I read today a piece about digital cameras and wired headphones making a bit of a comeback. It’s not news. I’ve read about this a few times over the past few years. What comes around and all that. However, it struck a chord with me since some of this stuff I have never fully moved away from or have still got tucked away in a draw somewhere until I am minded to have a play or finally get rid of it in one way or another. I was thinking about taking a few pics and writing a post about some of this stuff. Though better of it and decided to do one of those “Things I Use” I’ve seen on other people’s blogs. Probably better as a page for updating. I’ll get round to that another time. Some of this stuff I am very happy with. Some of it could be better and will be swapped out if and when I find a good alternative. Cycling Surly LH Disc Trucker Pinacle Dolomite Hammerhead Karoo Bike Computer The Surly is a reliable, heavy workhorse. Comfortable but slow. The Pinacle is a bit lighter and probably better suited to Audax rides but it’s not quite as comfy to ride. Both have a nine speed chain set for durability. A triple on the surly. Compact double on the Pinacle. Both have TRP Spire Mechanical disk brakes. Powerful enough for me and easy to service and/or repair. The Karoo is perfect for me. Maps and navigation are excellent. More display field options than I shall ever need. Superb battery life. Highly recommended. Writing Sublime Text Standard Notes Libre Office Hugo Blog The first three I have been using for years. Hugo for the last year. I’m happy with them all. Good enough as they are. Extendable/configurable according to need. Digital Background Services Proton (Mail, Calendar, Pass, VPN, Drive, Lumo 2.0 AI assistant) GitHub Codeberg Codefloe I’ve been all in with Proton for a good while now. Not entirely happy with all my eggs in one basket but so far so good. Github as I did not know any better. Lining up Codeberg and Codefloe as replacement candidates but in the meantime am using all three. Socials / Communication Signal Mastodon Samsung Galaxy s23 Signal as a messaging app because all the others are either thieving personal data, are terrible companies, or so niche no one I know will use them. Samsung because I have not got a Linux phone yet. Browsers Libre Wolf Vivaldi I feel a bit more comfortable with Libre Wolf in terms of of transparency. Vivaldi has all the bells and whistles but I can’t get over some of the code being technically closed source. I understand their reasoning but still. Music JBL 305P MkII Focusrite Scarlett Solo 4th Gen Audio Interface Strawberry Music Player Navidrome MAJORITY MP3 Player - 16 GB Cheap wired headphones from TKMAX Edifier W820NB Active Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Stereo Headphones Happy with all of that other than Strawberry. Sometimes the sound goes a bit off. Probably something to do with back end settings I don’t understand. Loathe to give it up though so I persevere. Reading Calibre Xteink X4 Pocket eReader Both of these are great. Laptops Entroware Proteus Dell XP 13 Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 15D (Navidrome server) The Entroware and Dell are more than good enough for what I use them for (aside from the sound card for playing music hence the Focusrite interface and JBL 305P MkII studio monitors). The Lenovo was lying around doing nothing so I put it to good use. It’s old and low spec but good enough to use as a Navidrome Server. OS Debian 13 (stable) Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS (Navidrome) Ubuntu on my laptops for over ten years until switching to Debian early 2026. Ubuntu created a smooth and easy exit from Windows. It was a good introduction to Linux. We’ve both changed. The time felt right to go. Photography Fujifilm X-T4 Fujifilm Fujinon XF 16-80mm f4 R OIS WR Fujifilm Fujinon XF 35mm f1.4 digiKam GIMP It will be some time before my abilities get anywhere near to the capabilities of the kit and software I use.