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267 lines
11 KiB
Markdown
267 lines
11 KiB
Markdown
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title = "Tech Stack 2024"
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date = 2024-06-01T10:13:48+10:00
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[extra]
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updated = 2024-06-04T07:49:36+10:00
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+++
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Inspired by Alex Chan's [Tools of the trade][achan] post I thought I'd note
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down my current tech stack and then revisit it in a few years to see how things
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evolve. As per Alex's post I'll break it down into three sections: software,
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(development) tech stack, and hardware.
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{{ figure(image="posts/2024/tech-stack/desktop.jpg", link="posts/2024/tech-stack/desktop.jpg", resize_width=1600, alt="A photo of my desk. There's two displays, the one on the right is rotated into a portait orientation, the left on is on a wooden monitor stand. In front of the monitors are: a PS4 controller, TI-89, tenkeyless mechanical keyboard, mouse, and Kobo e-Reader.", caption="My desk. The computer is behind the displays.") }}
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<!-- more -->
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### Software
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My dotfiles are public so if you're curious about the configuration of some
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of the tools mentioned below check out <https://github.com/wezm/dotfiles>.
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#### Linux
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I use Linux for everything. On my desktop machine, which I use for work as well
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as personal computing I run [Arch Linux]. On my laptop, which is more of an
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ancillary device that I use for tinkering and occasional travel I run [Chimera
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Linux]. My goal is to run Chimera on the desktop too (it actually dual boots
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already) but I need to get my work development environment working on it before
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I can do that. My desktop is my primary computer, the rest of the post will
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focus on that.
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#### Awesome
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I've been using the [Awesome window manager][Awesome] since 2019. It's
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deceptively good. When I try out other desktop environments it's surprising how
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many little details that Awesome gets right. It's also very stable, meaning I
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don't get surprise updates to my UI in new releases.
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However the writing is on the wall for X11. My current arrangement of two 4K
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24" displays running at 2x scaling with one of them rotated to a portrait
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orientation is really pushing the limits of X11. It's my goal to switch to a
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Wayland based system at some point in the future. Most likely System 76's
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[COSMIC desktop][COSMIC], which I've been periodically testing during its
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development.
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#### Alacritty
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Somewhere around 75% of the windows I have open at any time are terminal
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windows. I like [Alacritty] because it's devoid of UI chrome and features like
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tabs. Awesome takes care of all window organisation so there is no need for
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tabs, splits and things like that. I also like that it's responsive to use.
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#### Z Shell
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I've used the [Z shell][zsh] since at least 2008. I've tried out some of the
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newer shells but quickly run into limitations or things I miss from Z shell.
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Some things I like about it:
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- Extensive, full-featured completion support
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- Spelling correction/did you mean
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- Synced history: history across all shells is added to history after every
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command and available in all running shells.
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- Path expansion: `ls /h/w/P/rss<Tab>` → `ls /home/wmoore/Projects/rsspls`
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- Command stack (`Esc-q`)
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#### Espanso
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[Espanso] is a text expander. It allows me to do things like type `;mdl` and
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have that be replaced with a Markdown link using the contents of the clipboard
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(E.g. `[](<clipboard url>)`), or `;em` and have that be replaced with my email
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address.
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#### CLI
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I use a bunch of CLI tools, aside from standard POSIX/UNIX tools I use these a lot:
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- [bat](https://github.com/sharkdp/bat) — `cat` with syntax highlighting
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- [fd](https://github.com/sharkdp/fd) — file finder
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- [fzf](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf) — fuzzy finder (integrated with zsh and vim)
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- [lsd](https://github.com/lsd-rs/lsd) — `ls` but better
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- [ripgrep](https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep) — clever regex search
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- [tig](https://github.com/jonas/tig) — git TUI
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- [paru](https://github.com/Morganamilo/paru) — `pacman` wrapper
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#### Obsidian
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I note down ideas, thoughts, howtos, and things in [Obsidian]. I picked it
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because the notes store is just plain Markdown files and they sync between
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Linux and iOS.
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#### ZFS
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`/home` on my system is a mirror of two 2Tb NVMe drives. I use [ZFS] for its
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data integrity (resistance to bit rot), redundancy (I can lose a drive an not
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lose data), compression (`compressratio` is 1.40x at the time of writing), and
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lightweight snapshots.
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I use [zfs-autosnap] to periodically take snapshots of `/home`, which allows me
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roll back files if I get them into an undesirable state.
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#### Text Editing
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I'm currently in a bit of transitional period with text editors:
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- [Rust Rover] for Rust
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- [Zed] migration in progress for Rust
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- [Neovim] for everything else, it's hard to beat
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I have started using Zed for Rust development. Ideally it would be my primary
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editor but it doesn't support enough languages yet. I imagine I will shift more
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tasks to it as it continues to improve.
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#### 1Password
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I returned to [1Password] when they released the Linux version. Not a lot say
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here, it's reliable and works across all the devices I use.
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#### Firefox
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Like everyone I use a web browser a lot. I use [Firefox] as it's fast, works well,
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is mostly user focused, has built-in ad blocking, and is not a made by Google.
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[Multi-account containers][firefox-containers] are a killer Firefox feature
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that allows me to segregate things like Google and Facebook off into their own
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little container. This separates them so that for my usual browsing I'm not
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logged into a Google or Facebook account so it's harder for them to associate my
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activities across the web and on first-party sites (like Google Maps) with my
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account.
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I've read some people say that they can't use Firefox because too many websites
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don't work with it but I don't run into this problem at all with the sites I
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visit.
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##### Stylus
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I don't use a lot of browser extensions but [Stylus] is a great one. It lets me
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apply custom styles to websites (or all sites). This enables me to fix poor
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font choices or hide that annoying Sign-In With Google across all websites.
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#### Shotwell
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I recently got a new DSLR and did some research to find a decent
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non-destructive photo editor and library manager. I settled on [Shotwell] and
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while I still dearly miss [Aperture], Shotwell gets the job done.
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#### keyd
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[keyd] lets me customise and remap keys on my keyboard at the system level so
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that it works everywhere. I previously relied solely on programmable mechanical
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keyboards for this functionality but I've now been able to use a board that
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does not have a customisable firmware with the help of `keyd`.
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#### CopyQ
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Clipboard history is an essential part of any desktop computing environment and
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[CopyQ] is what provides it for me.
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### Dev Stack
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#### Rust
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Pretty much all software I write these days in done with [Rust]. I also use a
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lot of software written in Rust as it tends to be efficient with resources,
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reliable, and easy for me to delve into the code if needed.
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#### mold
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Linking is slow, I do a lot of linking working on personal and work projects.
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[Mold] makes this faster.
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#### Rocket
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For building web applications my go-to is [Rocket]. It's not quite as batteries
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included as something like [Rails] but it includes a lot of stuff that's
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missing from other Rust options.
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#### Zola
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For blogs and simple static sites I love [Zola]. It's full-featured, customisable,
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and super fast.
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#### Gleam
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On occasions I need to write code targeting JavaScript. When that is non-trivial
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I've been reaching for [Gleam]. It's kinda of like Elm but actively maintained
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and with fewer restrictions.
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### Hardware
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#### Desktop Computer
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My computer is a desktop machine that I assembled myself in 2023:
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- AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 16-Core/32-Thread Processor
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- 64 Gb DDR5 6000 MT/s RAM
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- Storage:
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- Root disk: Crucial T700 1TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe M.2 SSD
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- /home: 2x WD_BLACK 2TB SN850X PCIe Gen4 NVMe in ZFS mirror
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- AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT GPU with 12Gb VRAM
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- 2x Dell 24" 4K displays, one in portrait orientation
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- Razer Kiyo web cam
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- Audio Technica ATR2100X microphone
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- Logi Lift vertical mouse + BenQ ZOWIE FK2-C mouse
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- [WK870 mechanical keyboard][WK870] with Gateron G Pro 2.0 brown switches
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All of this is packed into a monstrous [Fractal Design Torrent case][torrent]
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with a lot of slow, quiet fans to try to keep all the hot things under control.
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This build was optimised for my development activities (both work and personal)
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with occasional gaming. For future comparisons it does a clean [Prince] build[^1]
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in 1m50s and scores 2966/20174 in Geekbench 6.
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In early 2024 I started having trouble with pain in my hands from mousing. For
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nearly 20 odd years I've alternated mouse hands to load balance the wear on my
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hands. However this was an issue in both. That led me to try a vertical mouse,
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which didn't initially help. I then tried a wrist rest but it was super hard
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and the pain remained. I got a different softer one and now the vertical mouse is
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comfortable and my hands have stopped complaining.
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#### Laptop
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My laptop is a 13" HP Pavilion Aero Laptop 13-be0203AU I bought it because it was
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cheap (~AU$1000), had an 8 core AMD CPU, and was lightweight (~1kg). The case
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construction is not great as parts of it are painted plastic, which has dings and
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scratches on it now. In contrast to my old 2013 MacBook Pro, which still looks
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new.
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I've pre-ordered a Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x (14", Gen 9) Snapdragon to replace this
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machine. It's got one of the new Snapdragon X Elite ARM CPUs in it. I expect
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I'll have to make do with Windows & WSL until Linux support for this new
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hardware catches up.
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[^1]: `time ./bin/build prince` with `mold` as linker.
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[1Password]: https://1password.com/
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[achan]: https://www.alexchantastic.com/tools-of-the-trade
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[Alacritty]: https://alacritty.org/
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[Aperture]: https://web.archive.org/web/20150407001931/http://www.apple.com/aperture/
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[Arch Linux]: https://archlinux.org/
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[Awesome]: https://awesomewm.org/
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[Chimera Linux]: https://chimera-linux.org/
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[CopyQ]: https://hluk.github.io/CopyQ/
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[COSMIC]: https://blog.system76.com/tags/COSMIC%20DE
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[Espanso]: https://espanso.org/
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[firefox-containers]: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers
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[Firefox]: https://getfirefox.com/
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[Gleam]: https://gleam.run/
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[keyd]: https://github.com/rvaiya/keyd
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[Mold]: https://github.com/rui314/mold
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[Neovim]: https://neovim.io/
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[Obsidian]: https://obsidian.md/
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[Prince]: https://www.princexml.com/
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[Rails]: https://rubyonrails.org/
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[Rocket]: https://rocket.rs/
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[Rust Rover]: https://www.jetbrains.com/rust/
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[Rust]: https://www.rust-lang.org/
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[Shotwell]: https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Shotwell
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[Stylus]: https://github.com/openstyles/stylus
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[Sylus]: https://github.com/openstyles/stylus
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[torrent]: https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/torrent/
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[WK870]: https://www.keebmonkey.com/en-au/products/wk870?syclid=ck4d58iusvis73cshbug
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[Zed]: https://zed.dev/
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[zfs-autosnap]: https://github.com/wezm/zfs-autosnap
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[ZFS]: https://openzfs.org/
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[Zola]: https://www.getzola.org/
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[zsh]: https://www.zsh.org/
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