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---
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title = "What I Use (2025)"
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author = "Naomi Roberts"
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date = 2025-12-03
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summary = "An overview of the tech I used in 2025!"
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---
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{#workstations}
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# Workstation(s)
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My setup didn't really change much this year, and the machines I use are still
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mostly identical to last year!
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{#calibarn}
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## Calibarn
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This is still my main computer, however I have made an upgrade since last year -
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I upgraded my old RTX 3060 to a RX 7900 XT, which has so far been a very good
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investment. I have also switched over to NixOS as my main OS, which has been the
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best decision I have made for myself.
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- *CPU:* i5 12400f
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- *GPU:* RX 7900 XT
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- *RAM:* 32gb@3200mhz DDR4
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- *OS:* NixOS with `nixpkgs-unstable` and latest Linux kernel
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The switch to NixOS has improved my Linux desktop and development experience so
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much. I honestly could not see myself being able to go back to using any other
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distro for my computer. Having everything in a central location and knowing that
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my computer would basically always work has been such a breath of fresh air this
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year.
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Another thing that has changed is my window manager - I have switched from Hyprland
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to Niri, a scrollable window manager. This choice was made after hopping between
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various different WMs and DEs for a while, including KDE and LabWC. Niri was the
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most recent one I tried, and it really stuck with me. The ability to block certain
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windows from being captured by screenshots, screenshares and recordings has been
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amazing while talking to my friends, or blocking out certain windows while running
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my D&D sessions.
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If you want to know more about Niri, there are some very good videos on YouTube
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by Brodie Robertson that showcase it fairly well. I would also reccomend just trying
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it out yourself to get the feel, as I don't think a video can quite do it justice.
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{#aerial}
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## Aerial
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This is still my ROG Ally, which I continue to use for travelling between home and
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university. It has been switched over to Bazzite Linux, an immutable Fedora-based
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distro made to emulate the SteamOS experience on other devices. I no longer play
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any Windows-only games, so it didn't make sense to keep Windows on it. I'm currently
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replaying through Tomb Raider (2013) on it, trying to 100% the game. Performance
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is still great, and I'm still surprised at how well these little handhelds perform.
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{#barbatos}
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## Barbatos
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Still my shitty old laptop, which has actually been dead for most of the year.
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It's been sitting in a bucket round my parent's house since the start of summer,
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waiting for someone to fix it. As of today (2nd December 2025), it has been fixed!
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My Dad walked into my bedroom about 2 hours ago and handed it to me - very kind
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of him to fix it for me! It's still running Windows 10, but I do plan to see if
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NixOS will be able to run on it without the weird flickering issues I had last time
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I tried any Linux distro on it.
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- *CPU:* Ryzen 3 2200u
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- *GPU:* Radeon Vega 3
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- *RAM:* 8gb@2400mhz DDR4
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- *OS:* Windows 10 (for now)
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{#software}
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# Software
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As I mentioned earlier, I hopped about different window managers and desktop
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environments this year on my main PC, after finally settling on Niri.
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{#editors}
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## Editors
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- Zed (fully moved over to Zed from VSCode now)
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- Helix (still my main terminal-based editor)
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- IntelliJ IDEA (still for Java/Kotlin)
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{#terminals}
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## Terminals
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- Foot (main terminal emulator)
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- Alacritty (used on Barbatos)
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{#operating-systems}
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## Operating Systems
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- NixOS (Now my main OS on Calibarn, I managed to figure out the Nix language and
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it suddenly clicked.)
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- Bazzite (nice handheld distro, I dislike the focus on Flatpaks but I mostly
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just use it for gaming anyway)
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- Windows 10 (on Barbatos for now, might switch to NixOS soon)
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{#programming-languages}
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## Programming Languages
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I touched a lot less languages this year, focusing mainly on my Minecraft mods
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and Gleam projects.
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- Gleam (still my favourite language a year later)
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- Java (Minecraft modding)
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- Kotlin (Minecraft modding, but better!)
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- C++ (used for university assignments, Unreal Engine 5 sadly)
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- Nix (for NixOS configuration - does this even count?)
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{#version-control}
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## Version Control
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I have barely touched Git this year, mainly using Jujutsu for everything. The
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inter-compatibility with Git repos is fantastic, and jj just feels so much more
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in tune with how I program.
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I have also switched my Git forge around a bit, trying to reduce my reliance on
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GitHub as much as possible. This time last year I was using Codeberg for most of
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my projects (a great hosted Forgejo instance), but I have sine started to use
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[Tangled](https://tangled.org) for all my personal projects. Tangled is a new
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forge built on top of the AT Protocol, which is cool as fuck and you can read
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more about it on [their blog](https://blog.tangled.org/).
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