Software and Hardware I Use
Operating System
I have been using Xubuntu on my main laptop for ~6 months now after distro hopping every few months since ~2019 when I first started using GNU/Linux. I have used Arch, Artix, Debian, Linux Mint (LMDE), Devuan, etc. in the past at various times. I have had the least amount of problems with Xubuntu so far. I do not care what distro people use, I think they should use whatever works best for them. I use other distros, like Kali or Black Arch for example, on VirtualBox when I am working on bug bounties or doing CTFs.
IDE
I mainly use codium now. I know I should learn how to use Vim more efficiently. I will eventually work on going through Vim tutor again because almost all servers have Vim, along with Ed, by default and some do not have nano. I used to use sublime but they made it so an annoying popup would ask you for money every few minutes so I stopped using it.
Word Processor / Documents
LibreOffice. Recently I rewrote my Resume using LaTeX and learning the syntax from Luke Smith’s youtube channel. I do not currently have time to learn more about LaTeX due to studying for the CCNA and other things. But, in the future I think I will use LaTeX more.
I use Thunderbird with Fastmail. I have hosted my own e-mail server in the past using Vultr but they unexpectedly ceased allowing SMTP and SMTPS ports to be opened. I had an impossible time trying to find another VPS provider that allows self hosting an e-mail server. People claimed that Hetzner allow this after a one month waiting period but I was denied when I opened tickets requesting the ports opened. There are a couple other ones that people claim allow it but their ip blocks are likely blacklisted from spam abuse anyway so there would be no point in doing that if nobody even would get my e-mails. It is against the terms of service of my ISP to host an e-mail server out of my house unless I were to pay for a business account. So I am stuck using Fastmail currently for my e-mail with a custom domain. If anyone knows a different solution please let me know.
Web Browser
Firefox with the normal extensions people use for privacy and with the settings changed. uBlock Origin is one of my favorite browser extensions. Firefox is not very good if you use the default settings. There are guides on what you should change if you don’t know. I used to use Brave but the company has acted very weird in the past. One of the things that made me question using Brave was when it was found that they appended their own affiliate links to the end of your URL when trying to go to certain cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance and Coinbase.
Laptop
I mainly use a Lenovo x270. I do not like the keyboard compared to my x200 but the battery lasts 14x longer. My favorite laptop is my w530 but it has the same issue with the battery life. I am lucky to get 2 hours of use compared to the x270 that can last 28 hours. I put a t420 keyboard in the w530, flashed the Embedded Controller and then the bios with 1vyrain to allow Wifi card and aftermarket battery whitelisting, and most importantly to neuter the Intel Management Engine. Unfortunately me_cleaner can not fully remove the Intel ME or else the laptop will shut down after 30 minutes. I do have a t400 that I flashed with Libreboot to completely remove the Intel ME but the computer was made in 2008 so it is a bit slow for today and browsing on the modern web.