Learn Docker With My Newest Course

Dive into Docker takes you from "What is Docker?" to confidently applying Docker to your own projects. It's packed with best practices and examples. Start Learning Docker →

Updated on December 30, 2025 in #dev-business, #dev-environment

The Tools I Use

the-tools-i-use.jpg

Here's a list of software and hardware that I use on a regular basis as a developer and video creator. I will be keeping it updated.

Quick Jump:

Every once in a while an email rolls in where someone asks me about my development environment or has questions about certain hardware.

I thought it would be fun to list out everything I use here. Keep in mind, I change things around quite a bit, but I will keep this post updated.

If I missed anything, let me know in the comments at the bottom of the post. Also near the bottom there is a timeline going over when and why I switched between tools.

# Demo Videos

Over the years I’ve recorded a couple of videos that pull together the tools that I use from this post so you can see how they all fit together and how they work in practice.

Windows

Just a heads up, this blog post will always have the latest updates on the tools that I use. That’s because I don’t record a new video every time a single tool changes.

My dotfiles are public on GitHub with screenshots and an install script.

There’s 3 main sections. Linux, Hardware and Windows. In December 2025 I switched to native Linux but still wanted to keep the Windows tools listed here for historic purposes.

# Linux

Vanilla Arch js a great canvas of a distro to build an OS designed for you. It gives you enough flexibility to pick and choose exactly what you want.

Notable Apps

The best spot to find everything I use is in my dotfiles repo. Not only is everything listed there but there’s an install script to bootstrap a new system or update an existing system.

Here’s a complete organized package list for command line and desktop environment related tools.

# Hardware

Here’s a grab bag of things I use in my day to day. Everything is compatible with both Windows and native Linux.

Monitors:
Desktop:
UPS (Battery backup):
  • I run a CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD. I’ve had 2 of these and the first one lasted 9 years before it stopped working. I keep my workstation, 1 monitor and cable modem + router connected to it. It lasts about an hour under normal load.
Webcam:
  • I use a Logitech c920 webcam for recording video. It captures 1080p video and looks reasonable enough with normal lighting.
Microphone:
  • I use an Audio-Technica AT2005 dynamic microphone. In my opinion it’s the best screencast / podcast microphone you’re going to find unless you spend $800+. It’s what I used for the Dive Into Docker course (and all courses in the foreseeable future). I’ve written a massive guide on how to record high quality at home btw. Lots of tips and gear recommendations are there along with everything I use.
Headphones:
  • I do all of my audio editing and music listening through a pair of Sony MDR V6 headphones (the MDR 7506 model is linked because the MDR V6s went from $80 to $350 and supposedly the MDR 7506 is similar). I’m extremely pleased with them. I wrote a huge guide on how to pick headphones before, so check that out. I think I will use the MDR V6 headphones for the rest of my life.
Audio interface:
Drawing stylus:
Phone:
Chromebook:
Desk:
Whiteboard:

# Windows

I used Windows 10 Professional along with WSL 2 (Arch Linux) + WSLg support for clipboard sharing + running GUI apps.

Notable Apps

Terminal: Microsoft Terminal
  • It’s really good, it spawned the most popular GitHub issue I ever opened.
  • Related tools:
    • tmux for splitting panes, creating windows and sessions.
    • zsh as my primary shell with a few plugins for auto-complete and Vim mode.
    • fzf for fuzzy searching your shell history and other items.
Code editor: Neovim
Containers: Docker with Docker Desktop
  • It works seamlessly with WSL 2, it’s a huge enabler of happiness.
Virtual desktops: Dexpot
Window management: Sizer
Launcher: Win + s
  • It’s not fancy but it lets you launch apps and search for things quickly.
Global hotkeys: AutoHotKey
  • It has served me well, besides global hotkeys it lets you swap keys too.
Clipboard manager: Ditto
Browser: Firefox
Password manager: KeepassXC
  • It’s offline and cross platform with Android / iOS support, I have ~400 secrets saved.
Screenshots: Flameshot
  • I like how easy it is to annotate and copy them directly to your clipboard.
Image viewer: IrfanView
  • Quickly view and resize images, it’s minimal and has batch operations.
  • Deserves a special callout, I’ve been using it since the early 2000s, it’s fantastic.
Image editor: GIMP
  • I mainly use it for YouTube thumbnails and blog post images, it’s ok enough.
  • This plugin is great for text GEGL layer effects
Video recorder: OBS
  • It’s excellent for both recording and live streaming. Top tier and cross platform.
Video editing: Camtasia 9
  • I used it in my latest Docker course and will be using for future courses. It easily saves me dozens of hours of editing for each course. It also works for MacOS and Windows, and you can use 1 license on more than 1 machine. I recorded a video about it.
Music player: foobar2000
  • Light weight (uses ~5mb of RAM) with a minimal but nearly perfect UI.
  • Has a spot in my record books for being especially good.
IRC client: HexChat
Finance tracking: Plutus
  • I created this command line income and expense tracker, I use it all the time!

# ⌛️ History / Timeline

I find it helpful to know roughly when I switched between tools. It’s fun to occasionally take a trip down memory lane or see a timeline of events that led to picking something.

Code Editor

  • 2009ish: Sublime Text 3
  • June 2018: VSCode
    • Wanted to see what the hype was about, it looked promising!
    • It was ok but I always felt like it wasn’t quite a good fit for me due to parts of it being closed sourced.
  • February 2019: Vim
    • It served me well, after getting over the initial learning curve I was feeling wins after about a week.
  • March 2025: Neovim

Terminal

  • 2018ish: ConEmu
    • This was around the time WSL 1 just came out, it looked promising.
  • November 2018: Hyper
    • On paper it looked good but it turned out to be very slow.
  • September 2019: wsltty
    • It was much faster than Hyper and I used this until Microsoft Terminal was stable IMO, I bounced between Microsoft Terminal and wsltty shortly after Hyper.
  • March 2020: Microsoft Terminal

Notable Apps

  • For clipboard sharing between WSL 2 / Windows and running graphical apps I used VcXsrv since 2017 and then I switched to WSLg in April 2025.

  • For launching applications, I used Keypirinha in about 2017 and then I switched to Microsoft PowerToys in May 2020.

  • I used Opera as a browser in 2006 for ~8 years, then I tried Firefox and went to Chrome until March 2025 when finally I switched back to Firefox.

  • For password management I used a command line tool called pass. I switched to KeepassXC in mid-2025.

  • For finance tracking I used GnuCash from about 2015 until early 2025, then I wrote and open sourced Plutus.

  • REAPER is a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). I used it to process my microphone’s input in real-time (noise cancellation, compressor, etc.) before I switched to using hardware for that. I used it for longer than I can remember until I switched to the current hardware combo listed above in late 2018.

Hardware

Never Miss a Tip, Trick or Tutorial

Like you, I'm super protective of my inbox, so don't worry about getting spammed. You can expect a few emails per year (at most), and you can 1-click unsubscribe at any time. See what else you'll get too.

Comments