What I use(d)

Previously:

  • Void Linux - very fast, BSD-inspired operating system using the Linux kernel. I’m too paranoid to use Linux, though.

  • wmii - window manager inspired by ACME, an environment for programmers from Plan 9 OS. Nothing bad about it, but cwm is all I need. neovim - cleaned up vim fork with Lua scripting. Still bloated IMO.

  • Iridium - Chromium build without the spyware. On OpenBSD, it has pledge(1) and unveil(1) integration, meaning it’s only able to access my downloads folder and some system resources.

  • uMatrix - the only extension giving you nearly total control of what is loaded on the site.

  • dvtm - dynamic tiling window manager for the console. For some reason copy mode does not work under OpenBSD. Sad.

Current:

  • OpenBSD - well engineered Unix-like secure-by-default operating system.

  • cwm - one of the default window managers on OpenBSD. Floating + basic tiling. Very good documentation, as with everything OpenBSD.

  • tmux - terminal multiplexer. The reason I don’t really need a tiling window manager or multiple workspaces.

  • vis - text editor inspired by vi and sam. Lua scripting. Only 30k of C, a little more than vi.

  • qutebrowser - scriptable browser with vi(m) like keybindings written in Python and Qt (C++).

  • jmatrix - umatrix for qutebrowser.

  • mpv - video player with Lua plugins and one-key shortcuts.

  • mpd + mpc - music player daemon + the command line client. Play audio on any device, save the session between reboots, script it.

  • nsxiv - neo simple X image viewer. Keyboard-centric scriptable image viewer.

Maybe in the future:

  • Pale Moon - if only I was successful in building it for OpenBSD. It’s sad that the devs were in a big conflict and now we can’t get any official support for this beautiful browser.

  • ladybird - a web browser originally made for SerenityOS, but ported to Qt6. A web engine completely made from scratch, under the 2-clause BSD license.

  • Arcan - "desktop engine". Replacement for Xorg, Wayland, Pipewire, dbus, and other projects. Security hardening is promised in the 0.9 release. Has Lua scripting. Inspired by Android and Plan 9.

  • uxrt - a Linux-compatible microkernel-based OS for workstations and embedded systems. Inspired by Plan 9.

  • 9front - right when I retire with enough money to sustain myself.

My recommendations for you

Operating systems

If it’s possible, use OpenBSD or 9front. If you have an Nvidia graphics card, use HardenedBSD, a set of security band-aids for FreeBSD.

Linux is not as well designed as BSD. And Plan 9 is the best OS if you need several devices to work together as a single entity. In case you still need Linux (e.g. for gaming or Windows compatibility), you can virtualise it using qemu, vmm(4) or vmx(1). Also, Wine is available on FreeBSD.

If you still want to use Linux, continue reading.

You are a newbie:

SliTaz. User-friendly and lightweight.

You are not afraid of the terminal, you can read docs:

Void Linux

You want to delete dbus and polkit:

Exherbo

You want to develop your own distro:

T2 SDE

and read Linux from Scratch & Beyond Linux from scratch.

Documents

Format

Use a variant of TeX (XeTeX, LuaTeX, ConTeXt) for tech & science works. Otherwise, write stuff in asciidoc or roff. Markdown is not a good standard, it has big differences in every implementation.

Encoding

Use UTF-8. It is the only sane text encoding.

Text editors

Want to quickly edit some text and don’t bother learning? Use micro.

Want to use your mouse extremely efficiently? Use acme. 3-button mouse recommended.

Want to stop using your mouse? Learn vi. After that experience, choose between neovim and vis. First has Vim plugins. Second is much more tidy, and allows you to use multiple cursors via structular regular expressions. Looks & feels interactive & cool. Both have Lua scripting support.

If you want your editor to be an operating system, learn Emacs. Or try mg.

Web browsers

№1 browser is Pale Moon. Best extensions (based on old Firefox ones). Very fast, resource-efficient and configurable. Only one problem. Weird behaviour of developers is a source of conflicts. For example, this browser is not available on OpenBSD because communication about licensing issues was handled very poorly. I hope that this will change after Tobin left the team.

Second place goes to qutebrowser. Highly configurable, but not as fast & efficient as Pale Moon. Browser slowly grows in feature scope. There is a functional uBlock Origin-like adblock. Joe made Jmatrix - umatrix for qutebrowser. If you don’t like vim keybindings, you can rebind them to whatever you prefer.

The third place goes to three candidates - Librewolf, Ungoogled Chromium, and Iridium. Cleaned up versions of big brothers. All of the controversy attached.

Other browsers do not deserve a place on this page.