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Software Config

This is a repository of all software I use, hopefully with reasoning behind them. It is not yet complete, and will probably be ever-evolving.

I am a firm believer in free/libre and open source, but especially free/libre software. Keep in mind, free does not refer to "free of cost", but rather to the notion of providing users the freedom to truly own what they pay for. I follow the Free Software Foundation's definition of Free/Libre Software, and my thoughts+ these freedoms are linked here.

Sometimes, I do have to resort to some proprietary software. In that case, I either look for an equivalent open-source alternative, try to see if a Linux version of that proprietary software exists, or (as a last resort) just use Windows. I use an iPhone 12 mini + Apple Watch combo, mainly due to convinience factor as of now.

Languages​

I do low level systems stuff mainly. I am highly familiar with GNU CoreUtils, and the GDB debugger. I love Valgrind as well, the stack traces and memory visualizations are honestly a godsend. I mainly use C++, though am opening up to RUST as well.

As mentioned in Scriting Shenanigans, Python is my go to for any scripts or hobby programs. I have also programmed in R, MATLAB, Haskell, Java, Swift, and Kotlin (professionally and hobby).

I love Bash Scripting and Vim Scripting for my own tinkering purposes. For my honors thesis, I have also worked on a lot of x86 Assembly directly (including writing, debugging, and converting). I have become pretty comfortable with these low-level languages, though I do learn something new everyday.

Apart from that, I mainly do Web Dev as a means for end-user application dev. I have experience with PHP, HTML/CSS, JavaScript, Node, React, SQL and MongoDB, Flask, Firebase, and continuously keep learning new technologies. I love the web due to its open nature, and the ability to adapt to any system regardless.

Operating System​

On the stable "I-want-stuff-to-work" end of things, I have been a devout Ubuntu GNU/Linux user for the longest time now. I dabbled into Pop!_OS for a bit, but Ubuntu feels more stable and refined. Moreover, I spend most of my time in the terminal.

I tinker a lot with Trisquel, a fully-free (as in freedom) Operating System. I have broken it, repaired it, changed the source code in bad ways...almost everything imaginable.

Alpine has my heart as a no-nonsense small OS. It runs beautifully on any hardware I have tried it on, but the primary use case is as a guest OS for virtualizing and containerizing.

Windows is a fallback, and needs a lot of resources to run at times. Currently in use as a host for different WSL runtimes, and for running Windows-specific software on my desktop.

About every piece of software I use needs a very absolutely minimum of 8GB RAM, and an ideal of at least 16GB RAM.

Code Editors and IDEs​

Sorted by frequency: high to low

  • BBEdit: A macOS native Code Editor being developed for over 30 years. Super stable, packed with features, has a minor learning curve for the more advanced features that's worth it imo.
  • Neovim: a fork of vim with extended plugin support, and a more suistainable development model.
  • Jupyter: Data-based Python code, where an explanation & presentation of methods is absolutely crucial. Uses ipynb to split between Markdown cells or Python cells.
  • Helix Editor: A post-modern modal text editor. Really stupidly good at what it does, the only times I do not use it is when I need a Neovim plugin.
  • VSCode: Good extension market, has a vim plugin; I was on VSCodium up until very recently, need VSCode for Tunnels (more secure, and less fuzzy SSH alternative). I don't like the web app nature and padded mobile-UI buttons.
  • JetBrains: Rare, but super complex projects have really benefitted from the strong debugger, language-oriented IDEs, and refactoring capabilities. Is a memory hog though, so would recommend a high-spec computer. This includes Android Studio.

Retired​

I do not use these anymore, mainly because I don't have a reason to. However, I might come back to them if a project mandates. This is not to say that these are bad editors, I just don't need them as of now.

  • Spyder: Scientific computing in Python, having a variable explorer and data-exploration based features help a lot.
  • RStudio: I have a total of 2 projects on R. RStudio is really powerful for what it does, and has a genuinely very shallow learning curve (at least relatively). Good editor, I am just not the target demographic.
  • MATLAB: The only Engineering-oriented language I have used, check out my iCons 3 project: The Cost of Control.

