My Favorite Tools

The nicest thing about being self employed is that I get to choose my own tech. I get to be productive using the very best tools out there, no more compromises! Here’s small list of some of the tools I use daily.

Laptop OS: NixOS Link to heading

For me there is nothing like working on a Linux computer. I just feel at home, I feel like the OS serves me, not some tech giant’s hidden agenda. There is no unwanted telemetry, no ads in the start menu and I get to choose hardware that is easy to upgrade and fix (although for now I’m using a second hand HP ProBook).

Linux has been on my personal computers and servers since my university days. And now my primary working device runs NixOS, a fully declarative Linux distribution. With NixOS your entire configuration lives in Git. That’s right, not just your servers can be declarative infra-as-code, your laptop can be as well. What does this mean? It means that when my laptop is destroyed I pull my NixOS config from Git, put my data back and my system is back the way it was, on fresh hardware. It’s the way an OS should work.

Password Manager: BitWarden Link to heading

Nowadays a Password manager is a must. Having one password across multiple accounts means that when a service gets hacked, all your services are compromised (unless you enable 2fa, which you should). In the past I have tried a lot of different Password Managers, one of my favorite ones was KeePassXC. but you had to provide your own syncing of the database file. BitWarden solves that, and you can even host the syncing backend yourself. BitWarden is one of the first password managers to jump on the passkey train. BitWarden just works great, it’s the password manager I always recommend.

VPN: Tailscale Link to heading

VPNs are a great way to manage secure access to your assets like servers, NASs, and compute environments. VPNs can be complex to set up. But Tailscale proves it can be very easy. Just register on the website, run a single command on your device to hook them into your tailnet and boom. You’re done. Up to 100 devices are free (as long as you are below 3 users on the Tailnet). Tailscale is not fully open source, allthough there is an open source implementation of the control server, called HeadScale. But, like BitWarden it’s one of those companies that has their priorities straight, and they’re squarely with the customer (for now).