My Hardware and Software Setup(s)
Tags: career, productivity, workstations
Published: 2020-08-04 04:13:44

So, I felt like writing a blog. But, it's been one of those streaks where I've felt at a complete loss of what to write about. Then I figured that hey... I can share my hardware and software setups and configurations. It's something people MAY find a possible use for. Also, I just bought a new Macbook Pro and I want to brag a little bit about that as well.

## Hardwares
First, we will get started with my hardware configurations. The MSI I purchased around New Year 2020. My Macbook I just ordered last week and I'm still waiting for it to arrive in the mail.

I primarily run Pop_OS on my desktop. I can't remember the last time I touched Windows. It's just there in dual-boot incase I ever feel like gaming.

I ended up deciding on the Macbook Pro because I am a software engineer. And everyone knows that Mac's are great for software development. Sure, I could've ran Pop_OS on a cheaper and more powerful PC laptop. But, then I'd be missing out on the exclusives like XCode, which I do plan on playing with some day.

**Desktop - MSI Infinity X Plus**

* OS (Dual Boot): Pop_OS 20.04 (Primary) & Windows 10 Pro
* Drives: 1x 1TB NVMe SSD | 1x 256GB SSD | 2TB HDD
* RAM: 2x16GB Corsair Vengeance RGB
* CPU: 9th Gen Intel Core i7-9700K Processor
* GPU: MSI Nvidia RTX 2070 
* Cooling: Dragon Liquid Cooling
* Keyboard: WASD Custom 87-key Cherry MX Silver (Speed Linear) switches
* Cam: Logitech c922 1080p
* Mic: Neat Microphones Beecaster Professional Multipattern Desktop USB Microphone

**Laptop - 2020 Macbook Pro 13"**

* OS: macOS Catalina
* Drives: 1x 512GB SSD
* RAM: 16GB 3733MHz LPDDR4X
* CPU: 2.0GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) quad-core 10th-generation Intel Core i5
* GPU: Intel Iris Plus Graphics

## Softwares
Now on to my choices of softwares. I use a pretty minimal amount of tooling for my work and they're consistent across my desktop and laptop. 99% of my workflow is done with my Terminal, Brave, and VSCode. I'll share some configuration goodies below.

### Web Browser: Brave

![https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.digifloor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F02%2Fbrave-browser.jpg&f=1&nofb=1](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.digifloor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F02%2Fbrave-browser.jpg&f=1&nofb=1)

 Brave is a privacy-focused browser that is taking a unique approach. It comes with built-in ad and tracker blocker. They also offer an opt-in to Brave's non-intrusive ad program where you earn BAT every time you see an ad(you even get to pick how often you're served ads!). 
 
 It is the open source brainchild of Javascript creator and Mozilla project co-founder Brendan Eich. Brandon, you did a good job on this one, but I'm still mad at you about JavaScript (bleghh).

 I've used Brave for well over 2 years now. The excellent ad blocking, ability to earn BAT, and Chromium base have kept me more than satisfied with this product. I highly, highly recommend it to anyone using anything else. Btw, opt-in to their ad program and earn some BAT!

**Recommended Plugins:** Bitwarden Password Manager, Colorzilla, Vue Devtools, FireShot

### Code Editor/IDE: VSCode/VSCodium
![Alt Text](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/k2mxh9t7j8tepywljd9b.png)
* **Theme:** Gruvbox Material Dark
* **Icon Theme:** Material Icon Theme

To me, nothing beats VSCode. Sublime comes in a semi-close 2nd and Atom is pretty much worthless and no competition. VSCode is the one Microsoft product that I 100% hands down endorse and love (their Surface books and workstation look amazing, but I've yet to try them). 

Nolan's pro tip: Set a keyboard shortcut that allows you to switch between the workbench and integrated terminal. There isn't a default combo for this. Here is mine:

```
 // This goes in your keyboard settings JSON.

 { "key": "ctrl+shift+t", "command": "workbench.action.terminal.focus"},
 { "key": "ctrl+shift+t", "command": "workbench.action.focusActiveEditorGroup", "when": "terminalFocus"}
```

This little bit allows you to bounce back and forth between the workbench and integrated terminal by pressing `control + shift + t`. This one is a ***real*** time saver. Enjoy!

## Comms: Slack, Gitter, Discord

I'm not a big fan of any of these apps personally. There has to be SOMETHING better, right? If you know of a better option, please let me know. Because, I'm tired of Slack and Discord is a pain for dev/collaboration. But, it's what I'm stuck with.

I just heard about Chanty and I'm going to be giving that a try with a teammate for a few days. I'll report back on that.

What do your setups look like?