Photo/Video/Graphic Editing​

The following is what I use to facilitate my Photography.

  • GNU Image Manipulation Program, or GIMP, is a libre photo editr which almost rivals Adobe Creative Suite. May have a slightly higher curve of learning, but it is extremely powerful and versatile for what it offers. Beautifully amazing.
  • Adobe Lightroom: For small edits on the go, I rely on the free version of Adobe Lightroom on my phone. I like it, but prefer to not use it whenever possible (only use it in circumstances where absolutely necesssary).
  • Shotcut Video Editor: A Libre Video Editor which, again, rivals that of Adobe's offerings. Has a slight learning curve, but is immensely powerful, and handles a lot of Video Editing paradigms (transitions, fx, voice sampling, etc.) amazingly. I have had no complaints for my amateur Video Editing needs.
  • Canva: An online (proprietary) graphic designer. Used only when absolutely necessary.

Office Work & typing documents​

Writing text-based files? Here's what I use:

  • Libreoffice: Licensed under MPL v2.0, Libreoffice is a Free and Open Source alternative to MS Office, compatible with the OpenDocument formats and the proprietary MS Office formats. LibreOffice is community driven with a governance model that ensures the software is accessible to all (along with source code, and rights to modify the same), transcending all language barriers and boundaries.
  • Google Workspace: Another Office suite, albeit used much less due to the proprietary nature. However, being in university, it is an absolutely crucial tool to enable collaboration and teamwork (multiple people can edit the same documents at the same time), while maintaining aceptable levels of privacy and security over documents.
  • LaTeX: LaTeX i a typesetting language that creates some of the cleanest, crispiest documents ever to exist. While it is the standard for research papers and technical documentation, I have also been using it fo homework. Types in any language, including Math and Code. Can be whatever you want it to be.
    • Want a quick way to try LaTeX? Try Overleaf: a web-based LaTeX editor.
  • Markdown: A quick and easy markup language that I use for quick notes, documentation, and even this entire website (including this webpage you're looking at).
  • Pandoc: A universal document converter that converts any format to any other format through a set of unique tools. Convert Markdown to PDF, Docx to OpenDoc, HTML to Markdown, etc.

Geographic Information Systems​

So far, I have done about 3 research projects regarding plotting and mapping data, as well as countless personal projects. I do not see this stopping anytime soon, so here's the toolset I am comfortable with:

In a way, I use QGIS for background researcgh and enjoy the freedom of manipulation and experimentation as a whole, then export the final data and use Leaflet to publish it on the web for everyone to see.

Leaflet used in conjunction with Python or R.

Bibliography Management Systems​

This pretty much depends on the nature of the project I am doing. There are 2 main options:

  • Wikindx: Libre Source Bibliography that is self-hosted and uses a MySQL database to store information. I use it locally hosted for my own research (since everything is local), and use a locally hosted version for the LinKaGe Lab with multi-user support and web support.
  • Zotero: Comes into play when I need to have shared bibliographies over the internet, mainly as a ease-of-use. Zotero was used in almost every iCons project listed.

Both of these options share a lot of similarities with each other, except that Zotero is paid for large storage solutions but shareable, while Wikindx is self-hosted and the only constraint is your own computer.

Legacy mention: Aigaion which was replaced by Wikindx. PHP underwent such drastic changes that Aigaion was rendered useless on anything above PHP version 5.

Debuggers​

Apart from the usual (extensions for IDEs for different languages, or print statements :P), I do a lot of low-level code. Here is what helps me:

  • GNU GDB: The GNU Project Debugge, while meant for C/C++ initially, can really debug any language that builds debug flags for it. I use it for C++, RUST, x86 Asm, and some Python Bytecode too.
  • Valgrind: Advanced debugger for C/C++ that maps out memory management, program flow, and overall functioning of computational resoures so that Segmentation Fault can be debugged quicker.
    • Shouout to Uma for introducing me to Valgrind back in CS 230 (Intro. to Systems)
  • Pydebug: The essential Python Debugger.

