Computer
Hardware
Framework Laptop
When building a PC, it's common to pick and choose each individual part to customize the computer according to your specific use-case. This minimizes the cost in two ways: first because you don't spend any money on excess capabilities, and second, because you can replace individual parts as they break instead of replacing the whole PC. Laptops, however, are a totally different story. Due to the physically restrictive nature of the chassis, most laptops have few to none customizeability options and parts can generally only be replaced with the same model, or not at all. Framework's laptops are designed to provide a level of customizeability that, while not as flexible as a PC, is significantly higher than what you can expect from most laptops.
Usage Reason
I was looking for a lightweight portable laptop that still had enough processing power to play lower-end games (primarily celeste) while maintaining a relatively long battery life. At this time I was moving to Japan, so while I considered getting an extremely lightweight laptop for school and a PC for more computationally intensive tasks, the reality was that I was going to have to meet all of my computing needs using a laptop. Framework's customizeability allowed me to meet this relatively complicated set of requirements. (For example, most laptops with games in mind also come with a GPU, but since a GPU isn't required for the games that I play and would significantly reduce battery life, I specifically wanted integrated graphics.)
Keyboard
I genuinely don't remember what model my keyboard is. It's some rgb gaming keyboard that I got 5 years ago when I built my PC. I am strongly of the opinion that one should continue to use tech until it either breaks or no longer meets the requirements for the tasks you are using it for, so I will continue to use it until it breaks, but I don't think it's anything special. The switches are Cherry MX Red.
Cerakey Keycaps
These are keycaps made out of ceramic. They are quite heavy and very smooth, and appear somewhat shiny.
Usage Reason
The keyboard I use came with a set of plastic keycaps, but through repeated use the stems of the keycaps started to break. As the most commonly used keys would break I started switching in extra keycaps to replace them (The numpad was the source of these generous donations) but as the replacement keys continued to break as well I eventually ran out of keys. I was specifically looking for keycaps that would be much more durable than the plastic ones, and my brother who is somewhat of a keyboard enthusiast recommended Cerakey. So far, not a single one of my keycaps has broken and I'm quite happy with them.
System Software
Grub boot loader
Usage Reason
I want to leave myself open the opportunity to dual-boot in the future, although I currently only have Arch installed.
Arch Linux OS
Minimal Linux distribution with the Pacman package manager.
Usage Reason
I was previously having various issues with Windows 10 and it got to the point where I decided I wanted to switch to a different operating system. My partner at the time had an Arch Linux install that she used quite successfully for pretty much everything that I felt like I wanted to do, so in order to be able to make use of her extensive knowledge about the distribution I decided to go with Arch as well. So far, I'm extremely happy with it but I would like to experiment with other distributions (NixOS seems especially interesting) at some point in the future.
SDDM display manager
Usage Reason
I didn't put very much thought into which display manager to use but I chose this one because it has the ability to choose between multiple window managers on login. I originally planned to use this to be able to log in to either an X+i3 environment or a Wayland+Sway environment, but as of yet I still have not set up Wayland.
X window system
Usage Reason
I use this because when I set up my Arch machine this is what my partner who was helping me with it used. I would like to experiment with alternatives in the future.
i3 window manager
Usage Reason
I use this because when I set up my Arch machine this is what my partner who was helping me with it used. I would like to experiment with alternatives in the future.
picom compositor
Usage Reason
I wanted a compositor that supports transparency and this is what I found.
fcitx IME
Usage Reason
Supports Mozc Japanese input.Programs
Kitty terminal emulator
Usage Reason
I recently switched from alacritty to kitty because of its image support. Other than the image support (used by Ranger), I use kitty exactly the way that I used alacritty.
Neovim text editor
Ranger file browser
Nitrogen background setter
I have this set up to choose a random image from a folder as my background on i3 start.
Usage Reason
First background image setter I came across, I haven't had any issues yet.
Obsidian note taking software
Firefox web browser
Raven RSS reader
I'm looking for an RSS reader that will store already read articles indefinitely locally. If you happen to know of one please let me know :3