Ask HN: What do you use?

Who am I?: I'm a mechanical engineering grad student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. My most interesting projects to-date are probably my thesis and an IRC bot that runs on node.js.

What Hardware Am I Using?: At home, I use a used Dell Mini 9. I really like it, though it chokes on some Java apps (minecraft) and some visually intensive stuff. It also only has about 6 GB of SSD, so space often becomes an issue. Awesome battery life, though!

I used to have a desktop, but it recently died and I'm not really willing to spend the money to fix it yet. At work, I have an older Dell Dimension with dual 19" (or so) screens.

I also just recently bought a Linode instance. I've found having a server accessible over ssh is really really handy.

And what software?: I'm running Fedora 12 on both my work computer and my laptop. I previously ran Ubuntu, but my boss gave me a Fedora disk and I decided to give it a shot. It's alright, though I've decided that I like apt-get better. Long ago, I used to dual boot windows on my old desktop, but I found that I hate having to reboot, and most of the time there isn't really anything on the windows computer that I want, excepting for the odd game or two. But Linux is getting better for games anyway, especially the casual types that I tend to play these days.

For browsing, I use Google Chrome (v8 What Is My Dream Setup?

If my netbook had like three times the storage, I'd be pretty happy with it. In an ideal world, I'd have a workstation and a massive desk (similar to what I have at work but with more ponies) as well. I also wish I had my own scanner again.

When it comes to software, I'd wish apps came with defaults that suited my workflow. For example, vim's defaults (on Fedora) don't really do it for me, but I've been too lazy to change them myself. I know, I know. I also wish there wasn't such a delineation between operating system-based software ecosystems. While I love the Linux ecosystem, there's some stuff on the Mac side of things (and on Windows too--for example, Irfanview), and it's a shame that you have to pick your programs based on your OS (or whatever virtualization you decide to run).

When it comes to UI, I wish there wasn't such a fine line between the Real World and the Computer World. The reason I wish I had a huge desk is because I tend to work in piles and scraps of paper. I'm really messy in the Real World, but it works for me. While I'm not terribly disappointed in computing these days, it'd be really awesome if computer use and desk use somehow mashed together a bit better.

Finally, I want really fast internet. While "cloud" is definitely a buzzword, I'm really liking the idea of having my computers being this sort of abstract thing, where I don't have to consider there being an actual box in my house somewhere, and the lower latency is between you and your servers, the better integration can be between The Cloud and your "thin clients" (such as my netbook).

Software-wise, it's Chrome + assorted browsers for testing, Notepad++ for editing code, Visio 2003 for wires. Paint.net for simple image stuff. Dropbox. Skype. That's about it.