Server-side computation & Terminals​

  • Waveterm: Open Source Terminal that has overtaken whatever barebones terminal that ships with any OS (zsh or Bash), has a lot more cool features built-in that I don't use as much, but some QOL stuff that's pretty good to have. Feels bloated sometimes.
  • Termius: SSH & SFTP Client with insanely good features built in (GUIs, drag and drop support, SSH key handling, concurrent sessions)
  • GNU Bash: The most powerful CLI I have used, ever. Also really the one I have been used to, despite using Powershell considerably as well.
  • Windows Terminal: Honestly the hands-down best solution on Windows, now the default in Windows 11. Tabbed terminals, each of which can wither Powershell on host or BASH/ZSH on a guest WSL instance.

Virtualization, Containerization, Sim/Emulation​

Does not fit in a pre-defined category but equally important.

  • Wireshark: Packet tracer and network protocol analyzer, used for analyzing networks. GPLv3'd at that :D
  • GNS3: Network systems virtualizing software. Libre software as well, works best on Linux with a minimum of 16GB RAM and on an x86 Architecture.
  • Virtualbox: Virtualization Software. New project that will quickly get a file system spread? Just put it in a VM :)
  • Docker: Containerization Software to ensure similar debugging and execution experiences everywhere. Super useful when dealing with low-level code to ensure OS consistencies, or high-level code to plug-and-play different components.
  • QEMU: Emulation for different hardware, including ARM, RISC-V, and x86. Used in the tinkering of MIT PDOS xv6, and in current MorbiOS development.

Miscellaneous​

  • KDE Connect: Cross-platform continuity daemon for Linux, iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows. Basically make all your devices work with one another & not have file mess-ups or incompatibility issues.
  • Figma: Wireframing tool to chart out the behaviour of an application, or the base UI/UX before code. Helps you pln out the whole thing before starting the code out.

Mobile​

A whole bunch of iOS Apps that I really love and help me be productive (on top of mobile versions of eveyrthing mentioned above):

  • Working Copy: An iOS Git Client that connects with GitHub, BitBucket, or your own Local/Remote Servers. Works seamlessly with the iOS Files and Cross-App as well.
  • iSH: Alpine Linux Virtualized in a Sandboxed environment on iOS. Does everything you could possibly do in a shell, including creating and deploying local servers or using vim.
  • Shortcuts: The closest thing to "scripting" on iOS, Shortcuts is a drag-and-drop language to provide scripting, automation, and code tasks natively on iOS. Harnesses the full device capability: location, sensors, app actions, your own code, etc. I plan to get a page on the Finechive for sharing my own Device Automations.
  • Chromatica: This is my primary professional camera on iOS.

Computer​

My main computer is a MacBook Pro currently. I like the UNIX-y nature, and it runs commercial products well. BBEdit, my favourite text editor, is Mac only as well.

For the pure Linux side of things, I use Ubuntu & Trisquel on a Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 (yes, that's a mouthful). It's essentially a regular Surface Laptop, albeit with some underclocked specs in a smaller enclosure. It fares well for everything that I throw at it, and is super light and portable. Has a great keyboard, and a touchscreen.

I do have a Gaming Laptop connected as a Desktop at all times for high-processing tasks. It's basically a performance computation and NAS server; not really used on the go and mostly via SSH. That is a 16GB DDR4, 11th Gen Core i7, and a 1660Ti GPU Dell G3 3500. This specific computer, however, got Dell a lawsuit for a weak hinge design, which I can attest for as someone who also has had hinge problems, despite proper care and usage. It overheats quite easily as well, and battery life is absolute garbage; but for someone who's always on the move...it is a better option than an actual desktop tower.

Outside of it, I use an iPad mini as my eBook reader and note taking device all the time. This device has saved me quite a lot in textbook money (paid for itself in a semester), and I also use it as a second display through RDP on GNOME (on Ubuntu).