Michael Uses

My software, hardware and gear - all in one place. Inspired by Wes Bos' uses.tech

note

I'm currently trying to find a good format for this page, given I work (and play) across two different operating systems. Stay tuned for tweaks.

Hey, I think you should try Linux

I switched to linux for my desktop PC in 2023, because it feels like a bridge between Windows (gaming) and macOS (development). Its free, its open source, it looks and feels amazing. You can try it on a USB stick before fully committing.

  • Toshy - Keymapper config to make Linux keyboard shortcuts work like a 'Tosh! And more. (A Kinto alternative.)
  • Junction - Choose which browser to open links in
  • Gradia - For capturing and marking up screenshots
  • Switcheroo - For converting images to different formats
  • OptiImage - For optimising images for web
  • DarkTable - for photography stuff
  • Kdenlive for video editing (yes it works great on GNOME)
  • Zen Browser - A rather lovely firefox fork.

Development

  • VSCodium - my current editor (RIP to VSCode, Brackets, Coda, Sublime Text, Notepad++) with the default "Dark+" theme, default icons, and Fira Code at 15px.
  • Ptyxis - Terminal emulator on Bazzite (I use iTerm2 on macOS)
  • Zsh - My main shell for development.
  • Spaceship Prompt - my zsh theme -HTTPie - for HTTP and API testing
  • DBeaver - for playing with databases (rare)

For work, shamefully, I use VSCode with Github Copilot and Claude.

Desktop apps

  • Alfred - Spotlight replacement on macOS to find and launch stuff. I use the standard Overview on GNOME linux.
  • Obsidian - for my note taking, todos, meeting notes, etc.
  • Planify - on linux for my Todo lists, because it syncs with Todoist on my phone.
  • Déjà Dup - for backups on linux and Carbon Copy Cloner for backups on macOS.

Design apps

  • Sketch - for most design work. However, I stopped buying updates when they switched to a subscription model. For that reason, I also have a Figma account.
  • Nucleo
  • ColorSlurp - for managing different colour palettes

Music apps

  • Ableton Live 11 - is my DAW of choice these days. I used to rep Pro Tools 9 hard for editing and mixing.
  • Bitwig Studio - I'm slow-switching to Bitwig because it runs on Linux.
  • Sound Toys 5 - Sound design plugins
  • Vital - Free VST Synth with lots of really great crowd-sourced presets
  • RC-20 Retro Color - Plug-in by XLN Audio
  • Loopback - for more advanced audio routing on macOS

Music gear

Instruments

  • Fender "J Mascis" Jazzmaster
  • Grestch "Jim Dandy" Troubador Acoustic
  • Fender Mustang Bass
  • KORG VolcaBeats (modded with an extra MIDI output)
  • Vox MV50 Clean guitar amp

Studio gear

  • Behringer Xenyx Q1202 USB mixer
  • Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 Mk.II
  • Shure SM58 XLR Microphone
  • Yamaha HS50 monitors

Effects pedals

  • Boss DD-3 Digital Delay
  • Boss CE-2 Chorus
  • Boss RE-20 Space Echo
  • DigiTech WHAMMY RICOCHET
  • Electro Harmonix "Big Muff" Nano
  • Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini
  • TC Electronic Ditto X4 Looper
  • TC Electronic Tailspin Vibrato

Work Laptop

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021)

Specs

  • Apple M1 Pro
  • 32 GB

All peripherals and display running through the Belkin Thunderbolt 3 dock Pro

My Gaming PC

I built my own custom-made PC in 2012, and have been slowly upgrading it ever since. Running Bazzite DX GNOME edition.

RIP to Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11, Ubuntu, PoP!_OS, Windows 11 (again, briefly), and Bazzite NVIDIA edition.

Specs

  • AMD Ryzen 7 7700X 4.5-5.4GHz (8-core 16 threads)
  • AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB GPU
  • Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB (2x16GB) 6000MHz DDR5 RAM
  • ASUS TUF Gaming X670E-Plus DDR5 Motherboard
  • be quiet! Straight Power 11 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
  • be quiet! Dark Rock 4 CPU Cooler
  • 1x Western Digital m.2 NVME (2TB) - Bazzite GNOME Boot Drive
  • 1x Samsung 860 Evo SSD (4TB) - Games Library
  • 1x Samsung 860 QVO SSD (1TB) - Still needs a job :3
  • NZXT H7 Flow case
  • LG 39GX90SA-W 39" 240Hz WQHD 0.03ms OLED Gaming Monitor

NAS

Asustor AS6604T

Specs

  • Intel® Celeron™ CPU @ 2.00GHz
  • 8.00 GB RAM
  • Running Portainer CE and a whole suite of self-hosted web apps

Drives

  • Volume 1: 2x 2TB WD Red drives (RAID 1 / EXT4 / M.2 Cache)
  • Volume 2: 2x 4TB SeaGate IronWolf drives (RAID 1 / EXT4)
  • Cache: 250GB m.2 SSD drive

Main Server

I run my website, and various self-hosted apps on a second-hand HP EliteDesk 800.

Specs

  • Intel® Core i7 9700T 4.30GHZ (8 cores 8 threads)
  • 32GB RAM
  • 512GB M.2

Other Hardware and peripherals

  • Razer DeathAdder v2 Pro gaming mouse
  • KeyChron C2 Mechanical Keyboard
  • Apple keyboard (with the finger print reader)
  • 8bitdo Ultimate controller
  • SteamDeck LCD 512GB
  • Raspberry Pi 3b 🍇