personal Operating System

My productivity system is built on a set of plain text markdown files managed in my iCloud Drive. I maintain:

  • A long-term file for yearly goals and todos.
  • A daily journal for capturing tasks, logs, and ideas.
  • A comprehensive, categorized list of all the software and tools I use or find interesting.

This text-based ā€˜personal OSā€™ is simple, portable, and powerful, allowing me to manage my life from any text editor.

Obsidian Plugins

  • Natural Language Dates: Install this plugin for easy date insertion.
    • Date Format: dddd, MMMM D, YYYY

Graph View