I recently decided to create new context and publish together previous writings of mine. linking and assembling those reflections together, sort of rediscovering common threads, patterns of investigation, common ground for building tools, re-exploring ideas over the years, constantly interrogating an ever expanding medium.

Since this summer, 2025, i decided to switch away from apple and the Macintosh which has been my computing machine ever since i started studying at écal, 2001. That’s about 25 years. My frustration with the political engagement of a company cozying up with an administration i resent took over and, synchronicity helping, I boarded the Omarchy sailing ship… That ship is having its own political issues, but at least I’m on a journey, my own, learning as I go, accepting the compromise where and when i see fit for the duration that’s needed. It brings me more autonomy. I learn about technology as much as I learn about my own needs, like in a mirror. It’s not anymore just a bicycle for the mind; it’s embedded in our every choice, decision. It has to be conscious, with an intent, a direction.

Part of the re-surfaced notes, it brought a list of softwares i was using some ten years ago. It nudged me to observe my current solutions to similar needs within an evolved context. So currently my setup, as of today 2026-04-22:

Omarchy

Weirdly enough, Omarchy really encourages me to rediscover what a computer is; more than that: it brings joy again.

Obsidian

Git Gitea Synology NAS

Claude, code and web Cursor Ollama, along with Qwen and Devstral

SublimeText and SublimeMerge Nano

Docker Valet

Nodejs Php Python

Chromium Firefox

Proton Tailscale

Google Calendar iOS Calendar Whatsapp, iMessage

Digital Ocean Hetzner Gandi Cloudflare Cleavr - deployment Rsync and ssh

GNU Stow

Image making software: i dont use much anymore, i design directly in the browser, either through html/css/js, or using my own tools (svg, pixel manipulation) — or imagemagick (scaling, croping, transform, convert). Using code as the main inmterface to image making, there are libraries to produce PDF, SVG, etc. Understandably, it’s not for everyone, but once you start removing the shiny surface of the Adobe products line, what only remains is your real need. Aesthetics, image making and content publishing don’t require all the stuffing Adobe is forcing down your throat. It took me a few years to realise, a few more years to grow distaste and frustration about it, and a few more years to completely decouple from its ecosystem. Building your own tools, researching and developing new solutions will only re-inforce your autonomy. I’m assuming the workshops about Creative Coding, provided an ideal ground to grow, explore and experiment with these solutions.

As a side note, since the switch from macOS to Linux, i’m also reconsidering hardware - built a ryzen ai rig with some comfortable vram and second hand massive amount of ram. I learned a lot about more recent evolution that i had traded off for simplicity’s sake; i was baffled by my ignorance of the pc-ecosystem and had to re-learn lots of the things i had once mastered as a kid, when i was building pcs from scratch buying cards and components and assembling, configuring my own machines.

Hardware wise, Linux enabled me to rediscover the PC ecosystem. I’m still typing everything on my Planck keyboard, because. Laptop: Lenovo T14, second hand (that’s probably the third hand but anyway) Anker charger (140w) and external battery (Prime). Desktop: second hand gaming rig Ryzen 9 5900X + rtx3090; coinveretd in a local AI agents experimenting rig; 96gb ram plenty for models to spill freely - studying lateral upgrade to run a double rtx3090, I will need to change the motherboard/cpu combo to gain faster PCIe and rework the thermals and airflow; I’m still naively attached to the idea of silence.

I must also mention that using agents (Claude, Cursor, Chatgpt, LeChat) completely smoothed the transition to Linux and its distinct flavour (even though i was an avid user of brew on macOS, so pacman and yay aren’t exactly a total novel thing to me)

I notice some apple still do remains: mostly Calendar and Messages; there is also the iCloud photo backup. But they are in my hit-list. I’m really interested by GrapheneOS.

Side side note: I’m re-exploring (open) hardware on new grounds: the framework laptops, the Poppy trackpad and nano trackball, the MNT reform 7".

I can’t help but draw parallels with my constantly renewed interest in retro computing, Z80’s Basic, Atari and Amiga, early x86, Apple II, the NeXT, BeOS, Plan9 — all those Futures that could have been.

In the past: